Elena smiled grimly. “Hell.”
Beth kicked free of the corpse and shot to her feet, backing hastily away, heart pounding. Ramirez’s ghost clutched at Elena even as she started dragging him toward the black maw. “No,” he gasped. “Do not give me to that thing. Please!”
The triumph faded from her face, and for a moment, she looked almost sad. “You gave yourself to it before I was even born.”
The hole began to… inhale. Ramirez shrieked in terror and tried to cling to her.
Her expression cold as an executioner, Elena released him.
His panicked howl as he was sucked toward the vortex made Beth flinch. Flailing, screaming, he writhed as the pit sucked him down.
“Elena!” he shrieked as he disappeared into the blackness. The hole vanished with a pop of displaced air.
“Jesus,” Garret said, crossing himself, though it was Beth’s hand and Beth’s chest he blessed.
“Served the fucker right,” Morgan growled.
Beth swallowed hard, staring at the spot where hell had been. “Remind me never to piss you off.”
Elena shrugged. “He sinned for a very long time. The devil will have his due.”
Beth blew out a breath and managed a tight smile. “You seem to have the hang of the ghost thing a lot better.”
“I did some praying. It helped.”
“Elena.” It was Morgan. He took a step forward in Beth’s body, extending a hand toward the ghost. “I…” He broke off. What could he say? Stay with us?
Elena smiled, but there was sadness in those dark, lovely eyes. “Ahhh, mis angeles, I wish I could, but…” Her voice trailed off.
“But you’ve got somewhere else to go, too,” Garret finished for her.
Elena’s smile widened, becoming more genuine. “Somewhere much more pleasant than where Ramirez finds himself. And now that I know you’ll be safe and well, I am free.” But then her smile faded into something more tender. “I love you, mis angeles. And that will never change.”
“We love you too, my darling,” Morgan said softly.
“Now and always,” Garret added in Beth’s voice.
Her smile turned tender. “It comforts me to know I leave your hearts in loving hands, mis angeles. Savor your lives until we meet again.”
She looked skyward.
As if summoned, a star appeared overhead, glowing a pure, incandescent white. A waterfall of light poured from it. Beth caught her breath at the serene sense of peace it radiated. Elena began to drift upward as the streaming light reversed course, carrying her skyward toward the star. The sadness of separation fell away from her as her face lit with pure joy.
“Goodbye,” Morgan said softly.
She looked back. “I’ll be waiting for you, my loves.” That charming grin flashed again, the one they knew so well. “But take your time.”
And then she was gone, vanishing into the light.
Beth swallowed around the thick knot of tears in her throat. Before she could think of anything to say, Garret spoke, urgency in his voice. “We’ve got to go. Val and Cade need us.”
“What? Why? What’s going on?”
Then, in their combined memories, she saw what had happened. They’d been bracing themselves for a suicidal rush at Ramirez’s thugs when Cade and Val had charged up the hill to join them.
Val told them she’d sensed that Beth was nearby and in mortal danger, and that the two strange vampires were somehow connected to her. The McKinnons had volunteered to protect the cousins’ helpless bodies while they rescued her.
But though Beth was now safe, Cade and Val were still in danger.
No sooner had she grasped the situation than the two men let their minds stream back toward their bodies. With a huff of worry, Beth lay down in the leaves and followed them, intent on providing any help she could.
After all, Ramirez was too busy roasting somewhere hot to cause any further trouble.
Chapter Eleven
“…you long enough,” Cade was growling as Beth entered Morgan’s mind. He stood over Morgan, glowering down at him. “Did you get to her in time?”
“We got her,” Garret said. “She’s fine. And Ramirez is dead.”
“It’s awfully damned quiet.” Morgan got to his feet and looked around. They still stood at the base of the cliff where the attack had begun, but Ramirez’s thugs were nowhere to be seen. “Where are the bad guys?”
Cade shrugged his broad shoulders. “They broke it off and ran a couple of minutes ago.”
“Probably about the time one of the Swedes sensed Ramirez was dead,” Garret said, sitting up. He put a hand to his arm and grimaced. “I’m bleeding like a pig. I’m going to have to get some sleep if I want to heal this.”
“Tell me about it.” Val was leaning against the cliff wall, one hand clamped to her side. Blood seeped around her fingers.
“Val!” Beth gasped, and strode over to her. Dropping to one knee, she pulled her sister’s hand away from the wound, then looked up into her face. “How bad are you hurt?” It wasn’t until she heard Morgan’s deep voice speak the words that she realized she wasn’t in her own body.
Val looked into her eyes and smiled, recognizing her presence. “Oh, there you are. It’s nothing. Did he hurt you, baby?”
“No, the guys got to me in time.” She examined the wound anxiously. “Are you sure you’re okay? There’s a lot of blood…”
“Watch where you’re putting his hands, Beth.” Cade eyed them coolly.
Just as she realized she was resting a large, masculine hand on Val’s thigh, Morgan rose and stepped back hastily. “Sorry,” he said. “She forgot.”
“That reminds me,” Cade said in a steely voice. He took a long step forward until he was almost nose to nose with Morgan. “You want to explain how you ended up making my sister-in-law a vampire?” Beth had never seen such an expression of cold menace on his face before.
Morgan stiffened, anger sizzling through him.
“Great,” Garret observed dryly to Val. “They’re going to start pissing on trees next.”
“Uh,” Beth said, interrupting Morgan and Cade’s staring contest. “Why don’t I just… go back to my body and get the SUV. We can check into a hotel and… talk.” Preferably without bloodshed.
Cade gave her a faint, cold nod. With a sigh of relief at that wordless promise of restraint, she fled.
* * *
Dressed again in one of her new polo shirts tucked into black jeans, Beth sat on one of the beds in the hotel room Cade and Val shared. Somehow or other the three men had managed to avoid any serious testosterone-driven bloodshed long enough to book a hotel. Now Garret and Morgan had retreated to a room down the hall while Beth did some catching up with her sister.
Cade was kneeling at his wife’s side as she sat on the other bed, cleaning the gunshot wound just above her hip. Thanks to her vampire metabolism, it was already well on its way to healing and should be completely gone by sunset.
“So how do you feel about these two characters?” Cade asked Beth, moving to the sink to wash out the washcloth. “Because if you’re not happy with them…”
“Cade, I don’t want you challenging them to a duel -- or whatever mayhem you’ve got in mind,” Beth told him tartly, helping Val sit back against the headboard. She watched in concern as her sister closed her eyes, visibly pale from blood loss. “One, they saved my life -- several times. And two…”
Val’s lips twitched as she finished, “…They’re cute.”
“They also seem to be joined at the hip,” Cade said, wringing out the cloth. “What are they, gay?”
Beth laughed. “Ah, no.”
“That would be a ‘hell, no,’ judging from her tone,” Val supplied. “And since when are you a homophobe, anyway?”
He glowered. “I’m not a homophobe. I’m just not sure I like this whole psychic threesome thing they have going.”
Val was grinning. “He’s afraid they’re going to corrupt you.”
&nbs
p; Beth couldn’t help it -- she burst out laughing. “Okay, now that may be a legitimate concern.”
Val’s eyes widened. “You mean -- both of them? At once?” Her tone dropped to one of reverent awe. “Damn!”
“Hey!”
“You know I love you, baby, but did you see those two? My God, Cade, the possibilities are endless.”
There was a long, sizzling pause. “Are you implying,” he asked at last, his tone silken, his gaze smoldering, “that you feel deprived?”
“And on that note,” Beth said, rising hastily to her feet, “I think I’ll leave you two alone.”
She was hurrying toward the door when Cade pounced. Val’s giggles and yelps followed her all the way down the hall.
* * *
Beth used her key card to open the door to find Morgan and Garret sipping glasses of something amber with the air of men who’d come to some decisions. Both men reclined, shirtless, against the California king’s headboard. As she shut the door behind her, she took a moment to appreciate the stunning view of so much glorious male muscle on display.
“You’re not so bad yourself,” Morgan purred, evidently hearing the thought.
She grinned at that and knelt on the foot of the bed, then crawled into the spot the two men made for her. Garret picked up a third glass from the nightstand and passed it to her. Accepting it gratefully, Beth took a sip and appreciated the smoky taste as the bourbon burned its way down her throat. “Trying to get me drunk, boys?”
Garret gave her a toothy white grin, his gaze lingering on the curves of her breasts behind her Polo. “It’s a thought.”
“Other than the obvious,” she asked, taking another sip, “what’s the plan?”
Morgan shrugged. “We thought we’d clean up whatever mess we left back at the millionaire’s house we borrowed, then catch a flight to Rhode Island.”
Beth blinked. “What the hell’s in Rhode Island?”
“A cottage we own.” Garret smiled over the rim of his glass at her.
Beth eyed him, remembering a college architecture class that discussed the deceptive terminology used for Newport’s grand mansions. “Is this a ‘cottage’ as in little pink house, or ‘cottage’ as in the Vanderbilts built the one next door?”
“Rosecote’s not quite as grand as the Breakers, but it’s not exactly a doublewide,” Morgan said, his smile fading a little. “Elena never did anything by halves.”
“We thought we could convert one of the bedrooms upstairs into a studio for you,” Garret explained. “There’s one with a gorgeous view of the ocean.”
Beth’s heart leaped. She’d hoped that was where the relationship was going, but she hadn’t wanted to make assumptions. “You want me to move in with you?”
“Well, yeah. You are part of us now,” Morgan pointed out, taking her free hand. He gazed into her eyes with an emotion far deeper than lust in his. “Just as Elena was.”
“I’ll never be able to take her place, Morgan.”
“No,” he replied steadily. “You’re different women. But that doesn’t mean we love you any less.”
Her eyes widened. “Love?” Were they serious?
“Look and see,” Garret said softly.
Beth closed her eyes and reached through the link for them. And instantly realized they were right. She could feel the sweet connections binding them like a web of warm golden light. They loved her.
And she loved them. “Damn,” she breathed. And swallowed, battling a combination of excitement, joy and fear. What if it went wrong? What if this was only an infatuation born mutual attraction and a fuckton of adrenaline? “We’ve known each other such a short time. How could we have fallen so fast?”
Garret brushed his knuckles over her cheek, drawing her gaze to him. “Well, there was the psychic meld and the fight to the death with the sociopath. It’s a great way to find out real damn quick who you’re dealing with. And in your case, we learned you’re brilliant, fiercely loyal to those you love, and courageous as hell.”
Morgan’s hand tightened on hers, and she turned to look at him. “I will never forget the first time I saw you standing in Ramirez’s house in that white gown, with a dog collar around your throat and bravery in your eyes. “
A knot thickened in her throat. Beth swallowed and tried for a joke. “I didn’t realize you were such a romantic.”
“Then obviously I need to work at it.” Morgan caught her behind the neck, pulling her into a slow, hot kiss that made her toes curl. He took his time, licking and biting at her lips, slipping his tongue into her mouth in suggestive strokes, swirling and tempting.
When he finally let her up for air, it took her two tries to manage speech. “Okay, I take it back. You’re definitely a romantic.”
Garret leaned in. “Among other things,” he breathed in her ear. Catching her chin in his hand, he turned her head and took her mouth in a kiss of his own.
* * *
The next night
Rosecote turned out to be a 160-year-old Gothic Revival that stood on the high granite cliffs of Newport. Built of hand-cut rose marble blocks, it had turrets and arched windows and a yard going white under a gently drifting snowfall. It was considerably colder here than back in Georgia.
As they pulled up to the gates in the opulent Lincoln Town Car, Beth pressed her nose shamelessly against the passenger window. “Yeah, that’s not a doublewide.”
“Rosecote’s not all that big by Newport standards,” Garret told her, referring to the sprawling Vanderbilt “cottage” nearby, “but it suited Elena’s romantic streak.”
As Morgan parked the car out front, Beth scanned the house’s stunning facade. “Damn, this place must have cost a fortune!” Eager to see more, she got out, the men at her heels. Together, they started up the cobblestone walkway to the house’s impressive entrance. “What do you guys do, anyway?”
He shrugged. “We run the charitable foundation Elena started a few decades back. We do a lot of work in South America, building schools, encouraging development.”
“And when we get bored, we hunt drug dealers, brigands, and psychopaths and teach them the error of their ways,” Morgan added dryly as he unlocked the house’s massive oak double doors.
“And now that Ramirez is safely in hell, we can get back to work,” Garret added, gesturing for her to proceed them into the marble foyer. “The foundation has a capable staff -- they kept things on an even keel while we were… busy. But I’ll feel better when I have things back in hand.”
“Garret’s the Chief Operations Officer,” Morgan explained. “I’m the muscle.”
Beth thrust her tongue in her cheek. “Somehow I’m not surprised.”
Judging by the way Morgan’s dark eyes narrowed and heated, he’d make her pay for that crack in some particularly delicious way.
* * *
Garret took her on a breathtaking tour. Beth spent the next forty-five minutes gaping at gleaming antiques in rich dark wood, heart-of-pine floors, hand-knotted rugs, and a collection of paintings that made her artist’s soul soar. When he showed her the huge room they’d earmarked for her studio, it did indeed have one hell of a view. She instantly began imagining the moonlit seascapes in her future.
By the time they’d worked their way through all the bedrooms and offices and back to the living room, she was in sensory overload.
While they’d been busy, Morgan had laid a fire in the sprawling fieldstone fireplace and piled cushions on the parquet floor in front of it.
As she looked at him, standing tall and breathtaking in the firelight, it hit Beth how damned close they’d come to dying the night before. Her mind went back to the instant Garret had been shot, her own despair and fear for him, her terror of what Ramirez would do to her.
“It didn’t happen,” Morgan said, moving to take her face in both warm hands. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you,”.
“I know.” she said hoarsely. “You came for me even at the risk of your own lives.”
Garret smiled, one hand coming to rest on the curve of her hip. “How could we do anything else?”
She looked from him to Morgan as a sudden savage need surged up. We’re alive. We’ve got each other. She grabbed Morgan’s shirt T-shirt in both hands, begin to drag it upward. He lifted his arms for her with a wicked smile, stepping back and bending a little to allow her to pull it off over his head.
Beth dropped the shirt on the floor, her gaze taking in all that hard muscle, the dusting of chest hair, the hot glitter of his eyes. He licked his lips and reached down to the snap of his jeans. Unbuttoned them. The zipper hissed, and she felt the echo of his sweet relief as the denim released its strangling hold on his erect cock.
Garret moved behind her, encircling her with his arms. As she looked down, he began unbuttoning her peach silk blouse. Morgan paused to watch, the jeans halfway down his thighs, his cock jutting out at her, long and tempting. His eyes glittered in the firelight as his cousin skimmed the blouse off her shoulders and dropped it on the floor.
Morgan took the front clasp of her cream lace bra and unclipped it, letting the cups fall as he admired the full curves of her breasts in the firelight. Garret brushed the bra straps off her shoulders, then drew it down the length of her arms to free her. As he tossed it aside, Beth pivoted to face him, grabbing his shirt and pulling it up, one hand sliding over the taut muscle of his chest, savoring the ripples of his ribs, the lean rolling curves of abdominal muscles.
Hungry to have them both naked, she grabbed the shirt in both hands and jerked it up. He ducked, allowing her to pull it off.
As she tossed it aside, Morgan’s hands found the hook of her cream slacks, unfastened and unzipped them, then started tugging them and the panties beneath down the curve of her hips.
Garret cupped her breasts from behind, calloused thumbs rasping back and forth across her hard nipples. As Morgan leaned in to take her mouth in a hungry kiss, his cousin dropped to his knees behind her. Grabbing the waistband of her unfastened slacks and the panties under them, he pulled them down her thighs. Warm breath gusted over her skin, making her shiver as she felt the nip of his teeth on the bare curve of her ass.
Forever Kisses Volume 1 Page 38
