Bene looked offended. “Jean Paul Gaultier. Enough to cover my scent from other shifters.”
The rest of us had taken similar precautions, but you never knew. A shifter with a really good nose might still ferret us out.
Roux pointed back at the cottage. “Whatever that is, change it. Now. And not just the aftershave. The hair too.”
“How?”
Roux shook his hands in exasperation. “I don’t know. Just change it. Look more like a bozo.”
“Comb it back like Henrik does,” I offered, earning a lethal look from the vampire.
Bene sighed and returned ten minutes later, looking marginally less striking and smelling incrementally less seductive.
“Better? Or should I say, worse?” he asked sullenly.
Roux rubbed both hands over his face in exasperation.
A vehicle pulled into the driveway, and we all turned.
“Oh, the girls are back,” Bene said, spotting the limo.
Women, I nearly growled.
My inner dragon perked its ears, cheering,Mina! Mina!
The driver parked and opened the rear door, offering his hand to the first passenger.
Delphine exited, looking surprisingly… Well,classy,despite the fire-engine-red dress. Amazing what toning down on makeup and jewelry could do.
Bene whistled. “Delphine, you look stunning. Not that I’m surprised.”
Delphine grinned at him, but she positively glowed at Henrik and turned in a slow circle for him. “Do you like it?”
“Nice,” he said in his usual detached way.
Limited as his attention was, Delphine basked in it.
I wondered if Mina could talk some sense into the poor girl. Surely, Delphine could do better than Henrik?
I caught myself there. As surely as Mina could do better than me?
A light, arched foot in sand-colored heels slid out next, and my breath caught. A good thing too — otherwise I might have growled when the driver leaned in to offer Mina a hand. And when she emerged—
My mouth hung open, and my mind went blank.
“Damn, Mina. You look really good,” Bene breathed.
Heavenlywas more like it. The gold-and-cream dress shone in bright contrast to Mina’s cocoa-colored hair, which bounced over her shoulders in long, elegant locks. Tiny studs shone from her earlobes, matching the sequins of the dress.
“Giorgio Armani,” Delphine gushed, flouncing her dress beside Mina. “Mine too.”
Giorgio knew what he was doing, showing just a hint of Mina’s cleavage and a hell of a lot of her long, toned legs.
Mina put an arm around Delphine, and they grinned at each other like a couple of sisters. Kind of a contradiction, because Mina was educated. Poised. Classy, in a word. Delphine was a hooker Henrik had found on a street corner in Marseilles. Nothing personal — truly — but that was just the way the world was.
But Mina didn’t seem to see it that way. So, hmm. Maybe I ought to… What was that called? Broaden my perspective.
Mina gave Delphine a hearty hug. “Yours looks better.”
