by Chloe Hart
But only for a second. She kept her eyes on what she was doing as she continued, patting down his hard-on as impersonally as she did his hips and legs.
“I love a woman who’s thorough,” he murmured, hoping she didn’t notice the effort it took him to keep his voice even.
If he’d been hard before, there was a steel shaft in his pants right now, throbbing like a goddam engine. He barely even noticed when she found the knife in his left boot.
“Did you forget about this one?” she asked sweetly, dropping the blade onto the pile with the others.
“Oops,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Too many potential hiding places in the jacket, so leave it here. You can pick it up on your way out, along with your weapons.”
“Does that mean you’re finished?”
“Yes, I—”
He closed the distance between them in two strides and jerked her hard against him.
“Then it’s my turn,” he grated, his fingers digging into her upper arms as he glared down at her.
Hawk prided himself on never, ever losing his temper, which made the rage he was feeling right now even more inexplicable.
He’d never been this angry at a woman. He was furious that Jessica had patted him down so impersonally while the evidence of his arousal was so obvious. He was furious with her for seeming so unaffected…and he was determined to prove that she wasn’t as impervious to him as she appeared.
Even now, she was keeping her cool—although her heartbeat had accelerated slightly.
“That’s not how this works,” she said coldly. “This is my home, and you’re a stranger—not to mention a vampire and an assassin. You don’t get to check me for weapons.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to check you for something else.”
He walked her backward towards the nearest tree, his eyes burning into hers, until he could press her up against the trunk.
Her eyes widened and her lips parted, but she didn’t speak. Hawk was grateful for that. He was afraid if he tried to talk right now his voice might shake.
His anger had faded, replaced by emotions just as intense—but much more complicated. Frustration, and curiosity, and this unwanted desire that burned like fire.
His grip tightened on her just a moment before he relaxed his hold, stroking his hands up her bare arms to her shoulders.
She still didn’t move or speak. A blush stained her cheeks, the blood so close to the surface of her skin he could almost smell it.
He let his hands drift higher, circling her throat as though he might strangle her, and still she didn’t say a word.
Maybe she was under the same spell he was. Why else would she let him touch her like this, stroking the pad of his thumb softly over her jugular, her carotid…all the vulnerable places. He could feel the beat of her blood, the heady pulse that pumped life through her veins.
Afraid to spend too long there he let his hands drift downward, slowly, watching her face as he caressed her collarbones, so fragile and beautiful.
Then he moved lower again, and she still didn’t stop him. He came to the edge of her dress and ran a finger just under the feather-soft tulle, across the very top of her breasts. Her skin was smoother than silk and as pale as cream, but as he watched, a flush of desire spread over her in a hectic wave of red. When her breathing turned quick and shallow he had to grit his teeth to keep his fangs in check.
The material covering her torso was as insubstantial as a breath. He fought the urge to rip it away and instead stroked over it, covering her breasts with his hands and feeling their perfect curves through her dress.
Her nipples pebbled against his palms and she arched her back the slightest bit—the smallest motion, but he felt it. The movement was so unconsciously feminine that he growled in response, and his hands tightened on her soft flesh.
“Oh, my God.”
For a second he thought Jessica’s words were a reaction to his touch, and something inside him sang. But then he realized that she’d gone completely still.
“I think someone’s coming.”
He froze, too. And his enhanced hearing caught the sound of two voices, one of which he recognized.
“It’s your mother,” he said, taking a step back and trying to recover his composure. His hands still tingled from their contact with Jessica’s body. “She’s with someone—and they’re heading this way.”
Chapter Three
Jessica’s body and mind were in turmoil. She didn’t know what kind of madness had overtaken her in the last few minutes, but she’d better get a grip on herself, and fast.
Hawk was right—one of the approaching voices belonged to her mother.
“Much of the elite Green Fae training takes place here on my grounds,” Talia was saying. “We train with all weapons, old and new.”
“New?”
“Yes. The humans of this world have been quite inventive over the last few hundred years, and they’ve developed many ingenious ways of killing people at a distance. Have you no gunpowder or explosives in your realm?”
“We do not. I know of what you speak, but my people have rejected that kind of weaponry as destroying the sport of war. There is no honor or joy in killing by such means.”
“I heartily agree, Your Highness.”
Your Highness.
There was only one other person expected here tonight whom her mother would address by that honorific.
Her intended husband. The Dark Fae prince.
And now she could see the two of them, walking slowly across the grounds in their general direction. The queen’s guard walked several yards behind them.
“Who’s the bloke with her?” Hawk asked. She’d turned her back on him to peer out from behind the tree, and he spoke from behind her left shoulder.
His nearness made her tremble, and she prayed he didn’t know it.
“My fiancé,” she answered, staring at the stranger. She wished she could see him better, but it was impossible to distinguish his features from this distance and with no light but that of the moon. “At least I think it is.”
There was a short silence before Hawk spoke. “You think it is?”
Jessica swallowed. “I…haven’t actually met him yet.”
There was another silence, which gave Jessica enough time to remember the fiery trail that Hawk’s hands had left on her body—and to wonder again what she’d been thinking. How could she have let him touch her like that? He was a stranger—and she was engaged to be married.
She took a deep breath, and another. The only thing to do was forget everything that had happened with Hawk. All of it, from the time she’d come out here tonight. She’d been out of her mind, but now it was time to be sane again.
“They’re coming closer,” Hawk said. His voice was cool, and it was hard to believe that minutes ago that same voice had growled possessively as he touched her. “Shall we go and meet them together?”
His voice was ironic, and Jessica flushed. Obviously she’d much rather not have Hawk beside her when she met her fiancé for the first time…especially considering what Hawk could say about her, if he chose.
He was going on. “How do you want to manage this? I intend to speak with the queen tonight, but I don’t much care when that conversation takes place. If you’d prefer, I can stay concealed here for now while you go to meet Talia and your…intended. But decide quickly. They’ll be here in a minute.”
She looked at him for the first time since they’d broken apart. “How will you get inside later on? There will be guards at the doors.”
“I’ll manage.”
She was sure he would. And as much as she wished she could just leave him here in the shadows while she went to meet her mother and her husband-to-be, she couldn’t. He might have saved her life, and she might have let him put his hands all over her, but neither of those things absolved her of her responsibility to ensure the safety of this house.
“I can’t allow that. I’m sorry. I can’t l
eave you here unattended, knowing what you are—”
“You knew what I was a few minutes ago, didn’t you? When I had my hands on your breasts?”
He asked the question carelessly, as if the answer didn’t matter very much.
She chose to ignore it, but she couldn’t control the rush of blood to her cheeks. “We’ll go and meet them, and you can address the queen. Remember that you’re unarmed and that her guards are within striking distance, so don’t do anything stupid. I can’t promise you she’ll grant you an audience, but—”
“Leave that to me. But if you don’t trust me enough to leave me alone on your mother’s grounds, how can you trust me not to tell the queen—and your fiancé—everything that’s passed between us?”
He asked that carelessly, too.
She lifted her chin. “I can’t. But that’s out of my control. You can tell them, or not, as you choose. Now, let’s go.”
And after taking one more deep breath, Jessica stepped out from behind the tree and strode towards her mother and the prince.
She didn’t look over her shoulder to see if Hawk was following her, but she knew he was. She knew by the way her scalp tingled and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.
It was only a few seconds before Talia caught sight of them. She noticed her daughter first, which wasn’t surprising—in her white dress she stood out in the darkness like a neon light. “Jessica! My dear, I had expected this introduction to take place in the ballroom, but I suppose there’s no need to stand on ceremony. Allow me to—”
Then her eyes widened, and Jessica knew she’d spotted the vampire behind her.
So had the guards. Their weapons were at the ready, and they looked to the queen for their orders.
Jessica held up a hand, hoping she appeared calm and in control. “This vampire says he has urgent business with you, Mother, and that you will want to speak with him. He’s unarmed. He—”
Her words trailed off as she felt the bite of steel on her neck.
“Not quite unarmed, I’m afraid,” Hawk said pleasantly. “I guess you missed one after all.”
He wrapped one arm around her waist and the other around her shoulders, holding his blade to her throat.
Jessica didn’t move a muscle. In front of her, her mother and the prince were as frozen as she was, and the guards as well.
Hawk, on the other hand, seemed completely at ease. “All right, everyone, let’s stay calm. I have no desire to harm anyone here, and certainly not this young lady. She’s got her whole life in front of her—marriage and children and all that. Speaking of which, I understand congratulations are in order. Allow me to wish you joy.”
Jessica’s eyes flashed to Prince Kel. He was handsome, as her mother had said—tall and well-muscled, with thick blond hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in black and silver, and his face was as cold as if it had been carved out of ice.
“Are you speaking to me, vampire?”
His voice was as cold as his face. Jessica shivered when she heard it, and she felt Hawk’s arm tighten around her waist.
“I am. You’re a very lucky man. I envy you your wedding night, with a bride as lovely as this.”
“How is it that you know of my daughter’s engagement?” Talia asked sharply.
Her mother looked magnificent tonight—every inch the Faery Queen in a gown of midnight blue, a sapphire diadem her only adornment. She didn’t look frightened for her daughter’s safety, but then Jessica had never seen Talia look frightened. She did, however, look furious.
“Your daughter happened to mention it when we…ran into each other this evening.”
Now her mother would ask how that meeting had come about. How he’d gotten onto her property. That was something Jessica wondered, too. Hawk could have bought some kind of magical charm, but something powerful enough to get past Talia’s protection spells would cost a small fortune. Of course, a professional assassin would be able to amass a small fortune—or a large one.
She’d kept her eyes open for any kind of charm when she’d searched him, but had found nothing. Which meant either that the charm was concealed by magic, or that she had, as Hawk had said, been too distracted to do her job properly.
She remembered running her hands over the hardness straining against his jeans, and hoping he couldn’t see her blush.
Jessica was an accomplished warrior with more than fifty demon kills to her credit. But when it came to men…to physical passion…she was completely inexperienced. Of course she knew—in theory, at least—what an erection was. But this was the first time she’d ever actually seen, much less touched, the evidence of a man’s arousal.
So yes, she’d been a little distracted.
Of course it was obvious now that all of that was just part of his plan. He’d pretended to care about her state of mind when he first met her. Pretended to be attracted to her. He must have sensed, or guessed at, her inexperience, and used that to his advantage. It had all been a ploy to get her let down her guard, to throw her off balance—all so he could maneuver her into precisely this position.
Tactically, it had been brilliant. Cold and heartless, but brilliant.
It occurred to her that Hawk had a lot in common with the Fae—and especially her mother. At the moment Talia was looking icily calm as she stared over Jessica’s shoulder at the vampire holding her daughter at knife point, no doubt seeking tactical advantages of her own.
“What else did you talk to my daughter about?”
Jessica frowned. That wasn’t the question she’d expected her mother to ask.
But when she heard Hawk’s voice turn deadly, she knew that this was exactly the question he’d been waiting for.
“That’s just it, Your Highness. We didn’t have time to talk to any purpose. But that can change—unless you agree to meet with me privately.”
Talia’s eyes flashed. “When?”
“Right now. Your people will back off to a distance where we can speak without being overheard. Your archers can keep their weapons trained on me if you like.”
The queen smiled without humor. “That’s remarkably trusting of you. What’s to prevent them from killing you the moment my daughter is free?”
“This will.” Hawk shifted behind her, and the arm around her waist was gone. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him holding something in his hand for the queen to see. Whatever it was, it was small…which still didn’t excuse the fact that she’d overlooked it when she’d searched him.
“And what is that?” the queen asked coldly.
“Poison.”
Almost before the word was out of his mouth Jessica felt something jab her right forearm, and she looked down in time to see Hawk withdraw a silver needle from her skin.
“Unless I tell you the antidote within twenty minutes, your daughter will die. All I ask is five minutes’ conversation, Your Highness. Surely your daughter’s life is worth that?”
Talia’s gaze flickered once to Jessica, but there was no emotion in her face. “Very well. Guards, back away a hundred paces. Prince Kel, please escort my daughter.”
“Of course,” Kel said immediately. As he came towards them, Hawk murmured in her ear, “Don’t be afraid. You’ll feel no ill effects while I speak to your mother. Everything will be all right, I promise.” Then he withdrew the knife from her neck and stepped back.
Jessica felt strangely detached from everything that was happening. She let Prince Kel take her arm and lead her after the retreating guards, as Hawk and her mother drew close together and began to speak. It was impossible to hear their conversation, but the tension between them was palpable.
“Are you in any pain, Your Highness?”
It took her a second to realize that it was Prince Kel who had spoken. He still had his arm around her shoulders.
“No, I’m not in pain.”
She kept her eyes fixed on her mother and Hawk as she addressed one of her mother’s guards, a man she’d known all her life.
“M
ark—give me your bow.”
He complied without hesitation, handing her the bow and slipping the quiver over her shoulder.
“You can’t shoot the vampire,” Kel said sharply. “If he dies before telling us the antidote—”
“I won’t shoot him yet,” Jessica said, fitting an arrow to the string. “But if he so much as touches my mother, he’ll be dead the second afterward. You think I care if I die? It’s my fault the queen is in this position. I was the one who searched him for weapons. I was the one who believed he wasn’t a threat. I was a fool.”
Her voice shook a little, and she bit her lip. One more reason to curse Hawk was that because of him, she was now betraying emotion in front of her husband-to-be. If her people valued discipline and self-control, how much more so must the Dark Fae, who were all purebloods? Among the Earth Fae, emotion was viewed as a human attribute and a weakness. And the Dark Fae were supposed to be both heartless and soulless…according to legend, anyway.
She tried to speak more lightly. “I’m sorry that your introduction to our world…and to me…should have begun like this. You must be regretting our betrothal already.”
She kept her gaze trained on her mother and Hawk but she was aware of Kel’s eyes on her.
“You think this situation is lessening my opinion of you?”
He sounded surprised, and Jessica couldn’t stop herself from turning her head to look at him. “Yes,” she said.
He shook his head. “I’ve known you for less than ten minutes, Your Highness. In that time, I’ve seen that you are fearless in the face of danger and that you value the lives of others more than your own. I’ve also seen that you’re even more beautiful than your mother claimed. Believe me, none of these discoveries have made me regret our betrothal.”
She stared at him, and he met her gaze coolly. There was nothing in his expression to give away whatever he was feeling at the moment, if anything. But his words had sounded sincere.
And he had spoken of her courage. If he valued that…was it possible that he might, after all, allow her to be a warrior in his world?
For the first time since her mother had told her of the bargain she’d made with the Dark Fae queen, a spark of hope flickered to life inside her.
