Single White Vampire (Argeneau #3)(90)

Hmm. The spark was anger, not passion at seeing him. He hurried to trail her up the stairs.

"We don't. I have a bedroom," he assured her. He found himself a tad distracted as he was face level with her upside-down-heart-shaped behind, and he was unable to tear his eyes away. I really should have more stairs in my home and follow her up them at every opportunity, he thought vaguely. This was a delightful view.

"Ha! Then what was he doing in that coffin? Thinking?" she asked sarcastically. She burst out into the kitchen.

"Well, yes. Actually, I was," Etienne announced from behind Lucern as he followed them. "I find that the dark and silence afforded by a coffin allow me to work out some of the difficulties I run into in programming my games."

"Coffin?"

They all turned to stare at the cleaning woman still standing in the kitchen. Lucern was debating whether to blank the woman's mind when Kate made a distressed sound and rushed out into the hall.

Lucern took a step to follow her, then paused and turned on his brother. "What did you do? She's furious."

"I just… She…" He grimaced. "I heard her coming down the stairs and was at first worried it was one of your cleaning crew, but then I heard her talking and recognized her voice."

"Who was she talking to?"

"Herself," Etienne answered promptly. "She was trying to convince herself to open the coffin and that you wouldn't be in there."

"And what did you do—close your eyes, then pop them open and sit up to scare the life out of her when she did build up the courage to open it?" Luc asked with disgust. It was a trick Etienne had pulled on all of them at one time or another.

His brother winced, but nodded apologetically.

Lucern cursed under his breath and started to turn away, but Etienne caught his arm to stop him. "I didn't mean to scare her that badly. I mean, she half-expected to find someone in there anyway. She shouldn't have been this startled, but then the lights went out. She caught just enough of a look to know it wasn't you in the coffin, but didn't get enough of a look to recognize me before Ms. Energy Conserver over there turned out the lights."

They both paused to glare at the cleaning woman, who shrank backward, bumping into the wall under their combined irritation. The front door slammed. Lucern started to hurry from the room again, but Etienne stopped him. "Wait. I don't think all her anger is about the coffin, Luc."

"What do you mean? What else could it be?"

"Well, she was saying some pretty weird stuff as she tried to talk herself into opening the lid."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Er… well, she seemed to find it distressing enough to sleep with a six-hundred-year-old guy, but the idea of sleeping with a dead one—"

The cleaning woman gasped. Lucern scowled at her. "Leave," he said.

The cleaning woman was off in a flash. Lucern sighed and turned back to his brother. "I am not dead."

"Well, duh." Etienne rolled his eyes. "I know that. She doesn't. And she's kind of creeped out, wondering if that makes her a necrophiliac or something. She also wondered if your 'wonderful erections' are rigor mortis."

Lucern felt himself perk up. "She called my erections wonderful?"

Etienne just gaped, then raised a fist to knock on his brother's forehead as if it were a door. "Hello! Earth calling Luc! She thinks it's rigor mortis."

Lucern batted the hand away, his irritation returning. "And whose fault is that? Etienne, I don't know why you have to sleep in that damned coffin, anyway. You have a warm, loving wife at home waiting in a nice, comfortable bed. What are you doing in a coffin in my basement?"

"I'm having problems with Blood Lust Three and needed to think. Besides, Rachel isn't home. She had a staff meeting to attend at work."

"Well, next time I suggest you work out these problems somewhere else, because I am getting rid of that coffin first thing."

"Ah, come on, Luc," Etienne began, but Lucern turned and left the room.

He strode down the hall, muttering under his breath. "Rigor mortis? A necrophiliac? Where does she come up with this stuff?"

The two women from the cleaning crew had their heads together in the living room and were whispering fiercely in panicked tones. They fell silent as he passed the doorway, and Luc could feel their fearful eyes upon him. He ignored them and walked straight to the front door. Pausing there, he tugged the blinds on the side panels aside, wincing as bright sunlight hit his eyes. It took a minute to adjust to the noonday sun. The moment he did, he spotted Kate. She was standing on his porch, staring forlornly out at the road like a puppy that had been abandoned.

Of course, she had arrived by taxi, he realized. But the cab had left while she was in the house, and now she was trying to decide what to do. Obviously, coming back into the house to call for another taxi wasn't something she wanted to do.

Sighing, he let the blinds drop back into place and pulled the door open. "Kate?"

She stiffened where she stood on the edge of his porch, but didn't turn.

Lucern sighed. "Kate. Come back inside so we can talk, please."

"I'd really rather not." Her voice was strained, and she still didn't turn to look at him.

"Okay." He pulled the door wider and stepped out onto the porch. "Then I'll join you."