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busy lately helping set up a nursery and such."
    "Lissianna? That's your sister, right?" Terri asked. "Kate mentioned her."
    "Yes." He hesitated, then admitted, "Kate hasn't spoken much about you to me. Apparently she told Lucern about you, but I don't see him as often as all that. I've been bouncing between Canada and Europe for most of the last six months, and only shifted to New York recently," he explained, so she wouldn't be offended that Kate hadn't told him about her. "I notice you don't have much of a British accent. You weren't born there. Did you move to England because your husband is from there, or—"
    "I'm not married," Terri said quietly.
    "Oh." Bastien nodded, unable to stop the smile that spread across his lips. He was glad she wasn't married, though he wasn't prepared to examine why too closely. "Well. Take your time about settling in. I'll call you when Mrs. Houlihan has finished making—"
    He stopped speaking as a sudden shriek sounded from the living room.

Chapter Three
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    Bastien cursed under his breath and hurried out of the guestroom. He was very aware, as he ran back up the hall, that Terri was on his heels. He'd rather she wasn't; the Lord alone knew what they were about to find. Well, actually, with Vincent in the penthouse it was an easy guess. He might have tried to bite Mrs. Houlihan again and failed to control her mind, but that was doubtful. Vincent was as old as Bastien, and found it easy to manipulate the minds of his victims. Which meant that Mrs. Houlihan had probably walked in on him biting Kate's coworker.
    That was exactly what had happened, Bastien saw as he skidded into the living room. Vincent must have been serious when he'd said he was hungry. The man was still bent over the back of the couch, his teeth fastened on C.K.'s neck. He hadn't stopped feeding at Mrs. Houlihan's interruption, but had merely speared the housekeeper with hard eyes. No doubt he was trying to control the woman's thoughts as he fed, but he hadn't succeeded by the time Bastien arrived on the scene.
    Terri was on Bastien's heels, and he felt alarm course through him at the thought of her witnessing this, but even as she flew into the room behind him, Vincent retracted his teeth and straightened.
    Just beginning to relax, Bastien noted the horrified stare of his housekeeper and followed her gaze to Chris Keyes's neck. He immediately grimaced upon spotting the two red dots there, one with a teardrop of blood sliding down the skin beneath. Bastien gave Vincent a look that made his cousin glance down. Sighting the problem, Vinny nonchalantly reached down and turned his dazed victim's head enough to hide the mark from Terri's view.
    Fortunately, she didn't appear to have noticed. Her focus was on the housekeeper. "It's okay," she said soothingly, moving to the woman's side. "Mrs. Houlihan, is it?"
    The housekeeper wasn't in the mood to be soothed. She jerked away from Terri's gentle hold as if the younger woman were tainted.
    "It's not all right," she snapped, then turned on Bastien in fury. "Mr. Argeneau, sir, you've been a good employer. You have. And this has been an easy job, and I'll not deny it. You're hardly here, there's no cooking involved and little more than dusting. I spend most days watching my soap operas. But now you've brought these… these… monsters here." She included everyone in her sweeping look. "I'm no one's dinner. I quit."
    "Mrs. Houlihan." Bastien moved to follow as the woman whirled to storm out of the room, pausing when Terri caught his arm.
    "Perhaps you should let her go," Terri suggested quietly. "The woman's obviously high-strung. I mean, she can't really believe Vincent is a vampire. That's just silly. I'm thinking she's just upset that she'll actually have to start working."
    "I'm sure that's it," Vincent agreed, but his innocent expression was unable to fool Bastien for a moment. His cousin was silently laughing his head off at the situation. He'd always had a slightly