Seducing the Chambermaid [Notorious Nephilim 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (8 page)

“Leo and I shouldn’t have allowed it to go so far yesterday.”

Blair lowered her gaze to the food, even though her appetite was now gone. Any second now he’d tell her it had all been a terrible mistake, and he’d beg her not to tell anyone what had happened. She’d been fantasizing about his thick cock inside her for nothing. It wasn’t going to happen again, with him or with Leo.

“We treated you like…we were terribly insensitive to everything you’ve been through, and I’m sorry.”

“You regret what you did.”

He shook his head and frowned. “No, not at all. But the way we handled it wasn’t fair to you.”

What the hell did that mean? “I don’t understand.”

Andras frowned. “Look, I have to be honest with you. Leo and I need time to sort out everything you told us yesterday. And Mrs. Stanton is still not convinced her necklace just disappeared overnight, and then mysteriously showed up the next day.”

Blair lowered her gaze to her plate. “Thank you for not telling her what I did.”

“If I’d done that we would have had to dismiss you. She’s a paying guest.”

And I’m just a chambermaid.
“Of course,” she whispered.

“And then we wouldn’t be here, having this wonderful meal. I hope you like lamb.”

“I love it.” She forced herself to take a bite of meat. It was delicious, but right now it might as well have been cardboard. She was such a damn fool. The rose, the dinner, the secluded location…he’d done this to let her down easy, not to seduce her. She’d let her romantic thoughts get the better of her. Thank God he didn’t know what had been going on inside her head. He’d think her a silly schoolgirl.

“Tell me about your life before you came here, Blair.”

Andras’s words caught her off guard. Was he trying to get more information about her father? “You mean other than what I told you and Leo yesterday?” What exactly had she told them? The details no longer seemed as clear as they had this morning.

He paused in the middle of bringing food to his mouth, frowned, then put down the utensil. He leaned close, wafting peppermint toward Blair. She didn’t want to enjoy his scent or his eyes anymore. It was too painful now to remember his kisses and the feel of his shaft inside her.

“Blair, I’m sorry for what you’ve been through. If you need to talk about that we will. But what I’d really like to hear is what you did before all that. Tell me about your childhood.”

Was he serious? She searched his face, trying to figure out if he was teasing her, but all she saw in his beautiful blue eyes was sincerity. Blair was more confused than ever. What game was he playing? “Well, my best memories are from before my mother passed away. Things were different then, you understand. We went places, like the beach and the museums. And I had someone to talk to.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize she had died.”

Blair flushed. “I guess you’ve figured out by now I lied to you and Leo that first day. My parents aren’t both dead.”

Andras placed a hand on her arm, and she jumped, spilling her food from the fork to the table. She grabbed her napkin to wipe it up, but he took it from her hand and placed it back on the table. “Blair, don’t worry about the story you told us, okay? You were scared and running. I understand why you lied.”

“Thank you.”

“Tell me about your mother.”

She looked into his eyes and blinked back tears. Did he treat all the female staff like this? No, that couldn’t be true. She would have heard something by now. Cindy and her friends were among the worst gossips Blair had ever known. If Andras seduced the staff then went to the trouble of having a romantic dinner made for them, word would have gone around.

“She died when I was ten. Cancer. It was so fast. It was like watching her shrink little by little each day. There was nothing the doctors could do. She refused to take any morphine the last week. She said she wanted to die with a clear head so she could take the memory of my face to heaven with her.”

Andras gently wiped away her tears before she realized she was crying. “I can’t imagine what that must have been like.” His voice was soft and tender.

“My father didn’t always work for Frankie. He couldn’t pay my mother’s medical bills, you see. He never made much money working in the factory to begin with, and well, Frankie stepped in. He knew my father through several business associates, as he called them, and he paid her bills. But then my father had to quit the factory and work for him.”

“How is it you were never forced into their dealings?”

“I stayed out of their way, and they didn’t bother me. Not until…” She searched Andras’s face again, wishing she had the courage to tell him everything. Was there really any reason not to trust him? Just because he didn’t want to make love to her again didn’t mean he didn’t care what happened to her. Unless he was faking all this, but Blair didn’t think he was. What would be the point?

“Until what?” he asked, stroking her arm. She wished he’d stop doing that. His touch sent jolts of electricity straight to her soaking-wet pussy. Didn’t he realize the effect he had on her? Why did he have to tease her so?

“There was this man—an associate of my father’s. Well, of Frankie’s, actually. But he started coming over to our house a lot once I turned eighteen.” Andras’s eyes grew dark, and a muscle twitched in his jaw. “His name was Lenny Wilson. The reason I became distracted in Mrs. Stanton’s room the other day is because she had a
Tribune
in there, and it had a front-page story about Lenny being found dead. They suspect Frankie or his men are behind it.”

“Go on.” Andras’s stroking stopped, but he held onto her arm. His touch was so warm and relaxing. Blair felt that odd slipping sensation again, like she wanted to tell him everything. How could a man command such power with only his eyes and the touch of his hand?

“Lenny was my father’s age. He always smelled like cabbage and rotting food. About six months ago my father told me I had to marry him.”

“What? Why?”

Blair lowered her gaze to the food on her plate. He’d gone to all this trouble, and she’d barely eaten anything. “Those news clippings you and Leo showed me have it backward. My father is the one who’s been stealing from Frankie. He’s been skimming money. He thought he was too smart to get caught. But one of Frankie’s goons—Tommy, I think his name is—found out. He threatened to tell Frankie if my father didn’t pay it all back, with interest.”

Andras leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “Let me guess. Lenny offered to pay off your father’s debt in exchange for his daughter.”

Blair nodded. The shame she now felt was worse than the earlier realization he and Leo regretted what they’d done with her and had no intentions of repeating it, despite what they’d said in Leo’s office.

“Blair, did he hurt you?”

“What? No. I mean, he never…you know.” She shuddered as the memories of Lenny’s unwanted attention forced their way back in. “He tried to kiss me and feel me up, that’s all.”

“That’s bad enough.”

“He was mostly talk.” She picked at a forkful of vegetables. “He would tell me all sorts of depraved things he intended to do once we were married. The night I found the jewelry, I was hiding in the alley because I was tired of him showing up where I worked to walk me home. I didn’t want to be alone with him anymore. I was sneaking through the back ways, trying to get home without him finding me.”

* * * *

Andras wished he’d never asked. Fresh guilt coursed through him with each new revelation. He had to tell all this to Leo. How could a man think of giving his own daughter to someone in exchange for his debt?

Blair had more inner strength than she realized. To have survived the death of her mother at such a young age and then grown up among bookies and triggermen was proof enough. But she’d also escaped it with her virtue intact, and what had he and Leo done? Taken it with as little regard as they’d take an extra piece of bread at dinner.

“You’re safe now, Blair. No one will find you here.” She picked at her food like a child might. “I wish you’d eat something.”

“I’m sorry. I guess I’m just not hungry anymore.”

He couldn’t blame her there. Talking about her father and Lenny Wilson wasn’t exactly the pleasant dinner conversation he’d had planned. “Don’t apologize. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have asked about your childhood.”

“But how could you have known? I’ve never even told my father all the things Lenny said or tried to do to me.”

Andras felt sick to his stomach as he imagined what Lenny had said to Blair. “Tell you what. I’ll have the staff clear the plates and food. Then we can take a walk in the moonlight.”

The smile that lit up her face sent his heart soaring. Trouble or not, he intended to enjoy the company of this beautiful woman tonight, the consequences be damned. He was going to make it up to her, even if that meant letting her get under his skin more than she already had. He owed her that much, at the very least.

The patio only took up a portion of the private courtyard, which was surrounded by a ten-foot-tall brick wall. He and the others had several of them built on the property when they renovated it, and they were for the exclusive use of the twelve owners. There was no view of the lakes from any of them, but they offered complete privacy and the advantage of being outdoors as well.

The moon was nearly full, and its brightness accentuated Blair’s honey-blonde hair. She’d pulled it back into a ponytail, and all Andras could think about was taking out the hair band and letting it spill over her delicate shoulders. Did she have any idea how delicious she looked?

He tucked her arm under his and led her away from the patio, along the flagstone walkway. “Tell me something else about yourself, Blair. Something not related to Frankie, Lenny, or your father.”

She gave him a shy smile. “I don’t know. There’s not much to tell, really.”

“You mentioned you worked in a bakery. Did you enjoy the work?”

“It was all right. I didn’t get to make anything. I took orders and rang up purchases.”

“No ambitions to attend university?”

She laughed. Not a derisive sound, but not exactly carefree either. “Me? My father wouldn’t even entertain the possibility. He said college wasn’t for the likes of me.”

“What does that mean? You seem like an intelligent girl.”

She stopped walking and looked at him as if she were trying to figure out a puzzle. “Andras, forgive me, but I know you and the owners…um…keep the female guests satisfied. You’ve no doubt talked with a lot of women. Surely you’ve noticed most of them have no further ambition than to find a husband.”

A fierce blush stole over her neck and face. Even without the moonlight Andras would have been able to see it.

“What I mean is…that’s not to say that’s
my
ambition, but most women…”

Andras didn’t have the heart to tease her about how uncomfortable she was discussing this subject. He also reflected those were the longest sentences he’d heard her utter in the three weeks he’d known her. “I have to disagree, Blair. All through your—our—history there have been women who have done extraordinary things. Joan of Arc and Catherine the Great come to mind. Or how about someone more recent, like Amelia Earhart?”

She stared at him as if seeing him for the first time. He put his arms around her and pulled her close then frowned as confusion passed over her pretty face. “If you could be anything, or do anything, what would it be? Forget about what’s considered proper or right for women. What would you be, Blair? What’s your heart’s deepest desire?”

There it was again. The mask she wore. It settled over her face and dug deep into her eyes. Andras was more determined than ever to cast it off her face for good.

“I don’t know—”

“Yes, you do. You’re just afraid to tell me because you think you’re not worthy of it or somehow it’s wrong to dream big simply because you were born female.”

“Andras, I’ve never met a man who speaks as you do.”

“Well then, I guess it’s a good thing you showed up here.”

She gave a small laugh. “Yes, it is.”

“And you’re avoiding the question. You can answer me, or I can put you over my knee and convince you that way.” He pulled her closer so she could feel the rock-hard erection straining against the front of his trousers.

Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out.

“What’s your choice, Blair? A spanking, or will you tell me your secrets?”

“I didn’t think…”

He nuzzled her neck, and the moan that escaped her throat set his blood boiling. “You didn’t think what?” he whispered.

“Earlier you said…I’m confused.”

Understanding dawned on him. He cupped her face. “You thought I was telling you that Leo and I didn’t want to make love to you again. Not true. I was merely trying to apologize for the way we took your virginity. It was crass and devoid of feeling.”

She took a deep breath and whimpered.

“But you still haven’t given me your choice, Blair.” He swatted her left ass cheek, and she jumped a little, pushing her hips into the bulge at the front of his pants. If she didn’t say something soon, he’d lose what little self-control he still had and throw her on the grass.

A slow, wicked smile spread over her face. Andras watched the change, fascinated. He wasn’t even using his powers right now. This sudden boldness had come about without the help of what little magic he still possessed. He liked it, a lot.

“Can’t I choose both?” Her voice was soft, seductive, and had the effect of causing pain to his throbbing dick. Andras bent his head and kissed her.

Blair moaned into Andras’s open mouth as his tongue ravished the inside of hers. His lips moved over hers, and his hands tangled in her hair. She moved closer to him, rubbing her abdomen against his erect cock. His kisses grew deeper and more intense, and Blair was so aroused it actually hurt. Gone were the doubts about whether he wanted her again. She pushed aside all thoughts of the past and concentrated on Andras—his scent, his hands, and his muscled body.