All I Want for Christmas is a Vampire(4)

 

Cora Lee pressed her fingers to her mouth and giggled.

 

"I canna say more on the matter." Ian motioned with his head toward Cora Lee and Lady Pamela. A secret would never be safe with them.

 

Vanda nodded slowly, then glanced at the two blondes. "You two check on the customers."

 

"Humph. You just want the virgin to yourself." Lady Pamela strolled from the room, followed by Cora Lee.

 

Vanda shut the door, then walked back to Ian with a grin spreading across her face. "I can't believe it! You're all grown up." She hugged him. They had once been close in height, but now the top of her head reached his chin. "What on earth did you eat that made you grow older?"

 

"Doona repeat this, but I drank Roman's Stay-Awake drug. I took it twelve days, so I aged twelve years."

 

Her eyes narrowed. "But you're so much bigger and taller…it must have hurt."

 

It had. He shrugged. "My hair grew a lot, too. I thought it might need cutting."

 

She pulled the leather thong free from his ponytail and stood back to study him. "I don't think the short curls suit you anymore. You have a rugged look to you now."

 

Rugged? As in mountainous terrain? No wonder he was having such a hard time shaving. There'd always been a small dent in his chin, but now it felt more like a bloody crater. Actually, it was bloody half the time. Shaving without a mirror was damned hard.

 

"I like your hair long." Vanda circled her desk and retrieved a pair of scissors from the top drawer. "But it's a little ragged on the ends, so I'll give you a trim."

 

"Thank you." Ian sat in a chair facing her desk.

 

Vanda fetched a hairbrush from her handbag and went to work easing out the tangles. Ian closed his eyes, enjoying her familiar touch. She'd cut his hair for the last fifty years, and in that time, he'd confided more to her than anyone else. Even Connor and Angus.

 

He couldn't tell another man how frustrated he had been. Connor was his immediate supervisor, and a tough guy who would have interpreted his frustration as childish whining. Angus MacKay was the head of MacKay Security and Investigation and Ian's boss. He was also the one who'd saved Ian from certain death by transforming him in 1542. But Angus had struggled with guilt for trapping him with the body and face of a fifteen-year-old. Nay, he could never let Angus know how unhappy he'd been. But Vanda had understood and kept his secrets.

 

The scissors snipped. "When did you get back in town?" she asked.

 

"Tonight."

 

"You teleported here from Texas?"

 

"Nay. I was in Scotland."

 

"Oh." She continued cutting. "The last I'd heard you were in Texas, guarding Jean-Luc."

 

"I was. Last summer."

 

The snipping sound ceased for a moment. "I heard Phil was there, too."

 

"Aye." Was Vanda interested in Phil? He'd been the daytime guard at Roman's townhouse when the harem lived there. As far as Ian knew, Phil had kept his distance from the ladies. It was one of Angus's cardinal rules. A guard never ever became involved with his charges.

 

Vanda went back to cutting. "So how is Phil?"

 

"Fine." Ian wondered if she knew about Phil's secret.

 

"Is he coming back to New York?"

 

"Eventually. He's training someone to be Jean-Luc's new daytime guard." Meanwhile, Connor had hired a new mortal guard, Tony, to live at the townhouse while they waited for Phil to return. Ian hadn't met him yet, but he wondered if Tony was a shape shifter, too.

 

"What were you doing in Scotland?" Vanda asked.

 

"Nothing much. After all the growing I did, Angus insisted I take a few months off to…recover."

 

"Then it was painful." She leaned over his shoulder to look at him. "Are you all right now?"

 

"Aye." That wasn't quite true. Growing five inches in less than a fortnight had taken some adjustment. He'd had to drink huge amounts of synthetic blood to fill out his bigger body. While in the Highlands, he'd had some major repairs done on his small castle. He'd helped with the construction work at night, and the result had added some muscle to his bigger frame. But still, he tripped over his huge feet and cut his new face when shaving, especially around that damned crater in his chin. "I'm fine."

 

With a dubious snort, she resumed cutting. "How was Scotland?"

 

"Fine." He was always elated when he first arrived in the Highlands, for it was home and it filled his soul with peace. But after a few nights, he would always realize that every mortal he knew from his past was dead. And then the loneliness would set in.