How to Love a Blue Demon (11 page)

They went to a place called
Marshalls next. Eyoen happily gave his opinion as Cass perused the housewares section and purchased several pots, kitchen tools and several jars of gourmet jam, salsa and a package of shortbread biscuits that smelled so good, Eyoen opened them immediately.

Delicious
,
he told Rierdane before he could ask, and added another box to their cart.

“These
are good too,” Priti said, handing him a box of cinnamon ones.

He put them in the cart, t
hen added the chocolate variety.

“Okay,” Cass warned.
“I don’t need Paulette on my ass if you heal up fat.”

He
just laughed.

Priti went off to examine the dress racks, while Cass perused the
workout gear. He wandered toward the men’s section but paused beside the jewelry counter.

“Can I help you?”

He smiled at the servant behind the counter and nodded.

“I’d like to buy my lady a gift. But I have to do it
fast before she comes over and sees me.”

The woman nodded briskly. “Does she like gold
, pearls?”

He nodded. Who didn’t like gold?

“Pearls are the white stones; they come from oysters,” Rierdane supplied when he drew a blank.

Thank you,
Eyoen said, thinking white stones would look great against Cass’ skin.

The woman quickly pulled out
two necklaces. One was a choker.

He shook his head at it. Cass would hate the tight feeling around her throat. His hand while they were making love was fine, however.

Rierdane laughed, and Eyoen mind scowled his servant into apologizing.

He looked back and saw that Cass was still engrossed in a rack of sports bras
.

“She’s a musician,” he told the woman. “A free spirit. Very tall and beautiful. About your color.”

The woman’s brows rose but she nodded and pulled out a long, thin gold chain.

“What about this?”

It was perfect, delicate but edgy with its gold horn charm like an elephant’s tusk.

“Y
ou could add a few charms. Since she’s a musician she might like this.” The woman pulled out a little gold guitar with a diamond in its base. “That’s a real diamond.”

Did they have fake
diamonds? “It’s perfect. I’ll take it. Let’s have one more, please. Three is a better number.”

The woman offered a gold music note, and when he nodded and pulled out his wallet she quickly removed the tags, boxed the jewelry and rang him up.

“This too, please,” he tapped on the case over a large chunky gold cocktail ring for Priti.

“Whatchu’ looking at?” Priti asked no sooner than he put away his wallet.

He handed her the box with the cocktail ring. She opened it instantly and squealed as she put the ring on her finger. Eyoen used his powers to make it fit, and smiled as she stuck her hand out turning it this way and that to admire the beaten gold.

“Excuse me,” Cass said with a
ttitude. She grinned when he turned guiltily. “Why you buying gifts for a woman who’s not me?”

H
e handed her the box with the necklace.

She
smiled so big she showed almost all of her teeth. “Thank you, baby! This is a nice surprise,” she said sincerely. She lifted the necklace out and stared at the little guitar swinging gently from the chain. “It’s lovely.”

Eyoen
slipped it over her head, adjusting the charms so they rested fetchingly against her plump cleavage.

She watched his pale fingers against her breasts before she looked up. For a second his b
lue eyes seemed to blaze gold, and she frowned, but then he smiled and she smiled back.

“This is the first time you’ve ever bought me a random gift,” she said, and his brows rose.

As appreciative as he was for Lee’s unknowing generosity as host, it was apparent the man had not been a stellar companion. In fact, the more he learned, the more Eyoen thought him an idiot
.

Rierdane
respectfully nodded his agreement. “Your gift is lovely, sire.”

Thank you. I have much to do to make up for his neglect.

“I’m not sure it’s correct to call it neglect, sire,” Rierdane said, obviously striving to be fair to the dead man. “Lee wasn’t mean spirited, and he did care for Cass, but she needs nothing. She has everything she wants, and she had everything he needed. It was easy for him to simply enjoy her company. She never asked him for anything, and she never demanded anything.”

And that’s exactly what he gave her, nothing. It’s disgraceful. A
demon should always provide.

“Of course, I agree,” his servant soothed. “
But here on this planet, where the women often have more than the men, things can be different,” Rierdane explained. “It’s not taboo for women to do for themselves here. It’s called being independent.”

Eyoen considered that. On Cyanus, women did not work unless they wanted to. Many did, but most did not. They were content with their families
and homes, and since there was very little poverty and crime – it was against all regulations to mistreat any female creature regardless of class – they did not have to struggle the way many females did on this planet. There were special penalties to be paid for abusing a woman of royal or Guard blood in particular, and endless taxes and fines that ensured women enjoyed fairly exalted status.

T
hings that plagued Earth and other planets, rape, matricide, molestation, incest, domestic violence, on Cyanus these things were only theories in scrolls, whispers the lower classes used to scare demons straight should they step out of line.

And the men allow it?
He asked Rierdane.
Surely there are some who rebel against this independence and do their duty.

“There are indeed. Things were more like Cyanus on Earth a few decades ago. Men were primarily the providers and women the homemakers. But the work world and business environment changed.
There was a war. Women demanded to be allowed to work. Many decided they were unhappy being under men’s thumbs and wanted to earn their own money so they could run their own lives.”

Hmmm. It sounds like the men were cruel to their women. Devaluing their contributions, perhaps?

“Exactly, sire. And other things,” Rierdane admitted reluctantly. “Of course, some men still provide in the manner to which we are accustomed. They are considered treasures now, old-fashioned. You would be considered that way. Women consider such men a rare catch or a find.”

A find, huh? So be it. Eyoen was heartily against Cass paying for anything, lifting anything, fixing anything or wanting for anything. He knew she was capable. He also knew she was extremely well paid as an artist. But that didn’t matter to him. He had no problem with her playing music or acting in movies and the like. There were quite
a few artisans on his star. Those female demons were also extremely well paid, their contributions to the general population revered in much the same way his Cass was adored by her fans and the public.

T
hat didn’t mean he ever wanted to see her open the wallet she carried. He knew from Lee’s memories that Cass had not grown up wealthy. She had always worked because she had to. She’d watched her mother work and struggle after her father died when she was very young. She saw nothing wrong with making or spending her own money.

But Eyo
en wanted her to take it easy, to let him pamper and treat her as she deserved. If that made him old-fashioned or outside the norm, fine.

Behaving d
ifferently is fine for the other inhabitants of this dismal planet. But my Cass will be provided for by me.

Rierdane nodded, offering a respectful bow before fading from his mind.

“Come on, ya’ll. It is Sunday,” Priti said. “You know everything closes early. We still gotta go to Bloomingdale’s Home and Barney’s.”

Feeding Cass’ sudden desire to feather her nest
, Priti had talked her into visiting even more stores.

“Do we have to go to Barney’s?” Cass a
sked, tucking her hand into his back pocket as Eyoen pushed her cart toward the checkout line.

He leaned over to kiss her, his heart warming at the feel of her hand against his butt.
He didn’t even hear Priti’s response.

At Bloomingdale’s Home
, Cass bought a beautiful crystal bar set, liquor decanters with cut glass tops, a martini mixer, stirrers, ice bucket, the works.

“This will be gangster when we have company
,” she told him. “We can go to Binny’s when we leave here and get some booze. Then you can have your cocktails at home. Though I haven’t seen you drink since the accident.”

He kissed
her before she could ponder that too closely, then Priti called her away to look at something.

In the checkout line s
he whistled when the clerk told her the total.

“Do you have a charge card with us?”

Cass shook her head.

“I’ve got it, baby
.”

When
Cass gave him the stink eye, Eyoen faltered uncertainly. Something in her expression told him not to press the point.

Rierdane –

“I told you, sire. Cass is independent. It’s not that she doesn’t appreciate your help. I have a feeling she wants to decorate her home herself.”

What does that mean? I don’t understand.
Why doesn’t she want my help? That’s my job!

“But you’re not Lee,” Rierdane reminded him gently. “Furthermore, you are not married. Be cautious lest you overstep your bounds.”

Bounds?

“Boundaries,” Rierdane explained.

Eyoen frowned.
I do not care for boundaries, and I want none between my lady and me.

“Be that as it may, you are not her prince, not yet. She has no reason to acquiesce to you in this manner. Be patient. Surely you can accustom her to the new order in due time.”

Eyoen sighed. He didn’t like it, but he suppose he must play things her way, for now.

“You get 10 percent off when you apply for a Bloomie’s card
,” the salesman was saying.

“What other benefits does it have?”

The man talked about rewards points and certificates earned with points from every purchase.

“Cass!” Priti appeared with a glass tray. “You should get this to hold everything.”

“That’s nice,” Cass said, turning it over to see the price. She whistled again. “Damn! Now I know why I don’t like to shop.”

“That’s an additional 30 percent off,” the clerk said, c
overing the phone with one hand; he was on the line with the credit people.

“OK
. That’s better,” she laughed.

“They want to talk to you,” the clerk said, handing her the phone.

Cass answered a few questions and was approved for her credit card.

“You gotta go
to Barney’s on your own,” she told Priti, who pouted. “Dude. We’re drowning in bags. This shit’s heavy. We’re takin’ a cab to the car. We’ll pick you up.”

“All right. You want me to get your lipstick?”

Cass nodded. “Oh, and get some of that silk stuff for my hair. You know the one?”

“Bet.”

“How does she walk so fast in those high heels?” Eyoen asked, admiring the sway of Priti’s hips as she strode off.

Cass laughed, k
nowing exactly what he was looking at. “She was born in ‘em. Her feet hurt in flats. You hungry?”

They had dinner at
a place called Ben Pao and Boyd met them there.

“How’s my baby?” he asked Priti, one hand rubb
ing her belly as he kissed her hello.

“He fine,” she said.

“I meant you,” he told her, and she laughed. If she’d said she was fine, he’d have said he meant the actual baby.

That night Cass went to her studio
to practice. She shrugged when Eyoen asked if he could come with her.

“Won’t you be bored?”

He shook his head.

“I don’t care. But you know I’m working. Won’t be no talking,” she warned him.

He nodded solemnly, recalling other times she’d said the same thing to him, and then later had to put him out when he kept interrupting her work to ask questions.

This time he said not a word. I
nstead he sat in front of the laptop that stood on a small desk in the corner.

What is this,
he asked Rierdane. His servant explained that it was a computer and told him how to log onto the internet. He went to the search engine Rierdane recommended – Google – and clicked on a button that said Financials. Soon he was engrossed in money articles about the S&P 500, stocks, bonds and interest rates.

We should buy some
of this stock,
he told his servant.
I shall need dividends with which to provide for my lady. Having been to Bloomingdales I am no longer convinced that $5,000 will be sufficient to live all but the most basic lifestyle.