Lover Beware 04 - Only Human

March.
    Her mother was not going to appreciate the joke.
    So why was she humming? Lily froze with the dress draped over her arm. This was nuts. Anyone would think she was looking forward to the evening.
    Her dress. That was what had her humming, of course. She slid it from the hanger. Worf stood up, wagging his tail. "Sit,"
    she told him again.
    Her dress was ankle-length silk in a color that made her think of sapphires drenched in darkness, the color of the sky when dawn is barely a promise in the east. Lily had found it on sale a month ago and fallen in love. Even the sight of the price tag hadn't deterred her.
    It was magnificent, she thought with sudden uncertainty as she surveyed herself in the mirror. A dream of a dress—sexy, feminine, sophisticated. Too sophisticated, maybe. She sure didn't look like a cop. Rule was going to think she'd dressed for him. He would think tonight was ... personal.

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    He'd be right. Nerves snapped in her middle like a string of firecrackers.
    Maybe if she took her hair down she'd look more like herself.Lily had her hands in her hair, the first pin unpinned, when the phone rang. She stepped into her shoes on the way to the living room, the bobby pin still in her hand. She spared a glance at the clock as she picked up the phone.
    Six twenty-two. Rule would be here any minute. "Hello?"
    "You left a message on that infernal machine," a light, high voice said in Chinese.
    "I am sorry, Grandmother, but when I couldn't reach you I felt it better to use the machine than to say nothing." Her grandmother did not approve of answering machines. She wasn't too fond of telephones, television, or microwaves, either."Your message said that you have invited Rule Turner to accompany you to my birthday celebration."
    "Yes, Grandmother," Lily replied, careful of both her courtesy and her accent. Her command of the tongue seldom pleased her grandmother.
    "He is lupus. A prince of one of their clans."
    "Yes. I didn't want you to be taken by surprise."
    "I have not been surprised since the Mets won the pennant.
    Did you tell your mother about this man?"
    "I left her a message, the same as yours. I don't know if—"
    "Good. Say nothing more to her." She hung up.
    Lily shook her head. Phone conversations with her grandmother tended to end abruptly. Not that conversations in person were much different. She glanced at the clock. There might still be time to finish taking her hair down if she—
    The doorbell rang. Worf let out a deep woof and surged to his feet. Lily took a steadying breath, jabbed the bobby pin back in her hair, and turned to face the door.
    Battle stations.
    HE DROVE AN Explorer. That surprised her. It seemed so—
    well, so middle-class normal. Half the people in California drove some kind of SUV.
    "I ought to sell tickets,” Lily muttered as he slid into the driver's seat beside her. Rule Turner was eye candy no matter 282
    EILEEN WILKS
    what he wore, but in a tux the impact could wreck a woman's breathing.
    "Pardon?" The knowing glint in his eyes suggested he'd heard her very well.
    "Never mind." She found herself watching his hands as he started the engine and took them out into traffic. His fingers were long and slim. No scars, of course, nor any little nicks or scabs. Lupi healed such things. What was more surprising was how little hair there was on the backs of his hands. She'd always thought lupi were hairy. "Listen, I'm sorry about the way Worf acted. He's usually friendly."
    "He didn't like my scent. The two of us will work things out," he said as he guided the vehicle smoothly through traffic.
    "Once he accepts me as dominant, he won't need to challenge me."
    Nor did his beard seem especially heavy, though naturally he would have shaved... wouldn't he? Did lupi need to shave? "You're assuming you're going to see my dog often enough to work on a relationship with him."
    "That's right. I am."
    Her lips twitched. A sensible woman wouldn't find his arrogance so appealing. And maybe it wouldn't be, if she didn't suspect he was amused by himself, too. "So, what did your father say? Am I cleared to go talk to your people tomorrow?"
    "He agreed to put it before the Council."
    "What Council? I thought the Lupois's word was law."
    "You might think of the Council as an advisory body, the elders of the tribe. Or maybe they're more like church deacons.
    The Lupois doesn't answer to the Council, but it pays to have their backing, particularly if he is considering breaking