It reminded him of something you might find in a palace. It had an ancient Roman look to it. The only place he had ever seen anything carved with such perfection, however, was in the King’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid. The sarcophagus there looked a little like this tub.

Sarah wore a green dress with a maid’s cap and a white apron. Between her soft good looks and Miriam’s wondrous, long-legged nudity, Paul was damn well ready to go again. Sarah gave him a playful tweak as he stepped into the tub.

“Don’t misfire his cannon.” Miriam laughed as she joined him. Sarah washed their hair and their backs with fragrant soap. She washed his face, which was an incredibly intimate experience. Being naked with Miriam would mean being naked with her friends, apparently. Hell, the more the merrier.

Here in this bathtub with these amazing people around him, he defi-nitely decided that his past was no longer his problem. He told himself that this decision was now and forever. The world had survived a long time with vampires hiding in its shadows.

From this moment on, he had a new job: getting Miriam to marry him.

He lounged back, eyes closed, as Sarah’s fingers delicately massaged his cheeks and softly caressed his forehead. Miriam’s toes appeared between his legs, pressing and touching.

Yeah, it was heaven. The crusty old tough guy had found one hell of a pasture, looked like. He thought—hoped—that he was presently feeling the tiredness and disappointment of a lifetime, and maybe even its many, many sins, slipping away into the past and welcome forgetfulness, being cleansed away by the ministry of angels.

Then he noticed Leo. She had come in quietly. She sat on the john with her legs crossed, smoking and watching him. He saw the strange little knife again. It was outlined in the pocket of her very tight jeans.

Their eyes met. She smiled.

EIGHTEEN: Careless Love

EIGHTEEN

Careless Love

Miriam and Sarah stood hand in hand looking at the magnificent human specimen lying asleep on the bed.

“He’s in hog heaven,” Sarah said.

“He is.”

Leo took out the fleam. She moved toward the bed, then looked to Miriam, her face questioning.

“Leo, we’re not going to do him.”

“But I feel—” She shuddered. “We have to.”

“She’s right, Miri. Think what he’s seen. Think who he is!”

Paul stirred, throwing a large hand out from under the covers. “Miri . . .”

Miriam went to the bedside and knelt and kissed the hand. “I’m here, my love.”

The hand reached out, stroked her cheek. “Mmm . . .”

She slid in beside him.

When Sarah saw the tenderness in Miriam’s eyes, she was horrified. What had happened to her? Had she gone insane? This was the most foolhardy thing she had ever done.

“Leo,” Sarah said, “do it.”

Leo looked at the fleam. “H-how?”