“Yuck. Cottonmouth. I need a toothbrush and a shower. STAT.”
Thirty minutes later, Christina exited the shower and wrapped a towel around her body, tucking it in at her breast, while she crossed the space to the vanity. She wiped the fog from the mirror with a hand towel and put her hair up in a simple French braid, then applied her makeup. Once she looked presentable, she left the bathroom to get dressed.
Christina chose a loose-fitting white shirt. In contrast, the navy pants were a little tight but not bad. Her stomach rumbled with hunger as she donned her shoes.
“I really need to eat something, but first I should get my car back.”
After a short cab ride, Christina found herself with a dilemma. Should she retrieve her car and go home or take the welcome offered by the open gates to the plantation? Her feet seemed to move up the gravel drive of their own volition. The delicious aroma of freshly cut grass mixed with honeysuckle to tickle her nose as the night air flowed over her skin. The thought of seeing Marcus again made her pace quicken.
When she arrived at the home, Marcus stood on the porch, looking down at her with hungry eyes. Christina pulled nervously at the tight-fitting pants, conscious of the way he watched her movement. She rolled the sleeves on the shirt, drawing his heated gaze.
“I’d hoped I’d see you tonight.” His voice sounded thick and raspy.
“I needed to get my car.”
“When you didn’t call me for a ride, I was afraid you’d pick up your car and drive away without stopping in to say hello.”
“I wanted to thank you…for taking me home.”
“It was my pleasure.” A sexy smile took Marcus’ full lips. “I’m always happy to help a damsel in distress.”
“I don’t know how much distress I was in, but I do appreciate the ride home.”
“Why don’t you come in for a bite?” A mischievous smile spread across Marcus’ face, and Christina wondered if he had something planned.
“I wouldn’t want to put you to any trouble. I’m not all that hungry.” Her stomach grumbled its disagreement.
Marcus smiled and made his way down the stairs. “It’s no trouble. Payton would be quite upset if you didn’t stay for dinner. He’s been cooking all afternoon.”
“Who’s Payton?”
“Let’s go find out.” Marcus extended his arm when he approached the last step, and Christina allowed him to lead her through the house to the kitchen.
The wonderful aroma of ginger filled her nose, making her stomach growl. After a quick introduction to his valet, Marcus helped her into a seat at the table.
While they enjoyed the Thai feast prepared by Payton, Christina became enraptured with Marcus. She sat across from him, her full attention on every word he spoke. It wasn’t until Payton approached their table with a cordless phone in his hand that she registered the thing had rung.
Without taking his eyes from Christina, Marcus asked, “Who is it, Payton?”
“It’s Mr. Romanoff, sir. He wishes to speak with you.”
“I have to take this call.” Marcus grabbed the phone. “Please excuse me.”
He left the room quickly. Christina heard the deep timbre of his voice trail off as he put distance between the two of them. She wondered just who this Mr. Romanoff was. Marcus seemed to take on a different persona when he answered the phone. His shoulders tensed, his face tightened. If she had to guess, she would bet they had a working relationship. Maybe Mr. Romanoff was his boss.
Payton did not give her much time to ponder their relationship.
“Did you prepare all this?” Christina swept her arms around the table to indicate the meal before her.
Payton nodded his head. “I did, ma’am.”
She looked over at the older gentleman and smiled her appreciation. “It was amazing. Thank you so much for preparing it. Can I help you clean up?”
Payton looked appalled. “No, ma’am. I will be the one to clean up, not you.”
“Are you sure I can’t help? I don’t mind.”
Payton adamantly shook his head. “I’m positive.”
Christina cocked her head to one side, sending the stray wisps of her hair flowing over her shoulder. “You remind me of someone, but I can’t think of whom.”
“Master Marcus has mentioned that I resemble Michael Gouch.”
“Who’s that?”
Payton blew out a heavy sigh. “He was the actor who played the part of Alfred Pennyworth.”
Christina gave him a questioning look, then shook her head indicating that she did not recognize the name.
“Batman’s butler on the TV show in the sixties,” Payton clarified.
Christina’s eyes widened. “Of course. You look exactly like him.”
A rosy flush took the valet’s face. “Not exactly,” he murmured.
“Well, no, but close enough to be related. That’s so cool. I always thought he was the brains behind the bat in that show. I bet you are a lot like his character.”
Payton’s eyes met hers. He straightened ever so slightly under her compliment, a smile reaching the lines by his eyes. “Do you watch much TV? We have a media room that you might like.”
Christina allowed Payton to take her plate. “I really don’t watch that much TV, but I love to read.”
“If you are finished, you might want to wait for Master Marcus in the library. There are some wonderful books in there you could pass the time with while you wait for him.”
“That’s a great idea.” As Christina got up to go to the library, she paused. When Payton turned to look questionably at her, she smiled shyly and asked, “Can you tell me how to get to the library?”
A few twists and turns later, Christina opened the doors to the library and strolled into the room.
“This is amazing,” she whispered in awe.
The ceiling of the room stood as tall as the house, extending up to the third floor. On three walls were built-in bookcases, each two stories in height. On rails, a mahogany ladder slid between the cases filled to capacity with leather-bound editions. In the middle of the room, a settee adjacent to two wingback chairs, all covered in a thin-striped material, encouraged people to relax and read. A round marble topped table with a Tiffany-style lamp separated the two chairs. The glow of the lamp flowed softly over the small table, spilling over onto the arms of the chairs.
As she fingered some of the bindings, Christina murmured to herself, “William Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain—these must be originals. They look so old.” Realizing more treasures probably resided higher, she climbed the ladder all the way to the top to search. Not finding anything she wanted, she pushed the ladder to the next part of the bookcase. After her fourth push, she found Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
“This will do,” she commented aloud, hooking the book’s spine with her fingers.
“What will do?” Marcus’ deep voice boomed in the quiet room.
Not expecting company, Christina’s body jerked in surprise, causing her to lose her footing. One hand held the book she pulled from the shelf. The other grabbed at the air trying to find a rung on the ladder.
Christina fell, closed her eyes and let out a scream as her stomach seemed to drop to her toes. She realized Marcus was too far away to help, and her mind barely registered that the landing would hurt before she felt a pair of strong arms cradle her. She looked up, meeting Marcus’ eyes with a wide gaze. “How did you get to me so fast?”
Ignoring her question, Marcus replied, “You know, for someone so beautiful, you certainly fall down a lot.”
“You think I’m beautiful?”
In answer to her question, Marcus slowly lowered his head and captured her lips. His gentle kiss barely brushed her mouth. When he started to pull back, Christina parted her lips in invitation. It was an offer he did not resist. Marcus deepened the kiss, sweeping his tongue into her mouth. Their tongues danced together in perfect harmony to a song as old as time.
Christina may have been virginal, but she
’d been kissed before, or so she thought until Marcus touched her lips. His searing kiss branded her, making her his. His tongue masterfully stroked her inner passion, creating a raging fire in her blood. Lost in his kiss, she felt time stood still. She wanted to remain in his arms, kissing him forever.
Chapter 9
Marcus was…drowning. The feel of Christina in his arms, responding to his kiss with all the intensity and passion he felt, pulled him under as his inner beast rose to claim its mate. He wanted her. Wanted to be inside her. Take her.
Here.
Now.
He struggled for breath, worked to maintain control, but quickly realized that would be an impossible task as long as they were joined. He warred with the beast within, struggled to rein it in. Christina deserved to be courted, not taken like a common whore. She deserved all the love he could give. He wanted to make love, not have sex with her. The thought gave him the strength he needed to dampen the fiery heat of passion coursing through his body. He called on years of honed self-control to break the kiss.
When he pulled away, his raspy breath escaped from his lungs. He needed to find a way to distract himself from the feel of her lips on his. His eyes flowed over her body, landing on the book she still held in her hand.
“What did you find?” Marcus nodded toward the book as he slowly released her to the floor. The feel of her body sliding down his did not help his tenuous control.
“Huh?” Christina brought her hand to her kiss-swollen lips. She lifted the book to read the title. “Um…Dracula.”
“Interesting choice.” Marcus held his arms tightly against his sides, afraid where touching her might lead.
“I’ve read it before, but it’s good enough to read again. Plus I’ve always kind of had this thing for vampires. I like the lore.”
Seeing an opportunity, Marcus gestured to the settee. “There’s something we need to talk about, Christina. Please sit down.”
He joined her on the couch, taking most of the space with his broad shoulders and muscular thighs. He sat with his legs wide, leaning his forearms on his knees. Clasping his fingers together, he turned his head and looked at her. “Tell me what exactly about the vampire lore you like.”
“I like the idea of a being with super strength and speed. I think it is kind of cool how they can do things with their minds. They tend to be written as sex symbols. I even like the dominance of most vampire characters, not in an abusive way of course. But most women like the idea of being ‘taken’ not just made love to every now and then.”
Duly noted. A wry grin lifted one corner of his mouth. “What would you do if you found out vampires are real?”
“Ummmm…” Christina tilted her head to one side and looked thoughtfully into his eyes. “I’d be very curious. I’d want to ask them all sorts of questions.”
“Like what?” He pinned her with his dark stare. Anticipation knotted his stomach.
“Like I’d want to know what parts of the lore are real. What the authors got right.”
As she spoke, Marcus remembered the last time he told a human about his true nature. Just a few years ago, he’d met a young dancer in Vegas named Katrina. Once Kat believed he was a vampire, she attacked him. Fearing for her life, she kicked and punched him, tearing at his face with her nails. He needed to restrain her to keep her from hurting herself more than him, and that only increased her panic and fear. Eventually things had worked out, and they were now fast friends, but Marcus didn’t look forward to reliving that experience.
“And if you found out someone you knew was a vampire, how do you think you would react?”
“I don’t know.” Christina shrugged her shoulders extraneously. “I guess I’d be okay with it because if I’d known them for a while and they hadn’t hurt me, I’d assume they were fine. I’d hope I’d be cool about it.”
“What if I told you I know a vampire? What if I told you I know several of them?”
“I’d say, can you introduce me?” Christina giggled.
Marcus let an undemonstrative, stoic smile pull his full lips into a taut line. Here goes nothing. The warrior took a deep, fortifying breath. “What if I told you I am a vampire?”
“Yeah, right. Sure you are.” The svelte human reached over and gave his thigh a patronizing pat.
Marcus took another deep breath and let it out slowly through his nose. “Christina, I am a vampire.” He paused, allowing her time to absorb the confession, and noted the look of skepticism on her face. “Seriously, I’m telling you the truth. Think about it. Think back to the night we first met, the accident. Remember what I did that night, vaulting cars, pulling car doors off their hinges?”
The smile slipped from Christina’s pretty face. “That was just an adrenaline rush. You hear all the time how a mother will lift a car off her baby.”
“Well, what about the times you have fallen? When you fell off the porch and just now when you fell off the ladder. Think. Where was I?” He paused a moment to allow her to consider his question. “I was nowhere near you as you started to fall, but I still caught you before you hit the ground. How do you explain that?”
“Okay, so you are very strong and very fast, but that doesn’t make you a vampire. I mean, I’ve seen you eat food.”
“Vampires can eat food. That’s one of the myths that isn’t true.”
“I’ve seen you drink. You and I drank three bottles of wine.”
Marcus noticed a slight tremor to Christina’s voice. His preternatural hearing took in the increase of her heartbeat. “Think back to last night. You saw me drink something red, but it wasn’t just wine.”
She shook her head adamantly, sending the wisps of escaped tendrils swirling around her face. “But I drank it too. It was wine.”
He kept his voice low, the timbre soothing. “Your glass contained wine, mine contained wine and…blood.”
The silence was deafening while Christina considered what Marcus told her. Unable to read the play of emotions on her face, he pushed into her mind, needing to discover her thoughts. Like a movie, she played their conversation in her head, inserting the inhuman things she witnessed him do.
Christina’s eyes went wide as she put her hand over her mouth. “You are either a vampire or an insane psychopath.”
She truly wondered if he’d gone crazy. Well, that was almost insulting. “I assure you I am not a psychopath.”
The silence stretched out between them like a bungee stretched to its limit, threatening to snap and send them into opposite directions. He watched the emotions flash over her face, listened to her heart race. She struggled fruitlessly to keep the emotions from her face. From what he gleaned from her mind, he knew she fought to come to terms with his admission.
Christina crossed her legs. She wondered if he might be telling her the truth. All the years spent reading paranormal romance novels had left her wanting a vampire for a lover, lucky for him. The authors made vampires seem sexy and mysterious to her. Dangerous but sinfully wanton. The stories always ended in a happily ever after where the vampire vowed to love the woman for eternity. Which happened to be exactly how Marcus wanted to spend their life together.
Breaking the silence, Marcus ran his fingers through his hair. “You okay? Is there something I can do to help you deal with this? Can I get you some water? You want to go for a walk and get some fresh air or something? You name it, anything.”
Christina looked at him skeptically. “Okay, prove you are a vampire.”
“How?” Marcus cautiously asked, raising one eyebrow.
“Bite me.”
“Excuse me?” The warrior did not keep the incredulousness from his voice.
Christina brought her hand down from her mouth to her throat. “You said anything. If you are a vampire, bite my neck and drink from me.”
“I don’t know if I can do that.” It would be too hard to stop.
Christina rose from the settee to pace the room. “I want to believe you. You seem so sincere. So why can’t you
bite me?”
“Because I don’t drink from people.” Much. “Technology has helped vampires as much as it has helped humans. We no longer have to drink from the vein. We have blood suppliers and can keep it fresh for long periods of time. The only drawback is we are slightly weaker.”
Marcus clasped his hands together and sighed. He needed to make her understand. He wanted her badly. It took all his willpower not to throw her down on the settee and rip the clothes from her body. If he drank her blood, his inner beast would want more, and he wasn’t sure he possessed the strength to rein it in a second time. “You don’t understand, Christina, drinking from a vein has become a very intimate thing. It’s like sex for me.”
Christina crossed the room, turning her back to him, so he could not see the emotion on her face. “So that’s why you won’t drink from me, you don’t want to be intimate?”
Good God! Being attacked would have been better than this, Marcus thought, hearing the pain in her voice. By refusing to drink from her, he’d hurt her. This was going all wrong. He shook his head. “It’s not that I don’t want to drink from you. I’m just afraid I wouldn’t um…stop if I started.” I swear to the heavens above, I will never again tell a human what I am. It never goes well.
“Oh.” Christina’s eyes clouded as she crossed her arms over her chest. Hold it together, girl. Don’t you let him see you cry. You are insane, she mentally chastised herself. Getting upset because he won’t bite you. Geez. I must be the one who needs the psych ward.
Though he heard her thoughts, Marcus found himself unsure of what to do. He hated to see a woman cry, and instinct told him Christina would turn on the waterworks at any minute. She needed reassurance. She’d misunderstood what kept him from doing what she asked.
The Alpha stood slowly and approached her with his hands at his sides. As he came up behind her, he made his footsteps heard. Putting his hands on her shoulders, Marcus leaned down to her ear. He whispered in a thick, raspy voice, and his lips brushed her lobe as he spoke, “If I was going to drink from a vein, it would be yours, cara.”
He leaned down to test her resolve, surprised when she leaned her head to the side and gave him better access to her neck. He put his lips on her neck and inhaled her scent deeply into his body. The fragrance of jasmine and honey filled his lungs.
Deadly Alpha Page 5
