At four-fifteen, Toni changed out of her uniform and descended to the kitchen to make a snack. She would be able to leave after the guys woke up, which was any minute now. Fortunately, the sun set early in December.
"Good evening." Dougal sauntered into the kitchen, followed by Phineas. They headed straight for the refrigerator for some bottles of blood.
"Hey, guys." She finished her salad. "Sleep well?"
The door slammed open, and Ian marched in. He glowered at Toni and slapped a hand against his black-marked T-shirt. "What the hell is this?"
CHAPTER 4
Ian had forgotten how pretty she was—pretty enough to scramble his thoughts for a second. But it didn't matter how shiny and golden her hair was, or how pink and sweetly curved her mouth was. Or how her green jumper matched the bonnie green of her eyes. Any guard who wrote graffiti on a sleeping Vamp was not a guard who could be trusted.
Phineas took one look at him and spewed his breakfast all over the kitchen counter. Then he started snickering. Dougal, at least, was attempting to stifle his laughter.
"Eeeuww." Toni grimaced at the bloody mess.
"Don't worry, sweetness. I'll clean it up." Phineas grabbed a sponge from the kitchen sink. "You got him good."
"I wouldna call this good." Ian glowered at Toni. She hadn't answered his question. She just sat at the table, fiddling with a paper napkin, while a pink blush swept up to her cheeks. The scent of her rushing blood ignited his hunger. His gums tingled. His stomach twinged. He stalked to the refrigerator, grabbed a bottle of synthetic blood, and guzzled it down cold.
She wrinkled her pretty little nose. "You're drinking it cold?"
"Are ye offering me some that's hot?" he growled.
Her cheeks grew a brighter red. "No, of course not."
"Why so pissed, bro?" Phineas wiped up the counter. "I'd be happy if Toni wrote on my shirt. Shit, she could write on me all day long."
"You don't wear a shirt to bed," Toni muttered.
"Aha!" Phineas grinned at her. "You've been admiring my awesome bod while I sleep. I knew it. The ladies can't resist Dr. Phang." He rinsed out his sponge, then went back to work. "You should be writing your love notes on me."
"They're not love notes," Toni protested.
"That's for certain," Ian grumbled. "I'm definitely no' interested in Travis."
Phineas snorted, then took aim and tossed the sponge into the sink. "Two points! Look, I've been telling you guys to stop wearing those skirts. It gives out mixed signals, if you know what I mean."
Dougal frowned. "The kilt is a fine and manly tradition amongst the Scots."
"I kinda like 'em," Toni conceded.
Did she really like his kilt? Ian had always considered the MacPhie tartan one of the best. Or perhaps she had liked what was underneath. He slapped himself mentally. This girl distracted him far too easily. "Ye dinna answer my question." He tapped his chest. "Why the hell did ye do this?"
She lifted her chin. "I will admit now that it was a mistake, but at the time, I was very angry with you."
"Angry?" Ian gave her an incredulous look. "What could I possibly do to make ye angry? I was dead all day."
"You were live on the Internet. People were looking at you on Single in the City, and the phone was ringing off the hook. I have problems of my own to deal with, so—"
"Ladies were calling me?" Ian interrupted her. He couldn't believe it. Vanda's plan was working.
Toni shot him an annoyed look. "Didn't you see the messages I left for you upstairs? On the nightstand?"
"Nay, I was distracted by this." He pressed a hand against his chest. He wanted to stay angry, but the thought of women actually pursuing him was amazing. "Ladies were calling me?"
Toni groaned, then took her plate to the sink. "Yes, Mr. Super Ego. Forty-three women and two men, to be precise. And that was before ten A.M."
"Two men?" Phineas snickered.
Ian muttered a few words in Gaelic that made Dougal laugh. His initial excitement was wearing off, for he now realized that all the women who had called during the day were mortal. None of them would do.
The phone rang, and Phineas reached for it.
"Don't bother." Toni returned to the table where she'd left some clothes on the back of a chair. She looped a green scarf around her neck. "It's probably another desperate woman. The answering machine's been picking them up since this morning."