Tied With a Bow

by Lora Leigh

  “I have plans for us tonight, Kate. I won’t lose.”

  As Kate and Nathaniel reached the front of the sedan, Tamberi Jacobi stared at Nathaniel and said to her brother, “That’s him.”

  “You don’t have a line big enough to hook that fish,” Merrick said to the ventala who seemed to be in charge of the hit squad.

  “Why the hell not?” the ventala asked. “I’ve never even heard of this guy, and there are six of us and one of him.”

  Merrick shrugged. “Your funeral.”

  “What’s with you, Merrick?” Tamberi snapped. “You don’t butt into things that have nothing to do with you. Walk away.”

  “A gun battle in the street outside the muse’s holiday party will be trouble for everyone. Marco, who gave the order for you guys to come?”

  “It came from the top,” Marco said.

  “By way of what messenger?” Merrick asked, glancing at Tamberi and Cato.

  “Piss off, Merrick,” Tamberi snarled. “This is none of your business.”

  “It’s not syndicate business, either. I’d stake my patch of the Varden on that,” Merrick said coolly. Merrick’s dark eyes bored into the others. The stare was pure vampire. Challenge me, it said, and I’ll drown you in your own blood. Kate shuddered, even as she wondered, Why is he helping us?

  The ventala assassins looked around at each other. Marco cleared his throat. “Let me check this with the boss.”

  “I am telling you!” Tamberi said. “That bastard has been killing ventala. Haven’t you?” she demanded of Nathaniel.

  Merrick leaned casually against the wall.

  “Ventala are not my natural enemy . . . but I’m flexible. There need not be a battle for me here, but attack me and I will answer in kind,” Nathaniel said, pressing Kate toward the doors of the Grand. She took the steps slowly, unable to tear herself away.

  “Go in,” Merrick said to Nathaniel. “You’re burning midnight. If the syndicate wants you dead, the fight will come to you soon enough.”

  Nathaniel spoke, but not in English. Then he strode up the steps to Kate.

  “And in they fucking go,” Tamberi snapped.

  “You bunch of gutless pussies,” Cato yelled. “Get out of my way,” he said, shoving the other ventala away from the car. “And, Merrick, you cross me again, you better grow eyes in the back of your fucking head.”

  “Sure, and I’ll buy a pair of boots so I can quake in them,” Merrick said flatly.

  Kate stifled a smile as the door closed, cutting off whatever Cato and Merrick said next.

  “You’re friends with Merrick?” she asked.

  “No, but we’re not enemies,” Nathaniel said, leading her into a glass elevator with shiny brass rods between the panes.

  “What did you say to him before we came inside?”

  “I was glad he suggested that I not waste the night waiting for a fight. I told him that his advice is worth more than it costs.”

  “There’s more to this story, isn’t there?”

  “I knew you would want more information. You always do,” he said, idly tapping the tips of his fingers together. “I don’t need advice on fighting, but my experience with the other parts of life is limited. Merrick’s experience extends beyond killing. He knows about . . .” Nathaniel extended a hand in a vague gesture.

  She raised her brows when he hesitated.

  “Women,” he said.

  She fought not to smile at the heightened color in his cheeks. “I’m sure he does,” she said dryly, finding it almost inconceivable that Merrick, black-hearted ventala enforcer, would offer advice to anyone about anything. “So what words of wisdom did he share?”

  “You’re not my wife yet, Kate.”

  “Meaning the advice was too graphic to tell me about?”

  “No!” Nathaniel said, his flush deepening. His jaw tightened. “I meant, you’re not my wife yet, so I don’t have to tell you everything. And I don’t intend to,” he said stubbornly.

  “If you plan to marry me, Nathaniel, I suspect whatever experience you lack, I’ll find out about it pretty quickly.”

  He shrugged broad shoulders and said coolly, “I suspect when that time comes, I’ll be too preoccupied to worry about it.”

  The smile won out. “I bet you’re right.” Kate, who prided herself on having been worldly from a young age, found it a huge surprise that she was charmed by the fact that Nathaniel was not.

  “The view from here is great,” Nathaniel said, pushing open the door to reveal another rooftop garden. Apparently, they were quite popular, and Kate could see why. The Grand’s was just as beautiful as the Clarity’s and had an accompanying tent creating a covered bar and dining area.

  Clearly delighted, Nathaniel beckoned her. She guessed that it wasn’t surprising that angels liked heights. With their wings, they were used to having a bird’s-eye view of the world.

  Flecks of snow dotted the ground, and when they rounded the fabric wall of the large tent, she slowed. Steam rose from a hot tub, and snowflakes disappeared as they fell through the smoky condensation. An echo of her dream reverberated through her, and she went still, looking around sharply.

  “This way,” Nathaniel said, tugging her hand to lead her to the roof’s edge. “The Etherlin lights are—what’s wrong?”

  “I’m cold,” she said, shivering as thoughts rushed through her mind. The first two ventala attacks were unsuccessful. High-ranking syndicate members like Cato and Tamberi Jacobi would’ve known that, so if they’d realized that the third team to attack Nathaniel might fail and end up dead, why had they come along? And why had they been looking for him in the first place? Did they perhaps serve a demon named Gadreel?

  Nathaniel slipped his warm tuxedo jacket around her shoulders. “Just have a look, and we’ll go in and light a fire.”

  The ring’s dead weight dragged on her thumb. She hadn’t wanted to destroy the ring without talking to Nathaniel about it first, but now she wished she had.

  The night’s stillness hovered, and she walked uneasily to the roof’s edge. The Etherlin holiday lights made the night sky blossom with color. Another time, she would have stared and been compelled to take photographs, but now Kate only wanted to escape the roof.

  She backed away from the rail, holding tight to Nathaniel’s hand to keep him with her.

  His eyes narrowed. “It’s not the cold. What’s wrong, Kate?” he asked.

  She glanced around. No swooping demon in sight. “I really need to talk to you about something. Let’s go to the room.”

  “All right,” he said.

  It wasn’t possible to drag an archangel anywhere, but as she rushed across the roof, she pulled hard on his arm. Her heels clattered on the stairs as she descended to their floor. Shoving the door open, she checked the hall. Satisfied of its emptiness, she strode out and thrust a hand into her purse, clutching the dagger. Nathaniel used a key card to open the door and she stalked into the room, sweeping through it to be sure that no demon lay in wait for them, checking even under the bed.

  When she turned back to Nathaniel, his eyebrows rose in question.

  She set her purse on the desk facing the balcony and made sure the balcony doors were secure and locked. She tossed the suit coat on the back of the chair and asked, “Will you light the fire please? There’s something I think we should burn.”

  He removed his cuff links and rolled his sleeves up, then started and tended the fire until it crackled. Kate felt its reassuring heat from the middle of the room. Striding to the fireplace, she pulled the ring from her thumb and set it on the granite mantelpiece.

  Nathaniel reached for the ring, but she stayed his hand.

  “Don’t touch it yet. How’s your back?”

  Nathaniel stretched and nodded. “Good. There’s no aching now, only twitching of the muscles. My shoulder blades and ribs feel like they’re rattling at times, which startles me, but it doesn’t hurt. Well, it doesn’t hurt much,” he amended with a sheepish smile.

/>   Honest and true. Just what one would expect from an angel, she thought. “In a little while, you’re going to remember why you became an archangel and those memories are going to be awful. They should have come back first, but someone wanted to give us a chance to . . . a chance to fall in love, I guess,” she said, hesitating. Her finely honed skepticism made having faith in anything, especially a whirlwind romance, difficult to embrace.

  “I am in love,” Nathaniel said.

  Honest and true. Always, Kate thought.

  “But I don’t know that these few hours caused it. I think I always loved you. Everything I remember from my life before seems to revolve around trying to be near you.”

  “My supernatural stalker,” she said with a small smile.

  “What about you, Kate? What of your feelings for me?” The light around him glowed, reaching out to her, soaking into her skin, the warmth curling deep.

  “Oh, I’m definitely in danger of falling in love with you.” She stared at him. “It may already be too late.”

  “Is that such a terrible thing?” he asked, stepping close and inclining his head so their breath mingled. “Must you try to resist it?”

  She closed her eyes, so she wouldn’t have to look at him. That was too hard. “I have to be cautious, yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you might not choose me.”

  “Of course I will. There’s no one else.”

  “Not what I meant.” Drawing in a breath as if it were courage, she paused, then exhaled audibly. “According to the chief angels, you can be an archangel or you can be a married man. You can’t be both.”

  She felt the warmth fade, and when she opened her eyes, she found he’d taken a step back.

  “Is that a law of Heaven?”

  “Apparently so.”

  He nodded thoughtfully, then lowered himself to one knee, taking her hand. “Kate, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

  Her throat tightened, and she swallowed. “Don’t you think you should wait until your memory is fully restored to make this choice? It’s a big decision.”

  “I’m accustomed to taking things on faith, Kate. If Heaven didn’t want me to act upon this love, it wouldn’t have laid me in your backyard for you to find. It wouldn’t have shown me memories of you, while suppressing memories that could have drawn me away from you. If a choice must be made, I choose a mortal life with you.” His low voice was smooth and without hesitation. “Will you choose me as well?”

  A matched set of tears rolled down her cheeks, and she swallowed hard. “I never make big decisions on a whim or take things on faith. Investigating, gathering information, making long lists of the pros and cons is really more my style,” she murmured, feeling as though she stood at the edge of a cliff.

  Don’t hesitate, the golden angel from the Clarity roof had warned.

  She brushed the moisture from her cheeks. “But sometimes, when I’ve had to make spur-of-the-moment decisions, I’ve followed hunches that changed my life. This feels like one of those moments.” She swallowed against the emotion burning her throat. “Yes, Nathaniel,” she whispered. “I will marry you.”

  He exhaled and smiled, devastating her with that unbelievable beauty. Rising, he gathered her to him and kissed her. Long moments passed during the kiss, and his grip became so tight, she couldn’t catch her breath.

  She pulled back, laughing and gasping. “You are so strong.”

  “Did I hurt you?”

  She shook her head, sucking in a breath. “I’m just . . .” She laughed. “A little giddy, I guess.”

  He nodded, the corner of his mouth curving up. “Excitement seems natural under the circumstances.” He studied her, his gaze moving over her body. Then he looked at her face through his long lashes. “If we were handfasted, we could have our wedding night tonight.” He took a slow breath. “Unless you would prefer to wait.”

  Wait? Not freaking likely. She’d taken a terrifying leap of faith. She wanted to enjoy her reward . . . him.

  She stepped close and ran her thumb over his lower lip. “Are you anxious to get started?” she teased.

  He flushed, and his smile widened. “I am. A bit.”

  “Me, too.” She licked his lips with the tip of her tongue. He pulled her against him so hard, she could’ve counted his muscles. His mouth hadn’t exactly been tentative before, but now his kisses scorched her. His body knew it would be satisfied, so passion was given free reign.

  When she was almost blind with wanting him, she dragged herself back, panting. They were on the floor, and she didn’t remember lying down.

  He resisted her attempt to pull away and breathlessly asked, “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. It’s all very right, and that’s how I want it to stay.”

  “I don’t understand,” he said, sliding his hand along her arm, not allowing her to escape his grasp.

  “On Judgment Day, I’m not going to be accused of corrupting an angel.” She pushed his hand away from her half-unzipped dress. “Handfasting? What is that? And how do we do it?”

  “Oh. Right,” he mumbled, putting a palm to his head. “I—I can’t think.”

  She laughed.

  “Give me a minute.” His unbuttoned shirt gaped open, showing smooth strong muscles and the small scar below his collarbone.

  “Oh damn,” she said, rising.

  He caught her ankle. “Where are you going?” he asked.

  “Nowhere,” she said, but his grip stayed firm. “Really, Nathaniel, nowhere. Just to the fireplace. If you don’t need that ring as a reminder anymore, I want it destroyed.”

  “Destroyed? Why?”

  She explained about meeting the angel on the Clarity roof and paraphrased what she’d been told. “He said the ring ties you to your enemy, and the only person I want you tied to anymore is me.”

  Nathaniel let go of her ankle. “That’s my wish as well. Go ahead and destroy it.”

  She walked to the mantel and stared at the ring. “I can’t believe you’re not even curious. We are so different.”

  “I’m actually very curious about a great many things. For instance, is all of your skin as soft as your cheek? And what places that I touch will make your breath catch the way it does when I—”

  “Got it,” she said, holding out her hand with a grin. “You’re a lover, not a fighter now, and with sex in your immediate future, you couldn’t care less about anything else.”

  “More proof that you’re as perceptive as you always claim.”

  She laughed. “You know a good way to not end up in bed with your wife? Tell her she brags too much.”

  “Sorry,” he said, glancing at the ceiling. “Well . . .” And then he lapsed into a language she couldn’t identify.

  “What was that?”

  “That was me following advice that will hopefully help me end up in bed with my wife.” His hand lay on his washboard abs, the ones she was tempted to explore with her teeth, and she silently reflected that there was absolutely no risk of him not getting her into bed.

  “For a handfasting ceremony we exchange vows. And we need a length of ribbon,” he said.

  She picked up the ring, pinching it between thumb and forefinger and cast it into the fireplace. “Good riddance, Gadreel. May all your good-byes end in flames.”

  Fire roared outward, singeing her dress. She leaped back and watched to be sure that none of the embers caught the carpet on fire. Then she leaned forward and pulled the screen closed.

  “Does it have to be a ribbon?” she asked, turning.

  Nathaniel stood with a palm over his left collarbone, pressing the scar. Pleasure and flirtation had fled his features. Now he only looked furious.

  “You remember,” she whispered.

  Staring into the flames, he said grimly, “I remember.”

  “We would’ve put some holes in him, so he’d be weakened for your fight, but things didn’t go as planned,” Tamberi said, scowling.

&nb
sp; Gadreel bit the knuckles on her left hand in a makeshift punishment, but he was grinning and gleeful. “Beri, the angel took the girl to a hotel room. This is monumental. You don’t know how single-minded these pricks can be when a demon rises. Especially him when the demon is me.” Gadreel jabbed a wire into the block of C-4 explosive. “I knew this crush would be his downfall. He’s part human and all that watching the girl and denying himself a taste? All that pining? It’s how I always play people. Show them something, make them want it, and then deny them. They will sell you their soul to get it.”

  Gadreel took a puff off his hand-rolled cigarette and blew a smoke ring. “Now he’s totally lost his focus. He should have just fucked her and gotten it over with. Instead, he’s the one who’s fucked.” He took another deep drag, then bent to snort a line of cocaine.

  “I can get you a rock. You know that smoking crack is a more intense high, right?” Tamberi asked.

  Gadreel’s withering look turned her blood to ice. She clenched her jaw.

  “Sorry. Of course, you know. You invented the more intense high.”

  “True that. With coke, I like it old school. Recalling the eighties. No one thinks demons are sentimental, but we miss certain things. Like when people thought greed was good. Now yoga’s spread over the entire fucking planet and half the best-seller list is for people seeking enlightenment. Again with that crap? It is fucking tiresome. Here, hang this bomb from that light. And play me Devil’s Haircut again,” he said, before lapsing into song.

  “You’ve got a great voice,” Tamberi said, stepping onto a chair so she could hook the bomb to the light fixture.

  “Yeah, when we were cast out, they didn’t take it all. In the heat of the battle, we got away with murder and so much more.” Sucking on his cigarette, he grinned, and added, “Good times.”

  Kate watched as Nathaniel flipped the ring out of the fire using a poker. It landed on the marble, soot-covered but not melted. He set the poker in its stand, waiting a moment for the ring to cool before retrieving it and sliding it onto his finger. He closed his eyes for a moment, lost in thought and frowning.