Tall, Dark & Hungry(54)

"Yes. You probably should," Terri agreed with a laugh. She closed the e-mail program, then the Internet itself. Once that was done, she turned off the computer. "She seems very efficient."

"Well, you aren't too shabby yourself," Bastien said softly as she stood. "Someone else might not have caught that news article, or recognized the name."

"Hmm," Terri murmured. "I need coffee."

"I'll make you one," Bastien offered.

"Actually, I have one," she said, moving around the desk toward the door. "I was drinking it while reading the paper, but forgot it in the living room when I saw that article."

"I guess we'll have to delay our outing today." Bastien's gaze dropped to Terri's behind as he followed her out of the office. He was beginning to understand Lucern's fascination with Kate's behind. Not that he found Kate's rear end fascinating, but Terri's? Well, that was another matter.

"What outing?" Terri asked. When she glanced over her shoulder at him in surprise, Bastien forced his eyes up to hers.

"I was thinking maybe I would take you around the tourist stops today. You shouldn't leave without seeing those," he said as they walked along the hall. "But we'll have to do that tomorrow, I guess. There could be a lot of places to call when Meredith finishes a list."

"I'll take half," Terri offered.

"I was hoping you would," he admitted.

She chuckled, then sighed as they entered the living room. "I wonder what else will go wrong. What's next, do you think: The reception hall burns to the ground? The church floods? Or perhaps the parking garage holding the wedding limo explodes?" She dropped onto the couch and picked up her coffee, taking a sip. "I'm starting to think this wedding is doomed."

"Hmm," Bastien murmured, but his attention was on Chris. The editor's expression was making him nervous. A look of realization had crossed his face as Terri made her facetious comments.

He didn't feel much better when the editor breathed, "Oh, damn," in a sort of horror.

"What?" Bastien asked, afraid he didn't want to know.

"I just thought of something," Chris said.

"What?" Terri lowered her coffee cup to eye him anxiously.

"The flowers."

"Oh." She relaxed. "We've taken care of the flower problems, C.K. Kate's chosen the ones she wants from the arrangements Roberto sent over. It's all decided and settled."

"No. Not the live flowers. The tissue flowers," he explained. "For the cars."

"What about the tissue flowers?" Terri asked, her gaze shooting to Bastien. "I thought they were made and ready to go?"

"They are," Bastien assured her, quite relieved to be able to say that. He moved to sit on the couch next to her. "Lucern and Kate took care of it. He was complaining the day you arrived about it taking forever."

"Yes, they did make them, and it did take forever," Chris agreed, looking miserable. "But Kate's place is small. Really small. And she didn't have anywhere to store them."

"No," Terri breathed.

"What?" Bastien asked. He didn't like being the one in the dark, and her expression suggested she already had an idea of what was coming.

Chris grimaced, then nodded at Terri. "She asked me to store them."

Bastien suddenly had a thought. "Where did you store them, Chris?"

"My apartment."

"Where in your apartment?" he asked, knowing the editor's evasiveness was a very bad sign. And there was only one place that the flowers would have been damaged.

C.K. sighed, then seemed to decide there was no hope but to confess. However, he prefaced the confession with an excuse. "My place isn't all that big, either," he said.

" Where?" Terri asked wearily.

"The bathroom."

"Dear God," she moaned.

"They may still be safe."

"And the pope might be Protestant," Bastien snapped. "Why on earth would you put them in the bathroom of all places?"

"In case he ran out of toilet paper?" Vincent suggested. He yawned as he entered the living room.

Bastien was less than amused. "Shut up, Vinny. Don't you have a rehearsal to go to or something?"

"No. Lucky for you, I'm free today. And don't call me Vinny."

"Lucky?" Bastien snorted.

"I put them in the bathroom because that's the only place I had room," Chris explained, drawing their attention again. "It's an old building, and the bathroom is huge compared to the bathrooms they make now."

Bastien muttered something uncomplimentary under his breath regarding the editor's intelligence. Chris heard him and flushed, then said, "She brought them over in cardboard boxes. But I put those boxes in big black garbage bags to protect them from the humidity when I showered and stuff, so they might still be okay."