Tall, Dark & Hungry (11 page)

"We'll call on you if we need any help," he spoke up, drawing the woman's eye and her full attention.

Her attitude changed in a heartbeat, her lips un-pursing to become a warm smile. "Well, hello."

The clerk spoke as if stumbling across a lovely treasure in her store. Bastien tried not to grimace. He was a good-looking man, and used to women paying him attention, but he had seen the way this one's eyes had skated from his face to the expensive watch he wore, to the family signet ring with the Argeneau
A
etched in diamonds. She smelled money, and liked the smell.

Bastien glanced toward Terri to see how she was reacting, only to find that she'd moved off and was now examining a rather pretty black satin bra that would look quite lovely on her. At least, it did in his mind as he imagined it. Forgetting about the clerk, he moved after Terri.

"That's lovely."

"Yes, it is," she agreed with a grin.

"There are matching panties for it." The clerk had followed, and now she couldn't be more helpful. Moving past them she returned with several pairs. "Let's see. I'm a small. That would make you… what?" She glanced down to consider Terri. "An extra-large?" she suggested innocently. Then she turned to Bastien and added in a husky voice, "I can model these for you."

Bastien had to bite his lip as Terri's eyes nearly popped out of her head. She flushed, then seemed to go terribly calm. Her voice was kind when she spoke. "That won't be necessary, I'm sure. And no, I'm not an extra-large. But don't feel bad for making the error. It's the boobs," she said bluntly. "It can be terrible being so well endowed. They often give the first impression that you're large everywhere." Her gaze dropped briefly over the woman's almost flat chest, and she commented, "You're lucky you don't have any at all to cause that problem."

While  the  clerk  choked  on that, Terri  added, "Don't worry, though, a little more experience in your
career
and I'm sure you'll get the hang of sizing your customers properly."

Bastien grinned at the furious clerk over Terri's head, enjoying the woman's discomfort. Had he thought Terri needed protecting? Obviously not.

Terri turned to him and said, "I think I've had enough shopping for now. How about an ice cream?" She didn't wait for an answer, but marched off toward the escalator at a quick clip.

"You handled that beautifully," Bastien said as he caught up to her.

"I was a bitch," Terri responded. "And halfway through my ice cream I'm going to feel horrible for behaving so badly."

He stared at her blankly. This was her idea of being a bitch? And she'd feel bad after the way the clerk had treated her? If so, then it
did
seem Terri needed protecting. From herself, Bastien decided. She'd handled the woman with class and much more kindly than most would have. Others would have got huffy, or just plain freaked. Someone else might have complained to management and had the girl fired. Terri had merely given her a gentle set-down. And she felt bad for it! Incredible.

Chapter Six

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Terri was stepping out of the shower when the phone started ringing. Snatching a towel off the rack, she wrapped it around herself and ran for the bedroom and the phone on the bedside table.

"Hello?" she said breathlessly, dropping to sit on the edge of the rumpled bed.

"Terri?"

"Kate!" She sat up straight, a smile curving her lips. She was pleased to hear from her cousin. She knew that Lucern had called and spoken to Bastien Friday night to assure him that they'd arrived in California safely, but Terri had been sound asleep at the time and had missed her chance to speak to Kate. Now it was Monday morning, and the first time either Kate or Lucern had called again as far as Terri knew. "How's the conference going?"

"It's going fine," her cousin assured her, adding apologetically, "I'm sorry about this. Here you flew all the way over to spend time with me and help with the wedding, and I—"

"Don't worry about it," Terri interrupted. "It's work. I understand. Besides, Bastien has been taking me around the city and showing me a good time, so it's—"

"What?" Kate said. "I'm sorry, Terri, but did you just say that Bastien has been taking you around the city and is showing you a good time?"

"Yes." Perplexed by her reaction, Terri listened as a man's voice—Lucern's, she imagined—rumbled in the distance. Then Kate must have covered the phone, because all Terri could hear were bits of a muffled conversation.

"Sorry," she apologized at last, speaking clearly into the phone again. Then she asked in nonchalant tones, "So,
how
has Bastien been showing you a good time?"

"How?" Terri dropped back to lie on the bed. She stared at the awning overhead. "Well, Saturday he took me out for breakfast, then around to the flea markets. We wandered a couple of those for a bit, then—."

"Flea markets?" Kate interrupted with disbelief. "You mean
outdoor,
open-air flea markets?"

"Yes. I take it you know about his photosensitvity, then—caused by the medication he's taking?"

There was a pause from the other end of the line. "Yes. I knew about his photosensitivity."

That was it. No explanation of what the medication was, or what it was for. Terri had briefly hoped her cousin would enlighten her. Disappointed, she forced herself to continue. "Anyway, the sun started getting to him after the second flea market—well, really I think it was getting to him during the first, but he only admitted it and explained about his condition at the second. Once he did, we caught a taxi to Macy's and switched to indoor shopping. Which was fun," she added quickly. "We mostly just browsed in shops and talked and ate. It was nice and relaxing. Then we came back here, got changed, and went out for dinner. He claimed he was completely recovered by the time dinner was done, and offered to take me to a movie, but I'd noticed he still wasn't eating much and thought he might still be feeling a little rough, so I claimed I was a bit tuckered out from all that walking and probably suffering a bit of jet lag. So we stayed in."

Terri paused and cocked her head as Kate indulged in another muffled conversation with Lucern on the other end of the phone. It sounded like she was passing on the details of Terri's Saturday.

"I'm sorry." Her cousin was back, sounding a bit breathless. "What about Sunday? Did you two do anything Sunday?"

"Oh… er… well, yes," Terri admitted, then sighed and launched into the explanation. "We started a little later on Sunday. Bastien had to go down to his office and take care of some business, so we went out for brunch when he got back. There was some kind of parade going on when we came out of the restaurant, so we stood under the awning of a store to watch. Then we went to a couple of street fairs. I wasn't sure we should, what with his condition and all, but it was an overcast day and he wore a long-sleeved shirt and this hat and glasses and…" She laughed at the memory. He had looked pretty silly in the gear. He'd reminded her of the Invisible Man, trying to cover up every patch of his nonexistent skin to hide his state, or a celebrity playing Hide from the Public. Still, it wasn't his fault, and they'd had great fun at the street fair.

"Then we picked up some takeout Chinese and brought it back to eat with Chris," she finished, then added, "Speaking of Chris, Katie, he's not taking this broken leg thing at all well. He's terribly depressed and whiney. Or, has he always been whiney?"

"Oh, who cares about Chris!" her cousin exclaimed impatiently. "Tell me what else you and Bastien did."

"Katie!" Terri gave a laugh.

"Oh, you know what I mean. He'll be fine. And men are always whiney when they're injured or hurt. Now, tell me what else you did Sunday."

"Well, that was about it. We ate Chinese food in, and watched some rented movies. It was nice and relaxing. Bastien's a charming host."

"Yes, he can be charming." The grin in Kate's voice was obvious. "Where is he now?"

"In the Argeneau offices."

"No, he isn't," Kate said promptly. "I called there first and there was no answer. Even his secretary, Meredith, isn't in. But then, she won't arrive for another hour, I don't think."

"He must be on his way back up here," Terri decided. "He only went down to leave Meredith some instructions for the day. We're going to the museum."

"What?" Kate cried. "On a workday?"

"When I got up this morning, he said he'd had a business meeting scheduled for the day, but that the key attendee had canceled and rescheduled, so he thought he'd go to the museum. He invited me to go with him," she explained, twisting the phone cord around her finger. Her news was followed by yet another muffled conversation at the other end of the phone, but this time the hand or whatever Kate was using to cover the phone, must have slipped, because Terri heard Lucern grunt and say what sounded like "… he's probably the key attendee who canceled." Then the phone was covered properly, and Terri couldn't make out the rest.

Letting the cord unravel from her finger, she shifted onto her side on the bed and ran her free hand over the comforter beneath her, the same that had covered her when she'd awoken Saturday morning. Terri had recognized it from Bastien's bed in the master suite, and knew he must have carried her to bed and covered her with it. He hadn't asked for it back yet, and she hadn't thought to return it. In truth, she was rather reluctant to do so. It smelled so good.

Smiling, she buried her nose in the material and inhaled the scent clinging to it. The duvet still smelled of Bastien, a smell she liked. Terri decided she'd have to ask him what cologne he wore. Perhaps she'd buy it as a gift for someone someday.

"Terri?"

"Yes." She shifted and sat up guiltily on the bed, embarrassed despite the fact that Kate couldn't possibly see what she was doing.

"You're very lucky. Bastien is a wonderful man. Smart, hardworking, nice, and a perfect gentleman, he'll—"

"Kate," Terri interrupted. "We're going to the museum. It isn't necessarily a date. The man's just being a good host until you get back."

"Uh-huh." Her cousin didn't sound convinced. "Have fun. I know you will. And tell him hello from us. We'll call again in the next couple of days to see how the romance is progressing."

"There's no romance to progress!" Terri protested. But she was speaking to dead air. Kate had already hung up the phone. Terri stared at the receiver in her hand with dismay. Good Lord, she thought faintly, had Kate and Lucern lost their minds? She and Bastien were just going to the museum, but to those two that was apparently the equivalent of a romance. Jeez, she hoped the guy didn't ever ask her out on a real date. Kate and Lucern would consider them as good as married.

Shaking her head, Terri replaced the receiver and pushed herself off the bed. She had to get dressed and fix her hair. She was supposed to be ready to go in fifteen minutes.

"Oh, look!"

Bastien smiled as Terri rushed to the next exhibit: a work in enamel, silver, silver-gilt, and gold.

" 'A Reliquary of the True Cross (Staurotheke), late eighth, early ninth century Byzantine,' " she read aloud as he caught up to her. She stepped back, tilting her head first left, then right, and squinted before pronouncing, "It's really ugly, huh? Looks kind of Picasso-ish to me."

Bastien glanced at the piece and nodded. He had to agree, it did look rather Picasso-ish. Not that Terri saw him nod; she'd already noticed the next exhibit in the room and rushed off with another "Oh, look!"

Chuckling softly, Bastien followed. The next piece was a small house-shaped box seven or eight inches tall, and just about as wide.

" 'Bursa Reliquary, early 900s, North Italian, Bone, copper-gilt, wood,'" she read to him, then sighed. As she peered at it, this time she didn't step back, but leaned closer and walked slowly around its glass case. "Look at the detail," she said with awe as she came around to the front. "I can't believe they were able to do such delicate work back then. It must have taken someone forever to make this."

"Yes," Bastien agreed, stepping closer to eye the object with new interest.

"Oh, lo—"

Bastien turned with surprise when the usual refrain was cut short. She was staring at him in dismay. Before he could ask what was wrong, she blurted, "I'm sorry. I'm probably driving you crazy, dragging you around here like this. I—"

"Not at all," he assured her. "I'm enjoying myself. And your enthusiasm just makes me enjoy it more."

"Really?" She appeared uncertain.

"Really," he assured her, his hand moving of its own volition to catch hers and give a reassuring squeeze. And it was true; he couldn't think of a more delightful companion with whom to visit the museum. Terri's excitement and awe were not just a treat to watch, but were also infections. These were feelings Bastien hadn't experienced in a long while. It had been the same at the flea markets and street fair. Her delight in the simplest things, her laughter and enjoyment in each outing, had rubbed off on him, adding to his own pleasure.

Terri smiled at him, then her gaze drifted down to their entwined hands. A light blush rose to color her cheeks.

Bastien had a sudden urge to lean forward and kiss her, but they were in the middle of the Medieval Christianity section, and that just didn't seem to be the place for kisses. So he let go of her hand and glanced toward the next exhibit. "Oh, look," he teased lightly. "Another reliquary."

Terri grinned, then moved to the next glass case. Soon her shyness vanished, and she was again exclaiming over this statue or that painting.

Bastien followed her, enjoying her reactions as much as any of the exhibits. By the time they decided to stop for something to eat and drink, he had come to the conclusion that this woman was a work of art in herself. Her responses and pleasure were so unaffected and natural, it was fascinating to watch. She was just as precious as any of the items here. She was a treasure he'd been fortunate to have had cast in his path.