Her Secret (30 page)

I took it, following him upstairs with the
used sheets under my other arm. “We can use the guest bathroom. The
master bathroom’s too small for more than one person.”

“You can tell I don’t live here,” Devlin said
with a grin. “We’ll have to enlarge it. No one should shower
alone.”

I cast him a look, then rolled my eyes. “You
can start the shower. I’ll be back.” I carried the clothes into the
laundry room, embarrassed that I didn’t have a shower for two in
the master bathroom. Until now, it hadn’t ever been a problem. The
Jacuzzi tub took up most of the master bathroom. Theo hadn’t
minded...

Angrily, I made myself put him out of my
mind. I was not on his mind, and it was stupid to waste time
thinking about a man who was cheating on me, no matter that
technically I was cheating on him now, too. This was a time to
enjoy myself and to hell with the consequences.

I returned to the bathroom, then Devlin and I
stepped into the running water. Devlin had adjusted the water
temperature so it was almost too hot. The heat was just that edge
of too much, and more than enough. It felt delicious pouring down
on us, as we stood holding each other in its spray.

“Does this warmth feel good to you, Sar?”
Devlin said softly, sliding his hands over my body. His skin was
much warmer, though not as warm as the water.

“It feels better than good. It feels better
than almost anything,” I said, closing my eyes to luxuriate in the
feeling. “Just feeling the sensation is completely satisfying.”

He laughed in a rich low way as he brought
his hands up from my waist over my breasts to cross over my chest,
pulling me tight against him. “That is how you feel to me, Love,”
he purred, kissing the side of my neck gently. “Being in you is
better than almost anything.”

I leaned into him and took a long shuddering
breath. There was the slight pressure of Dev’s fangs as he nibbled
my neck, then soft kisses. I closed my eyes, wanting nothing more
than to be with him like this forever, to never not feel the press
of his skin on mine. We’d had sex many times in the past day and a
half, yet my longing for him only seemed to increase.

“I want you, too, Love,” he whispered.
“Regrettably, that must wait for now. Would you please hand me the
shampoo?”

Startled, I put some in my hair and then
handed it to him. We both scrubbed ourselves with soap quickly,
then rinsed off,

He finished much faster than I. “Take your
time with your lovely hair.” Devlin stepped out, giving me a quick
kiss. “I’ll be right here.”

I finished washing and conditioning my hair,
then went out after him. He was standing near the sink, having
finished shaving.

“Better?” he asked, glancing over at me.

“If you mean me, I feel better now I’m clean,
yes. If you mean you, I told you before I don’t care if you shave
or not.”

“I’ve been told I’m more handsome cleanly
shaven.” He smiled ruefully. “But actually, I meant you.”

Something made me think Anna had preferred
him that way. “You couldn’t be more handsome,” I said derisively.
“How could you worry I would find you anything but to die for?”

He pulled me to him, and turned me to the
mirror. “Look at yourself,” he breathed in my ear. “You are to die
for.”

I looked into the mirror, amazed. I was no
longer the ghost I’d been the last two months. My skin was pale,
but my cheeks were flushed. My eyes were bright, the green of them
standing out in the bathroom light. My lips were a dark red-pink.
My skin shone softly, with just the edge of the luminosity of
Devlin’s. His choker glittered in the light at my throat, the
emeralds shining. Even with the new scars that now adorned my neck,
I was beyond the picture of health: I was supernaturally
striking.

“You are breathtaking, Sarelle,” he said with
absolute delight.

“Call me Sar,” I purred, then kissed him
passionately.

Kissing me ardently back, Devlin dropped his
razor into the sink, and lifted me onto the bathroom sink,
maneuvering between my thighs as he began to slide his hands
lower.

I pushed him back gently. “Wait.”

He pulled back from me. “What?” he asked,
worried.

“Did you mean what you told your friends
about getting an Oath from me?”
Would he deny he’d said it? Had
it just been to make Lash behave?

“Of course, or I’d not have said it,” Devlin
replied, looking in my eyes. “I want you to make me a promise.”

I looked away from him uneasily, and eased
off the bathroom sink, gathering up my clothes and his. “Then we
need to talk. I need to dry off,

and—”

“As do I,” Devlin said curtly. He pushed me
out the door, and shut it abruptly behind me.

In a daze, I went into my bathroom. After
applying some Victoria’s Secret lotion, conditioning my hair, and
dressing in polar fleece, I emerged to find Devlin waiting for me
on the satin sheets, wearing only the guest robe from the
bathroom.

I let my eyes linger on him. “You’re going to
have to settle for me smelling sexy. It’s too cold to be walking
around in lingerie.”

“I’ll keep you warm,” he said with a smile.
He slid his hands over the comforter. “This was a nice surprise. I
didn’t take you for the kind of person who had satin sheets,
Sar.”

“Am I too rustic?” I said sarcastically.

He grabbed me and pulled me down to sit by
him. “Not for me,” he said throatily. He began to kiss me again,
then moved to push me onto my back.

Resisting my urge to strip off my clothes for
another round of Paradise, I pushed him back. “Wait. Listen, Dev, I
can’t promise myself to you. I’m already married to Theo. Despite
he’s a jackass, I can’t jump into whatever it is you want with me
until I deal with that.”

Devlin leaned back, a considering look on his
face.

“I love you, and I’m tired of resisting how I
feel. But I can’t promise you anything until I talk to him.”

“You don’t owe him anything,” Devlin said
casually. “I hope you realize that.”

My eyes narrowed. “He is my husband, and I
took my vows seriously. I owe him a chance to explain himself.”

“When I told you that you didn’t know the
whole story, I didn’t mean that Theo had anything to explain. He
loves this other woman. He’s abandoned you twice now in her
favor.”

That stung
. “I’m not saying I’ll take
him back. I’m saying I’m on the rebound, and this is probably the
worst time to get seriously involved with someone else. I don’t
want to hurt you.”
And I’m not sure you’re over Anna, even if it
has been two hundred years
.

“I’m not afraid you’ll call me by his name,”
Devlin said sarcastically, narrowing his golden eyes.

But what if you call me by hers?
“I
just want to be honest with you. I want to make sure you know where
things stand. I should have said this to you before, and I’m sorry
I didn’t.”

“Sar, no matter what else happens, Theo is
going to know when he returns that you and I are in love. He’ll
also have to accept you having a vampire lover. All I need to know
from you is whether you’ll want Theo in your bed or not.”

I gaped at him. “What? You said you wanted a
promise from me.”

“That won’t affect Theo’s affection for you
if he thinks this is an Oath you took a long time ago, back when he
was gone. I can work towards that end, if you want me to.”

“I don’t see how you think you can manage
this.”

“Perhaps you would if you let me finish a
sentence or two,” he said in mild annoyance.

I flushed. “Go ahead.”

“Sar, I don’t want Danial to cover this up. I
don’t care anymore if Theo knows. In fact, I want him to! I don’t
want to hide anymore what I feel for you or for you to hide what
you feel for me. We have crossed a bridge, and we’re not going
back, we are going to burn it behind us. You are going to have to
take a vampire lover, be it Danial or me. Theo will have to accept
it or let you go.”

“He’ll let me go,” I said sadly. “He couldn’t
handle it last fall and that was only for a weekend. This is for
the rest of my life.” Shock suddenly hit me. “You don’t want my
Oath to be just to you?” I added in disbelief.

“No,” Devlin replied, amused. “I don’t even
want you to swear you’ll love me for all time.” The amusement left
his face. “I want you to swear to me tonight that you’ll never take
another vampire lover unless Danial and I are both dead.”

“That is morbid and disturbing.”

“You’ll understand better with time,” Devlin
said sadly. “Theo is not immortal. You may well live to see him
die, Sar. I don’t begrudge you whatever happiness you find in his
arms in the years he has left.” He paused. “Danial or I are not
truly immortal either, despite being vampire. You’ll need another
vampire to sustain you, should something happen to us.”

“Why are you talking about your death, about
Danial’s death?” I said, upset. “The Oath I took to Danial was
nothing like this.”

“Yes, and yours to him lasted how long?’
Devlin said sarcastically.

“I understand you’re being realistic,” I said
slowly. “But that doesn’t make it less upsetting.”

“Let’s come back to this later,” Devlin said,
rising. He offered me his hand. “You said you were hungry, and I
want to make sure you eat. There will be time tonight to discuss
this further.”

I took his hand. “What about you? Despite
your past cracks about my being a poor hostess, there’s likely not
enough of my blood left to offer you any more of it tonight.”

“You are endearing,” Devlin said, pushing a
strand of my hair back from my face. “Tomorrow will be soon enough,
Love. Come.” He took my hand and led me into the kitchen.

I quickly made and devoured a sandwich with
chips, then made another one, and ate that, too. Next was ice
cream, chocolate, and some M&Ms. Happily full at last, I
stretched out on the couch, satiated.

“I’m glad your appetite’s returned,” Dev
said, watching me with a smile. “I remembered your desire for food
from the hotel, and it seemed to me that if you were feeling
normal, you should be eating a lot more that you did
yesterday.”

What was he saying exactly?
I let it
slide. “It’s good to be hungry again.”

Devlin picked me up, carrying me to the
bedroom to lay me on the satin sheets. “There are many types of
hunger, Sar.” He kissed me slowly, then whispered, “Some can never
truly be sated.”

I moved to pull him atop me, and the phone
promptly rang. “Damn it.”

Devlin sat up and leaned over to look at the
phone. “It’s Danial.” He handed me the receiver.

I took it. “Hi, Danial.”

“Sar, where were you today?” he exclaimed,
worried.

Shit, I hadn’t heard the phone ring
.
“I’ve been here all day.”

“Terian called and got no answer. He almost
teleported to your house, but didn’t want to leave Theoron
alone.”

That would have been a bombshell.
“Why
didn’t he leave a message?” I said, getting angry. “There was none
on the machine. He must have called when I was in the shower.”

“Do not get all riled up. He is just worried
and nervous. We all are.”

“Look, I’m sorry for worrying you. Next time,
tell him to just leave a message.”

“What have you been doing today?”

Getting marked. Having a weresnake drink my
blood. Having a former denizen of Hell tell me that I’m part demon.
Having sex with your brother. Thinking about having sex with
you.

“Doing laundry, cleaning, napping, and
walking the dogs,” I answered.

“I will see you on Friday. I’ll be coming
back early. I’d like to make a plan now for marking you, if you’re
amenable.”

“Theo called you and gave you permission?” I
asked scathingly.

There was silence.

“You wouldn’t have said all this if he
hadn’t,” I persisted. “What else did he say?”

“He told me to mark you, that he thought it
was best for you.”

Theo had fought too long against me being
with Danial to give in unless he was letting me go. This wasn’t
Theo being understanding. It was the way he cut himself loose.

“Sar, I—

“Come to me Friday night,” I said abruptly.
“My house. I’ll be waiting.”

“I’ll be there, Sar,” Danial said sadly. “I’m
sorry.”

“Danial, don’t be sad about this. Theo made
his decision. He has to do what is right for him.”

“You sound very understanding,” Danial said
suspiciously. “Too understanding. What is going on that you are not
angry?”

“Because I’m getting the better deal.” That
was true: now that I didn’t have to worry about being turned, the
thought of being with Danial again was intoxicating.

“We were here several months ago,” Danial
said angrily. “Don’t say we’ll be together if you don’t mean it.
I’m tired of getting my hopes dashed—”

“This isn’t going to end in any way but us
together,” I said happily. “Come to me Friday night. If you want to
send someone to watch the animals, I’ll come to you—”

“No, I will come to you. I have many memories
of you in those first months we were together and of that summer we
spent with Elle at your home. If I’m later than usual, I’ll use my
key.”

“I’ll see you Friday,” I said sexily. “I love
you.”

“I love you, too,” he said eagerly. “And I’m
going to have you as soon as I am there with you, Darling, so be
ready.” Click.

I clumsily hung up the receiver, excited and
filled to the brim with adrenaline rush.

“He’s got it bad for you,” Devlin said in my
ear.

I let out a yelp. “You were listening?”

“I wanted to hear what my brother had to
say,” Devlin said. “I’m glad you still love him. It will be safer
for you if you have more than one source of what you need. That is
why I proposed including him in your Oath to me.”