“He’s breaking things off with you?”
“No, but…” I glared at him. “Why am I telling you any of this?”
“Obviously, you want to get it off your mind.”
I frowned. “You can work some sort of influence over other people—you can make humans forget what they’ve seen. That’s what I heard. Maybe you can make other vampires feel compelled to treat you like a copy of True Confessions.”
Markus didn’t confirm or deny it. His coldly handsome face was placid. I recognized that expression, since Thierry had perfected a similar one.
“So you believe that Thierry threatened Bernard’s life over some treasure he valued. And the safety of this same treasure also prompted him to agree to work for the Ring.”
“What else could it have been?”
He turned to the window, giving me his back. “I suppose if you don’t believe Thierry values jewels that much, you might ask yourself what he does value. What would he put first and foremost in his life, in his world? What does he love enough to kill for? To die for? Now, that is a treasure worth threatening to get someone like Thierry to toe the line.”
His words and what they could mean managed to render me speechless.
“This is not the reason I came here tonight, Sarah,” Markus continued when my reply was utter silence. “There’s something I’m very interested in getting my hands on and I believe that you can help me.”
I finally found my voice. “Let me guess. Even if no one else wants them, you’re after the diamonds.”
He laughed. The sound was like the crack of gunfire and it made me jump. Laughter seemed like a strange thing to come out of this man. “No, diamonds hold no interest for me. As far as I’m concerned, they can stay hidden away for all eternity. Actually, I’m interested in Thierry himself.”
I stared at him. “This is going to be a very awkward love triangle.”
Another sharp laugh made a chill run down my spine. “Information about Thierry.”
“What kind of information?”
“He’s…an unusual vampire. There are many things about him that are different from others. I have a file folder three inches thick on him—including his problems with blood and his rare ability to go entirely without it.”
I didn’t say anything, but my mind was reeling. Thierry’s blood addiction was unusual. It wasn’t just me. Comparing him with the people at that bloodaholics meeting had made me realize this, but this was only more proof.
“He’s been around for a long time,” I said with a tense shrug. “I’d heard that problems with blood are par for the course.”
“It’s not unheard of, but it’s not common, either. Those who’ve reached his age only need to drink rarely if they choose to, and there have been control issues in a few instances. With Thierry, his issues have been an ongoing problem that stretch back farther than you might expect—and most of this history been documented. However, there’s a bit of a glitch in our files on your fiancé. Fifty years are missing from his time line in the seventeenth century and no information can be found about them. By all accounts, Thierry de Bennicoeur disappeared from the earth for that amount of time, leaving all witnesses with the impression he’d been killed. But then he returned, stating that he had no memory of his absence. Strange, don’t you think?”
Uh, yeah. I’d say that was strange. It was also the first time I’d heard of this, not that that surprised me, since I already knew he wasn’t exactly chatty about his past. But fifty years with no trace? That was a significant chunk of time, even for someone his age.
I tried my best not to give away how shocked I was at this info. “What difference does it make? Maybe he joined a monastery and then got selective amnesia after they kicked him out.”
“Maybe. And I’m not saying that there will be any chance to fill in the blanks of his life, but you’re close to him—closer than anyone else. If someone could find out this information and help me finally close this case file, then it would be you.” He gave me a knowing look. “He treasures you.”
I cringed at the use of the word, given what I was piecing together about what Thierry valued and what he was willing to do to ensure its safety. “Thierry’s business is his business. I’m not going to pry.”
“I’m not asking you to. But if you do hear anything that might be helpful, then please pass that information along to me.” He smiled a little at my reluctance. “I have something to sweeten the pot. I do you a favor and maybe you’ll do one for me in return.”
I was about to open my mouth and tell him it was well past time that he headed back to Grim Reaper Central when I noticed what he was holding out toward me in the palm of his hand.
My ring.
My eyes widened and I tentatively took it from him, staring at the familiar facets of the princess-cut solitaire diamond in its platinum setting. “But—but how did you—? I mean, how did you get this?”
“When I finished up with Thierry, I went for a short stroll in the tunnels. I happened along the vampire you met down there. Charlotte, right?”
Just “happened along,” did he? I found that incredibly hard to believe. He’d gone down into the darkness below the city and managed to find a needle in a haystack. In less than three hours.
I stared at him, feeling sick all of a sudden. “Did…did you kill her?”
“Would you care if I did?”
It felt as if a hand had clutched my heart. “Yes, I damn well would care. I hated her for stealing this from me, but she saved my life. She didn’t murder anyone. She was weird and creepy and had a bad attitude, but if you staked her to get this back, I—I can’t wear it ever again.”
I loved this ring, but if someone died for it, it would make my skin crawl to be anywhere near it. Forget Thierry’s stashed diamonds, this would be my own cursed jewel I needed to stay away from.
Markus studied my face as if trying to figure me out. I don’t think he succeeded. “I didn’t kill her. I let her off with a warning. I don’t kill innocents, Sarah, no matter what you might believe about me. I only do what must be done.”
He didn’t wait for my reply. He moved toward the door, opened it up, and glanced back at me. “Remember my request. If you have any information you think might help unravel the mystery of your fiancé’s past, please call me. Good night, Sarah.”
The door clicked shut behind him.
I was left alone in a luxury suite at the Bellagio with a three-carat diamond engagement ring and about three million questions.
When Thierry hadn’t returned half an hour later, I decided it was time for a game of hide-and-seek. He wasn’t hiding very well. Downstairs, near the same spot where he’d been feuding with Bernard, he leaned against the railing near the large pool with his cell phone pressed to his ear, speaking quietly to whoever was on the other end. I waited until he finished before I went to stand next to him.
He regarded me with a smile on his handsome face. “I’m surprised you’re still awake.”
“When you fought with Bernard, was it because he’d just threatened to kill me if you didn’t hand over your key to the safety-deposit box?”
Very rarely was I able to totally surprise him. This was one of those times.
“Sarah…I—”
“And is the ‘offer you couldn’t refuse’ from the Ring that they’d snuff me out like a half-smoked cigarette if you turned down the job?”
He stared at me with shock before managing to successfully shutter his expression back to neutral. “I think your imagination is getting away from you.”
“You did all of it to protect me. I’m—” It was hard for me to even say it out loud, hard for me to believe anyone would feel this way about me. “—I’m the only thing in the world that you care about that much. The only thing they can threaten to get you to do what they want.”
His jaw was tight and he said nothing in reply, which was more than enough to confirm it for me. I didn’t need words when I had actions as my evidence.
“I know you want me to go back to Toronto where I’ll be safe. I get it, Thierry. I do. I hate it with every fiber in my being, but I get where you’re coming from. If I’m not with you on your future adventures, I won’t be in danger.”
He nodded slowly. “That’s right.”
“Yeah, because I was so safe in Toronto all the time since being sired. No danger there.” I didn’t even try to hold the sarcasm back.
“It’s for the best,” he said firmly, as if he was trying to convince himself of this as well as me. “And as I said, I will visit as often as I can.”
I moved toward him, pulled his arms away from their tightly crossed position, and looked up at his strained face. I took his hand in mine and placed the ring into it.
He stared down at it before his gaze flicked to mine.
“Markus went on a retrieval mission on my behalf,” I explained. “Makes me think we wouldn’t have gotten too far before he found us. He’s that good.”
“And now you’re giving this back to me.” It wasn’t a question.
I tried to find the strength to keep going. I had to say this, all of it, all at once. “Life isn’t simple or safe, Thierry. It never has been and it never will be. That’s the lousy part. The good part is that I want to be with you. Not just for a little while, and not for your money and the chance at a life of leisure. I’m not Laura. I see that now so clearly, that we’re nothing alike. It’s made everything easier for me.”
“This is easy?” He’d stopped looking directly at me, instead gazing down at the ring he held on the palm of his hand.
I took a deep breath. “No, this isn’t easy. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I won’t go back home with the promise that you’ll visit now and then. I won’t agree to that. If I go back, then it’s over between us. I want a future with you, but that means I want all of you. And I won’t be treated like a fragile treasure you need to hide and protect. I want to be treated like an equal, like a partner. I know I’m a fraction of your age and that you’ve lived a long, long time and met a lot of people. You’ve done a lot of things.” Some, I thought, that you might not even remember. “You’ve made some bad decisions along the way and I know you’re ashamed of a lot of it. But you need to get it through your thick head—I don’t care about that Thierry. I care about this Thierry, the one who stands in front of me. The one I want to marry.”
He looked confused. “You want to marry me. Still?”
“Yes. But it’s all or nothing. Either you want all of me, or you want none of me. And that’s totally your decision now.”
His brows were drawn tightly together. “You’re saying that you would come with me on my assignments for the Ring.”
“Yes.”
“You’d stay by my side no matter what happens.”
“Yes.”
His eyes flicked to mine. “You’d accept that there are some secrets from my past that I can’t share with you.”
I hissed out a breath. “Yes, damn it. Now decide. Do you want me or not?”
He studied my face for so long I wasn’t sure if he was ever going to speak again. A million thoughts went through his eyes as he weighed the pros and cons of my ultimatum. Would I manage to avoid danger if I went with him? Would the Ring be angry that he’d decided to do this? Did he care? Could he live without me? Could I live without him? Was it worth the trouble and worry to have me with him as he traveled the world? Would I find someone super hot and way younger than him the moment we parted?
I added that last one in just because it felt right.
“Silence, huh?” I said after enough time had elapsed that I started to sense the negative outcome of this little tête-à-tête. I tried to ignore the lump in my throat that had taken up permanent residence. “I think I get it. I won’t make this more difficult than it has to be, Thierry. I’ll make sure my suitcase is packed and I’ll be ready to leave for the airport first thing tomorrow morning.”
His expression was haunted. “You ask a lot from me, Sarah.”
I raised my chin. “Damn right I do.”
“I think you believe that this is simple for me. That saying good-bye to you is not something that I hate having to do.”
“And yet, here we are. I mean, I don’t blame you for this. Not entirely. I know I’m a magnet for trouble, I know I’m hard to control, and sometimes I do things that are risky—to say the least. Quite frankly, I’m not totally sure why you asked me to marry you in the first place.”
“You still don’t know?” He let out a sharp laugh, which startled me. “To put it ineloquently, Sarah, you make mehappy. You make me want to live for another six centuries, provided that you’re by my side. I want nothing more than that—not since nearly the first moment we met.”
The heavy elephant lounging on my heart since he’d said I had to go back home shifted its big butt a little. This was what I needed to hear, what I’d been so thirsty for.
But then I frowned. “Wait a minute. Nearly the first moment we met?”
His lips quirked. “I’ll admit it did take me a few days to recognize your particular…charms.”
I couldn’t help but laugh a little at that. “Ditto.”
He stared down at the ring he now held between his thumb and index finger. “Are you absolutely certain about this?”
“I don’t know. Ask me and I’ll tell you.”
That earned me a wry look. “You’re not making this easy for me.”
I shook my head. “Not a chance.”
His expression grew tense again. “I didn’t want you to go back home without me. But I thought it was the right decision. I wanted you to be safe, even if I went about it the wrong way. You believe me to be so worldly, but when it comes to matters like this, I find myself at a severe disadvantage.”
I waited, not wanting to say anything to interrupt him. I just focused on trying to keep breathing.
His jaw tightened and his forehead furrowed. He was still fighting some sort of tug-of-war inside of himself. Maybe it was a devil-on-one-shoulder, angel-on-the-other situation. I let him battle it out without comment. I’d already had my say.
Finally, his gaze met mine and held. “Marry me, Sarah. Be with me always.”
A smile slowly crept onto my face and with it came deep relief and such happiness I didn’t think I could contain it. I held out my hand to him. “Yes, Thierry, I’ll marry you.”
He mirrored my smile, so wide that I could see his fangs. He was about to slide the ring back on my finger where it belonged, when he stopped and gave me a look that could only be described as mischievous. “Before I make this official, I have one condition of my own.”
I blinked. “And what’s that?”
He told me. It took only a minute for me to agree.
He’d met all of my demands; the least I could do was meet one of his.
Chapter 23
Since I was a kid, I’d always dreamed of a huge wedding, one where I wore a big, princess ball gown and there was a five-course meal, and I had a half dozen attendants. Since getting engaged, I’d been worried that I wouldn’t be able to get all my friends and family together in one place for a wedding. I now knew that was impossible.
And I didn’t really care.
I didn’t need the huge guest list, the ridiculously expensive gown, the string quartet, the trained doves (because there had to be doves).
Now I knew that was all window dressing to what I really wanted.
My conditions were met—I would travel with Thierry as he began his job as consultant for the Ring. While he hadn’t officially confirmed it, I knew the only reason he’d taken the job or threatened Bernard’s life was because they’d threatened mine. But what better way for him to keep an eye on me than if I was by his side?
I could have moved to Vancouver and started a new life like Amy suggested. But I didn’t want that. I already had exactly what I wanted. And the best part? I now knew without a doubt that he wanted me, too.
Thierry’s con
dition was this: If I wanted to marry him, then I needed to put my money where my mouth was. Now. Did I really want to be committed to a six-centuries-old master vampire with a shady new job and an even shadier past? Did I trust him enough to give him my hand in marriage, binding us together from this day forward?
The answer was an unequivocal Y-E-S.
So here we were. In a Las Vegas wedding chapel called the Love Shack.
I wore a sparkly off-white shift dress and gold pumps I’d bought only this morning. Thierry wore—shocker—a black Hugo Boss suit.
No family or old friends in attendance. Instead, we had new friends: Charles and Victoria.
I’d been happy to hear that she wouldn’t have to do any more pageants or adopt a life of crime to make a living. On the conference call last night, Thierry had been authorized to hire her on as a noncontracted undercover “child” agent for the Ring for occasional missions. Since she’d wanted to try acting, she was thrilled for the opportunity to stretch her theatrical legs in a potentially beneficial way. And also make a very generous paycheck.
Charles was our official witness and Victoria was our flower girl—and unofficial maid of honor. She wore her prettiest and frilliest pink dress for the occasion. It did smell a little bit like cigarette smoke, but I was willing to overlook that.
“Do you, Sarah, take Thierry as your hunka-hunka-burning-love husband from this day forward until death do you part?”
Thierry grimaced a little at that. I watched him with amusement. This had been his idea, after all. And I had to admit, I was the one who’d insisted on the “Love Me Tender” ceremony.
I looked from the Elvis impersonator’s gold lamé suit and long black sideburns to Thierry. He stood next to me, holding my hands, and he studied me as if he still expected me to change my mind and go running for the hills at any given moment.
“I do,” I said firmly.
“And do you, Thierry, take Sarah as your jailhouse-rockin’ wife, from this day forward until death do you part?”
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