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with myself for being glad. What did I care what Laish
thought of what Grams calls my “ladybusiness”?
    I
could feel his hot breath against my inner thighs and I couldn’t
help thinking I’d never had a guy so close down there before. My
skin broke out in a rash of chillbumps and my heart started to speed up as I
waited for him to make some kind of a move…or at least make a
lascivious comment.
    But Laish surprised
me. He simply examined me thoroughly and then nodded, as though in
satisfaction.
    “ All right. You’re clean.” He stood in one smooth motion and
wrapped the towel around me.
    “ What—that’s it?” I couldn’t help asking.
    He raised an eyebrow
at me. “Are you disappointed? I hope you didn’t imagine I would
make advances on you in your current weakened condition.”
    “ I’m not weak.” I drew myself up, wishing it was true. “And
I’m not disappointed.
Just…surprised.”
    “ Just because I come from the realm of lust and evil doesn’t
mean I am not a gentleman.” His ruby eyes flashed. “Besides—there’s
no sport in taking advantage of a woman already in a compromising
position. I much prefer a long, drawn-out seduction, mon ange.”
    I bit my lip, my
heart beating double time again for some reason.
    “ You know you’ll never seduce me. I’ll never give it up for
you, Laish, even if you did save my life. Twice.”
    His eyes flashed
again. “That remains to be seen. Now, have you anything dry to
change into? We need to talk.”
    I thought
about going into my room for new clothes, but then I risked waking
Grams. Noises don’t bother her while she’s wearing her Darth Vader
mask but movement around her bed wakes her up every time. And while
she would have to be told everything that had happened eventually
(the giant sinkhole in her bedroom was going to be impossible to
hide) I decided I would rather wait until after Laish was gone to
let her know what had happened.
    Looking around
the bathroom, I saw my fuzzy pink bathrobe hanging on the back of
the door. That should be warm and comfortable and it wouldn’t show
anything I wanted to keep hidden—aka, the aforementioned
“ladybusiness.”
    “ I’ve got something,” I told Laish. “You can wait in the
living room.”
    “ Don’t be long,” he said, and left, closing the door behind him.
    I slipped out of the
wet t-shirt and panties and pulled on the robe. Although I didn’t
like being naked beneath it, there wasn’t much else I could do.
    Next I took a look at my poor fingernails. They were pretty
ragged from all the clawing I’d done at the lip of the sinkhole and
I still had a splinter beneath one of them—my right index finger. I
pulled it out, wincing at the sharp little pain and ran some cool
water over it. It was bleeding so I wrapped a band aid from the
medicine cabinet around it. That was going to hurt for a while.
    With my hands
tended to, I took a moment to brush my teeth, getting rid of the
last of the bad taste, and ran a pick through my hair. Then,
feeling more human, I belted the robe tightly and walked out into
the living room where Laish was pacing back and forth.
    “ All right,” I said. “Let’s talk.”

Chapter Five
    Laish

    “ All right, let’s talk,” the little witch said, putting a hand
on her hip.
    I frowned at
her, trying to control my irritation. Did she not realize what
peril she had been in? If I hadn’t come to her the moment she
called, she would be dead by now, both her body and soul digesting
in the belly of the voracious Hellspawn. And yet she was acting as
if nothing had happened.
    “ Yes, let us talk,” I said, going over to the couch. I sat and patted a
spot beside me. “Come here.”
    She
came—reluctantly, I thought—and settled beside me, not where I had
indicated but on the far side of the couch. She crossed her arms
and legs tightly as she turned to face me, presenting a closed face
and a tight mouth. Clearly she expected to be lectured.
    I had been
prepared to