Fateful

by Cheri Schmidt

  She stared at him.

  “Just fooling, we don’t have dungeons.” Ethan snickered. “But we do have secret passageways.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, but I’ll show you those another time. Would you like to see the garden today?”

  “Sure.” A vampire’s garden? This should be interesting.

  Ethan led her outside, unbelievably allowing her to walk by herself. Beon was there, trimming a sculpted, bunny-shaped shrub just as she’d pictured when she first visited their home. She laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” Ethan asked.

  “Well, when you said he did the gardening, that’s exactly what I pictured—even the bunny.”

  He looked at her with a confused expression. It seemed he couldn’t see the humor in it.

  “You had to be there,” she muttered.

  “All right.” He shrugged his shoulders and then strode toward Beon. “How is the planning going? Need any help?”

  “We’re all set. It should be a lovely evening.” His gaze passed over Danielle briefly and she noticed what looked like a flicker of irritation or concern. “Nicolas called me.”

  “What about?” Ethan asked, but she figured he likely knew as much as she did. Her Uncle wanted to keep tabs on her for his brother, her father.

  “I’m not supposed to allow you two to be in your room alone, and it has been requested that I make sure you don’t cross any inappropriate lines of physical intimacy. You are to be supervised by either me or Sophia at all times,” he replied, smirking while he meticulously trimmed his shrub.

  Ethan burst out laughing. “Well, no worries then. We can’t risk that anyway.”

  While she was embarrassed, Danielle could understand Uncle Nick’s way of dealing with this. She was his niece and he was responsible for her. He naturally thought of Ethan as a typical young man, and from that perspective he should have been worried. But what he didn’t know was that besides being a vampire, Ethan was really a twenty-three year old from the nineteenth century who held to the same moral values from that long ago era, making his fears unfounded.

  Ethan nodded a farewell to Beon, took her hand and began guiding her further into the yard. This garden was three times the size of her uncle’s which made sense really, because so was the house.

  The design of the landscaping was formal, and there were sculpted shrubs in animal shapes dotting a green lawn to the left, a fountain in the center, and a rose garden to the right. There was more to the landscaping further back, but she couldn’t quite make it out.

  Ethan led Danielle to a bench by the fountain. They sat quietly enjoying the outdoors, listening to the birds and the gurgling water. It wasn’t sunny, it rarely was in England, and she wondered if it was going to rain again.

  “I’m sorry about my uncle,” she said.

  “Don’t be, if I were him I’d do the same thing.”

  “I guess it’s true you can’t really trust most young men these days, or young ladies for that matter,” she conceded.

  Ethan was silent for a moment and then leaned back on the bench, it seemed so he could watch her more carefully.

  “What are you thinking now?” she asked.

  “I’m just wondering.”

  “Wondering what?”

  “Well, your uncle brought the topic up. So I was just wondering if … you’ve ever been with anyone else?” he questioned suggestively. He stretched his long arms along the back of the bench with his piercing eyes fastened on her.

  Her lips tightened as she squirmed under his stare and she flushed. She glanced to where Beon had been. Could he hear this conversation?

  “He’s gone, he can’t hear us,” Ethan informed her.

  She sighed and then answered. “I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but no, I haven’t.”

  She then tried to look away but Ethan took her chin carefully, yet quickly and locked their gazes together. She knew he believed she was telling the truth, but he questioned her anyway. “That is hard to believe, you’re too beautiful to convince me you haven’t been pursued before.”

  Danielle knew it was unusual in this modern world, where morals didn’t matter much any longer. Attempting to explain it, she said, “I learned a long time ago that many guys want a ‘play thing’ to date, but they want to marry the sweet girl who doesn’t mess around with every one she happens to date. I didn’t want to be the ‘toy’ no one wanted to marry so I cut off my relationship with any guy who fit into that category. What a scummy way to treat girls, I wouldn’t want to marry a guy like that.”

  “Any guy like that doesn’t deserve you.” She watched as he developed an angry twitch in the muscles along his jaw. “It is interesting to note that some men were like that in my era, it’s a rather Victorian notion, is it not? Strange to think men haven’t changed much, even while the world seems to have become more … free with their standards. A bunch of lousy rakehells, they’ll ruin any lady they like, but no, they must marry an innocent.”

  “I was looking for someone with more self-control and respect. It’s important to me; I know it’s not the norm for this century. But I’d rather be peculiar than easy.”

  “How did you know when a guy fell into this ‘scummy’ category? And did you ever meet any who didn’t?”

  “I knew because they usually turned into an octopus on the first date, or soon thereafter, their hands all over the place.” Her lip curled in disgust as she spoke. She was remembering such dates and the effort it took to block their advances. “After meeting a few too many creeps I didn’t date much for a while and just concentrated on my homework.” She paused to look at Ethan. “I’ve only dated one guy who didn’t fit into this category.”

  Ethan actually looked angry. “Who?” He forced the query through his teeth, his jaw tightening again.

  “You,” she replied softly and leaned back against his outstretched arm to smile up at him.

  “Truly?” His jaw relaxed with a smile.

  “Yes, truly.”

  However, she was surprised to see the anger return as the smile wilted. An enlightened look brightened his eyes, but it wasn’t a good thing, he was fuming. “That was a scummy octopus at the dance club, wasn’t it?”

  “You saw that?”

  “Of course. I watched you for a while before I danced with you. Remember, I was following you.”

  “Oh, right, yeah I remember. I just didn’t know you were there, so I forget. But … why didn’t you step in then?”

  “Well, firstly, I didn’t think he would try anything so quickly either, and secondly, that loser was mortal and I knew you could handle him without my help. But, from now on, you’ll have to point out any of these slimy creatures from the deep next time you meet one,” he said, an ominous tone filling his British accent as the dangerous Ethan emerged.

  “So you can do what?” she asked nervously.

  “So I can toss it back into the ocean where it belongs,” he said, a murderous glare glazing over his innocent blue eyes. His powerful hands balled into fists and then relaxed.

  “Most of them live in Colorado. I haven’t dated anyone but you since I’ve been here. Well, except for Peter, but I don’t think he counts.” She realized the guy from the dance club, whom she didn’t actually date, was now in peril.

  “Hm, lucky for them.” He sounded disappointed. “And yes, I would agree, Peter behaved himself.”

  She remembered that he’d been watching then too, and realized it was a good thing she’d told him about Peter, she could have been in trouble for that if she hadn’t.

  All this talk about her made her wonder about him. He was much older than her, and the world had left his childhood values behind a long time ago. Well, most of them, while there were many “rakehells” in his time it seemed the world was currently flooded with even more. She knew he was a gentleman, and she believed he mostly followed the old ways, with only a few updates. She knew she could trust his hands to not be wandering ones and he had already told h
er there had never been anyone else before her, but did that just mean he hadn’t taken any other girls to the fairies? She still had doubts, and wanted to know more about his past. “So, what about you?” she asked.

  “What about me?” he answered with teasing mischief dancing in his eyes.

  Danielle groaned and rolled her eyes, he was going to make this difficult.

  “Well, you are much older than me … you can’t tell me no one hasn’t ever pursued a handsome guy like you,” she said, using his tactics against him.

  “Nope. Never. I told you before—there was no one before you.”

  “But Celeste was pursuing you, didn’t any other female vampires try to do the same?” she asked coyly.

  “I don’t get out much,” he responded promptly.

  “Oh come on! You said you traveled the world! You’re saying you’ve never been tempted to update your principles, not even just once?”

  “Danielle, I’ve kept to the same values I did in the eighteen hundreds. I was never a licentious man. Do you doubt me?” he asked, injured.

  Blowing out a puff of air, she said, “I guess not. I’m sorry I just wanted to know for certain, that’s all.” He’d had plenty of time to change that, and most men certainly would have. It wasn’t hard to see why she’d doubt him.

  Ethan paused, watching her as the hurt evaporated from his expression. “Danielle, I had chosen to be moral before I became a vampire. I couldn’t bear the thought of ruining a young lady. She would be shunned by the ton,” he said while slipping into a nineteenth-century argot. “And the tarts who didn’t care about their innocence … well … I’d heard of some of the diseases going around. That tainted any temptation they may have provided.

  “I’ve watched as people have changed their values over the centuries. People seem to be less content nowadays than they were when their lives were simpler. Celeste has never been happy, and I know she’s been a very busy girl. So I’m even more convinced that the old values were better,” he said confidently, and then frowned. “Celeste brings up another factor that has kept me clinging to the choice I made then. As a vampire, the heightened sense of smell became a contributing deterrent. I could smell when a woman had been with another man. When Celeste came home from an encounter, she reeked of it. We all knew. Of course,” he added slowly, “it was expected with Beon and Sophia, they were married. But with Celeste it was a different man every time. When you can smell another man on a woman, for me anyway, it is downright nauseating and distracting.”

  Ethan slipped one arm firmly around her shoulders, tugged her close and then used his other hand to brush her hair from her neck. He then slid his nose along the curve of it, drawing in a long breath of the fragrance that clung to her skin. When he pulled away, he lifted a handful of hair to his nose and smelled from that too. Letting the strands fall against her shoulder and cheek, he said, “Now you, my dear, smell of me. And I know from breathing in your bouquet that you have never been soured by another. That appeals to me. I do get hints of Brianna, and even your aunt and uncle, but it’s not the same as the odor that clung to Celeste.” His fingers continued to play with her hair. “Yet, beneath the smells of your environment, it’s sugar I detect most.” He chuckled. “You make me crave confections that I no longer eat as a vampire.”

  Ethan tossed his gaze skyward, then continued with a confession, “All right, I will admit you do tempt me as I have never been tempted before, and I have updated some things because of you. I shouldn’t kiss you as much as I do. I apologize for that.”

  “Don’t apologize.”

  “I’ve been out of line.” He shook his head. “Tell me where the line is.”

  Danielle leaned her head on his shoulder and watched as the water jumped and spat cheerfully from the fountain. Little ripples radiated out as the droplets fell back into the lucent pool. “We haven’t crossed it yet, Ethan. Please stop worrying about it.”

  After her words the sounds of Beon’s great garden became the only ones heard until he said, “You’re a rarity in this world of corrupt morals. I’ve always cherished rare things.”

  “I’m not that special, I’m just … weird,” she argued.

  “Not weird, but a precious oddity that is becoming more and more scarce.”

  Ethan abruptly snatched her from the bench, set her on his lap and began tracing her face with his fingers as he’d done in the past. Danielle sighed while she shivered. His hands tightened just enough to be cradling her face instead of caressing it and he forced her to meet his gaze. “Do you think I’m an octopus when I do that?”

  “No,” she gasped on a laugh.

  His gaze narrowed. “Even though it’s not very nineteenth-century of me? Spell it out for me, please. Where is the line?”

  He was talking about being very chivalrous, and she still wanted the noble Mr. Darcy of her fantasies, didn’t she? Sliding her palms up his chest and over his shoulders, she said, “This isn’t where the line is for me.”

  “Then where is it?”

  To be honest, she didn’t exactly know where that was with him, and offered, “Will you drop this if I promise to let you know when you get too close to it?’

  Apparently deliberating, he looked at the earring dangling from her ear and touched the crystal drop before finally saying, “As you wish, my lady.”

  Sliding from her face, his fingers moved to her collarbone and curled over her shoulders. Instinctively, her fingers found their way to his hair and she mashed herself closer as his hands trailed down her back. He then pressed his smiling lips to hers. Tipping her head to the side, she deepened the kiss with a hesitant touch of her tongue to his bottom lip. Breathing heavily when it ended, she took in the hungry look that had risen in his gaze and asked, “Too much?”

  Also winded, he bit his lip and swallowed, while tucking some loose hair behind her ear. “If you’re not going to give me a solid line, then you’d best be careful. Vague restrictions like that are easily crossed by mistake. And we’ll need to be especially careful about that tomorrow night.” Then chuckling he said, “Perhaps we do need Beon to keep an eye on us after all.”

  “Maybe you’re right. I don’t know if you can trust me,” she revealed.

  He laughed and tickled her neck with his mouth and breath. Reflexively she squealed and giggled. She couldn’t help it, she was ticklish there.

  Ethan lifted her from his lap, set her on her feet in front of him, then stood and towed her toward the back of the garden. “Come this way, you haven’t seen the entire garden yet.”

  At first she couldn’t see what was further out, but as they got closer she realized. “Oh no! Please tell me it’s not another maze.”

  “It is.” He chuckled. “Race again?” That impish smirk danced mischievously on his mouth.

  “I hope you’re kidding. You know I’ll just get lost after I’ve found every available dead-end.”

  “That reminds me,” he noted with an accusing look tossed her way, “when we were discussing fear during our first date you never mentioned getting lost or doctors amongst them.”

  She laughed, knowing it was true. “But I did say ‘amongst others.’ Doesn’t that count?”

  He raised one golden eyebrow and then tugged her into the maze without another word. She groaned loudly.

  Gazing up at the dark sky as Ethan dragged her along at a quick pace through the twists and turns of the lush maze, she realized it was getting darker. Could it start raining?

  Ethan never paused, never hit a dead-end and reached the end of the maze in a few short minutes. They went through a tunnel of red climbing roses and then the maze opened up to a beautiful secret garden. Rich with colorful flowers, trees and shrubs, there was a stone path meandering through it, and the little birds seemed to like it there. Many of them hopped along the tree branches, chirping their sweet little songs. Entering the maze was the only way to get here.

  “Wow, this is wonderful,” she said.

  “Did you enjoy this maze more
than the last one?”

  “Only because you didn’t ditch me like you did last time.”

  Ethan laughed at her and the clouds finally began dropping their moisture. It came down so heavily it brought Brianna’s phrase to mind. It certainly was “chuckin’ it down.” They got soaked immediately.

  “Do you want to go back? You’ll be drenched.”

  Turning her face up to his, she blinked the rain out of her eyes and said, “It’s a bit late for that.”

  When his gaze fell to her saturated blouse, his jaw tightened and he looked away. Wondering what the problem was, she looked as well and quickly pulled the soaked fabric away from the pink bra revealed. Then, kind of hating herself for it, she let her eyes wander to his equally wet attire. Her breath caught in her throat at the spellbinding vision he presented with his clothes clinging to his well toned body.

  “We need to get you home again.” Ethan frowned and then said, “This is getting old, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, I’d rather not go home so early.”

  “I really think tomorrow will be a onetime thing, we can’t do that on a regular basis. And I can’t keep coming to your bedroom.”

  Chapter 17

  Corsets, Silk and Swords

  That night Danielle gift-wrapped the finished painting of the ruins for Ethan, planning to give it to him at the ball. The next day was Saturday and Sophia had told her she would need to be there early to get dressed. It would be an all day affair to do her hair and get her into that amazing dress.

  Ethan did come to her room after dark, but he left early, saying he didn’t want to make her too tired for tomorrow. He more or less just stopped by to tell her when he would be picking her up.

  She and Brianna ate breakfast alone in the kitchen that next morning because Aunt Charlotte had gone shopping, and Uncle Nick had gone shooting with his colleagues. They had cold cereal and tea.

  “So, tonight’s the night of the big fancy ball?” Brianna asked sipping carefully at her hot herbal drink.

  “Yes, I can hardly wait,” she confessed while stirring honey into hers. Danielle tapped her feet as a smiled pulled the corners of her lips up. Ethan would be there soon, and she was having difficulty with her patience again.