Maudlin's Mayhem (Bewitching Bedlam #2)(2)

“Oh man, you’re just escalating matters.”

“Too bad. He started it and I’m tired of his horny face.” I raised my glass. “Here’s to payback.”

“I’d be cautious if I were you,” Sandy said, sipping her drink.

“M’rrow.” Bubba wandered in, swishing his tail. He had a feisty look in his eye, one that only led to trouble. As the gorgeous, massive orange tabby leaped up on the table to stare me in the face, I reached out, singing as I gave him an ear rub. He began to purr and I swept him into my arms, dancing with him.

“You want some catnip, Bub?”

Bubba liked to party as much as we did. I found his stash and sprinkled some on the cat bed sitting near the kitchen door that led to the backyard. He bounced down and began to purr, rolling on the green fleece.

Sandy gave him a long look. “He’s been awfully good lately. You think he’s up to something?”

“I never know what’s going on in that furry brain of his,” I said. “Cjinns are always cunning. They pride themselves on it. But he’s saved my ass more than once, so if he acts out now and then or wants to get stoned, I say go for it.” I tossed him a squeaky mouse and he rolled over, raking it with his back claws in a nip-induced frenzy.

“All the same, I wouldn’t touch his belly if I were you. Not with as much as we’ve been drinking. You’d end up with Alice from The Brady Bunch working for you.” Sandy handed me a bowl that she’d filled with potato chips, along with a tray of lemon bars. “A little sugar wouldn’t hurt us either.”

“Aegis made those for our guests. But what the hell, they’ll never miss them.” I glanced at the clock. Five p.m. “I never thought I’d wish away time, but with the waxing year, he has to sleep later and later. That, I don’t like.”

“How long till sunset?” Sandy peeked out the sliding-glass door.

“About seventy minutes, give or take a few.”

Vampires were bound to sleep during the day. At least most of them. I’d recently had an eye-opening experience that almost landed me dead, but had also netted us some pretty powerful information about a secret society of Aegis’s kind. Even he hadn’t been fully aware of it, but we were keeping our mouths shut because the ramifications were huge and we really didn’t want to set ourselves up as targets.

I was about to dive into the lemon bars when my cell phone rang. Or rather trumpeted. I grimaced. I had recently bought a new phone and hadn’t bothered to set new ring tones yet.

“I don’t recognize the number.”

“Maybe it’s somebody answering your ad.”

“That would be wonderful. Hold on while I take this.”

Sandy nodded, pulling out her own phone to check her texts while I took the call.

“Maudlin Gallowglass here.”

“Ms. Gallowglass? I’m Thornton Weston, calling about your ad in the Bedlam Crier. I’d like to apply, if the position’s still open.”

I blinked. I had no problem with a man applying, but apparently, my subconscious had been expecting a woman because his voice threw me off guard. It was deep and rich, and made me think of smooth, black coffee with just a hint of sugar.

“Why…well, of course you can. The job’s still open. Can you come by for an interview at ten tomorrow morning?” I thought about setting up the interview for evening, when Aegis was awake, but the last thing I needed was him chasing off a potential employee just because he was male. While Aegis was all kittens and cupcakes when he was in his domestic mood, my vampire boyfriend had a protective streak a mile wide, and it reared its green-eyed head at the most inopportune times. I needed a housekeeper now, not in two weeks after we had worked through his “But it’s a man, will you be safe” rhetoric.

“I’ll be there at ten, resume in hand.”

“Good. See you tomorrow.” With that, I hung up and Sandy and I went back to our impromptu pre-spring party.





“I DON’T CARE what you say, you’re not going to hire him until I get to meet him. You just call him back and change the appointment for when I’m awake.” Aegis tried to stare me down, but I was having none of it. Besides, he might have been imposing, except for the fact that he was wearing my kittens-and-bows apron over his black leather pants and holding a copper mixing bowl in one hand, and a wire whisk in the other.

“If I think he can do a good job, you damned well bet your pearly fangs I’m going to hire him. Why don’t you just use the mixer for that?” All of the yummy afterglow of the booze had fled my system. I was perched on the counter near Aegis, and I reached out with one foot to lightly tap his ass.

He gave me one of his “Are you kidding?” looks.

“You really know nothing about cooking, do you?” He quirked his lips into a slightly snarky grin.

I stuck out my tongue at him. “I know how to fry an egg. Beyond that, I know the names of my best friends—Chef Pizza-Joint, Chef Chicken-Chicken, and Chef-in-a-Can. Now tell me why you’re using a whisk for those egg whites.”

He shook his head, still whisking away. The egg whites were whipping up into a nice foam. “You’re incorrigible. It just so happens that egg whites are best whipped by hand in a copper bowl. It’s faster than using a mixer and you get better results. So if you really want lemon meringue pie for the guests tomorrow, you’ll quit back-seat baking and let me do my job.”