Vampire, Interrupted by Lynsay Sands Page B

out of it,” Christian growled. “This is no time for mooning.”
    “I was not mooning,” Julius said stiffly and turned away from the mirror. Crossing his arms over his chest, he glared at the younger man resentfully and wondered if Christian really was his son at all. He never would have been so disrespectful to his own father.
    “Okay,” Christian said with a great show at maintaining his patience. “So you don’t dance. But you could at least talk to the woman.”
    Julius frowned and avoided his gaze. “I am talking.”
    “You aren’t,” Christian insisted. “You haven’t said more than a handful of words.”
    Scowling, he admitted, “I’m practicing in my head.”
    Christian blinked at this. “Practicing?”
    “Well, you don’t just blurt out the first thing thatcomes to mind,” Julius said with exasperation. “I have to approach this carefully, so I’m practicing.”
    “In your head?” Christian clarified.
    “Yes.” Julius nodded. “In my head.”
    “Right…Good, good,” he nodded, and then said, “but you know what would be even better?”
    Julius raised his eyebrows with interest. “What?”
    “Talking to her out loud! ” Christian snapped. “Jesus Christ, Father, you’re as old as the earth. You run a huge corporation, dealing with people—even women—day in and day out. Surely you can string a couple of words together and manage a little conversation with the woman?”
    “I am not as old as the earth,” Julius growled. “Besides, you’re the one who said that I scare all the maids and secretaries and—”
    “Oh, hell,” Christian interrupted with a sigh.
    “What?” Julius asked warily.
    “It’s my fault, isn’t it? I shook your confidence with those comments.”
    Julius glared at him briefly, then let out a slow breath and nodded the admission. “I was fine until you and the twins started spouting that nonsense about how long it had been since I’d bothered with women and that I—Are the maids and secretaries really scared of me?” he interrupted himself to ask with a frown.
    Christian avoided his eyes as he assured him, “No, of course not.”
    “You’re lying,” Julius said with a heavy sigh. “You never could meet my eyes and lie, and you won’t meet my eyes now. They are scared of me.”
    Christian shrugged helplessly. “You can be a bitsharp and grumpy. I’m sure you wouldn’t be with Marguerite, though. In fact, I think she can help you find the fun, laughing, jovial guy you used to be before I was born.”
    “How would you know what I was like before you were born?” Julius asked, his eyes narrowing on his son with suspicion.
    Christian shrugged. “The aunts talk. When you’re at your grumpiest, they shake their heads and lament how ‘wonderful and easygoing and happy’ you were before ‘that woman’ ruined your life. They like lamenting a lot,” he added dryly. “I’d say it’s an Italian thing, but most of them weren’t born in Italy.”
    Julius smiled at his grimace, but said quietly, “She didn’t ruin my life. She gave me you and that was a hell of a gift.”
    Christian’s eyes widened slightly, and then he glanced away, uncomfortable with the emotional moment. “Yeah, well,” he said after allowing several minutes of silence to pass. “Too bad she didn’t agree, but instead tried to kill me.”
    “She didn’t try to kill you,” Julius said quietly, troubled by the pain he saw flash on his son’s face.
    Christian glanced up sharply. “But Marcus said—”
    “She told her maid, Magda, to kill you,” he explained.
    Christian considered this news. “The maid told you this? Could she have been lying?”
    Julius hesitated and then shook his head. “No, Marcus and I both read the memory in Magda’s mind. Your mother definitely told her to kill you and bring your remains to me with the message that she never wanted to see me again.”

    “Magda?” Christian said the name slowly. “But she didn’t kill me.”
    “No.