A Girl's Guide to Vampires

seemed to cling to him, and made a mental note to buy stock in whatever company produced the soap he used.

'She also threatened to tell the truth about Dominic to the newspapers unless he kept his promise to make her a partner in the fair. That was after she accused him of sleeping with you, Roxy, and approximately half the female population of Eastern Europe,' Raphael drawled, signaling to the bartender.

'Truth? What sort of truth? The truth that he's not really a vampire? That's hardly worthwhile as blackmail material,' I said.

He shrugged. 'I don't think that's what she was talking about, but as no one chose to enlighten me as to the truth, I can only speculate what she meant to do.'

I mulled that over as I watched Theresa, one of the owner's daughters who doubled as a barmaid, trot over to Raphael, ogling him despite the fact I was plastered against his side.

'Raphael, how nice to see you again,' she cooed, blatantly ignoring Arielle and me. 'Will you be free later? There are many things I would like to show you.' She licked her lips. I put a possessive hand on his thigh and gave her a squinty-eyed glare to let her know I didn't appreciate poachers. She gave him a look that could have steamed drapes. 'Many sights around the town, of course.'

Oh, right. Let's have a show of hands for those of you who believed it was sightseeing she had on her mind.

'Thank you, I'm going to be busy later,' Raphael said gently.

Theresa pouted as Raphael placed our orders, curling the fingers of his hand into my hair and teasing the back of my neck. 'And you thought I was acting territorial,' he said quietly.

'You don't mind if I rubber stamp TAKEN on your forehead, do you?' I asked, pleasure shivering down my back at his touch.

He grinned in response. 'Only if you promise to wear a robe and veil in return.'

I slid my hand up his thigh a little just to let him know what effect he was having on me. When I turned back to Arielle, she was smiling at us delightedly, a definite twinkle in her eye.

'Don't you dare say what you want to say,' I warned her, laughing as she suddenly looked chagrined. 'You're as bad as Roxy.'

Her smile returned. 'It is just that I am so very happy to see you happy. Both of you. It is good to find someone you are matched with, yes?'

'Mmm.' I turned back to Raphael. 'So what happened after Tanya threatened Dominic? Milos told her to pack up her stuff and go?'

'More or less.' He tossed a few coins to Theresa as she brought our beers. She sloshed some of mine onto the table in front of me, but other than giving her another glare, I didn't say anything.

'Getting information from you is like pulling teeth,' I complained, mopping up my spilled beer. 'By the way, are you intending to drink that one or dump it in a plant when you think no one is watching?'

He looked startled for a moment before his eyes went to a dark amber.

'That first night,' I explained. 'I saw you spill your beer in the plant. It was one of the reasons Roxy believed you were a'—I glanced at Arielle and gave her a toothy smile—'it's one of the reasons we thought you were someone else.'

'I plan to drink this one,' he said, his eyes muted. 'This is a lager. The other was a dark ale and too strong.'

'Too strong?'

'I don't like to drink much before the fair opens. That night the bartender was bragging to me about the strength of his local brew; I didn't want to hurt his feelings if I didn't drink it.'

I gave his thigh a little squeeze to show my appreciation for his thoughtfulness toward others, and then another one just because I liked to squeeze his thigh. I was rewarded when he shifted restlessly. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that my hand so near Happyland was having a predictable effect. I resisted the urge to torment him further and withdrew my hand.

'It was a very bad time last night,' Arielle broke into my smutty thoughts. 'I was present as well, and there is nothing to tell other than Tanya was most angry at Dominic, and when Milos told her she must leave the fair after the festival, she cried and returned to our trailer.' Her gaze dropped at those last words, tears puddling up in her pretty blue eyes. 'I did not go to her as I should. Paal had arranged—that is, I was to be with Paal that evening, and I did not go back to the trailer until much later. And now she is gone!'

'Gone?' I asked, looking between her and Raphael. 'She's left the fair already?'

'No,' Arielle said before Raphael could answer. 'Her things are still in the trailer, but she has not been seen for many hours.'

I looked at Raphael.

'I think she's probably gone somewhere to lick her wounds,' he answered my unasked question. 'If she doesn't return by later tonight, Arielle can contact the police.'

Arielle's lip quivered at the last word.

'Arielle can contact them? You're the security guy—don't you think you should do that?'

He looked away. 'No. It's better if she does it.'

Better for whom? I wondered. Why was Raphael so reticent to talk to the police? I was sure it had something to do with his secret. The idea of him doing something wrong, seriously wrong, was unthinkable, so I quickly cobbled together another explanation. Maybe the charges against him were false, accusing him of some illegal crime that he didn't do, but which resulted in him being on the run from the police. That would explain his desire to hide out with a small fair that never stayed in one location for any length of time. A sniff from Arielle had me leaving that avenue of thought and returning to her problem.

'You don't think…' I hesitated to bring it up in front of her, but I didn't like the sound of Tanya disappearing without taking her things. I pinched Raphael's thigh until he looked at me. 'You don't think something could have happened to her, do you? What with the recent event in Heidelberg?'

His eyes glittered brightly, a sign he understood my unspoken question.

'Doubtful,' he said with a glance to Arielle, his hand tightening on mine. Beneath both our hands his leg was tense. Clearly he was more concerned about Tanya than he was willing to let on.

'Heidelberg?' she asked. Her eyes widened in distress as she understood what I had meant. 'You mean Tanya could be like that poor woman—'

'No, of course not. I'm sure she's just off somewhere pouting,' I reassured her as I patted her hand again. 'I'm willing to bet she's holed up with someone in the tent city. There must be at least three hundred people there now. She'll turn up tonight, you'll see. The murder in Heidelberg was just an isolated incident, one that has nothing to do with the fair. I'm sorry I mentioned it.'

I looked to Raphael for support, but surprisingly, he said nothing.

'I hope you are right,' Arielle said with another quick glance at her balding Viking as he sat laughing with the group of workers from the fair.

Roxy walked into the bar, waved at us, and turned to call back through the door. Raphael stiffened as Christian followed her.

'There they are. Do we have time for a beer? Hi, Raphael. You look surprisingly rested considering Joy's lustful appetites.' Roxy stopped teasing as soon as she caught sight of Arielle's face. She scooted in beside her and shot me an accusatory glare. 'Arielle, what's wrong? You look like you've been crying!'

'Don't look at us, we didn't do anything to her,' I said before turning to Christian and greeting him. He pulled up a chair and sat at the end of the table, nodding to Raphael. Raphael nodded back. In a smooth Mr. Casual move that men have practiced for eons, he dropped his arm over my shoulders and hauled me even closer to his side.

Christian's eyebrows rose at the blatant show of possession.

'Subtlety is his forte,' I told him.

'Would you like me to go find that veil now?' Raphael growled. I pinched his thigh.

'Oh my God,' Roxy said, having got the full story from Arielle. 'They're firing Tanya? Wow. Bad karma. Guess that qualifies as another one of Joy's disasters, huh?'

'No, it does not.'

'Sure it does. It's right up there with that poor couple's house you washed into the ocean.'