Casa Dracula 3 - The Bride Of Casa Dracula Read Online Free PDF Page B

escape. You wouldn’t understand what a turn-on that is.”
    I looked down at his hand holding mine. Then I took my free hand and took his wrist and squeezed. Not hard enough to crush bone, but hard enough to see the surprise in his pretty blue eyes. “But you see, I’m not prey-I’m a predator. Hasta la vista, Joseph Alfred.”
    I hopped out of the car and sashayed merrily to the hotel entrance. The cute new doorman said, “Afternoon, ma’am,” as he pulled open the heavy glass-and-brass door.
    Ma’am! I felt a million years away from the impoverished girl who used to come to the hotel bar and nurse one drink for hours while gossiping with her friends.
    The thick burgundy carpeting in the lobby was pleasantly squooshy underfoot. I got my room key from the front desk and then entered the elevator. I remembered the first time I’d been upstairs, lured by Oswald on a false premise. He’d wanted information about my sleezoid ex-boyfriend, and I’d convinced myself that he was interested in my writing. Neither of us had been what the other expected.
    The mirrored doors of the elevator slid open and I walked to our suite. It was the same one Oswald always reserved, decorated in masculine coffee colors of mocha, latte, and espresso. The outer room had views across the City to the bay, and the bedroom beyond was plush and comfortable.
    It was well past lunchtime and I was starving. I kicked off my stilettos and then called room service and ordered cranberry juice and an extra-rare burger. At the ranch we kept animal blood in stock, but rare red meat and red drinks were enough to stave off my cravings for a day or two.
    Within seconds, there was a brisk rap at the door. I’d said, “Barely cook the burger,” but this was amazingly fast service.
    I opened the door, and Nancy, my best friend from F.U., breezed in. Her blond hair was in loose curls to her shoulders and she wore an apricot blouse with a sea green cotton skirt and flats. Lithe and petite, she looked as full of mischief as a newly paid sailor on shore leave.
    “Hi, honey pie,” she said, giving me a hug. She threw her straw tote onto the sofa and picked up the phone. “Champagne and a fruit platter, please. No honeydew. Merci.” Hanging up the phone, she smiled at me.
    “I’m confused,” I said.
    “Have I not taught you anything? Honeydew is never ripe enough. Escrew honeydew.”
    “Eschew,” I said.
    “Gesundheit.” She dropped into an armchair and swung her legs over the side.
    I sat on the chair opposite her and said, “I’m confused because I wasn’t expecting you. I have a couple of appointments today.”
    “I’m confused because you set up appointments with wedding planners and didn’t tell me. Luckily, I saw Gigi Barton at a gala for needy hermaphrodites or something, so naturally your name came up, and Gigi told me what you were doing today.”
    I hadn’t told Nancy because she thought weddings necessitated expenditures on a par with the annual GDP of a midsize nation. “I didn’t want to bother you. I know how busy you must be, trying to get pregnant.”
    She made a pfft sound. “That was Todd’s financial consultant’s idea, but he never had to take his hoo-ha’s temperature three times a day and only do it doggy-style to have a boy. I hired my own financial planner, who says I can wait. I have a pergola of opportunity to guide you. Where’s Oscar?”
    “Oswald,” I said. My relationship with Nancy had gone through difficult times, especially since Nancy’s husband and I despised each other. On the one occasion that she’d met Oswald, she’d interrogated him on plastic surgery innovations while contorting her face with her neatly manicured hands. “Oswald is doing consultations today, and I seriously doubt you can influence the gender of a baby by using a certain position.”
    “Don’t be silly, Milly. It’s got an amazing fifty percent success rate. Don’t try to change the subject. I bet you want some weird