The scissors snipped. "When did you get back in town?" she asked.

"Tonight."

"You teleported here from Texas?"

"Nay. I was in Scotland."

"Oh." She continued cutting. "The last I'd heard you were in Texas, guarding Jean-Luc."

"I was. Last summer."

The snipping sound ceased for a moment. "I heard Phil was there, too."

"Aye." Was Vanda interested in Phil? He'd been the daytime guard at Roman's townhouse when the harem lived there. As far as Ian knew, Phil had kept his distance from the ladies. It was one of Angus's cardinal rules. A guard never ever became involved with his charges.

Vanda went back to cutting. "So how is Phil?"

"Fine." Ian wondered if she knew about Phil's secret.

"Is he coming back to New York?"

"Eventually. He's training someone to be Jean-Luc's new daytime guard." Meanwhile, Connor had hired a new mortal guard, Tony, to live at the townhouse while they waited for Phil to return. Ian hadn't met him yet, but he wondered if Tony was a shape shifter, too.

"What were you doing in Scotland?" Vanda asked.

"Nothing much. After all the growing I did, Angus insisted I take a few months off to…recover."

"Then it was painful." She leaned over his shoulder to look at him. "Are you all right now?"

"Aye." That wasn't quite true. Growing five inches in less than a fortnight had taken some adjustment. He'd had to drink huge amounts of synthetic blood to fill out his bigger body. While in the Highlands, he'd had some major repairs done on his small castle. He'd helped with the construction work at night, and the result had added some muscle to his bigger frame. But still, he tripped over his huge feet and cut his new face when shaving, especially around that damned crater in his chin. "I'm fine."

With a dubious snort, she resumed cutting. "How was Scotland?"