Okay, maybe she wasn’t as cool with this vampire idea as she wanted to be. She tugged her ski hat lower over her ears and shuddered. It wasn’t from the high-pitched tone her sister’s voice took on when she was angry—or not just that, anyway. It was really cold. Not that she felt much in her ski gear, but the breeze stung her ears and cheeks.
“I didn’t sulk off. I’m more mature than that, thank you very much.” And she was. Mostly. She almost added that she’d been busy blackmailing a vampire, but she managed to swallow down the crazy words and the hysterical giggle prickling in her chest.
Kristen’s brows creased together in worry. “Then where did you go? I texted you, but figured you were in a temper when you didn’t reply.”
“I, uh…” Crap. What to tell her? Hazy remembrances of Charles feeding on that blonde woman. Them talking. Standing up to him. Threatening that if he wanted her to keep quiet about his secret, he would help her break up her sister and Brent.
Where she’d found the courage, she couldn’t fathom. Maybe her drink hadn’t been virgin? She never drank. Ever.
Heck, maybe there was something weird coming out of those Dumpsters. Some strange fungus that grew in freezing temperatures crawling its way into her lungs to make her flip out. Or maybe a squirrel bit her and gave her a brain disease while she was out there. Yeah, that was likely. Well, damn, maybe it was likely. More likely than her blackmailing a vampire.
“Good morning, ladies,” a deep, sexy voice said from behind them.
She and Kristen turned, and Charles smiled at them.
So much for it being a dream. No, the man—the vampire—wasn’t a dream. He was a damn good excuse for not returning to dinner. Even though the simple sight of him sent her heart thumping a million miles an hour, her instincts told her to run fast and far.
“Charles is what I had to do. I mean—he was why I had to leave dinner so suddenly.” Her face burned, this time not from the wind.
Kristen’s mouth dropped open, clearly not expecting that a man was the reason she had left.
“I ran into him and…” Oh, God, the calculation in her sister’s eyes was sharp. Kristen was nothing if not determined to get her sister into a relationship, if only to keep her from nosing around in her own relationship with Brent.
“I had a computer issue. Your sister was kind enough to help me out,” Charles said.
Rachel shot him a look that she hoped expressed her thanks, and added, “Yep. Charles isn’t exactly a tech genius.”
“I see,” Kristen murmured. She didn’t look entirely convinced, but she turned her speculative eyes to Charles. “It’s nice to see you again.”
“The pleasure is all mine,” he said gallantly, taking her hand and placing a quick kiss on her glove.
Kristen giggled.
Irritation spiked through Rachel at the sight, and then she was doubly irritated at her irritation. Charles could kiss whatever parts of her sister he liked. In fact, charming Kristen couldn’t hurt—so long as he didn’t lead her on. Fear immediately followed the irritation. Sure, he had been convincing the night before with his vampire laws speech and reassurance that killing her would deprive him of Brent’s business skills—whatever those were—but she still wasn’t comfortable with him this close.
“So how did you two happen upon each other last night?” Kristen’s tone was still flirtatious, but her eyes had narrowed. She might not watch out for herself enough, but she always watched out for her little sister. If only she knew the truth about Charles.
“I’m afraid the wireless didn’t work in my room, so I was forced to seek out internet access in the lounge area by the check-in. Luckily for me, your sister is a computer guru.”
Kristen bought it, hook, line, and sinker, and she practically glowed at Charles. And why wouldn’t she? It was perfect. Rachel was a consummate nerd, and Kristen had always been proud of her.
Her throat tightened.
“So you and Brent are chatting about a job this week?” Kristen asked, happy but clearly not finished checking him out.
“I did. I’m filling a position that I suspect he would be perfect for. Of course, I’m not supposed to make a decision until next week.” His tone clearly implied what that decision would be, and Kristen’s smile brightened to impossible levels. “But business aside, we got to talking about skiing, and Brent was kind enough to invite me along. I’m afraid I’m new to California, and I don’t know a lot of people.”
Rachel could see the lie—he was far too…simpering for it to be anything else. But Kristen ate it up and started in about all the best restaurants and shopping. And Rachel relaxed a hair. It didn’t seem that the vampire was going to spontaneously attack them.
“There you are,” Brent said, approaching from the lodge.
Quickly, and with far too much enthusiasm, Kristen explained what had happened to Rachel the night before, her brows practically waggling in excitement. Oh, yeah. Her sister had hopes for her and Charles.
She was always telling Rachel that she needed to find someone. Her own Prince Charming. As if.
“You guys ready to hit the slopes?” she said, grumpily.
“Where’s Cole?” Kristen asked.
“He had to work,” Brent grumbled, clearly displeased. “But he’ll meet us later. Guess it’s just the four of us this morning.”
Charles shot her a grin and she struggled not to return it. Even knowing what she did about him, his mood was infectious.
Charles was far too cheerful on the ride up the lift, whistling to himself. Her small tension headache had intensified, and her feet were already freezing.
The lift carried four, but Brent hadn’t wanted to wait for Rachel’s technical difficulties with her ski boot so he and Kristen were several chairs ahead of them.
What did you say to a vampire you were stuck on a chairlift with? She was too nervous to keep quiet. “Shouldn’t you be exploding into a nice fireball right about now?” she asked.
“No. We don’t actually do that.”
“So none of the rumors are true?”
“Do you expect me to share the intimate secrets of my species with my blackmailer?” he asked, but humor coated his tone.
“I was just curious,” she said, crossing her arms awkwardly with the poles in her hands. She glanced down at the snow-covered ground flying by beneath them, then quickly turned her gaze to the horizon.
“Rachel.”
“What?” She forced her gaze to meet his. He hadn’t done anything hypnotic to her the night before, and she couldn’t very well avoid eye contact with him for the whole trip.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me.”
The intensity of his light-blue eyes in the daylight was flooring, even with the cloud-covered sky. She relaxed a smidgen. Her instincts obviously thought something so pretty couldn’t be dangerous.
Stupid instincts.
He was silent for a few moments. “Sunlight isn’t good for me, but it won’t make me burst into flames. But, in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s very cloudy today. Perfect vampire weather.”
She turned away, taking a deep breath of the icy air. “I’m surprised it doesn’t still bother you. The bit that filters through.”
“I didn’t say that it didn’t.”
Well, he didn’t seem too bothered by it. Then again, maybe he was good at hiding it. Who knew how many years of practice he had at pretending the sun didn’t bother him? What would it be like to avoid the sun? Maybe not that much different from her daily life. She designed websites and did graphic design jobs from her home. Not like she basked in the sun daily or anything. Still, it would be strange.
“You should have gone with them,” she grumbled. “How are you supposed to be helping me get my sister away from that jerk if you’re back here with me? You should be flirting with her, or charming Brent, or something.”
Charles, obviously comfortable in his ski gear and the chill weather, tapped a bit of snow off his ski with his pole. “You’re right
. Kristen would definitely think me a romantic hero and a pillar of men if I left her sister—who helped me get my computer up and running only last night out of the goodness of her heart—to find her own way up the mountain while I third-wheeled it with her and her fiancé.”
Dammit. He had a point. “Well, once we get up there, catch up to them. Lay some groundwork. Ask him to get some drinks with you tonight, just the boys. Not like we have a ton of time here—less than a week. And I can find my own way down. It’s not like I’ve never been skiing before.”
“As you wish. But do leave this to me, won’t you? I’m starting to feel like I’m infinitely more experienced at this sort of thing than you are.”
“What sort of thing? Convincing Brent to go out and get smashed with you so you can sic him on some poor woman?”
“Talking to people in general. Let alone getting them to do something I want them to without making them suspicious.”
Ouch. Sadly, he was probably right. She wasn’t the most charming person in the world, but she was honest. Hardworking. Qualities that had gotten her quite far in life, thank you very much. But she wasn’t about to defend herself aloud to Charles. His opinion of her hardly mattered. “Maybe while you’re at it, you can keep flirting with her. Subtly. Just show her there are good guys out there—not that I’m convinced you’re one of them, but I’m sure you can pretend.”
“Oh yes, that’s sure to work,” he said, sarcasm dripping from his words. “Women are easily swept away from their beaux by the idea of a better man.”
She opened her mouth but no sound escaped; instead she took in a rush of cold air and then coughed into her mitten.
“Wow. No comeback? Shocking.” He leaned back in the chairlift and kicked his legs out like a kid on a bench. Totally unafraid of the drop below them. Rachel gripped the railing harder and tried to breathe through the sudden constriction in her chest.
“All I’m saying is that it can’t hurt. And holy crap, quit shaking the damn chairlift. Not all of us can survive a fifty-foot fall.”
He leaned over the railing to take in the drop, and her heart lurched into her throat.
“It’s twenty feet, max. Into several feet of somewhat cushioning snow.”
“Do you want me to throw up?” The words were humiliating, but the slight panic in his gaze at her threat was totally worth it. More importantly, he sat back in his seat and watched her, legs finally still. “I’m just saying, flirting with my sister might not hurt.”
“I’m not risking him getting pissed off and sending me away before this deal is done.”
“Fine. But you will not screw this up unless you want me to blab to the whole world that you’re a vampire.”
His gaze dragged over her body, slowly, and her cheeks heated, even with the cold breeze. “I wonder how you’ll look in a straitjacket.”
She huffed. “Just stick with the original plan, okay?”
“As the lady wishes.”
“God, you’re weird.” She waved her pole at him, still clutching the arm of the chairlift as best as she could with her other hand.
He laughed, and the sound sent tiny shock waves through her. How could the man be so odd—and so frustrating—but have such a bright, infectious laugh?
The chairlift neared the end of the line, and her body tensed at the sight. It didn’t seem to matter that she’d skied dozens of times over the years—mostly when she was younger—she still tensed with fear at the end of the lift, especially during the first run of the day.
As always, her fear proved unfounded, and while holding her breath, she skied down the mini-hill off the chairlift and out of the way of the next group.
Charles followed her, his movements graceful and confident.
“Do you ski a lot, or are you just automatically skilled at everything because of…your background?”
No one lingered around the lift, and they were a dozen feet from the next group exiting their chair, but she still wasn’t comfortable calling him a vampire out in the open.
Charles shrugged and adjusted his sunglasses. “We’re pretty naturally talented at anything requiring strength and coordination. But I rather enjoy skiing.”
She pulled her goggles over her eyes and suddenly wished that she’d worn more stylish sunglasses. No one looked cool in ski goggles, least of all her. But being stylish had been the last thing on her mind when packing for this trip.
“Well, go catch up with Kristen and Brent, then. I’ll head down, too.”
“Don’t think you can keep up with me?”
Nope. Not even a little. “I don’t care to try. Now, shoo.”
He grinned when she waved her ski pole at him in a not-super-threatening manner, and then headed down the hill.
She suppressed a sigh and watched him until he disappeared around a bend. A spike of loneliness hit, and she pushed it down.
It wasn’t so much that she disliked skiing itself—actually she kind of enjoyed it—she just didn’t care for the cold and snow that came with it. Except at her speed, it was usually a lonely proposition. Besides, she enjoyed it most on the short, green—aka easy—runs that didn’t offer much opportunity for an out-of-control skier to career into a tree, as she was wont to do on this mountain, where no runs offered anything but short green sections interspersed among blue runs. Blues were for intermediate skiers, which she kind of was, but she didn’t care to make skiing more difficult. She’d memorized where the black sections were the night before, never mind the double blacks that were created for expert skiers. People who liked going fast and losing a little control.
Those, she’d avoid at all costs.
Throwing a last, longing glance at the lift, she pushed off and glided down the hill.
She settled into the run after a short stint on a blue led her to a green, and she could coast at a nice safe speed.
Unfortunately, it freed her thoughts to wander. And they immediately wandered to her new vampire companion.
Vampire. Holy crap. Her pulse surged. She’d felt almost okay with the idea this morning after he’d appeared so handsome and fresh from the lodge. So human.
And that was precisely what made her so uneasy.
She wasn’t an easygoing person. People were constantly telling her to relax. To quit overanalyzing things. To get out of her shell and be more sociable instead of immediately distrusting the lot of them. It wasn’t something she’d ever been able to do, unlike Kristen.
Sisters and best friends growing up, they had reacted in opposite ways after their dad up and left them one night and never came back—electing instead to start a new life somewhere without them. Dropping them like trash.
Rachel had reacted like anyone with good sense would have— by distancing herself to avoid further hurt. Okay, it meant she didn’t get out as much as most people her age. It meant that she rarely got involved with anyone—especially men. But that was okay. She didn’t need anyone, least of all some guy. Kristen had gone the opposite route.
She clung.
Rachel shook off the thought and rounded a bend, straight down a steep slope.
“Shit.” Her mind screamed with panic as she tried to slow her descent. Back and forth in nice arcs. She could do this.
Her whole body taut, she fought the urge to panic and fall down. Then she’d never get back up again to face the rest of the slope. They’d have to send a ski rescuer on a snowmobile to get her. How flipping embarrassing.
No way.
Back and forth. She kept her lower leg firmly planted as she moved across the sharp slope horizontally to slow her descent and tried to breathe through it. Tensing too much would only make her more likely to fall on her face. And for a brief, triumphant moment, she thought she was going to make it.
Her ski slipped.
She tumbled the rest of the way down the hill in a ball of pain, fear, and curses. Her skis flew off and the poles fell from her hands. A sharp pain shot through her ankle.
Just as abruptly as her descent started,
it stopped.
“Freaking-A,” she muttered from the large snowbank where she’d landed. Thank God it hadn’t been a tree. For a moment, she didn’t move, far too grateful that she was no longer tumbling down the mountain to even want to try it.
Cold seeped in from the snow she was half buried in. Her feet were freezing and the snow melted against her skin. It had gotten into her coat and stuck to her neck, and down her back. Just freaking great.
This trip was turning into a disaster.
She dug her mittened hand into the snow and tried to pull herself from the bank to no avail. Panic rushed through her, and she took a few deep breaths to calm herself. No way was she going to let herself lose it. Screaming for help would be embarrassing and wasn’t necessary. She could get herself out of this mess.
Determined, she rocked back and forth, trying to work her way out of the bank, but the angle was all wrong. Her ankle throbbed with pain, and cold had soaked into her limbs, making movement more difficult. And she was getting tired. Maybe it was time to shout for help.
But what if no one heard?
Granted, she wasn’t that far off the trail, but the thought made her heart race. She whimpered, unable to stop the weak sound even as she loathed herself for it. Swallowing her pride, she opened her mouth to yell.
“Rachel!” a voice called from only a couple of feet away. She craned her neck to see incoming black ski pants.
“Are you all right? Talk to me.”
“You’re so bossy,” she muttered, even as relief rushed through her. Charles was here. The vampire.
The vampire she’d blackmailed only the night before. Crap.
But before she could open her mouth to say something she’d really regret, like begging for her life, the snow around her parted, then very gently, he pulled her from the bank.
“I am bossy. I’m glad you remember.” Something akin to relief touched his tone. No. She was hallucinating that, or the worried furrow in his brow as he looked down at her. Was her head in his lap?
“I’m going to get someone up here with a stretcher—”
“No! I’m fine. I just got stuck,” she said. He appeared doubtful, so she added, “My ankle hurts. Think I twisted it. Otherwise I’m fine.” Just freaking cold.
Don't Blackmail the Vampire Page 3
