His smile deepened. “There are alternate positions.”

Those words-and the look in his eyes-rubbed me like a physical caress. I drew in a deep breath. That’s why I’d decided on a celibacy mandate. No way could I keep a leash on my emotions if I threw sex into the mix. I’d be screaming out my undying love for Bones in five seconds flat.

“Take it or leave it.”

“Done.”

I blinked, part of me not believing what was happening. Was this real? Or just another crazy dream, one of thousands I’d had about Bones?

“Okay.”

I didn’t know what to say. Or do. Shake hands? Seal it with a kiss? Shout “Celibacy sucks!” and rip his clothes off? There should be an undead dating manual-I was lost here.

Bones cocked his head to the side, and then he let out a resigned noise.

“Kitten…your resolve is about to be put to the test sooner than you expected.”

Huh? “What are you talking about?”

He stood up. “Your mum’s here.”

SEVENTEEN

I LEAPT TO MY FEET. “OH SHIT!”

Panic made me try to walk without fully pulling my chair out, and I promptly tripped. So much for half-dead reflexes. Then I caught Bones out of the corner of my eye. “Er, what are you doing?”

He had calmly gone into the next room to sit on the couch.

“Staying right here. You just agreed to give us a chance, and I refuse to be shoved into a closet this time. You’re going to have to come out of the coffin with your mum about me. I should have forced this issue before. Instead, she found out about our relationship only after vampires murdered her parents in front of her. Little wonder she took it poorly.”

“Took it poorly?” The memory of my grandparents’ death scalded my tone. “She tried to have you killed!”

A knock boomed on the door. My mother had never been delicate.

Bones arched a brow. “Will you get it, or shall I?”

This had disaster written all over it. But from the set of his jaw, I wasn’t going to talk him into hiding. And he really was too strong for me to shove in a closet again.

“Just a second, Mom!” I hollered. Then I rummaged around for a bottle of gin. Boy, was I going to need it.

“She’ll go straight to Don,” I muttered.

“Let her,” Bones countered. “I’m staying.”

I gave him one last ill-tempered look before I went to the door. So much for slowly wading into this relationship-looked like I was about to swan dive right into the deep end. Guess there was no time like the present to see if Bones was right about overcoming our obstacles. This particular obstacle was more formidable than Don ever could be.

My mother swept into my house as soon as I opened the door. She was already bitching.

“-called Noah’s cell earlier looking for you, and he told me you broke up with him! Don’t think I don’t know why, Catherine, and I’m here to tell you that it will stop. This instant. You threw away that piece of murdering trash years ago, and you will do it again! I will not sit back and watch you turn into the same kind of hell demon that spawned you…”

Her voice trailed off into a hiss when she spied Bones on the couch, watching her with what could only be called amusement.

“Hallo, Justina,” he drawled. “Lovely to see you again. Won’t you have a seat?”

For effect, he patted the empty space next to him.

She went from white to crimson in one glance flat. I closed the door and took a swig of my drink. Let the hysterics begin.

She turned to me in a fit of wrath. “For God’s sake, Catherine! What is wrong with you? Did he put you under a spell again?”

That drew outright laughter from Bones. He uncoiled himself from the sofa with effortless grace, walking to her as she stepped back several paces.

“If anyone’s under a spell, Justina, it’s me. Your daughter put one on me five years ago, and I haven’t broken free of it yet. Oh, and you’ll be delighted to know, we’ve decided to resume our relationship. Don’t bother with congratulations-trust me, your expression is congratulations enough.”

I took a longer drink from the bottle. Bones had obviously decided against killing my mother with kindness and was going right for the throat instead. Typical vampire.

My mother’s tone was acid. “I thought you’d gotten over your whoring when you left him, Catherine, but it seems you only postponed it.”

Bones’s face turned to stone, and he answered her even before I could snap out an indignant response.

“Don’t you ever speak to her that way again.” There was pure warning in the whip of his words. “You can call me any name you like and more, but I will not stand by while you slander her out of your own ignorance.”

She backed up another step, and something in her expression changed. As though she finally realized she’d have to contend directly with him and not just through me.

“Are you going to just stand there and let him threaten me?” she demanded to me next, switching tactics. “I suppose you’d just sit back and let him suck the life out of me, too?”

“Oh stuff it, Mom,” I barked. “He wouldn’t hurt you, which is a damn sight more than you’d do to him given the chance. Excuse me if I don’t defend you when you’re pissed that he doesn’t want you calling me nasty names. Must be that flaw in my character.”

She shook a finger at me. “Blood will out, my father always said, and he was right! Look at you! You have debased yourself, leaving a good man for a filthy animal, and a thing not even an animal! Lower!”

“I’m standing right here, Justina, and you’d better get used to it. You want to call me an animal? Turn your eyes this way then.”

Bones moved in front of me until she either had to look at him or look away. My mother fixed her attention to him for the first time, looking straight in his eyes. To her credit, she didn’t back down under his stern gaze. She was many things, but a coward wasn’t one of them.

“You. What’s your name again?”

Her taunting allusion to his lack of importance made me hide a smile behind his back. She knew damn well what his name was.

“It’s Bones. Can’t say it’s a pleasure to be properly introduced, but it’s about time, don’t you agree?”

I could see her to the side of his shoulder. She let her belittling gaze take him in from top to bottom, and finally she gave a dismissive shrug.

“I don’t agree, in fact. Well. Aren’t you pretty.” It wasn’t a compliment from the way it fell from her lips. “Her father was pretty also, just gorgeous. Of course you should know-she looks just like him. Sometimes I could barely stand to look at her for their resemblance.”

A jab of pain sliced in me, because I’d felt that all my life. She might love me, but she didn’t accept me. Maybe she never would.

“She might look like him; I can’t say,” Bones replied steadily. “Never met the bloke. But let me assure you, she has a great deal of you in her. Stubbornness, for one thing. Courage. A nasty temper when she’s upset. She can also hold a grudge quite well, but you’ve got her beat there. Over twenty-seven years later, you’re still punishing her for what happened to you.”

That made her advance until she pointed a finger an inch from his chest. “How dare you! You have the nerve to throw up to me what one of your kind did, what you have no doubt done yourself, to my very face, you dirty, murdering fiend!”

Bones stepped right up also. They were toe to toe.

“If I were merely a murdering fiend, then I would have punched your ticket years ago. Would have made my life a measure easier, I assure you. You had her in shambles when those wolves came with their greedy little offer, and we all know why she took it, don’t we? It doesn’t bother you a bit that she’s been as miserable as I’ve been these past years, or that she’s had more near-death experiences than bloody Houdini. No, you sit back on your satisfaction that she’s out killing vampires instead of shagging one! Well, Justina, I hope you enjoyed your interlude, because it’s over. I’m back and I’m staying.”