A Quick Bite (17 page)

“They haven’t bothered much with us since Dad ran off with his secretary.”

Lissianna frowned. “I thought your mother was widowed?”

“He died before they could divorce,” Greg explained. “He and his girlfriend were killed just a week after they ran off. The secretary’s husband crashed into the car they were in.” Greg smiled wryly. “Mother tried not to be too
smug about it, but she did quote the old saw ‘you reap what you sow.’”

Lissianna bit her lip to keep back her smile, and asked, “Why did you become a psychologist?”

“Why?” He blew his breath out. “I guess I like to help people. There’s no greater satisfaction than knowing you’ve helped someone get over something and made his or her life a little easier.”

Lissianna felt admiration well up in her. “That’s—”

“Before you say something nice, you should remember I also get paid to help them.”

She laughed and shook her head, knowing he was being modest and probably uncomfortable at appearing too noble. “You could make just as much money at several other jobs and not be helping people.”

Greg shrugged and turned back to the mirror. “Why aren’t you married?”

Lissianna blinked at the question, opened her mouth to answer, then paused and narrowed her eyes as she recalled she was supposed to be asking questions now. Rather than remind him of that, she simply asked, “Why aren’t
you
?”

His gaze met hers in the mirror, and she almost expected him to argue that he’d asked first, but then he answered, “I almost was.”

Lissianna arched an eyebrow. “Almost?”

Greg nodded, his attention on shaving as he said, “Meredith. I met her the first week of the first year of university. I rescued her from an abusive boyfriend outside the university pub. We hit it off and started dating.” He shrugged. “We dated for two years, and everyone started expecting we’d marry, so I proposed and everyone started going crazy making wedding arrangements.”

“What happened?” Lissianna asked curiously.

Greg sighed and peered down into the sink as he rinsed the razor. “The closer the wedding got, the more anxious I got about the whole thing. Everyone kept saying it was just cold feet, so I kept letting it go; but about a month before the wedding my psychology professor said I seemed off and asked me what was wrong.” He paused to explain, “The wedding was set to take place the week after end of term.

“Anyway,” Greg continued, “he asked, and I blurted everything out. I don’t think I made much sense. He took me down to the break room, gave me a coffee, and got me talking. We were there forever, but by the time I left, I knew I couldn’t marry Meredith. The next day I broke it to her, then changed my major to psychology.”

Lissianna’s eyes widened. “You weren’t a psychology major at the time?”

Greg grinned and shook his head. “Journalism, and while I liked it well enough, as far as I was concerned, that professor saved me a lot of grief. I wanted to do that for others.”

Lissianna considered what he’d said, then considered what he hadn’t said and asked, “From one talk with him you were able to see that Meredith wasn’t right for you?”

“Not exactly. That one talk made me look at the things that had been bothering me for months, the reasons behind why I was getting anxious about the wedding.”

“Which was?”

He grimaced, then blew a breath out, and said, “She was too dependent.”

Lissianna waited patiently for him to explain.

“I told you I met her by rescuing her from an abusive boyfriend, but after that I was constantly rescuing her.
Not from anything major like that again, but she was always coming to me with little problems and expecting me to solve them. She wanted someone to take care of her. She even admitted she wasn’t at university to get an education but to find a husband. She wanted to be a housewife and raise babies. I started having nightmares about drowning and…”

Greg shook his head. “I suppose that sounds odd, since I just said I wanted to help people like my psychology professor had helped me.”

“Maybe a little. It
is
what you do, after all, help people with their problems.”

“Ah, but that’s the key, I
help
them with their problems. They do all the hard work, I just guide them and help them work things out. Meredith
wanted
to be taken care of. She wanted the problems solved for her. It’s like the difference between shipping a boatload of bottled water to a drought-stricken area, and sending them some water, plus the equipment and know-how to dig wells and irrigate and so on. If you send them water, they’ll just need more later, send them
some
water
and
the know-how and equipment, and they have the water to get them through until they can put the equipment and know-how to use it to take care of their own needs.

“My patients are looking for the equipment and know-how to be independent…like you want to be. Meredith just wanted the water…over and over again. She reveled in her dependency. She flat out said she needed me. She wouldn’t even admit to having an opinion about small things like which restaurant to go to when we went out. Every decision was mine.”

Greg shook his head. “Some men would like that, but it wasn’t what I wanted in a wife. For me, marriage should be about partnership. How can you love someone you
have to take care of like a child all the time? A wife is supposed to be a partner, and yes partners help each other when they need it, but they are supposed to be together because they
want to
in my book, not because one needs the other. With Meredith, I would
always
have had to be stronger and carry the burden. I wanted—”

“An equal,” Lissianna finished for him.

“Yes.” Greg met her gaze in the mirror, then shook his head and marveled. “This is all truly strange. I keep forgetting what you are.”

Lissianna stilled. “Does it matter?”

“Yes and no,” he admitted. “It doesn’t seem to affect the way I see you, or I wouldn’t keep forgetting it’s what you are. On the other hand, it’s like meeting a rock star or something. I mean, how many guys can say they know real live vampires?”

“The question is, how many live to repeat it.”

Lissianna and Greg turned sharply at that dry remark to find Mirabeau—dressed and ready to go—in the doorway.

“Here you are!” Jeanne Louise appeared behind her and beamed a smile at them. “We brought clothes. Mirabeau and Elspeth helped. Come on out and have a look.”

“We weren’t sure what you’d want to wear, Greg,” Elspeth said, straightening from setting a stack of clothes on the bed beside two others. “So we brought a whole selection.”

Lissianna led Greg to the bed to look at the clothes. They had brought quite a selection. Greg had his choice of jeans and T-shirts, suits, or dress pants and sweaters. There was also a bundle of undershirts, boxers, and jockey shorts. He looked over the collection, then chose a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and turned away.

“Thank you, ladies,” he said as he disappeared back into the bathroom to dress.

Elspeth glanced at Jeanne Louise and shrugged. “I guess we both lose the bet.”

“What bet?” Thomas asked, entering the room.

“Boxers or briefs,” Jeanne Louise answered. “I was betting boxers. Elspeth thought briefs. Instead he went commando.”

“Perhaps he just didn’t want to use someone else’s underwear,” Lissianna suggested, but her mind was now fixed on the fact that Greg was going commando.

“It’s cold out,” Elspeth commented. “I hope he doesn’t get a chill.”

They fell silent as the bathroom door opened and Greg stepped out. “The jeans are a bit tight, but should do.”

Lissianna’s gaze slid over the jeans and T-shirt he’d selected from the pile on the bed. The clothes fit him like a glove, and the man looked as sexy as hell.

“You look fine,” Elspeth assured him.

“Good, then we can go. I’m absolutely starved.”

“Hmm. I’m feeling a little peckish, myself,” Mirabeau murmured, and Lissianna stopped ogling Greg to turn on her friend with shock. Mirabeau only grinned and moved toward the door, murmuring, “My, my. Someone’s protective of the little mortal, aren’t they?”

The words had been a bare whisper, and Greg couldn’t possibly have heard, but Lissianna felt herself blush as her cousins turned to eye her with amusement. Their hearing was as good as hers and they had, of course, heard the teasing comment.

“Are you sure we should do this? I don’t think Mother and Aunt Marguerite are going to be too happy about our taking him out,” Elspeth suggested.

“Then they should have thought to pick up some food for him,” Lissianna said grimly. “Besides, they’ll never know we went. We’ll be back long before they’re awake.”

Chapter 11

“She’s up!”

Everyone in the van jumped as Vicki screeched those words, including Thomas, who was startled into slamming on the brakes, sending them all jerking in their seats.

“Geez,” Lissianna muttered, grateful for the seat belt she wore.

“Vicki, love,” Thomas called out with false cheer as he finished parking. “If you ever do that again while I’m driving, I’ll ring your scrawny little neck.”

“Sorry, Thomas.” The girl didn’t sound very apologetic. “I was just startled to see Aunt Marguerite waiting for us. I mean, Lissianna figured we’d be back before everyone else was awake, but Aunt Marguerite’s up.”

“And boy does she look mad,” Juli commented.

Lissianna had to agree. Her mother did indeed look mad, standing in the open door between the house and garage. In fact, she looked just as mad today as she had yesterday, despite the fact that she must see Greg was there in the van with them.

He was in the front passenger seat again at Thomas’s
instruction. The boys, he insisted, should ride up front. A totally sexist decision as Juli had complained, but Lissianna hadn’t minded, it told her that Thomas liked the other man. For some reason that pleased her.

“Okay.” Thomas turned off the van engine and unbuckled his seat belt. “Act casual. There’s no reason for Aunt Marguerite to be angry. Just wave at her and smile, then we unload the groceries and go in together. Got it?”

“Got it,” everyone answered, and began to move. The van was immediately filled with sound as the doors opened and everyone scrambled out.

“Thank you,” Lissianna murmured, as Greg took her hand to help her disembark. He gave her fingers a light squeeze, then turned to help the next person as she followed Mirabeau to the back of the van. She cast a hopeful sideways glance toward the door between the garage and house as she walked, only to find that her mother was still there. Lissianna sighed, sorry they’d had to return. The last couple of hours had been so relaxed and fun with everyone joking and laughing. Greg had proven himself to be very much a gentleman when he wasn’t tied down to a bed. At the family-run restaurant where Thomas had taken them for their meal, Greg had held doors and pulled out chairs with an old-world charm Lissianna found missing in most of today’s men.

Juli, Vicki, and Greg were the only ones who had eaten. The others had merely sipped coffee or juice and watched with amusement as the three gobbled down full breakfasts as if they’d been fasting for days.

Afterward they’d hit the grocery store. The moment they were inside, the twins had begun to argue over who should get to push the shopping cart. Greg had settled the dispute by suggesting he should manage it, leaving them both free to choose what to put in. Not that he hadn’t
thrown in several choices himself; the man had as bad a sweet tooth as the twins. In the end, the shopping cart had been full of little more than junk food. There were sweets, salty options, frozen and ready-made foods like hot dogs and pizza, and three different kinds of pop. From the looks of it Greg and the girls thought they were going to be holding a monthlong pajama party.

“Geez,” Lissianna murmured, as she and Mirabeau reached the back of the van just as Thomas opened the double doors to reveal the groceries inside. “I can’t believe we bought so many groceries. Who’s going to eat all this?”

“You’d think we were staying a month, wouldn’t you?” Elspeth asked with amusement, as she and the others straggled up.

“It isn’t that much,” Vicki protested.

“There is enough food here to feed a family of ten,” Mirabeau said.

“Or two growing girls and one big strong mortal with a hearty appetite,” Juli countered.

“Two growing girls and one big strong mortal with a hearty appetite for junk food,” Jeanne Louise said dubiously, then glanced at Greg. “I can understand the girls eating this way, they’re teenagers, but surely you don’t eat like this at home?”

“No,” he admitted with a grin. “I eat healthy stuff: fruit, veggies, rice, and grilled chicken.” He leaned into the van to grab two of the three cases of pop, waiting for Thomas to grab the last one before using an elbow to push one of the back doors closed as he added, “But I’m on vacation this week, so I thought I’d be bad. Next week I’ll go back to healthy food and exercise.”

“You mortals.” Thomas chuckled as he nudged the second door closed. “You spend one or two weeks a year on
vacation eating everything you like, then fifty weeks of the year repenting. It must be a drag.”

“Hmm.” Greg’s mouth twisted as the group reluctantly started toward the door, where Marguerite waited. “I suppose you guys don’t have to worry about weight with a diet of blood, but I think I’ll stick with Fritos and pizza.”

Lissianna was still smiling at his comment as they reached her mother. Her smile quickly faded, and she shifted uncomfortably as she noted her grim expression.

“Mom,” she greeted her with a nod. “You’re up early.”

“Shopping?” Marguerite asked archly, then gestured for Lissianna to follow and moved halfway back across the garage, passing two cars and reaching her sports car before turning to face her.

“I know,” Lissianna said quickly. “You’re upset that we took Greg shopping, but there was no food in the house, and he and the twins were starved. And,” she added, “he behaved perfectly the whole time. He didn’t try to escape or convince us to take him home again or anything.” Lissianna paused to take a breath, then added, “Really, Mom, you can’t just keep the man tied up in bed all the time. This is kidnapping. You were supposed to wipe his memory, not bring him back here.”