Perilous Partnership Read Online Free PDF Page B

see the improvements to the exterior of Sang Froid in the year since the passage of the equality legislation that had allowed vampire business owners to come out of hiding. Where once the entrance had been nondescript, not attempting to draw attention to itself, now the entrance had an elegant sign proclaiming the name of the business. Where once Jean would have slipped across the square clinging to the shadows, now he walked openly to the door, not worrying someone would see him and wonder about the nature of his visit.
    “Jean!” Angelique said, surprise and delight clear in her voice at the sight of the chef de la Cour. “What are you doing here? I know you don‟t need the services of my employees.”
    Jean laughed. “You never know, Angelique. Raymond could have decided he‟s done with me.”
    Angelique rolled eyes. “You don‟t expect me to believe that. I can smell the blood and sex on you, mon cher. You‟re as besotted with him as ever.”
    Jean nodded. “That‟s why I‟m here, actually. I seem to fall more in love with him every day, to the point that I have trouble letting him out of my sight.
    If we were simply Raymond and Jean, that might not be a problem, but we‟re also president of l‟ANS and chef de la Cour.”
    Angelique nodded. “Come into my parlor,” she said with a wink, leading Jean toward the room she used as an office. Only the escritoire against one wall gave any indication of the functional purpose of the room. Beyond that, the room could have been the boudoir of any high-class Middle Eastern courtesan, a reminder of her origins. Jean had often wondered how Angelique‟s partner had adjusted to her past. “What brought this on? You‟ve been chef de la Cour
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    for almost four hundred years. I realize Raymond‟s position is newer, but he doesn‟t strike me as someone whose head would be turned by the spotlight.”
    “It isn‟t that,” Jean said. “He is one of the most down-to-earth people I know. He keeps insisting we need to be discreet about the depth of our personal relationship because of the nature of our public personas. I know he‟s right, but it goes against everything I am. I want to declare him to the Cour as my Consort. I want to give him that security and have it for myself, but I can‟t. No one would care who my Consort was if it were anyone else, but I don‟t have a different partner. I have Raymond.”
    “Do you really want a different partner?” Angelique asked.
    “No! Mon Dieu, non!” Jean exclaimed. “I can‟t imagine being with anyone else this way, not when I can have him. If, God forbid, he had not survived the war, perhaps I would have considered finding someone else, but he is as much a part of me as my hand.”
    “Or your cock?” Angelique teased.
    Jean flushed, something he swore he had overcome centuries ago. He could hardly deny it, though. “Or that. The point is that I don‟t want anyone else. I have to learn to live with the partner I have, with all that entails. And at the moment, letting him out of my sight is nearly impossible, which makes doing our jobs difficult.”
    “So what do you need from me, besides someone to listen to you vent?”
    “I need to know if I‟m the only one feeling this way. We haven‟t made the announcement yet, but we‟re going forward with a research institute to try to understand the partnership bonds. If I‟m the only one feeling this way, then I‟ll just have to learn to live with it, but if I‟m not, we need to address that as we begin our research and as we prepare other wizards and vampires to take partners,” Jean explained.
    Angelique smiled. “You aren‟t the only one, and you‟re doing far better than many. You wouldn‟t believe the number of vampires who have come to visit me, hoping the taste of someone else‟s blood would help them put things back in perspective. It has yet to work.”
    “Who?” Jean asked, worried now about the stability of the