TALL DARK AND HUNGRY Page 0,5

want to spend the hour-long drive out to the airport watching everything he said around the replacement driver. They would have to ride back to the office to collect his car. He'd also pack some blood in a cooler to take with them in case of an emergency, Bastien decided. All of his cars had special window treatments to prevent UV rays from getting in to do any damage, but should the car break down or get a flat tire and they be forced to fix it or walk any distance in sunlight, things could get un¬comfortable, or even dangerous.

All of this would take time, of course, and increase the chances that they weren't going to be on time to collect Terri, but if luck was with them and traffic wasn't slow ...

"Traffic's slow," Lucern said a short time later.

Bastien gave a short laugh. "Of course it is. Mur¬phy's law, right?"

Lucern grunted.

"Reach in the backseat and grab my briefcase. You'll have to make the sign."

"Won't we recognize Terri from the picture?" Lucern retrieved the case and set it on his lap.

"Maybe. But I don't want to count on that. If we miss her, Kate will kill us both."

Luc gave another grunt. He had never been big on talking. Bastien supposed that was why Kate had wanted someone else along to collect her cousin. The only time Luc seemed to talk was when she was around. It was also the only time he smiled. She brought something out of him no one else could, and which apparently retreated or dropped dead the mo¬ment she was out of sight. When Kate wasn't around, it was difficult to get more than a couple of words out of Lucern; a grunt was his response of choice.

"What do you want on it?"

Bastien glanced to the side. Not only had Lucern managed to string more than two words together, he'd pulled a large notepad and pen from the brief¬case and was ready to write. "Just put her name on it."

"Right." Lucern scrawled the name Terri across the paper, then paused. "What's her last name?"

"You're asking me? She's your fiancee's cousin, not mine."

"Yeah," Luc agreed, pursing his lips thoughtfully. "Didn't Kate mention it at lunch?"

"No. Not that I recall." Bastien glanced at him. "You really don't know?"

"I can't remember."

"Well, Kate must have mentioned it a time or two over the last few months."

"Yeah." Luc was silent for a moment, then bent his head to write on the page again.

Relieved that his brother remembered, Bastien turned his attention back to traffic, then spared a glance at his watch. "If her flight isn't early and cus¬toms takes twenty minutes or so, we might just get there before she gives up and hops in a taxi. Where will she go if she doesn't find anyone waiting for her?"

"Probably Kate's office."

"Yeah. That would thrill Kate. Let's hope the flight isn't early."

It wasn't.

"Two hours late," Lucern grunted as they made their way into the arrivals terminal. "All that rushing to get here on time, and we end up cooling our heels for two hours."

Bastien smiled faintly at his brother's disgust. They had arrived at the airport only to discover Kate's cousin's flight had made an unscheduled stop in De¬troit for "mechanical difficulties," and had stayed there while something was fixed. It was due to arrive two hours late. Bastien had been concerned by the news until he had approached the airline desk to in¬quire and learned that the problem was with one of the bathrooms on the plane. Not that the clerk had told him that; Bastien had slipped briefly into her mind to find out. It wasn't something the airline • wanted to advertise, and the mysterious "mechanical difficulties" sounded better to them than admitting one of their toilets had gone screwy. They didn't want the motto "Fly the crappy skies."

With two hours to kill until Terri's flight arrived, Bastien and Lucern had retired to a bar, having to make their way into the nearest departure terminal to find one. Now they were returning to the arrival area to await Terri, hoping as they did so that she wouldn't be held up too long at customs. Both were rather weary of waiting, and eager to get out of the airport, what with its buzz of stressed-out travelers and anx¬ious friends and family.

"Here they come," Bastien announced. The first weary travelers began to appear beyond the blocked off area. "Where's the sign you made?"

"Oh, yes." Lucern pulled the piece of paper from