As he went to the kitchen, I stared at the cream fabric of my sofa. All I could think about was the fact I shouldn’t have said anything. If I’d just kept my mouth shut, I’d still be happily munching away on my bacon rolls.
My stomach growled at that point, but I ignored it.
“Someone’s hungry,” Luke said, offering me a glass of water. “I’m sure I spotted a couple of bacon rolls in the kitchen.”
I looked at him, completely blank, and took the glass. With my hands still trembling, I concentrated so hard on not spilling any water that I didn’t even realise Luke had left and come back until I heard the microwave whirring.
“Just giving your rolls some heat,” he said.
The microwave pinged and seconds later, my delicious rolls were in front of me, reheated and smelling delicious. I shook my head.
“Come on,” he said. “I heard your stomach from the other side of the room.” He sat down and picked one of the rolls up, letting all the delicious melted butter run down back onto the plate. “If you don’t eat them, I will.”
As he moved it towards his mouth, I grabbed it from him and started eating it myself.
He laughed. “Thought that might work.”
I narrowed my eyes at him but managed a small smile. “I believe that’s called bribery and corruption.”
“I believe it’s called getting you to eat.”
We sat in silence as I demolished my bacon rolls. I had no idea I was so hungry. After I’d finished, I’d stopped shaking but I felt so cold.
“Shock,” Luke said, pulling the blanket tighter around me. “You need to eat and keep warm.”
Water glazed over my eyes and I finally said, “I told him I knew he’d lied to me about his cancer.”
“Ah. Now it makes sense.”
Over the next fifteen minutes, I gradually drip-fed Luke what had happened this morning. The odd tear fell but I ignored it. When my teeth started chattering, I snuggled further into my blanket, but it didn’t help.
“Come here,” he said, pulling me into his body.
I fell against his hard chest and immediately cuddled into his warmth. He felt like a living radiator. My eyes, red, puffy, and sore, begged to close to give them some relief. I couldn’t help but oblige.
Chapter 24
When I woke, I found myself neatly curled in Marcus’ chest. It took me a few seconds to remember I’d fallen asleep on Luke.
“Hey,” he whispered. “How are you feeling?”
I blinked several times then sat up, looking around for Luke. “Better, thank you. I swear I fell asleep on Luke.”
“You did,” he said, stroking my hair back behind my ears. “We switched places a couple of hours ago.”
My eyes widened. “How long have I been asleep?”
“About three hours.”
I gasped. “Breakfast…the rooms!”
“Don’t worry. I sorted breakfast and put all the guests at ease. Luke has gone to do the rooms.”
I almost choked as I asked, “And Dad?”
Marcus paused. “He’s taking some time to calm down and relax. I said I’d take you to mine for the weekend so you two can have some space.”
I didn’t know quite what to say to that. I wanted to see Dad but at the same time if he wanted space, I needed to respect his wishes. “He hates me, doesn’t he?”
He chuckled. “No, of course not. You just caught him unawares, on a bad day. Luke is going to sort breakfast and the rooms tomorrow as well, so your duties are clear for the weekend. Get some clothes and let’s get going. The sooner you get out in the peace and quiet, the better.”
Just thinking about Marcus’ house and the splendid countryside filled me with enough motivation to get up and sort some things out. Half an hour later, we were on our way, my heart heavy and full of sadness. I debated many times texting Dad but Marcus assured me to just leave him be for a couple of days. When I returned after the weekend, he’d be in the right frame of mind to talk.
“Did you do some sort of compulsion thing on him?” I asked.
He laughed. “No, I most certainly did not. I wouldn’t disrespect him like that.”
“How did you deal with the guests?”
He grinned. “Now those I did compel. They don’t know any different.”
I couldn’t help but smile. It fascinated me. “How does it work? How do you do it?”
“It’s like regular hypnotism to be honest. Eye contact, a certain tone of voice, and you’re into their state of mind that suggests things to the subconscious.”
“Are there people who are immune to it? Or things that can be taken or worn to prevent it?”
“There is a rare one percent of people who are immune to it although we don’t know what causes it. I’m afraid you can’t drink vervain or anything else or wear anything to stop it,” he said, chuckling.
“You’ve watched The Vampire Diaries?”
He ran his tongue over his lips and took his eyes off the road to look at me. “Well of course. Nothing amuses us more than the human interpretation of us. It’s quite interesting at times.”
I loved supernatural TV shows. I’d seen them all. “Stelena or Dalena?”
He burst into laughter. “Is this happening?”
“Yep.”
“Dalena. Stefan belonged with—”
“Don’t say Caroline.”
He shook his head. “Oh no, she belonged with Klaus.”
“Yes! I loved them two together.”
“Stefan’s heart belonged to Lexi in my opinion.”
I flashed him a grin. “You know what I’ve been thinking I need to do for a while now?”
He raised an eyebrow and gave me a suspicious look from the corner of his eye. “I have a horrible feeling I know what’s coming. Something about binge watching.”
I clapped my hands together and laughed. “See? You secretly want to as well.”
“I can assure you I secretly don’t. However, whatever the lady requires shall be done.”
“Oooo, that’s a dangerous thing to say.”
He smiled. “The lady shall be escorted out this evening too.”
Excitement rushed through me. “Really? Where?”
He grinned at me. “To a masquerade ball.”
“A ball? That sounds too posh for me. Where?”
“Not a million miles away. About a twenty-minute drive.” He smirked. “Or ten minutes if I’m driving.”
“You’ve still not told me where.”
He hesitated briefly. “To an old hall in Ravenscar.”
I stifled a scream of excitement. “Really? Like, how old?”
“Oh, not that old. Late seventeen hundreds.”
My mind immediately filled with wonderous images of gothic looking mansions and estates. I couldn’t wait. “What time?”
“We need to be left by eight.”
I glanced at my watch. It was midday. “I need to go shopping.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Before you go getting all excited, I have a selection of dresses that will fit you.”
I raised my eyebrows and gave him a cheeky smirk. “Do you like dressing up in women’s clothing or something?”
He laughed. “No. I meant my sister’s wardrobe of a bedroom. She’s gone travelling and won’t be back for a long time. Like I said before, feel free to use her clothes.”
I remembered the gorgeous room and immediately stifled a scream at the thought of digging through all of those incredible dresses. “Where did she go?”
“The Himalayas. She’s been gone a couple of years now.”
“Wow, nice.”
He grinned. “She’s gone on some crazy trip to find the Yeti. That’s the only reason.”
I laughed. “Oh my. Have you heard from her? Has she found anything?”
“I spoke to her a couple of weeks back. She said she’d found some footprints and carcasses or something. I wasn’t really listening.”
“How old is she? I presume she’s also…like
you.”
For some reason I couldn’t bring myself to say the word vampire. Last night when I finally collapsed into bed, all I could think was the word ‘vampire’ to the point it began to sound foreign. However, to say it out loud sounded wrong, odd. Vampire is something associated with fiction, but this wasn’t fiction, this was real life.
Marcus grinned. “Yes, she is. She’s younger than me but only by five years.”
We pulled up outside his house and butterflies unfurled in my stomach as I remembered how intimate we’d been with each other the last time I’d been here. Heat rushed to my cheeks.
“Are you ok?” Marcus asked, reaching across the car and taking my hand.
I nodded. “Yes, why?”
“Your pulse has quickened, and I can smell your nervousness.”
I shivered. “That sounds so wrong.”
“Just think of it as intuition. Women normally complain that men can’t pick up on their feelings and emotions. You have a distinct advantage here.”
I giggled. “It’s still a little weird to get used to.”
“You’re doing great though,” he replied, squeezing my hand. “I expected a lot worse of a reaction.”
“That’s a strange compliment to give,” I said, grinning. “Complimenting me on my reaction to you being a…” I motioned my hand through the air, trying to spit the word out “…well, you know.”
He laughed. “How about we go and watch an episode of The Vampire Diaries?”
I instantly lit up. “Really?”
He nodded. “If it helps you deal with all this, of course.”
My heart fluttered. He really was such a dream of a guy. Absolutely perfect in every way possible. Then again, he’d had plenty of years to practice how to treat a woman. My stomach turned. How many women had he been with, I wondered. I pushed the thought away and focussed on the here and now.
We headed inside and into the living room. A gigantic burgundy corner sofa dominated the room, claiming the back wall and the far wall up to the bay window. A cinema sized TV screen sat on the left-hand wall, facing the sofa. A plush soft silver carpet massaged my feet as I walked over to the sofa.
“How big is that TV?” I asked, gawking at it.
“Eighty-five inch. It’s not that big.”
“We are looking at the same TV, right?”
He laughed. “Believe me, you get used to the size after a while then it just seems like any other regular TV.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
I snuggled up into the corner and stretched my legs out. Marcus sat next to me and put his arm around my shoulder, curling me into his side.
“Here,” he said, pulling a silver cushion out. He placed it on his lap and patted it. “Lay on me if you want to.”
I rolled onto my side and rested my head on the cushion. His spicy cologne enveloped me, making me feel even more at home. Home. A pang of pain stabbed my heart. I hoped Dad was ok. I really hadn’t meant to upset him, but he needed to understand that my upset about being lied to. I know he wanted things his way in the last part of his life but why did that have to come at the cost of being dishonest to those closest to him?
“Don’t think too much,” Marcus whispered, stroking my hair.
“How did you know?”
“I can feel the tension in your body. Just relax.”
I sighed and tried my best to relax. Marcus flicked the TV into life and logged onto Netflix. As soon as he put the programme on, I became immersed in reliving my favourite series.
After two episodes, Marcus paused the TV. “How are you feeling?”
“Lots better, thank you.”
“It’s six o clock. We should probably get you upstairs and sorting out a dress whilst I cook you something. What do you fancy to eat?”
I couldn’t help but grin. A guy offering to cook for me whilst I tried on beautiful ball gowns? If normal shopping happened like this, I’d be as addicted as Hannah.
“Do you have anything in? I mean, it’s not like you need it.”
He smirked. “Actually, eating food is something we often do. It doesn’t give us any nutritional value, but we can still indulge our taste buds.”
“It doesn’t make you sick?”
“No, not at all. I might even eat with you before we leave. I make mean chicken tikka wraps.”
“Show me then,” I said, grinning. “And I’ll go dress hunting.”
He helped me up from the sofa and as I stood up, he leaned down and planted a delicious kiss on my lips. It came so unexpectedly and left me so stunned, my mind started spinning at a million miles an hour.
Something about this man made everything seem like it made sense. When he touched me and kissed me so deeply, the whole world fell away, leaving just me and him in a private bubble of desire and happiness.
When he pulled away, I stumbled forwards, my senses all in disarray. “Steady there,” he said, chuckling and putting a hand on my shoulder.
My face exploded with heat. How embarrassing. “I…um…dresses. Yes, dresses.”
I marched towards the door, intent on getting some sense of equilibrium back. By the time I made it to Emaleia’s room, I’d managed to regain control of myself. As soon as I laid eyes on all the exquisite dresses, my embarrassment from moments ago evaporated.
A couple of mannequins sat at the far end of the room. One wore a breath-taking pale yellow ballgown, its corset top embellished with a layer of silver lace and beads. Off the shoulder straps glittered with gems. It’s silk skirt flowed down naturally from the top half into an attention demanding balloon.
On the other mannequin sat a dress I literally gasped at. In a striking midnight blue colour, the skirt was full of gentle ruffles that were just perfect, not too big but not too small either. They reminded me of a flower on the verge of opening. The corset top had a sweetheart neckline. A layer of lace, beads, and crystals sat over the top, covering the chest and ending in a high neck.
I loved them both but the thought of wearing either one had me almost breaking out into a sweat. I couldn’t wear either of them. They were so lovely they belonged exactly where they were—to be adored from a distance.
Forcing myself to ignore them, I scouted through the rest of Emaleia’s clothes. She had everything from Edwardian style dresses to fashion from the last couple of years. Nothing I found though could stop my mind from wandering back to those two dresses.
I finally gave in and decided to try one on. Marcus did say anything of his sister’s I could wear so that would include these two beauties, right? I sucked in a deep breath and made a beeline for the blue one. Something about it spoke to me on another level, almost begging me to put it on.
Quickly slipping out of my clothes down to my underwear, I studied the way it sat on the mannequin before disturbing it. A delicate pearl acted as a button on the high neck with a loop in the lace to secure it. The corset top had the traditional ribbons tied into a bow at the back. I’d need Marcus to do that up properly.
As carefully as I could, I undressed the mannequin. With the dress in an organised heap on the floor, I slipped my legs into the middle of the dress and slid it up my body. I settled my boobs into the cups and realised I’d have to take my bra off. I’d never been out without a bra on. This would be peculiar for sure.
I whipped my bra off and then fastened the high neck. I expected it to be fiddly, but it fastened up first time. A full-length mirror stood against the wall on my left. I held my breath as I walked over to it.
When I saw my reflection, I couldn’t help the “Wow,” that escaped from me. Even without the corset top done up properly, it contoured my body into a feminine shape I’d never seen on myself. It made me look like a young woman, not the gawky girl I always felt like.
“My goodness.”
Startled, I turned around to see Marcus stood at the door, his eyes full of wonder and glittering like the gems on the dress.
“I presume this is ok to wear? It’s so lovely. I tried
to find something else, but this just kept calling to me and I couldn’t resist.”
“Of course it’s ok to wear. You look incredible, Caitlyn.” He walked over to me and ran his fingers down my arms, sending shivers all through me. “You literally took my breath away.”
The sincerity of his words and the serious edge to his face made this moment so intense, I couldn’t help but make light of it. “Do you even breathe?”
He gave a light chuckle. “Yes.”
He cupped my face in both of his hands and bent down to kiss me. This time, however, I was ready for him. I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck, drawing him to me. Our lips met in a tender kiss that exploded sparks inside every part of me. My imagination flooded with images of us at the ball, dancing in our own world, people admiring us and whispering how perfect we were for each other.
I found myself smiling which caused our kiss to end.
“What would you be smiling at, my lady?”
I started to giggle. “I just had a thought of us dancing at the ball, all romantic and everything else, and a scene from Beauty and the Beast popped to mind. Then I realised that that’s what we are.”
His eyes lit up with mischief. “But the question is, who’s the beauty and who’s the beast?”
I laughed and gave him a playful slap on his shoulder. “I’d best take this off to eat and do my hair and makeup.” I groaned. “My makeup is at home.”
Marcus smiled. “Emaleia has tonnes of it.” He took my hand and led me towards her bed. He lifted up the yellow striped duvet which hung down almost to the floor and revealed a row of wooden drawers. “If you can’t find what you need in there then no one can help you.”
I laughed. I knelt down and opened the first drawer. When I pulled it out, I was surprised to see it was nearly two feet deep. The entire thing had been filled with eyeshadow, blusher, bronzer, and eye liner in every form you could think of. The next drawer overflowed with all the shades of foundation under the sun. I didn’t even know half of the brands, but the fancy names and posh bottles told me they must have cost a fortune. The last drawer had been crammed with mascara, primer, and a million and one different brushes.
Love, Lies and Immortal Ties: A young adult paranormal romance (Love, Lies and Ties Book 1) Page 22
