Fateful (18 page)

This conversation had cleared the room,
mostly. Max and Sophia had remained, but Nadia had left with others
whom she hadn’t officially been introduced to yet.

“Beon has a point about Lucas,” Max
whispered.

“Will you not help me continue to guard
against him?”

“Of course I will, I’m just saying...”

“Ethan, please be reasonable,” Beon
continued.

Ethan defensively tucked Danielle’s arms
under his, and held her closer. That possessiveness of his was
showing again. Studying Ethan’s face, she wondered what he would do
next. He never removed his eyes from hers, and she watched as
distress wrestled with determination in his gaze. With his brows
furrowed, and his jaw ridged, he said, “I simply couldn’t endure
seeing her cursed like that.” His gaze grew violent as it shifted
back to Beon. “I’ll keep her safe until I find the cure.”

The cure? He was talking about the prophecy
he’d mentioned earlier, but when she opened her mouth to ask about
it, Ethan touched her lips with two gentle fingers. Understanding
that he wanted to tell her about it, just not now, she resigned
herself to remaining silent.

“Ethan, we don’t understand what it means
yet, or if it even means anything at all.”

“I’ll figure it out,” he said through
clenched teeth.

“I don’t think there is any hope in the
legend, Ethan.”

“I beg to differ.”

“Please think this through logically.”

“I have, damn it!”

Everyone fell silent then, but the tension
was so thick it was stifling and Beon seemed to finally realize
that arguing was a lost cause. “All right, Ethan, I can see you
will not be moved in this matter … I’ll respect your wishes. If I
come up with anything that will help, I’ll let you know.”

Ethan breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”
He clutched Danielle tighter, placed his chin on her shoulder, and
began stroking her hair.

Sophia let go of her tense pose to suggest,
“Ethan, I think you should take Danielle to see the rest of the
house.”

Still she was calling this mansion a house?
“That’s a great idea. Let’s go,” Ethan said. Danielle tried to
stand, but Ethan swiftly scooped her up into his arms and headed
for the door.

“Don’t forget her finger foods!” Sophia
reminded.

“Yes, ma’am.” He swept down to grab the tray
while still holding her and then exited the room in a rush.

He climbed a flight of stairs, taking two
steps at a time. At the top, he turned down a hallway lined with
closed doors. His pace was brisk, and he started mumbling as he
went, “A bedroom on the right ... another bedroom, there on the
left ... and another, also left ... bedroom, bedroom, and my room.”
Ethan stopped abruptly. “There are more bedrooms down that way.” He
tipped his head to the left, motioning down another hallway. He
then entered his room quickly and kicked the door shut. He released
Danielle’s legs, but still held her around the waist, keeping her
feet suspended in the air. She tried to touch the floor with her
toes but couldn’t reach.

That was the fastest tour anyone had ever
given her of a place so large and she couldn’t resist teasing Ethan
about it. “Wow! That was some tour, Ethan. I really liked the
hallway a lot. That was one of the nicest halls I’ve ever—” Ethan
silenced her jesting with one finger placed across her lips, but
her sarcastic smirk remained. “And...” she mumbled under his
finger, “I can walk by myself just fine I think.” She pointed her
toes trying to reach the floor again; still she found nothing but
air.

She checked his face for annoyance with her
teasing, only to find an enchanting smile resting there. He laughed
out loud and then admitted, “I know you can walk on your own. I’m
sorry, but for him to suggest—” He gently lowered her feet to the
floor, still chuckling.

“If this is like a bed and breakfast, how
many vampires stay here?”

“Many. Some more permanently, while others
come and go.” Taking her hand, he drew her further into his room.
“Come, let’s listen to music.”

He guided her to a Victorian, Chesterfield
settee near the fireplace, flanked by two red leather wingback
chairs. He set the tray of sandwiches on the table in front of it,
and strode over to his sound system.

“I know exactly what music you’ve been
listening to lately,” he said.

She wondered how he knew until he said, “I
could hear it from outside your bedroom window, you play this a
lot.”

“Oh.” Of course, from guarding her. “Is that
all you’ve been doing since that night Lucas attacked me?”

“Pretty much.”

“I feel terrible, that must be so
boring.”

“Not really, I trade off with Beon, Max,
Cedric and a few others.”

“And they’re willing to do that for someone
they don’t even know?”

“Of course.”

I don’t get it, she wanted to say, but
decided to drop it for now.

Slipping off her jacket, Danielle smiled as
“Alibi” by 30 Seconds to Mars began. It was a nice distraction from
the argument downstairs.

She tossed the denim jacket onto the
armrest of the brown leather settee, sat down, and then began
exploring his room with her eyes. This wasn’t the dwelling of a
typical
young
man. Uncle Nick
would have been in his element here. Ethan’s true age was more
apparent from the look of his bedroom, than his early-twenties
face. The room was full of antiques, yet the decor was masculine
and the fact that he’d traveled the world was manifested in the
art, carvings and tapestries displayed around the room. It was also
apparent that he liked stringed instruments; he had a collection of
at least twenty different designs. Danielle didn’t recognize half
of them as they were most likely no longer made or even played by
modern musicians.

The vintage furnishings didn’t stop him from
having technology, of course. He had everything a young man would
want in his room, a laptop, a sweet sound system, and a flat-screen
television. There was a large sleigh bed in one corner carved from
a dark wood, a nightstand on either side of it, and a substantial
armoire across from the bed.

Ethan joined Danielle on the settee and
situated her so her head was resting on his lap. He ran his fingers
through her hair as he spoke. “I’m sorry, Danielle. That’s not how
I wanted your first visit here to go. I know Beon can be rather
intense. He’s the only one who has the nerve to voice his opinion,
maybe because he’s centuries older than most of us.”

“I’ll admit that it was kind of scary
when he
told
you to bite me.
I was a little worried he might just do it for you … but I could
also see that he just cares about you when he finally gave
in.”

“It
is
my decision or yours.”

“I’m sorry to cause you so much trouble.”
Danielle looked up at him with remorseful brown eyes.

“No, don’t say that. None of that was your
fault.”

“I’m not convinced of that, if I hadn’t
gotten myself into trouble in the first place, you wouldn’t have
had to save me.”

His brows pressed together as he spoke, “And
I might never have met you.... I’m glad I had the chance to save
you just for that. I’ll have to thank Lucas later.” He smiled
wickedly at that idea.

“Oh! Are you going to tell me what this
prophecy is?” she suddenly remembered.

Ethan chuckled. “Yes, of course. It goes like
this, ‘The one who gives himself to humanity will find the cure to
the curse.’ And that’s it, there’s nothing more.”

“Do you have any idea what it means?” she
asked, because she certainly didn’t.

“Not yet, but I’m determined to figure it
out.” She watched as Ethan’s expression turned brooding
momentarily, but then he promptly pulled himself out of it and
returned his attention to her. “Comfortable?” he asked.

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Good.” With that he commenced caressing her
face as before, gently gliding his fingers across her skin. She
realized his goal was to distract her from the earlier drama. It
was working perfectly well because Danielle was trying desperately
not to melt all over the top of him.

Tilting his head to the side, he traced
around the outline of her mouth, then lifting, his fingers tunneled
through her hair, along her scalp. The stroke moved around her ear,
continuing lightly along her jaw. When he then slid both thumbs as
light as fairy wings down the sides of her neck, she shuddered. It
tickled but when the pressure deepened to a massage, it felt nice.
Danielle sighed and closed her eyes.

“Do you like that?” he asked.

“Yes,” she confessed, then wondered, if he
was from Austen’s time then maybe, just perhaps he was a little
like Mr. Darcy. And would Mr. Darcy be doing this, or could Ethan
potentially turn into another Zack with octopus hands? In truth,
with Ethan, did she care? As she pondered her love of all things
Jane Austen, she decided she did. A little. The silly thought
prompted a question, “So, can I trust you with—? I mean if you’re
from eighteen whatever?”

“Eighteen fifty-four.”

“Right, so then you have ... um?”

“Proper manners?” he offered.

“Well, that and...”

“A strong sense of propriety?” he
suggested.

Feeling like a complete nerd for bringing
this up, she nodded.

“Of course.”

“But, isn’t this crossing the line a
little?”

“Hm. I’ll confess, I have been crossing
lines that wouldn’t have been acceptable well over a century ago….
But truthfully, Danielle, I can’t seem to stop myself when I’m
around you. Yet I promise you that you can trust me. I still
believe there are many things that are only acceptable between
husband and wife. You
can
trust me to never cross those lines, I give you my word. But
I have decided that this…” he ran his fingers along her jaw, “and
this…” he then slid his fingers softly across the pillow of her
bottom lip, “and kissing you are acceptable. Unless you would
rather I didn’t. Just let me know where the line is and I’ll honor
your request.”

This guy was so not handsy-Zack. He really
was the noble gentleman she’d wished for and feared didn’t
exist.

When she said nothing more, he resumed the
innocent caressing of her face and neck. Her breathing slowed as
his touch relaxed her and she unconsciously curled her legs up,
which was more comfortable for her than having them stretched out.
After he’d tenderly traced every inch of her face, his thumbs and
fingers ran softly across the contours of her collarbone back and
forth along the ridge. His touch always started out gentle, soft as
a feather, then increased in pressure as he gently worked the
muscles beneath. He continued following the same line trailing his
hand over her shoulder and down her arm, stroking her fingers
softly when he reached her hand. Danielle peeked when his hand left
her fingers and hovered along her hip and along the side of her
thigh, only centimeters from touching her, but when he got to her
knee and calf, his fingers dropped and grazed along her skin,
barely touching. His caress then smoothly fell to her ankle. While
there, he gently slipped her shoe off and dropped it on the
floor.

Danielle gazed up at his face. He
appeared to be enjoying this as much as, if not more than she was.
Still he hadn’t crossed any lines to make his actions
inappropriate, at least in her opinion. She closed her eyes again.
Ethan switched to her other foot, removing that shoe as well. With
her feet free, he rubbed his fingers expertly along the soles of
her feet, and then tugged gently at her toes. She was now so
relaxed she began feeling sleepy, but also wondered if it was a
mixture of his ministrations
and
his vampire magic that lulled her so much.

“How’s your ankle?”

“It’s fine now.” She hadn’t sprained it that
bad and had actually forgotten about it.

“Your feet are cold,” he whispered.

She felt him shift as he retrieved the throw
draped over the back of the settee, and tucked it in around her.
“Warm?”

“Yes.... Thank you, Ethan.”

“You’re welcome,” he breathed.

His feathery touches had returned to her
face, his fingers gliding over her eyelids and mouth. Then after
what only seemed like a few minutes, she felt lips press against
hers. “Mmm,” she murmured sleepily.

“Danielle,” an enchanting English voice
whispered.

“Hmm?” she muttered, still on the edge of
consciousness.

“Danielle darling, wake up,” that dreamy
British voice called to her again. “Danielle, wake up, I need to
take you home. The sun is setting,” he persisted.

Then she remembered—“Oh!” Her eyes flew open.
“Oh no!” she gasped.

“What’s wrong?”

“I fell asleep?”

“Yes.” He sounded amused.

“I don’t want to go,” she whined. “I want to
stay here with you. I didn’t want to squander the whole time
sleeping! Why did you let me fall asleep?”

Ethan started laughing. “Actually I loved
getting a chance to watch you sleep. This is something I miss out
on since I shouldn’t be near you at night…. It was perfectly
delightful!”

“What? I didn’t do anything embarrassing
while I slept, did I?” she felt mortified.

“No, of course not, you were absolutely
adorable.” Joy danced in his sapphire eyes.

“I hope I didn’t talk in my sleep, or
snore.”

A smile spread across his face that was
anything but noble.

“What? Did I drool?” Danielle was panicking
now, checking her face for wetness.

Laughing again, “No, no, don’t worry, you
didn’t drool, and you didn’t snore. You looked incredibly peaceful.
Like an angel dropped from Heaven, landing in my lap. My very own
personal angel, I absolutely loved it!”