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"Trust me?”
"Hardly," she scoffed.
He shrugged and took another swig of beer."Your loss.”
“Oh, all right," she relented, too curious by now to continue declining. "But if I gag, remember I warned you.”
Julian hooked his heels around her chair legs, and pulled her so close to him that their thighs were pressed together. He wiped his hands on his jeans, then picked up the smallest oyster on his plate.
"All right, then," he murmured in her ear. He draped his arm over her shoulders. "Tilt your head back.”
She did. He stroked her throat with his fingers, causing chills to erupt all over her body. She swallowed, amazed by the tenderness of his touch. Amazed at just how good he felt by her side.
"Open your mouth," he breathed as he nuzzled her neck with his nose. She obeyed.
He tilted the oyster to slide into her mouth. As the oyster slid down her throat, he ran his tongue up her neck in the opposite direction. Grace shuddered at the unexpected sensations. Her breasts tingled and a thousand chills went through her. It was incredible! And for once, she didn't mind the taste of the oyster at all. Her face flamed as she remembered where they were. Opening her eyes, she was immediately grateful that they were seated in a dark corner.
"Did you like it?" he asked playfully.
She couldn't resist smiling. "You are incorrigible."
"I endeavor to be, anyway.”
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“And you succeed admirably.”
Before he could respond, her cell phone rang.
"Ugh!" she said, pulling it out. Whoever it was, it had better be darn important. She answered it.
"Grace?”
She cringed as she heard Rodney's voice. "Mr. Carmichael, how did you get this number?”
“It was in your Rolodex. I came by to see you again, but you're not home." He sighed. "I was so looking forward to being with you today. We still need to have that talk. But that's okay. I can come to you. Are you down in the Quarter again visiting your psychic friend?”
Fear cut through her. "How do you know about my friend?”
"I know lots of things about you, Grace. Hmmm," he breathed into the phone. "You scent your underwear with rose potpourri.”
Grace froze as her terror swelled to titanic proportions. Her hands started shaking.
"Are you in my house?”
She could hear drawers opening and closing on the other end of the line. Suddenly, he let out a curse. "You slut!" he snarled. "Who is he? Who the hell have you been sleeping with?”
"Now that's—”
The line went dead. Grace shook so badly, she could barely turn the phone off.
"What is it?" Julian asked, his brow knitted with concern.
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"Rodney's at my house," she said, her voice quaking. She immediately dialed the police to notify them. "We'll meet you there," the officer told her. "Whatever you do, don't go inside until we get there."
"Don't worry.”
Julian covered her hands with his. "You're shaking.”
"You think? I only have a psycho in my house sniffing my lingerie and calling me names. Why should I be shaking?”
His deep blue eyes soothed her with their protectiveness. He tightened his grip on her hands. "You know I won't let him hurt you.”
"I appreciate the thought, Julian, but this man is—”
“Dead if he comes near you. You know I won't leave you.”
“Not until the next full moon anyway.”
He looked away then, and she saw the truth of it. "It's okay," she said bravely. "I can handle this, really. I've been on my own for years now. He's not the first client to harass me. I doubt he'll be the last.”
Julian's eyes snapped blue fire as he met her gaze. "Just how many of these people harass you?"
"It's not your problem. It's mine.”
He looked as if he were ready to strangle her.
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Chapter 12
Grace reached her house at the same time the police arrived. The young, heavy-set officer cast a suspicious glare at Julian. "Who's he?”
“A friend," she said.
The officer held his hand out to her. "All right, give me the keys, and let me search the place. Officer Reynolds will stay out here with you until I finish.”
Grace dutifully handed over her house keys.
She chewed her thumbnail as she watched him enter. Please let Rodney be in there.
He wasn't. The police officer came out-a short time later, shaking his head.
"Damn," she breathed.
Officer Reynolds walked her to her house with Julian one step behind. "We need you to come in, and take a look around, see if anything's missing.”
“Did he make a mess?" Grace asked.
"Only in the bedrooms.”
Heartsick, Grace walked into the house and up the stairs to her room. Julian trailed behind, and watched the way she held herself rigidly cool. Her face was so pale that it made her freckles all the more apparent. He could kill the man responsible for this.
No woman should ever be this afraid, especially not in her own home.
When they reached the top of the stairs, he saw the door at the end of the hallway ajar. Grace ran to it. "No!" she gasped.
Julian rushed in behind her. The grief on her face made him see red. He felt her pain in his heart as if it were his own. Tears streamed down her face as her gaze darted over the shambles. The bed had been torn apart and drawers overturned as if Dark Hunter Series (1) – Fantasy Lover – Sherrilyn Kenyon Page 242 of 340
Zephyros had come through on a tirade. Julian put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "How could he do this to their room?" she asked.
"Whose room?"Officer Reynolds asked. "I thought you lived alone.”
"I do. This was my parents' room before they died." Grace looked around in disbelief.
It was one thing to go after her, but why would he have done this?
She looked about at the scattered clothes, clothes that reminded her of so many wonderful moments. Her father's shirts that he'd worn every day to work. Her mother's favorite sweater that Grace used to beg to borrow. The earrings her father had given her mother the anniversary before they died. All of it was now tossed about as if it were worthless.
But it wasn't worthless to her. It was all she had left of them. The hurt stabbed deeply into her heart. "How could he do this?" she asked as rage tore through her. Julian pulled her into his arms and held her tight. "It's okay, Grace," he breathed against her hair.
But it wasn't okay. Grace doubted if it would ever be okay again. She couldn't stand the thought of that animal running his hands through her mother's clothes. Of him stripping the sheets off their bed. How dare he!
Julian looked at the police officer.
"Don't worry," the man said, "we'll find the guy."
"And then what?" Julian asked.
"That's for the courts to decide.”
Julian raked him with a disgusted sneer. Courts. He had no use for modern courts that could turn such an animal loose.
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"I know this is hard," the officer said. "But we really need you to keep looking around, Dr. Alexander, to see if he took anything.”
She nodded.
Her courage amazed Julian as she withdrew from his embrace, and brushed the tears from her cheeks. She started looking through the debris. Julian knelt by her side, wanting to be close should she need him again.
After a thorough search, Grace crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the officer. "Nothing's missing," she said, then went to her own bedroom.
Grace stepp
ed tentatively inside. A quick perusal showed the same kind of damage in here. Both her and Julian's clothes had been thoroughly searched. Underwear was scattered all about, and her bed had been stripped and the mattress was askew.
How she wished the beast had found Julian's sword beneath the bed and made the mistake of touching it. Now that would truly have been justice. But Rodney hadn't found it. In fact, Julian's shield was still where he'd left it, propped against the wall beside the bed.
Looking around at her scattered clothing, Grace felt so violated, as if Rodney's creepy hands had touched her body.
Grace saw the door to her book closet slightly ajar. Her heart stopped beating as she walked to it, and opened the door wider. In that moment, she truly felt as if Rodney had ripped her heart out and stomped on it.
"My books," she whispered.
Julian crossed the room to see what she was looking at. His breath caught in his throat as he stood behind her. Every single book she owned had been torn to pieces.
"Not my books," she said, falling to her knees.
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Grace's hand shook as she touched the pages of the books her father had written.
They were irreplaceable. Never again would she be able to open them up and hear his voice speaking to her from the past. Nor would she be able to open up Black Beauty and hear the faint memory of her mother reading it to her.
It was all gone. In one move, Rodney Carmichael had killed her parents all over again.
And then her gaze fell to the shredded pieces of The Iliad. Tears filled her eyes as she remembered the way Julian had looked when he'd seen it. The hours they had spent with each other as she read.
Those hours had been so special. So magical as they lay in front of the couch lost in the words of the story. It was their own little realm. Their own special heaven.
"He decimated all of them," she whispered. "Oh, God, he must have been here for hours.”
“Ma'am, they're just—”
Julian grabbed Officer Reynolds by the arm, and pulled him back into the bedroom.
"They're not just books to her," he said between clenched teeth. "Don't mock her pain.”
"Oh," he said sheepishly. "Sorry.”
Julian returned to Grace inside the closet. She was sobbing uncontrollably as she ran her hand over the shredded pages. "Why would he do this?”
Julian picked her up and carried her out of the closet, then laid her on the bed. She held on to him so tightly that he could barely breathe, and she sobbed as if her heart were splintering. In that moment, Julian wanted to kill the man who'd done this to her.
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The phone rang. Grace screamed and struggled to get up.
"Sh," Julian said, wiping her tears with his hand while holding her steady. "It's all right. I'm here. I've got you.”
Officer Reynolds handed her the phone. "Answer it in case it's him.”
Julian glared at the man. How could he be so insensitive as to ask her to talk to that rabid mongrel?
"Hi, Selena," Grace said, then she burst into tears again as she told Selena what had happened.
Julian's thoughts whirled as he considered the man who had invaded her home and wounded her so deeply. What concerned him most was the fact that the man knew what to go after. He knew Grace. Knew what was important to her. And that made him far more dangerous than the police realized.
Grace hung up the phone. "I'm sorry for the outburst," she said, wiping her tears away. "It's been a long day.”
"Yes, ma'am, we understand.”
Julian watched as she pulled herself together with a strength of will he had known few men to possess. She led the police through the rest of her house.
"He must not have seen this book," one of the officers said as he handed Julian's book to her.
Julian took it from Grace's hands. Unlike the officer, he wasn't so sure. If the bastard had tried to tear it up, then he had been in for one nasty surprise. The book could never be destroyed. Over the centuries, he had tried to do it himself, countless times.
Not even fire could mar it. But the book served to remind him of just how true Grace's earlier words were.
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In a few days, he would be gone and she would have no one to protect her. That thought made him ill. The police were finally leaving as Selena pulled into the driveway. She got out of her Jeep with a tall, dark-haired man who had his arm bound in a cast, and came running to the door.
"Are you okay?" she asked Grace as she hugged her.
"I'm fine," Grace said, then looking over Selena's shoulder, she greeted the man. "Hi, Bill."
"Hi, Grace. We came to help.”
Grace introduced him to Julian, then the four of them went inside. Julian stopped Selena as soon as they entered, and pulled her aside. "Can you keep her downstairs for a bit?”
"Why?”
“I have something I need to take care of."
Selena frowned. "Sure, okay.”
Julian waited until Selena and Bill sat Grace down on the couch. Then he went to the kitchen, grabbed a couple of trash bags, and headed upstairs to the closet. As quickly as he could, he started cleaning up the mess so Grace wouldn't have to see it again. But with every piece of paper he touched, his rage grew.
Over and over, he saw the tender look on her face as she had looked through her collection, searching for a book to read. Closing his eyes, he could see her hair falling over his chest as she read to him. And in that moment, he wanted blood.
"Jeez," Bill said from the doorway. "He do all this?"
"Yes.”
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“Man, what a psycho.”
Julian didn't say anything as he continued to shove papers into the bag. All he could focus on was the scream in his soul that demanded vengeance. It made a mockery of the one that called out for Priapus.
It was one thing to wound him. But to hurt Grace
The Fates had better have mercy
on the man, because Julian wouldn't. "So, you been dating Grace long?”
“No.”
“Didn't think so. Selena hasn't mentioned you, but come to think of it, she hasn't been so worried over Grace being alone since her birthday, either. You must have met her then.”
"Yes.”
“Yes, no, yes. You're not much on talking, are you?"
"No.”
“Well, I can take a hint. See ya later."
Julian paused as his hand brushed the cover to Peter Pan. He picked it up and ground his teeth. Pain assailed him. She'd loved this book most of all. He clenched it tight in his hand, then added it to the bag, as well.
Grace didn't know how long she sat on the couch unmoving. All she knew was how much she hurt. Rodney had struck deeply in his violation of her. Selena brought her a cup of hot chocolate.
Grace tried to drink it, but her hands still shook so badly that she was afraid she'd spill it. She set it aside. "I guess I need to go clean up.”
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“Julian already did that," Bill said from her armchair as he flipped channels on the TV. Grace frowned. "What? When?”
“He was up there a little while ago, cleaning out the closet." Gaping at the news, Grace went to find him.
Julian was in her parents' room. She watched him from the doorway as he straightened the last of the mess. He folded her father's pants in a way that would have made Martha Stewart cringe, then placed them in the drawer and slid it shut.
Tenderness flooded her at the sight of a once legendary general cleaning up her house to keep her from having to do it. His kindness touched her all the way to her heart. He looked up and met her gaze. The warm concern in those deep blue eyes warmed her d
eeply. "Thank you," she said.
He shrugged. "Didn't have anything else to do." Though he'd said the words casually, there was a note in his voice that belied his nonchalance.
"I'm still grateful." She walked into the room, looking around at all his hard work. Her throat tight, she placed her hand on the mahogany footboard. "This was my grandmother's bed." she told him. "I can still hear my mother telling me how my grandfather made it for her. He was a carpenter.”
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