“Elegant,” he said at last. “Charming. She needs to be able to navigate political waters and act with tact and decorum.”
Mentally she noted his requirements, although she couldn’t help noticing that she didn’t meet any of them.
“Go on.”
“My position requires travel on occasion to meet with other rulers of vampire factions. It’d be ideal to find a woman able to go with me.”
“Find a woman willing to be whisked away to exotic locations? Impossible,” Abbey said drily.
“If she has a high-powered career of her own, it may pose difficulties,” he pointed out.
“All right. Ability to travel is an asset. What else?”
“She needs to be a good hostess, able to plan and hold events as needed. Someone familiar with my world would be nice, but she doesn’t have to be a vampire.”
“And looks?” She held her breath, wondering what she’d do if he asked for a tall, model-thin blonde.
Instead he shrugged. “When you get to be my age, beauty is all relative. You’ve had it all.”
“TMI.”
He shrugged. “I don’t care what shape or form my mate turns up as.”
“Surely you have preferences.” Why was she pushing this? She knew she’d get an answer she didn’t want to hear.
Taking another sip of wine, Lucian watched her over the top of his glass. “Curved,” he said. “Feminine. I don’t want a stick figure who’s all angles and tiny veins.”
She kept her face blank but inside did a happy dance.
“I am not a fan of modern standards of beauty. In my day, women looked like women.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said. Her voice didn’t reveal her delight.
“And curly, frizzy hair is always a bonus,” he added, taking another sip.
Her hands immediately went to her head. “I tried a new conditioner. It’s supposed to lie flat.”
Lucian threw back his head and laughed.
The sound was rusty but joyous and Abbey realized she’d never heard it before. A girl could get used to hearing that sound for the rest of her life, she mused.
As the sound died away, the smile remained. “I do enjoy you, Abbey.”
She smiled but wondered at the comment. Enjoyed her as a sexy, powerful woman or enjoyed her as a bouncing puppy entertaining the crowd?
“I’ll add your preferences into your file when I get to work tomorrow,” she said. “Though it pretty much matches the profile we’ve been working from.”
“You know me so well, do you?”
She shrugged.
“Did I leave anything out, then?”
Dangerous ground. “You know what you want.”
His sharp eyes narrowed. “But you’d add to my list?”
No way she was stepping into that booby trap.
“Come, Abbey. Show off your wisdom.”
“Nope.”
“Ah. Didn’t think of anything else after all, hmm?”
She bristled, knowing he was baiting her but rising to it anyway. “I think you need a woman who can laugh.”
He blinked. “What?”
“You need someone with a good sense of humor. Someone who can pull you out of your shell and make you stop for a moment and see the world around you. You need a partner who knows how to play and helps you relax when you need to. Someone who is excited to explore the world and shows it to you with fresh eyes. A woman who is as tightly wound and ordered as you would only push you both into isolated, lonely lives.”
She paused for breath and wished she hadn’t been quite so honest. Lucian merely stared at her. His eyes were hooded, his expression enigmatic. Abbey fought the urge to squirm like a five-year-old.
“You asked,” she said, trying not to sound defensive.
He inclined his head. “So I did. I had not realized, darling, that you’d paid such close attention to me.”
She looked away, motioning for the waiter. “It’s my job.”
“Then you excel at it.”
She reached for her purse but Lucian waved away the gesture, handing the man a black credit card instead. As they waited for the bill to return, she said, “You’re booked to meet a valkyrie tomorrow. She hits most of your requirements, I think.”
“And yours?”
Her chin rose. “Yes. And mine.”
“Good.”
Abbey blinked.
“You will wait by the bar again. Thirty minutes.”
She could have protested. Should have, really. He didn’t need her to babysit him, and it was an insult to his prospective date. Instead of refusing, however, she found herself nodding her agreement.
“Excellent,” he said, triumph in his eyes.
Chapter Six
At least she’d come prepared this time. Abbey waited at the bar with a book in hand but she’d spent ten minutes reading the same page. The words could be upside-down for all she knew.