TALL DARK AND HUNGRY Page 0,60

with. The only time he had to worry about food was during business meetings that included mortals, and then he just handed the problem over to: "Meredith!"

"Meredith?" Terri asked.

"She'll know which are the good caterers and which are the bad ones, and..." Not bothering to finish his explanation, Bastien picked up the phone again. This time he punched in the number to his of¬fice. Meredith picked up on the second ring.

"Argeneau Enterprises."

"Meredith, I think Kate's caterer killed himself," he blurted by way of hello. "I need a list of the best caterers in town. We have to call them all and see which are available for the date of her wedding."

The woman didn't exclaim in horror at this newest tragedy plaguing Kate's wedding, or bother with questions; she simply snapped, "I'm on it. Do you have her menu plan for what she wanted served?"

Bastien blinked, then glanced at Terri. "Do we have a menu plan for what she wanted served at the wedding?" he echoed.

"A menu plan?" She considered for a minute, then straightened abruptly. "I might. She e-mailed it to me. Actually, that e-mail mentioned who the caterer was, too. If I still have it, we might not have to trou¬ble Kate with this at all. Can I use the computer?"

"Be my guest."

Phone still to his ear, Bastien stood and stepped aside for Terri to sit in the desk chair and start up the computer. He didn't bother explaining what was go¬ing on to Meredith; she had probably heard anyway. Instead, he watched as the computer warmed up and Terri logged on to the internet. It only took a mo¬ment for her to open her e-mail program and find the e-mail needed.

"It was her caterer," she said with a sigh. "But I do have the menu plan. That's something, anyway."

"Forward it to Meredith," Bastien instructed, then gave her his secretary's e-mail address before speaking into the phone again. "Terri's forwarding it to you, Meredith. Is there anything else you need?"

When she said no, and assured him that she'd get back to him directly, Bastien thanked her and said good-bye.

"She's good," he commented as he hung up. "I should give her a raise."

"Yes. You probably should," Terri agreed with a laugh. She closed the e-mail program, then the Inter¬net itself. Once that was done, she turned off the computer. "She seems very efficient."

"Well, you aren't too shabby yourself," Bastien said softly as she stood. "Someone else might not have caught that news article, or recognized the name."

"Hmm," Terri murmured. "I need coffee."

"I'll make you one," Bastien offered.

"Actually, I have one," she said, moving around the desk toward the door. "I was drinking it while read¬ing the paper, but forgot it in the living room when I saw that article."

"I guess we'll have to delay our outing today." Bastien's gaze dropped to Terri's behind as he fol-lowed her out of the office. He was beginning to un¬derstand Lucern's fascination with Kate's behind. Not that he found Kate's rear end fascinating, but Terri's? Well, that was another matter.

"What outing?" Terri asked. When she glanced over her shoulder at him in surprise, Bastien forced his eyes up to hers.

"I was thinking maybe I would take you around the tourist stops today. You shouldn't leave without seeing those," he said as they walked along the hall. "But we'll have to do that tomorrow, I guess. There could be a lot of places to call when Meredith fin¬ishes a list."

"I'll take half," Terri offered.

"I was hoping you would," he admitted.

She chuckled, then sighed as they entered the liv¬ing room. "I wonder what else will go wrong. What's next, do you think: The reception hall burns to the ground? The church floods? Or perhaps the parking garage holding the wedding limo explodes?" She dropped onto the couch and picked up her coffee, taking a sip. "I'm starting to think this wedding is doomed."

"Hmm," Bastien murmured, but his attention was on Chris. The editor's expression was making him nervous. A look of realization had crossed his face as Terri made her facetious comments.

He didn't feel much better when the editor breathed, "Oh, damn," in a sort of horror.

"What?" Bastien asked, afraid he didn't want to know.

"I just thought of something," Chris said.

"What?" Terri lowered her coffee cup to eye him anxiously.

"The flowers."

"Oh." She relaxed. "We've taken care of the flower problems, C.K. Kate's chosen the ones she wants from the arrangements Roberto sent over. It's all decided and settled."

"No. Not the live flowers. The tissue flowers," he