“Your speaking voice has a lovely tonality,” Kara went on, much to Katrina’s dismay. “I suspect you have quite a nice singing voice, and you have to have at least some skill to do Gilbert and Sullivan. Those scores aren’t exactly easy. I know. I was in a troupe that did the whole Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire when I was younger.”
“You were?” Katrina heard her own wide-eyed wonder and almost winced. She tried for a more mature tone. “That must have been quite an experience.” She hoped Kara would take that conversational gambit and move the focus away from Katrina’s past, but it wasn’t meant to be. Kara asked, instead, which parts Katrina had played and went on to compare notes about their common experiences with particular roles.
After a while, Katrina realized the men had gone on to other topics while she and Kara talked about Gilbert and Sullivan. The conversation found its natural end when the servers came around to clear the dinner plates and take orders for dessert and drinks. Rather than the usual coffee or tea Katrina had expected, the serving staff laid out champagne flutes and took orders for cocktails.
Sonia stood and received everyone’s attention as she gave an encouraging little speech about how great the film was going to be and how hard they were all going to work in the next weeks to make it so. She was funny and mockingly stern in spots, but she got her point across. She also said a few things about the schedule that made Katrina hastily scribble some notes on a cocktail napkin. Sonia closed her remarks with a humorous warning to not drink too much because they all had early calls the next day and then completely ruined the prohibition with a champagne toast to the film.
That started what seemed to be a party. Music came over the sound system, and within moments, the small dance floor in the fully-equipped restaurant, which was also used for banquets and wedding parties, was full of people dancing enthusiastically. Dessert was served, and Katrina allowed herself one small scoop of sherbet to go with the champagne. She’d already had wine with dinner. She wasn’t sure how much she’d had. Ren had been playing the gallant, even when he seemingly wasn’t paying attention to her, and had kept her glass topped up from the bottles on the table.
Katrina thought she’d be all right, considering she’d been eating, which should counteract the effect of the alcohol a bit, but when she stood up, she was alarmed to find her balance was non-existent. An arm came around her from behind and steadied her. She looked up…into Ren’s concerned gaze.
“You all right, kitten?” he asked, his tone low, for her ears alone.
“Sorry. I must have had more to drink than I thought,” she said, flustered both by the wooziness and his nearness.
Had he just called her kitten? She looked up at him, surprised to find his face much closer to hers than she’d expected. She blinked, trying to focus, and finally saw the bemused expression on his handsome-as-sin features.
“All right. I think it’s time for you to go to your room and have a lie down. What do you think?” His tone held a hint of concern, which made her refrain from objecting when he started guiding her toward the door of the restaurant, one arm still around her waist.
“I guess that’s a good idea,” she replied, waving at Sonia when the other woman caught her eye and smiled. “I can make it on my own, though.” She tried to straighten up, but he didn’t let go, and she gave in, preferring not to cause a fuss.
“Relax. Let me just see you safely to your room, and then, I’ll go back to the party, so everyone sees that I was just being nice and making sure you were safe,” he told her. “I promise I won’t let anyone get the wrong idea. I could use a chance to build up some good guy points with this new cast, in any case, so you’d really be doing me a favor,” he told her, his voice a low murmur as they exited the restaurant and headed for the lobby.
Her room was on the other side of the big open space, down one of the branching corridors at the back of the building. Luckily, they’d put her on the first floor. She didn’t think she could face stairs—or, worse, the lurching of an elevator—right now.
“If you insist,” she muttered. “But can you help me snag some water bottles as we pass through the lobby? I know I’ll have to flush the alcohol from my system a bit, unless I want to look like something the cat dragged in tomorrow morning.”
He laughed at that, for no apparent reason, but helped her gather a few bottles of cold water from the little fridge they kept in the lobby for guests. If she’d been on her own, she could only have gotten one or, at most, two, but having Ren along doubled her capacity, so maybe he was good for something, after all.
She laughed at her own thoughts. Only a crazy lady would think the only good thing about having an internationally certified hunk like Ren guide her to her hotel room was that she could get a couple of extra bottles of water out of the deal. She wanted to shake her head but didn’t dare, lest it make her dizzier. There was definitely something wrong with her on a fundamental level. Very, very wrong.
Chapter Six
Something the cat dragged in, indeed, Ren thought with a final chuckle. He was a cat, and though he wasn’t exactly dragging her anywhere, she was definitely leaning on him more than a little. He shouldn’t have been so solicitous with the wine at dinner, he realized belatedly. He’d just gotten used to being around shifter women. He hadn’t taken the fact that Kat was human into account when he’d been making sure she had everything she might want at dinner.
And just why had he done that? It had been automatic, on his part. He hadn’t even realized he was doing it until Dennis had given him a rather pointed look somewhere toward the end of the meal. The raised eyebrow had spoken volumes, and Ren suddenly realized he’d been catering to Kat, as if they were on a date or something.
Only, it didn’t feel like a date. When he examined his motivations, it felt more like something he was just meant to do. Looking after Kat was…natural.
That thought had made him pause. Then, he’d paused again and put the wine bottle back down before he could top off Kat’s glass. Again. He’d stopped being so solicitous after that, but by that time, the meal was basically over, and Sonia was about to speak. Ren sat there, next to Kat, wondering at his own behavior. Puzzled, he’d barely heard Sonia’s rousing speech. He had just nodded or smiled at the appropriate times while his inner thoughts where a whirlwind of confusion.
When it was clear Kat was tipsy after the meal, he’d felt responsible. He shouldn’t have let her drink so much, but again, he hadn’t been thinking. Why had his brains suddenly decided to take a holiday where this little human woman was concerned?
He needed to get outside and take a run. He’d be very careful not to be seen. This time. The fact that Kat had seen him last night astounded him. How had she managed to look out the window at just the right time? Was Fate playing games with them both?
Ren knew he hadn’t been in the open space between the hotel and the nearby woods for any great length of time. If Kat really had seen him, it had to have been in that very narrow window of opportunity. It had been late. Very late. All the other non-magical folk were long asleep. What had Kat been doing awake? Or had something awakened her at just the right moment to catch him prowling around in his other form?