Beds and Blazes by Bebe Balocca Read Free Book Online

around by a disease-ridden armadillo.”
    Fury surged through Lowell’s face and ran down to his clenched fists. “I’ve got something to take care of,” he grumbled. “I’ll have to take a rain check, Dora. Thank you for the…ah…” His cheeks warmed once more and he tugged his beard self-consciously. “Well, I’m off then.” He stalked off like a shot with Dax by his side.

Chapter Six
    “You’re the last one I’d have expected this from, Korbin.” Lowell strode into the Castle Speranza library and directed his ire at his fair-haired youngest brother. “But I suppose that’s why you’ve been getting away with it. I never knew you had such a sick sense of humour.”
    “Huh?” Korbin looked up from a massive tome, blinking owlishly. “Humour? Me? Never.” He shook his head dismissively and looked back down at the printed pages before him. “Nope, no idea what you’re going on about,” he murmured.
    “Sure you don’t.” Lowell paced around the heavy table with his arms crossed. “Look at you, all innocent and bookish, all immersed in your research.” He slammed the book shut with a noisy thump. “But you’ve been stalking about, ruining Dora’s laundry and digging up her plants, haven’t you? Putting on glamours of bats and armadillos, just for kicks? Trying to scare her away from me out of pathetic jealousy, hmm?” Lowell lowered his face to Korbin’s until their noses almost touched. “Back off, little brother, or I’ll make you regret the day you were born.”
    Korbin rose to his feet, white-blond hair flying. “You’re the one who needs to back off, Lowell!” he retorted. “I’m sick of your threats and nonsense. Of course I haven’t been bothering Dora. It doesn’t seem like anything I’d do”—he scowled and braced his fists on his hips—“because I’d never even consider it.” He gestured towards the leather-bound books spread across the library table. “I’ve got far too many more important things on my plate than to worry about your love life. Give me a break.”
    “What’s all this? Reading up on cheesecake, Lowell?” Brock entered the room, sat in one of the leather armchairs and propped up his feet. “I can’t get Dora’s dessert out of my mind, either, to tell you the truth.” He smacked his lips and patted his stomach with a chuckle.
    “Aarrrgh, it’s you, isn’t it?” Lowell snarled. He moved behind Brock and yanked the chair away from the table. “Damn you and your foolishness!” Lowell, bellowing in fury, picked up the chair with Brock in it and lifted it off the floor. “I should throw you across the room!” Grunting with effort and rage, he shook the chair and growled. The chandelier overhead trembled.
    “Hey, now!” Brock soothed, knuckles whitening around the arms of his chair. “I know we’re all immortal here, but that doesn’t mean that getting squashed wouldn’t sting a little.” Lowell bared his teeth. “And no, Lowell, I haven’t been doing anything foolish lately, at least around you, so you can relax.” Korbin, moving slowly, put his hands on the arms of Brock’s uplifted chair and, catching Lowell’s eye, eased it to the floor.
    Lowell grunted and scrubbed his hands through his hair. “Surely not Father,” he murmured in a daze. “Father would never debase himself in such a fashion…or would he?”
    “What’s this?” Gavin Rossi boomed from the doorway. “What sort of debasement are you wondering if I’m capable of?”
    “Ah,” Lowell began. “That is, um, you’d never… Uh…”
    “Put on glamours and skulk about Lowell and his ladylove,” offered Korbin. “Mess about in a human’s laundry and shrubbery.”
    “And generally be foolish, just to get under Lowell’s skin,” Brock added helpfully. “Was that pretty much it, Lowell?”
    Gavin looked from Brock’s mirth-filled face to Korbin’s irritated one, then turned to his oldest son. Silently, he shook his head, then left the room.
    “Was