Single White Vampire (Argeneau #3)(58)

"And how old are you, anyway?" the author continued. "Thirty-five or so?" .

Kate watched Lucern's mouth quirk in a rare crooked smile.

"Or so," he answered. "And no, I've never been married."

"Why not?" Jodi apparently had no problem in being nosy. Much to Kate's amazement, Lucern seemed more amused by the question than annoyed. It seemed Chris was right. Luc was loosening up.

"Who would have me?" he asked lightly. There was a wicked glint in his eye.

Jodi glanced at Kate then, and Kate felt herself flush. Had the woman picked up on her attraction to Lucern? Dear God, she really had to be more careful.

"Here we are," she announced with determined cheer. Ahead was the sign to the room with the psychic and astrological readings.

A number of small tables were distributed around the room. Each table was assigned to a psychic or astrologer, their signs and paraphernalia set up around them. There was only one chair at each table besides that of the reader. One client at a time, thank you. There were also tables where one could buy crystals and such. It was rather like a psychic fair.

"I'm going to have my astrological chart done," Jodi announced. "Then I'm going to have an astrology reading, too. And a psychic one." The writer's green eyes were shining. She was obviously excited.

Kate had never been to a psychic in her life, and she didn't have a clue where to start. One glance at Lucern showed him looking bored, so Kate nodded at Jodi and smiled. "Lead on, MacDuff."



"You're a very young soul, light and bursting with love and enthusiasm to experience all the world has to offer."

Lucern remained silent as the supposed psychic batted her eyelashes at him, but Kate snorted with derision behind him. The psychic stopped fluttering over his hand long enough to glare at her, then went on, "You have lived many, many lives."

Kate snorted again. "When has he had time?"

"I beg your pardon?" The psychic sneered up at her.

"I thought he was a young soul," Kate pointed out. "How can he be a young soul who has lived many lives?" She touched Lucern's arm. "Come on. This is a waste of money."

Lucern was on his feet at once, ushering her and Jodi away under the psychic's baleful gaze. He was steering them toward the exit when Jodi stopped, forcing Kate and Luc to stop as well.

"No, wait. I want a reading from her." The author pointed toward a table where a white-haired lady sat alone, without a line like at the other tables. Kate supposed it was the lack of a flashy display that had made her less popular. The rest of the psychics wore bright clothes and had dramatic signs and flashy tablecloths; this woman hadn't bothered with a tablecloth, and wore a beige outfit guaranteed to fade in a crowd, and a plain sign.

"Her?" Kate asked doubtfully. The woman didn't look very successful, if she did look serene.

"Real talent doesn't bother with flash," Jodi said. They all walked over.

Kate and Lucern watched solemnly as the woman took Jodi's hand. She said Jodi was a writer—which Kate didn't think was hard to work out, since this was a writing conference. It was a fifty-fifty chance that Jodi was either a writer or a reader. The woman next said she was quite successful at it, which wasn't that big of a revelation either. She might have recognized Jodi's picture from the back of her books.

The next statement surprised Kate. The reader said Jodi was still suffering from a painful loss she had endured some time ago, the loss of her soul mate. Kate felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle. It wasn't common knowledge, but Jodi's husband had died four years earlier, a year before she'd been published. Kate also knew Jodi still wept for him. She claimed he had been her one true love.

The psychic rubbed Jodi's hand soothingly and told her that her love was there with them now, and that he was always nearby. But she also said he wanted Jodi to continue living. Someone would come into her life soon, and while he wouldn't be a soul mate as her first love had been, he would be Jodi's dear friend, lover and companion for the rest of her days—and the psychic said Jodi's first love wished for it to be so.

Jodi's eyes glazed with tears. She stood and turned to Kate and Lucern. Kate was trying to think of something to say to lift the mood, when Lucern suddenly commented, "So, looks like you'll get laid before you die after all."

Kate turned a horrified gaze on him. She had never heard the man speak so crudely. She'd never even heard him use such modern terms. She turned to Jodi in shock, but the author just burst out in peals of tinkling laughter.

"Yes, it does. Isn't that nice?" Jodi sighed and touched Luc's arm. Then she explained to Kate, "The women were talking about sex, of course, when it got slow back in the hospitality suite. Beth was bemoaning the fact that her characters had better sex than she did, and I snorted and said that at least she was getting some, I doubted I ever would again before I died. But now it sounds as though I shall!"

She smiled at Lucern, then urged him toward the chair. "Your turn, my friend. I want to hear what she has to say about you."

Kate watched the older woman badger Luc into sitting. For a moment, she felt a touch of discomfort. It was obvious that the pair had developed something of a friendship this morning, and Kate was ashamed to realize that what she felt was jealousy. Shrugging off the petty feelings, she turned her attention to the psychic, who had claimed Lucern's hand and was now running her fingers lightly over it. Her eyes were closed in concentration.