Kate stepped off the elevator and started down the hall with relief. She had spent the last several hours involved in shop talk, encouraging, assuring and praising her various writers at the party. All of them were wonderful women, but they had little personal contact with her, so when they got the chance to see her in person they were all rather needy. Though enjoyable, the encounters were mentally and emotionally exhausting, and Kate couldn't wait to get back to the suite and relax.
She thought of Lucern. Taking off her hat, she ran her hands unhappily through her hair. She had been unnecessarily mean to him earlier. Her only excuse was frustration and weariness. She was frustrated because she'd managed to get the man here to the conference and was now worried it would do more damage than good. And she had worked late hours the last month trying to get ahead so her absence this week at the Conference would not be a problem. Added to that, she had been nervous the entire time, worrying over whether Lucern would show up or not.
Kate sighed to herself and dug around in her pocket for her room key. She would be extra nice to him to make up for her earlier irritability. After all, it wasn't his fault he was named after dairy products, was as pale as death half the time or spoke in such an old-fashioned way. He had been tricked into giving his word to come, then had kept it. He wasn't all bad. He was…
A pervert! That was Kate's first thought upon opening the door to the three-bedroom suite. She couldn't believe her eyes. She wasn't even sure at first as to what she was witnessing. Chris was sitting in the chair, and Kate would almost have believed he was watching television, except Lucern was bent over him, an arm around his shoulder and trailing down his chest as he buried his face in the editor's neck.
Kate gaped in honor. Lucern Argeneau was gay: And he was making a pass at her coworker!
"What the hell are you doing?'"
Lucern straightened abruptly and whirled to face the door where Kate stood gaping. His first thought was, uh-oh. His second was that it was a damned shame she was resistant to mind control, because he would have used it on her. Then the phone rang.
Lucern took a moment to reinforce his control over Chris so that the editor wouldn't hear or see what was going on; it was better not to free his mind until Lucern knew how he was going to explain this. Then, since Kate seemed incapable of moving at the moment, he left her standing by the door and walked into his bedroom to answer the phone. He was hoping it was Bastien.
As he'd hoped, it was his brother's voice on the line. Though the timing sucked. If his brother had called half an hour earlier, Lucern might have been able to control his bloodlust and avoided the scene in the other room. How the hell was he going to explain this to Kate?
"Lucern? Lucern!"
He gave up and turned his attention to Bastien. "Where are you?" he asked.
"I'm in Europe. I got your message, but you didn't say what the problem was. What—?"
"Hang up the phone." Kate was suddenly at his side. He should have locked the door. It appeared she had recovered from her shock, and judging from her expression, she was not a happy camper.
"Just a minute, Kate," Lucern scowled at her. "Go wait in the other room."
"No. I want to talk to you. Now." She grabbed for the receiver, but Lucern turned away, moving it out of her reach.
"Look, Bastien. I…" He paused and stared at the receiver in his hand after a click sounded in his ear.
"What were you doing to Chris?"
Lucern turned. "You hung up the phone!" He gaped at Kate.
"You're damned right I did," she hissed. She glanced toward the door to the other room. The Black Adder laugh track could be heard beyond. She turned back and accused in a harsh whisper, "I leave you alone for a few hours and come back to find you hitting on my friend? For your information, he isn't gay, so you're wasting your time. I can't believe you'd act like this, but you're going to explain yourself right now."
Lucern recoiled as if she'd hit him. "I wasn't hitting on your friend. What kind of man do you take me for?"
"Well, what kind of man am I supposed to take you for? You've never shown the least bit of interest in me, and I come back to find you all over Chris!"
Lucern stared at her for a moment, then slammed the dead phone down in its cradle. Snatching her by the wrist, he tugged her into his arms. She got out one gasp of surprise before his mouth closed over hers.
It was no soft, tentative kiss. Lucern had something to prove. Besides, he'd wanted her for so long that he couldn't have been soft had he wanted to. The kiss was a taking—he ravaged her mouth, forcing her lips open and thrusting his tongue inside, his body clenching at the taste of her. She was as hot and sweet as he had imagined.