At Blade's Edge by Lauren Dane Read Free Book Online Page A

sure we can work something out.”
    This from a woman who looked like the 1980s threw up all over her. Clive clearly got his sense of fashion from his father.
    Rowan looked to Betchamp, who looked studiously at a spot to the left of Rowan’s face. There’d be no help from that quarter.
    “Uh. I should work. I’m on a case right now. Clive is due tomorrow round about midnight. I’m sure he’ll be pleased to see you.”
    Antonia kept a vise grip on Rowan’s arm. “But you’re our new daughter-in-law. Don’t you want to get to know us?”
    “I expect that will take some time. Fortunately Vampires have it.” Rowan’s bright smile was met by a look of steely determination.
    This woman was going to make Rowan shop, she could feel it.
    “I’ll wait right here for you to change and get your face on.” Antonia gave Rowan that bright, vapid blink once more. “Unless you’d like some assistance.”
    Rowan managed a quick shake of her head before she ran back upstairs to change. Clothes had been laid out on the bed and she made a mental note to reward Elisabeth when she got back.
    She’d have a glass of wine with their dinner. Hopefully Brigid would allow Rowan a little buzz, enough of one to keep from causing an international incident within the Vampire Nation. Even Vampires looked askance when a body staked their mother-in-law.
    On her way back down, she caught up with David and told him to coordinate with both Carey and Susan’s valet. She hoped to be back before too very long, but she didn’t want anyone counting on it.
    Taking a deep breath, she grabbed her handbag, deciding to leave her blade at the house, and headed toward Antonia.
    Which is how she found herself loaded into a car with a driver. In a uniform, so maybe she was Clive’s mother after all.
    “We’ll go to Penceweather first. Then we have dinner reservations. You don’t eat blood, I take it?” Penceweather sounded like a restaurant, but apparently not.
    “I prefer human type food.” Generic enough, yet it should keep her safe and reasonably fed.
    “Fine, fine. You’d be far more powerful if you took blood from Clive.” Antonia’s eyes hardened a moment, sending Rowan’s spidey senses askew.
    She supposed they didn’t know her more than the gossip and whatever Clive told them about her. Getting to know Antonia and Charles Stewart was bound to have some rough patches.
    And of course they would see her not taking blood from Clive as an insult, when it was nothing at all of the sort. By that point anyway.
    Rowan bit her tongue and pretended not to watch the time.
    Antonia gave up her silence in a few breaths. Unfortunately. “This restaurant has two Michelin stars and a very easygoing way with Vampire clientele. The finest bloodwine in London. I’m sure they’ll give us a wonderful table. We’ll need to rest after Penceweather!”
    Okay then.
    “Madam Stewart, we’ve arrived. Are you ready to go inside?” the driver asked.
    “Yes, that’s fine.”
    The car stopped at the curb where more dudes in uniforms rushed over to help them out. Like it was hard to get out of a car.
    Penceweather turned out to be a very exclusive residence in a sprawling, parklike neighborhood of mansions, each as impressive as the next.
    Chamber music played as they entered the main foyer of the house. A birdlike woman with a Prince Valiant haircut and a slash of purple lipstick sneered at them as she approached.
    “Yselda, darling. So lovely to see you. I’ve brought Clive’s...lady with me. Perhaps some new clothes can help.” Antonia gave Rowan a smile that said she doubted it.
    Yselda opened her mouth to say something, but apparently changed her mind, shaking her head and turning on her heel. “Come along then. Everyone is upstairs.”
    Up a marble and mahogany staircase, they were led into a wide-open ballroom, the Georgian design still maintained and in pristine shape.
    It was only after she’d taken in the details of the wood that Rowan noticed