The Accidental Vampire Plus Vampires Are Forever and Bonus Material
Page 61
“No, I do not see it as ridiculous. I am brilliant. Jacques sees my potential and that I deserve to be paid my value. But you obviously don’t. You have been trying to keep me under. Now I will get paid what I deserve and enjoy some of the profits produced by my skills.” Mouth tightening, he added, “And you’re not going to trick me into staying here with such stupid stories.”
With a little sniff of disgust, Peter turned on his heel and sailed out of her office with his nose up and a self-righteous air that made her want to gag.
Alex closed her eyes. At the moment, she wanted nothing more than to yell a string of obscenities after the man, and suspected she would enjoy his fall when it came. Unfortunately, her own fall would come first.
Cursing, she pulled her Rolodex toward her and began to rifle through the numbers. Perhaps one of her old friends from culinary school could help for a night or two. Christ, she was ruined if she didn’t find someone and quickly.
An hour later, Alex reached the W’s in her Rolodex with no prospects when the phone rang. Irritated with the interruption when she was having a crisis, Alex snapped it up. She barked “hello,” the fingers of her free hand still flipping through the cards one after the other in quick succession.
“I have someone I want you to meet.”
Alex frowned at the strange greeting, slow to recognize her sister’s voice. Once she did, a deep sigh slid from her lips, and she shook her head wearily. She really didn’t need this right now. She was heartily sick of the parade of men Sam had been presenting her with over the last eight months.
It had been bad enough when she and their younger sister, Jo, had both been single and available, but now that Jo had Nicholas, Sam was focusing all of her attention on finding Alex a man. She supposed it wouldn’t be so bad if even one of the men Sam had insisted on introducing her to had shown some mild interest in her, but after barely more than a moment, and sometimes as little as a few seconds, every single one had simply ignored her, or in some cases, even walked away.
It was giving her a complex. She’d even started dieting, something she’d sworn she’d never do, and exercising, a pastime she detested, as well as trying different makeup and fashion choices in an effort to boost her now-flagging ego.
This really was the last thing she needed, but Alex knew Sam’s heart was in the right place and forced herself to hang on to her patience and even managed to keep her tone to only mildly exasperated.
“Sam, honey, my head chef just quit, and I have one hour to replace him before the dinner set start to arrive. I don’t have time for your matchmaking right now.”
“Oh, but, Alex, I’m pretty sure this is the one,” she protested.
“Right, well, maybe he is, but if he isn’t a world-class chef, I’m not interested,” Alex said grimly. “I’m hanging up now.”
“He is!”
Alex paused with the phone halfway back to its cradle and pulled it back to her ear. “What? He is what?”
“A chef?” Sam said, but it sounded like a question rather than an announcement. It was enough to make Alex narrow her eyes.
“For real?” she asked suspiciously.
“Yes.” Sam sounded more certain this time.
“Where did he last work?” she asked cautiously.
“I—I’m not sure,” Sam hedged. “He’s from Europe.”
“Europe?” Alex asked, her interest growing. They had some fine culinary schools in Europe. She’d attended one of them.
“Yes,” Sam assured her. “Actually, that’s why I was sure he would be the one. He’s into cooking and fine cuisine like you.”
Alex drummed her fingers thoughtfully on the desk. It seemed like just too much good fortune that her sister wanted to introduce her to a chef the very day she was in desperate need of one. On the other hand, she’d suffered enough bad luck the last few months that a bit of good luck was surely in order. Finally, she asked, “What’s his name?”
“Valens.”
“I’ve never heard of him,” Alex murmured, and then realized how stupid it was to say that. She didn’t know every single chef in Europe. In fact, she only knew a few from her days in culinary school . . . . . . and the names of the famous ones of course.
“Look, he’s a chef, and you need one. What can it hurt to meet him?” Sam asked. “I swear you won’t be sorry. I really think this will work out. Marguerite is never wrong. You have to meet him.”
“Marguerite?” Alex asked with confusion, recognizing the name. She was the aunt of one of Mortimer’s band mates, Decker Argeneau. Alex had never met her, but Sam mentioned her a lot. However, she had no idea what the woman had to do with any of this.
“Just meet him,” Sam pleaded.
Alex sighed, her fingers tapping a rapid tattoo. She could sense that Sam was lying about something in her determination to get her to meet the man, and really, she didn’t have time to waste at the moment. On the other hand, Sam hadn’t hesitated to say he could cook and had even said it was why she’d thought they might hit it off, so Alex suspected that part of it was at least true. At least she hoped it was. The fact was, she was desperate. And, frankly, beggars couldn’t be choosers. If the man could cook even half decently, she was definitely interested in him though not the way Sam was obviously hoping she would be.
“Send him over,” she barked, and then slammed the phone back in its cradle before she could change her mind.
***
Cale was telling Bricker and Mortimer about the wedding he’d attended in New York for several of his family members and their life mates when Sam came hurrying back into the room. “It’s all set,” she announced excitedly. “You have to go to her restaurant right away.”
Cale frowned. “You said you would have her come here.”
“Yes, well, there was a change of plans. Alex has a small crisis at the restaurant and can’t leave,” Sam announced, catching his arm and urging him toward the door to the kitchen. “Actually that reminds me. Can you cook?”
Cale stopped, forcing her to a halt, and announced stiffly, “I don’t eat.”
“I didn’t ask you if you eat,” she pointed out. “Can you cook?”
“Why would I cook if I don’t eat?” he asked dryly.
“Not doing one doesn’t preclude your doing the other,” Sam said impatiently, and then clucked with irritation and tried to urge him to continue forward as she pointed out, “Male designers don’t wear women’s clothing, but they design it.”
“How do you know they don’t wear it?” Bricker asked lightly, drawing Cale’s attention to the fact that he and Mortimer had followed and now stood behind them.
Mortimer chuckled at the words, but Sam didn’t seem to see the humor. Grinding her teeth together, she tugged at Cale‘s arm again. “Come on. You need to get to the restaurant before she changes her mind and takes off for the new place or something.”
Cale tugged his arm free of her hold. “I do not cook food and have no desire to visit a place filled with the stench of it. You’ll just have to arrange a meeting for a different day. I have no desire to go to her place of business.”
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
HUNGRY FOR YOU. Copyright © 2010 by Lynsay Sands. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
ISBN 978-0-06-189457-2
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About the Author
Born in Southern Ontario, Lynsay Sands is the New York Times bestselling author of the Argeneau Vampire series. She has written more than 34 books and anthologies since her first novel was published in 1997. Her romantic comedies span three genres—historical, contemporary, and paranormal—and have made the Waldenbooks, Barnes & Noble, USA Today, and New York Times bestseller lists.
Lynsay’s books are read in more than twelve countries and have been translated into at least six languages. She’s been a nominee for both the Romantic Times Best Historical Romance Award and the Romantic Times Best Paranormal Romance Award, was nominated and placed three times in the RIO (Reviewers International Organization) Awards of Excellence, and has several books on All About Romance’s Favorite Funnies list.
Visit her official website at www.lynsaysands.net.
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Other Books by Lynsay Sands
VAMPIRES ARE FOREVER
THE ACCIDENTAL VAMPIRE
BITE ME IF YOU CAN
A BITE TO REMEMBER
A QUICK BITE
Coming Soon
VAMPIRE, INTERRUPTED
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE ACCIDENTAL VAMPIRE. Copyright © 2008 by Lynsay Sands. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
ePub edition October 2007 ISBN 9780061747816
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Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
VAMPIRES ARE FOREVER. Copyright © 2008 by Lynsay Sands. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
ePub edition January 2008 ISBN 9780061758331
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