Lydia put a hand on his arm. “Oh, Roman, I’m so sorry.”
He gave her a sad smile. “The true tragedy is that she wasn’t dead. My mother, in a very rare act of kindness, rescued Claudia and tried to reunite us. After losing Claudia, I disappeared, determined to isolate myself. By the time my mother located me, she assumed Claudia had died of old age and she probably had. Claudia had a female child. We didn’t even know that was possible until recently. Sadly, having a female child doesn’t extend the lifespan of the woman as much. I have several granddaughters now,” he smiled. “Thanks to you, I know how to extend their lives indefinitely.”
“How?” she asked.
“Apparently, being fed large amounts of energy causes the same change that pregnancy with a male child does. Well, there are some differences. While you can’t feed on energy on your own, when given to you, the energy causes rapid regeneration of cells.”
“I still don’t get that, but maybe I just need time to come to terms with it,” Lydia said. Actually, it was still a little creepy. Somehow she didn’t mind the idea of her life force mingling with Roman’s. The idea of it happening with anyone else bothered her, but she’d worry about that later. “What about your second wife?”
Roman sighed. “Lenore looked remarkably like Claudia. I essentially bought her from her poverty stricken parents. When we married, Lenore was very young so I left her for several years. During my absence, she was pampered and educated. When I returned, she seemed happy to be married to me. She was sweet and eager to please.” Roman blew out a frustrated breath and brought a hand up to massage the back of his neck. “I was an idiot. Looking like Claudia wasn’t enough; I wanted Lenore to act like Claudia. No, I wanted her to be Claudia. Lenore was timid and a little afraid of me. Had she not gotten pregnant, I would have set her up in a nice house with plenty of money to live on. Unfortunately, she did get pregnant. The things I did were truly unforgivable. In the end, I was a terrible husband and father.”
“Nathaniel seems okay for a douche bag,” she said. “So you couldn’t have been that bad of a father.”
Roman let out a startled bark of laughter. “You do have a way of lightening my mood. I can’t take much credit for the man Nathaniel grew into. After Claudia, I was broken.”
“Sounds like you had a good reason to be broken,” Lydia assured him.
“There really is no excuse for what I did. When I looked at Lenore, I only thought of what I’d lost with Claudia. When I held Nathaniel, I felt love for him but regret that he wasn’t Claudia’s child. I said horrible things to Lenore, found excuses to lock her away for days so I could avoid her. In short, I was a monster. Lenore ran off with the stable master and by the time I found her she had another son.”
“Noah,” Lydia guessed.
Roman’s eyes filled with warmth. “Yes, Noah. The boy is something else. Anyway, I’m responsible for the death of Noah’s father.”
Lydia looked shocked but then shook her head. “You didn’t kill him.”
“Your faith in me is misplaced. I’ve killed a lot of people.”
Roman watched her expectantly. Lydia wasn’t sure what he expected. “There is no way you go around killing indiscriminately. You like things too orderly.”
“I have always believed the people I intentionally killed deserved to die. Law enforcement might disagree. You’re right; I didn’t intend for Noah’s father to die. There was smoke coming from the upstairs window when I got to their house. I got Nathaniel and Noah out of the house safely. That’s why Lenore and Noah’s father continued searching for the boys.”
Lydia patted his arm. “Would you have forced Lenore to come back to you?”
Roman’s eyebrows lifted and he shifted back to study her. “No one has ever asked me that question.”
“Well?” Lydia pressed.
“No,” he said. “It was a relief to find her safe, and to know I didn’t have to take care of her anymore. Of course, I wanted to see Nathaniel, but I didn’t love Lenore. I always told Nathaniel I loved her, because I thought the truth would hurt him. Don’t tell anyone I’m sensitive.”
She smiled. “Your secret is safe with me.” She was silent for a long moment. “Wait, you said you were responsible for Noah’s father’s death but not Lenore’s?”
“Lenore isn’t dead,” Roman explained. “After the fire, I lost track of her. When I found her, I decided it was best not to approach her again. Best for both of us. Most people believe she’s dead which makes it easier.”
“Do you still grieve for Claudia?” Lydia asked.
“Yes and no,” he answered. “Claudia was my first love. She’ll always be a part of me, but I finally realized I’m ready to move on with my life. The time has come to let her go.”
“What made you decide to move on?”
“I saw you in a hospital room spitting venom and trying to fight off Dominic with all of your strength. Since that day, I haven’t been able to stay away from you. Given my past, I can see why you might feel uneasy, but I don’t plan to keep you locked in a room or anything.” During this speech he had been edging away from her.
Lydia moved toward him, and he watched her with weary eyes. This was a story he wasn’t proud of. She wouldn’t describe Roman as vulnerable in that moment. No, Roman Draksel would never be described as vulnerable. Still, he looked worried that she’d freak out or demand to leave. If she possessed one ounce of common sense, she would run like hell.
“I remember you from that day in the hospital,” she said. “There I was thinking I was dying and then I see the most attractive man I’d ever seen.”
“So,” he said with a sensual smile, “you find me attractive.”
Her lips curled into, what she hoped, was her most seductive smile. “Did I mention I have a thing for older men?”
“Well, I definitely qualify as an older man. I may have five hundred years on you.”
“You don’t look a day over three hundred,” she teased.
“Is that so?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” she assured him. “You’re incredibly well‑preserved.”
Roman stared at her for a long moment before shifting his weight. “I’m going to head downstairs to the gym.”
“You have a gym?” Lydia asked excitedly.
He nodded.
“And a basement?” she added. “Who in California has a basement?”
“Many homes have basements,” he said.
“Not in California.”
“When this home was designed I asked for a basement because I wanted an entire floor setup as a gym.”
“Do you have an elliptical?” she asked.
He looked at her like she was crazy for even asking the question. “There is just about every machine you could imagine down there. I get bored if I do the same thing over and over again.”
“Maybe that’s the real reason you haven’t had many successful long‑term relationships in five hundred years,” she said playfully.
He gave a low chuckle. “Now, that does make me sound more exciting, doesn’t it? Am I some sort of billionaire playboy?”
Lydia snorted. The man didn’t need to get any more exciting, and he didn’t need his ego stroked. “The term I was going to use was ‘man whore with commitment issues.’ I don’t think you can be called a playboy and be this antisocial.”
“If I want to achieve playboy status, I will need to become more sociable?”
“Without a doubt,” she said seriously.
“If I reach this lofty playboy status, will you try to reform me?”
She covered her mouth and took deep breaths so she wouldn’t start snort‑laughing again. Finally, her hand slid down just enough to reveal her smile. “Where on Earth did you come up with that?”
He ducked his head, and if Lydia wasn’t mistaken Roman Draksel was blushing.
“I may have read a few of your books to you while you were recovering,” he admitted.
“So you read erotic romance novels to
me?”
“No, I wasn’t comfortable reading those aloud. I sounded foolish, so I stuck to the tamer ones.”
“I think you would be the perfect voice for audio books,” she said thoughtfully. “Try saying ‘heaving bosoms’ for me.”
“Er, no,” he said.
She leaned into his hard body. “Please, say it.”
“I will not,” he insisted.
Lydia pulled away and poked him in the ribs. Roman jerked back. “Oh my God! You’re ticklish,” she said as she reached out to poke him again.
Roman caught her hand and looked aghast at her suggestion. “I was startled,” then he corrected himself. “Well, not startled, more like surprised.”
She poked him with her other finger and he jumped again. “Ah, is the big bad vampire ticklish?” she cooed.
“You are truly insane,” he said with a look of wonder on his face. He finally released her hand and stepped back. “I’m going head down to the gym.”
“Do you mind if I come with you? I could use a good workout right about now.”
Roman hesitated and Lydia was pretty sure he wanted to say no but he was too much of a gentleman to tell her she couldn’t use his gym. “You’re welcome to join me. I’ll change down there. Come down when you’re ready. Let me show you where the door is.” He placed a hand on the small of her back and led her through the kitchen to the small hallway that led to the family room. “The door is right here,” he said motioning to what she’d assumed was the door to a closet.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll go change and meet you down there.”
Chapter Ten
Lydia jogged up the stairs to slip into her new black and jade green sports bra and matching running tights. The extra weight didn’t bother her today. On the contrary, having hips and a butt was kind of awesome. Deciding what to do with her hair was the real problem. Roman had mentioned that growing it out drained her energy and she’d already cut it once today. With a sigh, she used ten very large barrettes to secure her hair. At just over five feet five inches she now had about five feet two inches of hair to deal with. The hair sucked big time.
Lydia raced down the stairs into the basement. Yeah, she shouldn’t be acting so excited to be near Roman. Now was the time to play it cool, but that had never been her strong suit and she didn’t like playing games. When she hit the last step into the basement, Lydia’s mouth went dry. Roman wore nothing but a pair of black shorts as he jogged on the inclined treadmill. Fully dressed, it was obvious the man had a nice body. Nearly naked, Roman was enough to make a woman swallow her tongue. When he’d come to her room naked last night, she’d been too shaken up to enjoy the view. His chest wasn’t visible from this angle, but the man’s broad shoulders and well‑defined back muscles made her fingers twitch with the desire to reach out and touch him. Then she moved lower to enjoy his ass in the little black shorts. Too bad they weren’t a little tighter.
“Fuck me,” Lydia muttered.
Roman looked at her over his shoulder and smiled. “Was that a request?” A playful wink accompanied the question.
The teasing was even sexier because she was sure he didn’t tease often. Lydia sashayed across the room, satisfied when his eyes remained on her body. “It wasn’t quite the workout I had in mind, but I am impressed with your equipment.”
Roman chuckled. “You know, I’ve laughed more in the last day with you than I have in about four hundred years.”
“Glad I could help,” she said and eyed the Stairmaster. “A Stairmaster? Somehow, I can’t picture a guy like you on a Stairmaster.”
“The Stairmaster is for Ursula,” he said. “You’ll meet her soon. At the moment, she’s checking a few things for me. Ursula was my nanny as a boy and refuses to believe I prefer solitude.”
“You don’t prefer solitude,” Lydia said and programmed the course into the elliptical. “You’ve just gotten used to solitude.”
“Perhaps,” he admitted. “Being alone is easier.”
“Sure, life is always easier when you don’t try. I’m not saying you should turn into my mom. That woman has been married to five douche bags since my dad died and dated at least a dozen others. Now this is pretty bad when you consider that my dad died when I was eight.” Lydia’s heart rate increased. The fact that she was a little winded already was a sign of how long it had been since she’d worked out. “In some ways, I kind of admire the fact that she never gives up on finding true love.”
Roman didn’t respond, and she was too out of breath to talk anymore. The workout only lasted twenty minutes. “I am seriously out of shape,” she panted out.
Roman stopped the treadmill and stepped off, obviously ending his workout for her benefit. The man wasn’t even sweating yet. “Give yourself time to recover from everything. Would you like to try some weights?”
She snorted. “A few girlie pushups is the extent of my strength training.”
He pointed to the weight machine. “Just give it a try.”
“Okay, but you’d better adjust it way down from what you lift,” she said and laid down on the bench.
“Let’s start out small with two‑hundred pounds,” he suggested.
She laughed. “How about if we try something that weighs less than I do? Like I said, I didn’t do much weight training before and my muscles are even weaker now. How about five pounds?”
“Give this a try,” he said.
She closed her eyes, reached up to the bar on the weight machine and pushed up easily. “The five pounds thing was a joke,” she said. “I’m sure I can lift more than this.”
“I agree, but I think two‑hundred pounds is enough to demonstrate your new strength.”
“Very funny,” she said and then stood and turned around. Her jaw dropped when she saw the plates on the weight machine. “Holy fuck! Did I really lift two‑hundred pounds?”
“Yes. You could probably lift twice that much.”
Lydia couldn’t help but smile. “Why are you showing me this?”
“Most of the time your inner strength shines through, but there are times when I see you worrying about what happened with Dominic and with the men in your mother’s life. None of them would have an easy time hurting you now. Well, Dominic is still a lot stronger, but he won’t expect you to be this strong. That will be to your advantage.”
“Dominic is going to come after me, isn’t he?” she asked a little nervously. “Yeah, I know, you’ve already said he will, but I keep hoping for a different answer.”
“I wish I could assure you that Dominic is long gone. Unfortunately, I know that’s not true,” Roman said. “When he came after you at the hospital, we were all shocked. That’s not the only time he tried to gain access to your room. I also suspect that he went to see your mother and that’s why we couldn’t control her mind. It’s why I prefer to have you stay here until we find Dominic. I’m sorry about keeping you from returning to your old life.”
She gave him her best flirty smile. “I don’t mind spending time here with you.”
Roman’s eyes darkened and he leaned in closer. “I’m glad.” Then he leaned forward and kissed her. At first his lips barely brushed against hers. When he pulled back he was asking for permission to continue. Lydia licked her lips and nodded. This time Roman cupped her chin with one hand and pressed his lips firmly against hers. His kiss was so unlike the man he tried hard to be. The kiss was wild and passionate. When Lydia stroked her tongue against his, Roman groaned and pulled her tightly against his body. Her nipples hardened as she felt his bare chest pressed against her sports bra.
Roman pulled back and leaned his forehead against hers. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”
“Please don’t say you’re sorry. I enjoyed the kiss and I hope to do it again.” Then she let out a giggle.
He pulled back and smiled down at her. “What is so amusing?”
“This whole thing is like one of my romance novels,” she explained.
“You do have a lot of those,
” he said.
“This is totally a romance novel plot. Of course, it would be more exciting if you were being forceful in your seduction.”
His lips twitched. “Forceful doesn’t sound romantic.”
“It can be,” Lydia said. “Read some of my older books. The older books are mostly historical romance where there’s a forced marriage or a kidnapping by pirates. Really sexy stuff.”
“What I should do is leave you alone,” he said and put some distance between them. “The last thing you need right now is a forced seduction.”
“Trust me,” she purred, “it wouldn’t be forced, but I’d like to pretend it was.”
Roman cleared his throat. “I should go shower. I have some work to get to. Will you be alright on your own for the afternoon?”
“Of course.” Hopefully, the disappointment didn’t show on her face. No matter how much she wanted things to go farther, stopping was the right thing to do. Oh well, she’d immerse herself in a sexy book for the afternoon. She was pretty sure she’d be rewriting the description of the hero in the book to match Roman.
Chapter Eleven
Dominic paced back and forth in the condo. Fists clenched and nails biting into his palms, the physical pain helped distract him from the emotional pain. This condo faced Lydia’s which was the reason he’d bought it. The plan had been simple. Lydia would come home alone and Dominic would be close by to continue the training process. Things were not going according to plan. Lydia was not supposed to be in Roman’s home. The only reason Dominic was able to stay calm at all was Roman liked solitude too much to keep Lydia there longer than necessary. Once she recovered enough to return home, Dominic would reclaim her.
Over the last month, two strange women had come and gone from Roman’s home. One appeared to be Aiden’s mate. Today Dominic had followed the other one. The bitch was a petite blonde, and she was attractive enough to be a good distraction. He’d followed her car until she stopped at the grocery store. When he’d approached her in the parking lot, his skin had started to crawl. It was like tiny spiders scrambling all over him. Dominic hadn’t been sure what caused the suffocating terror until the little blonde’s eyes scanned the parking lot. She’d known he was there. That little bitch was the cause of his overwhelming fear. Snapping that bitch’s neck seemed like a good idea, but his instincts screamed run. That bitch was to be avoided. Since she was related to Aiden’s mate, Dominic would have to avoid Aiden’s mate too. Hopefully, they wouldn’t spend too much time around Lydia. Having them visit Lydia when she returned home could be a problem.
Vampires Prefer Blondes (Psy-Vamp Book 3) Page 6
