by Alicia Ryan
Luc put the pencil down and crossed his arms over his chest. “Let’s just say that keeping you away from Ash serves both our purposes for the moment.”
“I can guess what her purpose is,” Ariana replied dryly, “but what’s yours?”
“Let’s just say I owe Ash one.”
“Great,” Ariana said with a long sigh. “So I’m stuck here while you play games with Ash?”
Luc grew still. “Don’t mistake common courtesy for me owing you an explanation,” he warned. “In case you haven’t put it together yet, you’re a prisoner here until I decide otherwise.” He made a fleeting motion with his tongue and allowed sharp white fangs to intrude onto his smile. “I can do whatever I like with you,” he continued, pushing off the desk and coming to join her on the sofa, “except kill you or turn you.” He ran a smooth hand along her cheek. “And even those aren’t hard and fast rules.”
Ariana drew in a deep breath. For a moment she thought he was going to kiss her. Her disappointment when he rose and went back to leaning on his desk shamed her. What was the matter with her? For years there had been only one man in her life. Now they were coming out of the woodwork.
She looked at the wedding ring on her left hand. She’d taken off her engagement ring some time ago, but the wedding band she’d not yet parted with. The platinum circlet was still there.
“James never mentioned having a wife,” Luc said.
Ariana’s eyes widened. “You know James?”
“I do.” Luc’s face was enigmatic.
Ariana wanted to scream. “This is really not funny,” she said, her voice going thick with emotion. “Look, you can do whatever you want with me. Kill me, I don’t care. But please, I need to know if James is okay.”
For a long moment, Luc stood, brow furrowed, saying nothing. “I don’t know,” he admitted finally.
Ariana gave him a confused look. “But you do know him?”
Luc stared at her intently. “That’s right. He’s been working with me. He was supposed to meet up with Toria just after sundown a few days ago, but he never made it, and no one’s seen him since.”
Ariana’s eyebrow shot up at the mention of Toria’s name.
“It’s possible he’ll be back later,” Luc explained. “Toria’s looking for him. It’s just odd because there have been a lot of disappearances lately, and James was helping Toria investigate them.”
“Why was James helping her?” Ariana asked, unable to hide her distaste.
Luc shrugged. “Toria’s not so bad, really. Once you accept what you are, it’s hard not to accept what she is.”
Ariana thought about that, but the ramifications were too painful, so she resorted to pretending once more to study her surroundings. Finally, her eyes came to rest on Luc. He was casually dressed, but the boots he was wearing were new and probably expensive. “What exactly do you do here?” she asked. “What was James helping you with?”
Luc opened his mouth and closed it again. He turned and flicked the yellow pencil he’d abandoned earlier and watched it spin on his desk. “Beauty products,” he answered.
Ariana wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly. “I’m sorry, did you say beauty products?”
“That’s right,” he said. “So what? Turns out vampire blood, when mixed with a little lotion and rubbed onto your face beats the hell out of anything else on the market for minimizing lines and wrinkles. I’m actually starting to make kind of a killing with the stuff.”
He must have seen the disbelief on her face. “Vampires have to make ends meet too, you know,” he continued, “especially since his majesty got me kicked out of the Council. It costs a small fortune to live in this city, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“What?” Ariana couldn’t hide her confusion. Was a vampire really lecturing her about the high cost of housing?
Luc smiled. “Sorry. The Council is basically a social club. Mostly a bunch of self-important wannabes, but it controls a lot of money and administers a sort of vampire welfare system. Every vampire who’s anybody is ‘registered’ and on the dole. That way the Elders can keep track of everyone and keep us all nice and grateful.”
“And you want back in?” she queried, not sure she was getting the picture. “What did you do to get kicked out?”
Luc rolled his eyes and threw his arms in the air. “Nothing!” He clapped his arms back down to his sides. “Well, Ash and I got into it a little,” he muttered. “Thinks he’s better than everybody else.” He looked back at Ariana. “Two days later the Council cancelled my registration.”
“And that’s when you started your... cosmetics business?” she asked.
Luc tossed the pencil into the air and caught it between two fingers. “Basically, yes.”
“So, what’s a killing?” Ariana asked. She couldn’t help it. Bargain hunting was in her blood. If anybody anywhere was making a killing in business, it was her business to know about it.
Luc shot her a puzzled look. “What?”
Too late, Ariana realized her question might have several meanings for a vampire. “I meant, what’s your profit margin like?” she clarified.
Luc shook his head. “I don’t know. I just keep a notebook with a record of what comes in and try not to spend it all in one place.”
“Well.” Ariana couldn’t believe she was even thinking it, but really, she had to do something. Unless she gained Luc’s trust, she was trapped again just as surely as she had been in Ash’s dungeon. And maybe being stuck with Luc wasn’t so bad. Wasn’t staying away from Ash what she wanted? If Toria, for whatever reason, had instructed this vampire not to harm her, perhaps she could make Toria’s plan her own. Plus, he could be the last person to have seen James.
She decided to bite the bullet. “So, maybe while I’m hanging around being a prisoner, I can help you get your finances a little more organized,” she offered.
Luc looked at her in confusion, but she just shrugged. “It’s what I do,” she explained. “Did you have something different in mind?” Much would depend on Luc’s intentions.
He didn’t take long to make a decision. “You’re hired,” he said on a laugh after only a moment’s hesitation. He stuck out his hand to seal the deal. “I will keep your whereabouts to myself until Toria gets over her little snit, and you can help me turn this into a real money-making operation.”
Ariana took his hand, not sure what she was getting herself into. Of course, it didn’t matter. She’d lucked into a hiding place in the last place Ash would ever look, and she had a place to start looking for James.
“What happened to your hand?” Luc asked as he spotted the bandage Nancy had fashioned.
Ariana watched as he turned her hand over and started to remove the bandage. “Um, just a workplace accident,” she said. The truth was just too complicated right now. “I don’t think that’s ready to come off,” she said.
Luc gave one more pull and the gauze parted to reveal perfect, unmarked skin. “Looks okay to me,” he said.
Ariana shook her head. “I don’t understand,” she murmured. “Those were deep cuts. It’s barely been twelve hours since Nancy put the bandage on.”
Luc pulled off a last piece of tape and tossed the whole bandage into the small garbage can beside his desk. “Who is Nancy?” he asked.
“She’s just Ash’s maid,” Ariana said.
“I’d say it’s a safe bet she’s a little more than that,” Luc replied.
Again Ariana felt answers floating around in her brain, still just beyond her grasp. She returned to sit on Luc’s awful yellow sofa and tried to relax. If she didn’t think about it, she knew the answers would eventually come.
“So how old are you?” she asked Luc, purposely changing the subject. “You said you were young.”
Luc smiled, and Ariana felt her pulse quicken. It’s a good thing Roger doesn’t look like that, she thought crazily. Poor Roger. He would worry about her. She would have to think of something to tell him.
“I was born in 1911,” Luc
was saying, “the youngest of nine children. At 21, I turned into this.” He spread his arms and looked down at himself.
“What about your family?” Ariana asked. “Did you just let them think you were dead?”
Luc shook his head. “My mother died just before I turned, and my brothers and sisters were all grown, so I just sort of wandered off into the dark and never came back.” Luc hesitated. “I did see one of my sisters much later, just before she died,” he said. “But really,” he shook his head, “you can never go back.”
Ariana wanted to know more, but Luc cut off her question before she could form it.
“All I knew up to then, of course,” he continued, “was being a farmer—when to plant crops, how to slaughter hogs. Not much use when you can’t go out in the daylight anymore.”
Ariana could not for the life of her picture him as a farmer. She’d grown up on a farm. This was not what farmers looked like.
Luc smiled and continued on. “One of the first things I did was track down the vampire who fathered me. He was a nobody. Just some young kid really.” Luc met her gaze. “I killed him, of course.”
Ariana looked up at Luc and yawned completely inappropriately. She couldn’t help it. The travel, the stress, and the blow to the head were catching up with her.
Luc frowned. “I’m sorry to bore you with my life story,” he said.
“That’s not it.” Ariana shook her head. “It’s just been a really long week. Believe me, I want to hear everything you have to say. Especially from the point where you meet James.”
Luc took a step toward her, sympathy lending a soft warmth to his blue eyes. Tired and confused as she was, her nostrils flared at his nearness.
“I sometimes forget about humans,” he said. “That you need to eat and sleep and all that.” He strode around the desk and pushed the button to call the elevator back down. “I don’t quite know what to do with you yet, but you can’t stay here.”
“I thought that’s why Toria brought me here,” Ariana said, “for you to be my jailor.”
“It is, but there are vampires downstairs.”
Ariana stood, unable to keep the fear and surprise from showing on her face.
“Don’t worry,” Luc said. “They’re in cages, but it’s still not safe to keep you down there. You’ll just have to come with me for now.”
“And it’s safe to be with you?” she asked.
Luc gave no indication that he heard her, and Ariana followed him into the elevator and out into the night.
CHAPTER 43
A brand new Harley Davidson was parked around the side of the building.
“Wow—a black VRod. Nice.”
“You know bikes?” Luc was stunned.
“One of my old boyfriends was rebuilding a WWII-era Harley while we were going out,” Ariana said on a laugh. “Probably still is. But that got me interested in the company. They have quite a brand.”
She ran her hand down the bike’s long sleek lines. “I’d love to have a bike like this, but James never approved. He thought they were too dangerous.” She shook her head at the thought. So much irony, so little time.
“So, why do you think James never mentioned you?” Luc asked.
The question took Ariana aback. “I don’t know,” she answered after a moment. “Probably he wanted to keep me safe. We were getting divorced, but it wasn’t acrimonious.”
Luc gave her a puzzled look. “Does that mean you were still gonna be friends?”
“We were friends,” Ariana insisted, hating herself for sounding shrill. “Actually, that’s about all we were,” she added honestly. “I have such strong memories of our marriage,” she explained, “but they are memories from years, not months ago. I still care about him, though, and he’s still my husband,” she said. What does it mean to be married to a vampire anyway?
Luc laughed out loud. “I think the ‘till death do us part’ thing lets you off the hook,” he said.
Still laughing, he threw one leg over the bike and slid forward on the seat. It wasn’t built for two, but there was enough room for Ariana to climb on behind him.
She hiked up the hem of her skirt. She liked it for traveling, but with its long slits, it wasn’t really motorcycle attire. She tucked the soft cotton around her legs as best she could and wrapped her arms around Luc’s lean torso.
The close contact sent a jolt of desire through her that she wasn’t prepared for. For a moment, Luc, too, seemed to freeze; then he gunned the engine, sending the bike hurtling downtown at breakneck speed. Ariana could do little more than hang on as the city flew by on either side of her. Before she knew it, they were pulling into a dark garage under a nondescript apartment building.
Luc dropped the kick stand, and Ariana removed her arms from his waist and climbed gingerly off the big machine.
“Quite a ride,” she commented, still trying to catch her breath. She watched with far too much interest as his long, jean-clad leg swung over the end of the bike. Good lord, what was the matter with her?
Luc laughed, rewarding her with another of his devastating smiles. Her insides did a flip-flop, and she forced her eyes to look somewhere else. Anywhere else.
“I’m glad you like it,” he said.
Ariana returned her attention to his face, noticing that his mega-watt smile had taken on a more predatory glint. He cocked his head to one side, and a few strands of soft, white-gold hair fell across his forehead.
Ariana felt her insides start to melt and realized that, for all his boyish charm, this man knew the effect he had on women. She looked longingly at his bright eyes and sculpted cheekbones. It isn’t right for a man to be that beautiful, she thought, a little annoyed. But then, on a woman those eyes would be just pretty. On him, they were stunning. It didn’t help that he was now looking at her like he wanted to lick her all over. Ariana felt her skin flush at the thought.
“We should get upstairs,” he said softly, his voice washing over her from the darkness like an ancient incantation.
Ariana’s heart quickened, and she took a step toward him even though, for the life of her, she couldn’t have explained why. All she knew was that suddenly his breathtaking smile made everything else seem dark. The weight of her empty life, haunted by the ghost of her lost child and failed marriage, lifted as he looked at her. The dark secrets of her past receded, and she allowed herself to move one step closer to his beautiful form. God help me, she thought. She knew it was wrong, knew it was dangerous, but she couldn’t help it. She needed to stand in the light.
CHAPTER 44
Luc knew he shouldn’t. He knew he should turn and go, or scare her off, but he did neither. The little bit of blood in his body had left his brain and was rushing to places he’d long forgotten. Indeed, he’d been a vampire for so long, he barely remembered what human attraction was like. But as he looked at Ariana, only one thought crossed his mind. He wanted to make love to her.
The absence of bloodlust had him a little at a loss. She drew closer to him, and again he breathed in her scent. Taking her hand, he took two long steps back into the darkness, pulling her with him.
He turned and pushed her gently against the concrete wall of the garage. A few overhead lights dotted garage’s center lane, but no light reached them where they now stood.
Luc looked down at her and caressed her face, the unnatural fire of his blue eyes pouring into the bottomless pools of Ariana’s darker ones. Luc had never seen eyes as black as hers. He could read the pain in them, the heartache, the hardness. This was a complicated lady, he thought. She turned her face into his palm and closed her eyes.
A complicated lady in need of solace. A little of his guilt dissipated, and he dropped his lips to hers. The first soft touch of skin to skin astonished him. Luc momentarily pulled back, surprised by the force of it. Ariana, too, sucked in her breath.
Luc lowered his lips to hers once more and when she returned his kiss, he wanted to do everything and nothing. He wanted it all and never wanted it to
end.
They stood entwined kissing for a long time. Fire like he’d never felt rushed through Luc. His insides screamed to life, but he didn’t push. He just ravaged her mouth over and over again until finally, he felt her hands reach underneath his shirt to touch his bare skin. He took his cue from her and moved to explore more of her with his hungry mouth.
He pulled aside the material of her shirt. His touch was rougher than he would have liked, but he couldn’t help it. He slid his hand inside her bra, his smooth palm grazing her skin. The weight of her breast filled his hand, and he bent his head to it. Her nipple was like a ripe raspberry against his tongue. He took more of her into his mouth, eager to know all her flavors.
***
Ariana arched back, giving herself over to the erotic delirium that seemed to have taken hold of her the moment she laid eyes on this man. She ran one hand through his hair and down across his shoulders. She could feel the heat of him through his shirt.
Her instinct was to close her eyes against the torrent of desire threatening to engulf her. Instead, she kept them open, watching Luc’s gorgeous mouth as it teased and suckled her breast.
Finally, he raised his head and brought his lips almost to hers. “We should go somewhere else,” he whispered.
His voice seemed strained, and his eyes burned brighter than should have been possible. Ariana could almost see their heat. Even in the dark, the air around them shimmered like a highway in the hot sun. She shook her head side to side and pulled his mouth back down to hers.
As they plundered each other’s mouths once more, Luc pushed her hips back against the wall and pressed fully against her. The feel of his taut erection, the crush of his jeans against the thin fabric of her skirt made her mouth go dry. She moaned into him.
Without breaking the kiss, Luc sent his hand underneath her skirt and up along her naked thigh. His fingers stroked her through slick lace. Ariana opened her legs wider, and her skirt rode up her hips.
***
Luc needed no further encouragement. This moment had been inevitable since he’d first caught her scent. He had a twinge of guilt about not telling her what she was, but he put it out of his mind. They both needed this. In more ways than one.
