TALL DARK AND HUNGRY Page 0,52
to the penthouse.
"Are you expecting anyone?" Vincent asked, rais¬ing an eyebrow.
"Yes, actually. The florists." Terri moved to the panel on the wall, grateful that she'd paid attention when Bastien had worked it. She hit the button to bring up the monitor image of the elevator's passen¬gers, then nodded as she spotted men bearing floral arrangements. Not bothering to ask the obvious question of who they might be, Terri simply hit the button to release the elevator, then glanced at Bastien's cousin. "Will you greet them, Vincent? Just have them put the flowers in here. I want to make some coffee."
"Sure."
"Flowers?" Chris asked. Terri thought he sounded a bit odd, but then many men weren't big on flowers, she supposed.
"Yes. They're the possible floral arrangements for Kate and Lucern's wedding," she explained as she headed for the kitchen. "Bastien is going to take photos and e-mail them to Kate, so she can decide which ones she likes best."
Leaving the men to deal with the flowers and where to put them, Terri hurried into the kitchen to make coffee. It was a new coffeepot, however, with that new smell; and she knew that it needed a couple of pots of just plain water run through it.
She surveyed the kitchen for what she should, or could, have for breakfast while the first pot ran. She could have anything she wanted, Terri didn't think there was a single type of food that hadn't been pur¬chased. What she should have was another story. She considered toast, but that sounded boring. Cereal wasn't very exciting, either. And the Pop Tarts and toaster strudels were too sweet for breakfast.
Sighing, Terri paced the kitchen briefly, then set¬tled on an omelet. She'd make an omelet big enough for all of them to eat--though it seemed to her that she and Chris would probably eat most of it. Bastien often just picked at his food, and Vincent never ate at all. She should really ask about his digestive ailment. Surely there was something she could cook that he could eat.
Shrugging, Terri started to remove items from the fridge: onions, cheese, bacon, green peppers. Maybe she'd throw some potato in, too. This was going to be a yummy omelet. And she'd make toast as well. For some reason, she was starved this morning.
Bastien sniffed the air as he walked down the hall to¬ward the living room. He'd slept late, but then they'd been out late last night. He smiled to himself at the memory of his date with Terri. It had been perfect, absolutely and completely perfect. The play, the din¬ner, the talking at Maison--the night had passed like minutes for him, and that hour of shared kisses in front of the Hilton had felt like mere seconds. Terri was a beauty, a joy to spend time with, and so inter¬esting and amusing that he always felt comfortable in her company. She was perfect to be his life mate.
According to his mother, only someone whose mind he could not read would make a good life mate; a husband and wife should never be able to intrude on each other's thoughts. Those should be shared willingly, Marguerite said, not poached like chickens from a henhouse. Bastien couldn't read Terri's thoughts. But she did share them freely.
A pleased sigh slid from his lips, and Bastien grinned to himself. Her openness and honesty were what he liked best about Terri. Her passion for life, not to mention the passion she'd revealed in his arms, was priceless. He'd lived long enough to know that such open caring and passion were a rare find nowa¬days. Most people allowed fear to deaden their feel¬ings and responses. Terri wasn't one of them. She was full of life, she was beautifully and vitally... dead?
He stopped short in the living room entrance and gaped at the sight of Terri lying silent and still on the floor. Her body was splayed like a rag doll tossed to the ground, her luscious chestnut hair a pool around her head.
Two telltale red dots marked her lovely, slender throat.
Chapter Nine
"Oh, my handsome manly vampire. Achoo!" That high falsetto voice--not to mention the sneeze-- drew Bastien's attention to the two men standing sev¬eral feet away from Terri's prone body. Vincent and... Chris? He thought it was the editor but couldn't be sure. The man had a sheet draped over his head and caught beneath his chin in Little Red Rid¬ing Hood style. Judging from that, and from the re¬ally bad imitation of a female