Master of the Night Read Online Free Page B

cool it is that you founded that company to provide for your descendants?” She cut her eyes at Lance. “Instead of just fathering bastards all over the place and letting them fend for themselves, like some people I could name.”
    â€œHey,” Lance protested. “He’s only been around a couple of centuries. They’re easier to keep track of when there’s not so damn many of them.”
    â€œWhich wouldn’t be a problem if you’d use protection once in a while,” Reece told him. “Hell, just pull out…”
    â€œNow wait a minute. First off, I’m married, so I’m not doing that anymore anyway….”
    â€œDamn straight,” Grace said, and nipped his ear in warning.
    â€œBack off, you. I do the biting in this relationship.” Laughing, he threw up an arm as she tried to get him again. “Second of all, if every Knight of the Round Table had pulled out every time he banged a girl, neither of you would be here to bitch at me about it.”
    â€œHe’s got a point,” Reece reminded Grace.
    â€œExcept in my case, it was Morgana who did the bastard-spawning. Anyway, they could at least take an interest.” She punched Lance lightly in the ribs and told him, “When I was a cop, I never found one of Reece’s granddaughters living in squalor. They’re all pulling down a hundred thou a year working for one of the biggest multinationals in the world.”
    â€œYou want me to keep track of who Galahad’s knocked up, too? Now, there would be a full-time job.” Lance rolled his eyes. “‘Virgin knight’ my ass. I don’t know where the poets got that idea.”
    â€œThey made it up.” Reece grinned as he took a sip from his goblet, remembering the legend that painted Lancelot’s son as the saint of the Round Table. “Just like the one about vampires being sterile, walking corpses.”
    Lance’s eyes took on a wicked glint as he turned to Grace. “Speaking of not being sterile, has it occurred to you that Galahad is now your stepson? Which makes all his descendants your step-whatever. And then, of course, there’s my sons and daughters and grandsons and great-great-et cetera.” As her expression became steadily more hunted, he purred, “We poor, limited vampires could never find them all, but with your goddesslike magical powers, you could. Given your keen sense of responsibility.”
    She looked so horrified, Reece shouted with laughter. “I think you just lost that one, sweetheart.”
    â€œNo, he’s right.” Cool determination sparked in her eyes, and she rose to her feet. “At the very least, I can make sure none of them are starving.”
    â€œHey, wait, where are you going?” Lance said to her retreating back as she strode away. “Grace, we had plans!”
    Reece slapped him on the back and stood. The last dance was breaking up; it looked like a perfect opportunity to do some seducing. “Well, you’ll have to excuse me. I want to get laid.”
    â€œYeah, well,” Lancelot said, staring glumly after his wife, “I’d say your chances just got better than mine.”
    Â 
    Atlanta
    Reece hesitated at the door to the crowded ballroom, the scent of gin, caviar, and packed humanity teasing his senses. The light from dozens of chandeliers blazed over designer gowns and black tuxedos, and the air was full of practiced laughter.
    With his vampire hearing, it was easy to pick up the dozens of conversations going on around him. Eavesdropping being a spy’s old habit, he listened with interest as the CEO of Champion Steel chatted up the pretty president of Champion Electronics. The woman laughed and turned the conversation to his branch’s search for new superconductors.
    During the past two centuries, the little shipping company Reece had started with his son, Caleb, had grown and diversified beyond all