He watched Kate finish, but shook his head when she offered him salad. "You really should eat some," she lectured with a frown. "It's full of vitamins and nutrients, and you're still awfully pale."
He presumed she feared that his pallor was due to his supposed head injury. It was due to lack of blood, however, which reminded Lucern that he should see if Bastien was home. Excusing himself, he left the room and went to his office.
Much to his disappointment, when he called his brother, there was no answer. Bastien was either out on a date or had gone back to Argeneau Industries. Like Lucern, Bastien preferred working at night when everyone else was sleeping. The habits of a couple hundred years were hard to break.
Lucern returned to the kitchen, to find that Kate Leever had finished eating and had already rinsed off most of the dishes and set them in the dishwasher.
"I shall finish that," he said at once. "You must be exhausted and ready for bed."
Kate glanced at Lucern with surprise. It was hard to believe this was the same man who had written those short "nos" in response to her letters and been so rude when she'd first arrived. His helping her unload groceries and apparent consideration now made her suspicious. The hopeful look on his face didn't help much, either. However, she was tired. It had been a long day, so she reluctantly admitted, "I am tired, actually."
In the next moment, she found her arm grasped in a firm hand and herself being propelled out of the kitchen.
"It's to bed with you!" Argeneau sounded cheerful at the prospect, and he rushed her up the hall and then the stairs. "Sleep as late as you like. I shall probably work all night as usual and sleep most of the day. If you rise before me, eat whatever you wish, drink whatever you wish, but do not poke around." The last was said in a hard tone that sounded more like the rude man she expected.
"I would hardly poke around," she said quickly, annoyed. "I brought a manuscript with me to edit. I'll just do that until you get up."
"Good, good. Good night." He pushed her into the yellow guest room she'd chosen earlier and pulled the door closed with a snap.
Kate turned slowly toward it, almost expecting to hear the door's lock click into place. She was relieved when that didn't happen. Shaking her head at her own suspicious mind, she moved to her suitcase to find her nightgown, then went into the en suite bathroom to shower. She was just crawling into bed when she recalled the excuse she'd used to get to stay here. She paused to glance around.
Spotting the small digital clock on the bedside table, she picked it up and set it to ring in an hour. She had every intention of getting up to check to be sure that Lucern hadn't fallen asleep—and that if he had, he could still wake up.
Kate set the alarm back on the table and crawled under the covers, thinking of those few panicked moments in the kitchen. She drew a deep breath through her nose, recalling Lucern Argeneau standing before her, blood streaming down his head and face. Dear God, she'd never actually seen a head injury before. She'd heard they could be bloody, of course, and that they often looked worse than they truly were, but there had been so much blood.
She shuddered and swallowed a knot of anxiety. Kate hardly knew the man, and he'd been nothing but rude to her since her arrival, but despite the fact that it would serve him right after his behavior, she really didn't want to see him dead. How was she going to impress her boss that way? She could see it now. "No, Allison, I wasn't able to convince him to do the newspaper interviews. No, nor the television shows. Er… no, he won't be doing signings either. Actually, I might have been able to convince him, except I killed him instead. It was an accident, Allison. I know he is our latest cash cow, and I truly didn't mean to kill him despite the fact that he's a rude, pigheaded… No, really, it was an accident! Yes, I do realize I'm fired. No, I don't blame you at all for not giving me a reference. Yes, if you'll excuse me I'll just go apply at McDonald's now that my publishing career is ruined."
Sighing, she shook her head on the pillow and closed her eyes. Thank goodness Argeneau seemed healthy—except for the pallor. She sat up in bed, concern eating at her again. He really had been awfully pale.
"And why not?" she asked herself. It looked as if he'd lost a quart of blood. Or at least a pint. Maybe she should check on him now. Kate considered the matter briefly, partly wanting to check on him, partly reluctant to have him bark at her for interrupting him at whatever he was doing. He was surely going to bark enough when she checked on him every hour through the night. But he had been terribly pale after hitting his head.