He frowned at her. "Especially if you're in trouble. I am worried about your safety."
She flicked the card into her tote bag. "Now you sound like my father." She strode toward the door.
He opened it for her. "I am serious, Boucher. It is a dangerous world out there. More dangerous than you know."
She glowered at him. "I'm not incompetent, Jack. Just because you managed to disarm me, it doesn't mean anyone else can."
"Signorina, you have disarmed me."
She swallowed hard. Did she actually have an effect on him? Or did he just say these things to keep her constantly off balance?
She walked into the vestibule and halted at the sight of the bride. She was a lovely young woman with long blonde hair partially hidden beneath a gossamer white veil. She clutched a huge bouquet of white lilies and roses. Her eyes glittered with excitement, and she glanced their way with a brilliant smile.
The "Wedding March" began, and she started down the aisle. The train of her elegant white gown skimmed the floor behind her.
"Wow," Lara whispered. "What a beautiful bride. She was absolutely beaming with joy."
Jack rested a hand against his chest and smiled. "Amore. It makes people glow from the inside."
"You believe in true love? And happily ever after?"
His smile faded. "Ever after is a very long time. It hasn't been that happy for me." He led her to a side door.
What had happened to Jack? Damn, but she wanted to know more. She wanted to know everything about him.
She glanced back. "I left the gift in the storeroom. Will you give it to the bride?"
"Yes." He held the side door open. "Will you call me if you're in trouble?"
"Maybe." She glanced at him, and their eyes met. Her heart stilled as if time had stopped. And in that timeless moment of a few seconds, she knew she would call him. She would not be able to resist him. There was something about him that awakened her senses and made her ache with want.
But how could she trust a man who could manipulate peoples' minds? And what if he was manipulating her? Was her attraction to him real, or was he tricking her?
He touched her hair. "Be careful out there, Butch."
Her heart squeezed in her chest. "My name is Lara." She hurried down the steps, but heard his whisper float toward her on a night breeze.
"Lara Boucher. I knew it would sound beautiful."
CHAPTER 4
Jack winced at the blood-curdling shriek. How could such a tiny bundle of humanity be so loud? And so terrifying? "I don't think she likes me." He quickly handed the newborn back to her father.
Roman Draganesti chuckled. "You were holding her like a sword being used to knight someone." He cradled his tiny daughter close to his chest and jiggled her up and down.
Jack stepped back, afraid that more than noise would emerge from the babe's mouth. "That jostling doesn't make her ill?"
"It soothes her." Shanna Draganesti gave them a weary smile from her hospital bed at Romatech Industries. "It reminds her of being inside of me."
"She's a bonny lass." Angus MacKay gave the newborn an appraising look. "She'll be needing a godfather, no doubt?"
Angus's wife, Emma, laughed. "Now that was subtle."
She perched on the hospital bed next to Shanna. "How are you, dear?"
"I'm fine," Shanna said. "But I hated missing the wedding."
"I was there!" Her two-year-old son, Constantine, sat at the foot of the bed. "I was the ring bearer."
"And you did a great job," Jack said, then turned to Roman. "What have you named your daughter?"
"Sofia." Roman swayed slightly as the baby fell asleep in his arms. "After my mother."
"A lovely name for a lovely little girl," Emma said.
Jack kept a tactful silence. The babe looked too fragile and frightening to him. But then, he hadn't had any experience with infants before this.
After the wedding ceremony, there'd been a short reception at the church to keep up appearances for the bride's mortal friends and family. Then the party had moved to the banquet hall at Romatech Industries where the Vamps could be themselves and toast the newlyweds with Bubbly Blood, a mixture of synthetic blood and champagne.
Jack had congratulated Ian and his bride, then wandered down the hall to the Romatech clinic where Shanna Draganesti had given birth to her second child.
He still marveled over the recent changes in the Vamp world. All his bachelor friends were suddenly succumbing to the lure of amove. Roman and Shanna seemed quite content. His boss, Angus MacKay, was deliriously happy with his wife, Emma. Jean-Luc had found Heather, and now Ian had married Toni.
You would think there was something in the water, but none of the Vamps drank water. They all survived off synthetic blood, first invented by Roman in 1987.
Only their enemy, the Malcontents, continued to feed off mortals, often killing them in the process.
Roman lowered his sleeping daughter into the bassinette next to the hospital bed.
"Isn't she beautiful?" Shanna whispered. "She has her daddy's dark hair."
Roman tucked a pink blanket around the baby. "I'm sorry I missed her arrival. I wanted to take the Stay-Awake drug."
"And I said no." Shanna smiled at her husband. "All you missed was me groaning and cursing men to hell for half the day. And when I was done screaming, Sofia took over."
"Look what I can do." Constantine tugged on Jack's suit jacket.
Jack glanced down just in time to see Roman's son vanish.
"Ta-da!" Tino reappeared across the room.
"Santo cielo, that's amazing!" Jack had already heard about Constantine's ability to teleport, but he figured the little boy was in need of some attention after the birth of his sister. And it truly was amazing. As far as Jack knew, Tino was the only mortal on earth who could teleport.
"Just remember not to do that tomorrow when your grandpa and grandma come to visit," Roman warned his son.
"I know." Tino hung his head. "Grandpa won't like me if he knows I'm different."
"He loves you," Shanna insisted. "We all love you. Grandpa just has trouble... understanding."
That was an understatement. Jack considered Shanna's father a loose cannon. As the head of the CIA Stake-Out team, Sean Whelan had started off wanting to kill all the Undead. Now that his daughter was married and having children with a powerful Vamp, Sean had reluctantly backed off the Vamps and was concentrating on the Malcontents.
Jack patted the little boy on the shoulder. "I think your grandpa would be jealous. You can do so many amazing things that he could never do."
Tino's blue eyes lit up. "Really?" He turned to his godfather. "Uncle Angus, when can I have a sword? You said you would give me one."
"Oh great," Shanna muttered and fell back against her pillows.
Emma chuckled. "We won't let him get hurt."
Angus swung the boy up into his arms. "Ye have to be able to lift a sword before ye can wield it."
Constantine wrapped his hands around Angus's neck. "I'm hungry."
"There's some food at the reception. Would ye like to go with me?" Angus asked.
"Oh yes!" Constantine squirmed in his godfather's arms. "I want to see Toni!"
"Verra well." Angus headed toward the door. "I'll bring him back in a little while."
"Thanks," Shanna said. "And please ask Ian and Toni to stop by before they leave. I was so sorry to miss the wedding."
"I'll tell you all about it," Emma said.
"Scusi." Jack bowed to the ladies and nodded at Roman, then followed Angus out the door.
"I've reconsidered your offer," he told his boss as they walked down the hall. "I'll be happy to fill in for Ian." Since Ian was leaving for a three-month-long honeymoon with Toni, the position of head of security at Romatech Industries was temporarily vacant.
"Excellent." Angus set a squirming Tino down and let the boy run ahead of them. "But I'm wondering why ye changed yer mind. Last night at the party, ye told me ye were eager to return to Europe to search for Casimir."
Jack shrugged. "Our leads are dead. Literally." All of the recent sightings of Casimir had been in Eastern Europe, although the Vamps had never been able to pinpoint his exact location. Whenever one of Casimir's men turned informant, they never survived more than a few nights. "We're no closer to finding Casimir now than we were two years ago."
"Aye, 'tis verra frustrating."
Damned frustrating. Jack had serious doubts they could ever capture the leader of the Malcontents, not when he could simply teleport away if they got anywhere in his vicinity. "I thought about what you said, and you're right. The Russian-American coven will seek revenge."
Jack had helped Ian and Toni defeat the local Russian Malcontents when they'd taken over the Digital Vampire Network. That had been five months ago, just before Christmas. "Since I was involved in the incident at DVN, I should be here for the repercussions."
Angus nodded. "Did ye know they're calling the battle at DVN a massacre?"
"I'm not surprised." Jack could hear music as they approached the banquet hall. The band was playing a waltz. What a shame he couldn't invite Lara Boucher here. How glorious it would feel to hold her in his arms and swirl around the floor till they were both breathless and dizzy. He'd tighten his embrace until her soft breasts-
"Zoltan told me ye killed six Malcontents that night," Angus continued.
Jack frowned as the lovely mental image of Lara wavered and disappeared. "Zoltan talks too much. I stopped counting the dead years ago. What's the point?"
Angus snorted. "The point is for every Malcontent ye kill, ye are saving countless mortals who would have been his victims."
"Oh right." Jack smiled wryly. "I'm one of the good guys." He doubted Lara Boucher would believe that. There had been two mortal women in his past, and they hadn't believed it.
Angus slapped him on the back. "Ye're a good lad, all right. I'm glad ye decided to stay in New York, but I'm wondering if yer decision has something to do with the pretty mortal who crashed Ian's wedding. I believe Robby said her name was Susie?"
"Robby talks too much."
"Robby was right to report a potential threat. She came to the wedding looking for you and carrying a weapon. Did she mean to do ye harm?"
Jack groaned inwardly. He should have known Robby would check that bag before handing it over. "Don't worry about it. I can handle her."
"How do ye know her?"
"She's a police officer."
"The devil take it," Angus muttered. "How much does she know?"
"Nothing. She and her partner were called to the hotel when our party got a little too rowdy." Jack gave his boss a wry look. "You all left me with a mess to clean up. Thank God Phineas came back with the Vampy Maids."
"Ye got the room back to normal?" When Jack nodded, Angus continued. "And ye followed standard protocol?"
"Yes. I erased all signs and memories that we were ever there. The hotel has no record of us. The paramedics who came for Laszlo have no memory of it. Even the dispatcher who called the police to the scene cannot remember it."
Angus paused outside the open doors to the banquet hall. "Why did paramedics come for Laszlo?"
Jack winced. Now he had talked too much. "She called them."
"Susie?"
"Her name is Lara." Jack didn't give out her last name. Somehow he felt possessive of that knowledge. He wanted to be the only one who would investigate her.
"Look!" Constantine pointed across the banquet hall. "There's Bethany and her mom. Can I go see them?"
Angus glanced at Jean-Luc's mortal wife and stepdaughter. "Sure, lad." As the boy scampered off, Angus turned to Jack. "Laszlo told me she couldna be controlled with our psychic power."
"Laszlo talks too much."
Angus narrowed his green eyes. "Then it is true? Ye couldna erase her memories?"
Jack shifted his weight. "No. She's immune somehow."
"She's a threat-"
"No. I can handle her. The situation is under control."
Angus stared at the waltzing couples as they twirled about the dance floor. "How was she able to track you?"
"She knew from the claymores Ian left in the hotel room that the groom was Scottish," Jack began.
"So she crashed weddings with a Scottish groom till she found you?" Angus turned his attention back to Jack.
"Yes." Jack kept his face blank, aware that his boss was studying him carefully.
"She sounds clever. Robby said she was passing fair."
Jack snorted, then resumed his bland expression.
Angus arched a brow. "No comment?"
Jack gave him an annoyed look. "I've known you almost two hundred years, Angus. You're fishing."
Angus's mouth twitched. "Verra well. Robby actually said she was verra lovely."
Jack felt a strange sense of pride on Lara's behalf. "That would be correct."
Angus leaned back against the door frame and folded his arms. "Does she realize all signs of the party were erased?"
"Yes."
"And being a clever lass, she has questions, no doubt." Angus frowned. "I would order you never to see her again, but I'm afraid ye would disobey. I doona want to fire you. Ye're too valuable to the company."