with it.'
'Put in my place, and very handily, too,' he said with a smile that melted every single one of my traitorous internal organs.
'Christian, I don't understand. How can you be out if the sun hasn't set?' Joy was back to looking worried again.
He glanced at me, then seated himself in the chair next to hers. 'I awoke early. After I dined—'
'He keeps a whole ton of servants in his London house just so he can feed off them,' Roxy leaned forward to whisper to me. She must have seen the horrified look on my face, because she quickly added, 'Oh, he wipes their memories clean, so they don't remember a thing about it. They don't suffer at all.'
'—I decided I would accept your kind invitation as Allegra and I have plans for the evening. I assure you I was well protected against the elements for those few seconds I was exposed to sunlight.' His gaze dropped to my jeans. Unwittingly I brushed at my legs, then stopped when I realized what I was doing.
'If you keep cocking your eyebrow like that, one day it's going to freeze in that position,' I snapped. 'You needn't look at me as if I'm a reject from the ragpicking farm. I don't have any girl clothes with me, so if jeans and a bobble rose-trellis sweater don't meet your exacting standards, I'll be happy to go sit in St. Paul's Cathedral and see if I can't Summon Sir Christopher Wren.'
'Really?' Roxy asked. 'You can do that? Cool!'
'I was joking,' I said.
'Oh, you poor thing, of course you don't have any nice dresses with you. I forgot that you're just visiting, and unlike some people I can name'—Joy thinned her lips at Roxy—'I bet you don't travel with a metric ton worth of luggage. I'd be happy to let you borrow one of my dresses, but I'm sure they're much too large for you. Roxy?'
Roxy eyed me. 'I think she's too big for anything I have.'
My cheeks flared up at the implication. 'No, please, it's not that I didn't have room in my bag for any dresses; I just don't own any.'
'It's true, I've seen what's in her wardrobe. Nothing but blue jeans and those dreadful shapeless athletic trousers. I've tried to tell her the importance of a proper lady's wardrobe, but she became very snappish with me. Why, the state of her undergarments alone would drive off any man of taste.' Esme suddenly realized who was sitting next to her and smiled a barracuda smile at Christian.
His eyes did an amazing little twinkling thing that pooled heat deep inside me.
I slumped my shoulders in defeat. When my bras and undies became the topic of polite conversation, I knew it was time to go book myself a room in the Old Summoner's Home.
'Gotcha,' Roxy said. 'I understand completely. The only reason I wear dresses is because Richard—that's my husband; he's a doll—likes me in them. But if I had my druthers, I'd be just like you, slouching around in comfy old clothes and not caring how bad anyone thinks I look.'
'I just can't take you anywhere, can I?' Joy asked as she threw a muffin at Roxy. 'Apologize, you idiot!'
'For what?'
'Nothing. It doesn't matter. If you don't mind, I think I'll be taking Esme and Mr. Woogums home now.' I looked at Christian and gave him a toothy smile. 'I have a pair of black wool pants, if that will soothe your delicate sensibilities. They're the dressiest thing I brought.'
He rose when I did. 'I will be happy to escort you to your hotel, and thence to a restaurant for a little dinner before we got to the theater.'
'Oooh, dinner and a show! How come you never take us to dinner and a show?'
He smiled at Roxy. 'I would spend the entire evening fending off the hordes of your admirers.'
She fanned herself and grinned back at him. 'You gotta love all that suave debonairness!'
I decided not to comment on that. 'I'm quite capable of returning to my hotel by myself.'
'I have no doubt that you are. I will feel more comfortable, however, if I were to see you safely there before we leave for the evening.'
'We would be delighted to have your company,' Esme told him as she stood and adjusted the tie on her bathrobe. 'A gentleman's protection can never be undesirable.'
I snorted. 'Regardless, I will survive without his attendance.'
'I insist on accompanying you.'
'You can stuff your insistence where the sun doesn't shine,' I said sweetly.
Esme gasped. 'Allie! A lady never refers to a gentleman's rectal area, no matter how provoked she might be!'
Christian turned to Joy with his hands spread wide. 'You see what I must put up with?'
'Oh, my, he shouldn't have said that.' Esme shook her head. Joy and Roxy both nodded their agreement.
'Put up with?' I stalked over to where he stood and glared up at him. 'Put up with? No one is asking you to
'Dear, as I mentioned, a lady—'
Christian took a step closer to me, his eyes lit from within with something that felt a lot to my guarded mind like unadulterated fury. His breath fanned over my face as his voice wrapped me in unbreakably strong silken bonds. 'I have tolerated your abuse only because I realize how insecure you are regarding your appearance, not to mention frightened of what I represent, but I will entertain your rudeness no more. You have done considerable damage to my plans without offering an apology, you have pushed yourself into my life without my express desire that you do so, and you have met every kindness on my part with uncouth retorts and juvenile remarks. Enough! It is at an end. You might not be my Beloved, but there is a bond between us, even if you will not admit to it. Because it is the way of Dark Ones to protect their women, I
Have I mentioned that I detest bossy, controlling men? Really, it was his verbal attack on me that prompted me to do what I did. I'm not proud of it, but I am a survivor. I lived once in the control of a man, terrified to do anything even remotely against his wishes lest the repercussions (almost always involving physical pain) fell upon me, and I had made a solemn vow as I stood over Timothy's lifeless body that I would never again give anyone that sort of power over me.
I thanked Joy for the tea.
'I'm sure we'll be seeing more of you,' she answered with a quick glance at Christian. He raised an eyebrow at her. I ground my teeth at the obvious wordless byplay that was going on between the two of them, then stopped when I realized what I was doing.
I plucked a bobble from my sweater.
'Say good-bye, Esme,' I said as I made the keeper warding signs over the bobble. I turned my back on everyone to silently speak the words (I hate being watched when I practice my art), then turned back when the bobble glowed with Esme's light. Gathering up my coat, I ignored Christian when he did the same. Roxy chattered beside me as we walked to the front door. With my right hand hidden in front of me, I sketched a series of confining symbols on the door. I walked through the door, holding my breath and praying that the simple spell would work on a vampire as it did on others.
Christian stopped at the door, the oddest expression on his face. He frowned and tried to push through the barrier my spell had woven.
'Christian? What's the matter?'
His eyes narrowed on me as I smiled. 'What have you done?'
'Me? Juvenile, rude, insecure, frightened little me? Whatever can you mean?'
His voice dropped to the sexiest growl I'd ever heard. It sent little shivers of delight traipsing up and down my spine. 'You have done something to the door, Summoner. Something to keep me from passing through it.'
I flashed a few more teeth in my smile as I leaned in close to him. 'Never, ever think you can tell me what to do. I have a mind and a will of my own, and never again will I allow anyone to take that away from me.'
I turned with a cheery wave to a worried-looking Joy, and made my way out of the building to the drizzle- damped streets. A few minutes later I sat back with a sigh in a taxi I'd been lucky to find disgorging its occupants, wondering how long it would take Christian to realize that my limited spell-casting power—Summoners usually know
