Authors: D B Reynolds

Sophia (50 page)

BOOK: Sophia

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“Raphael.”

He shook himself out of his thoughts and smiled at her, picking up the yoga pants she’d chosen to wear.

“Stay there,
lubimaya
. I’ll put these on for you.”

“I can stand.”

“Of course you can,” he agreed, standing in front of her. “Now, slide over here.”

“Bossy,” she muttered, but she did as he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed while he slipped the pants over her feet and up her legs. He held out a hand and she took it, letting him help her stand and then support her while she wiggled the pants over her hips.

“I look awful,” she said miserably, stepping into her shoes.

“You don’t. You look beautiful, as always.”

But her eyes when they met his were shining with tears. “I don’t want everyone staring at me,” she whispered.

Ah,
he thought to himself.
So that’s what it is
.

“Then no one will,” he told her and pulled out his cell phone. “I want the great room cleared,
Duncan
.” He looked around, gauging their departure time. Everything was packed and ready, except for Cyn. “In five minutes. You, Juro and Elke. The rest of our security can wait in the vehicles outside.”

“Thank you, Raphael,” she said, then gave him a weak grin. “It’s good to be the king, huh?”

“Only if you’re my queen,
lubimaya
.” He bent over and touched his lips to hers. “Come. I’ll carry you.”

“No!”

He scooped her up easily. She was too weak to fight him, but she didn’t try very hard, wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her head on his shoulder. He touched his cheek to her freshly shampooed hair and smiled, remembering her almost orgasmic sigh when he’d washed it for her.

“You’re thinking about the shower,” she murmured, stroking one finger along the back of his neck.

“Be good,” he scolded, carrying her to the elevator.

“Give me a few days,” she said softly, switching her finger to the curve of his ear. “And I’ll be very good.”

“And now you’re just toying with me.”

Cyn nestled into the curve of his shoulder, her kiss soft and moist against the underside of his jaw. “Have I told you you’re my very favorite vampire?” she murmured tiredly.

“Not often enough,” Raphael said smoothly, fighting a tidal wave of emotion at how light she was in his arms, how very fragile.

He felt the curve of her lips as she smiled against his skin. “I’ll have to remember that. I love you, fang boy.”

Her body softened and Raphael knew she was close to falling asleep. He tightened his hold on her, the terror of almost losing her still too fresh and too horrible to remember. He didn’t know what he would have done if she’d died. But he knew one thing . . . She wouldn’t have died alone.

Epilogue

Malibu
,
California

Raphael settled the phone back on its cradle and shared a sober look with Duncan, who sat across the desk from him in one of the two visitor chairs.

“It’s time, my friend.”

“I know.”

“I will miss you. Cyn will—” He lifted his head and nearly groaned. “Cyn will be joining us soon.”

Duncan
stood immediately. “I’ll give you some privacy, my lord,” he said and headed for the doors.

Raphael laughed grimly. “Coward.”

Duncan
grinned, bowed slightly from where he stood at the open door and disappeared down the hall.

Raphael sat alone, tracking Cyn’s movements as she drew closer to his office, automatically gauging her mood and her physical well-being. She’d made considerable progress since coming home from
Seattle
, but she was far from her usual fighting form, and she still tired much too easily. He hated that he was about to upset her. Hated the news he was about to deliver almost as much as he hated telling her about it. But now that the decision was made, word would travel like fire through the household, and she would be angry and, even worse, hurt if she heard it from someone else first.

The doors pushed open and Cyn strode into the room. She’d come from her daily, and carefully monitored, workout in the gym and her lovely face was flushed with life, her green eyes sparkling as she smiled at him.

Raphael sighed and rose to meet her, walking around to take her in his arms.

She might be angry if he kept the news of his decision from her, but she would never
forgive him if it turned out he had just sent
Duncan
to his death.

To be continued . . .

Acknowledgments

As always, my first thanks go to Linda Kichline of ImaJinn Books for her support and the incredible talent that goes into every single book. And to Patricia Lazarus for creating a beautiful cover for Sophia and Colin, despite my PITB messages.

There are so many people I lean on for advice and expertise when I’m writing a book. I can only list them here and hope they know how much I appreciate their contributions. My foremost thanks go to my critique partners Steve McHugh and Michelle Muto. I could never put out a single book if I didn’t have these two incredible writers to tell me what works, to rein me in when I go a little nuts and to keep me going when I’m ready to scream. Someday we’ll all be famous together!

To John Gorski once again for advising me on everything that goes bang or has a sharp edge, plus for keeping my characters from getting shot dead because they didn’t follow basic police procedure! To Ken McDaniel for being “overly technical military guy.” To Sophie of the OWG for her assistance with French and general wonderfulness, and to Carlos Looney and Elaine Villafane for helping my Sophia’s Portuguese make sense.

I’m delighted to say that two of my readers contributed to this book very directly. Mary Walker (aka Amy) came up with the perfect name for a bar in lumber country. Babe’s was her inspiration, the bullet-riddled sign was mine. (I’m sure that says something about me, but let’s not go into
that
.) Another reader, S. C. Liu, gave me the character Maxime, whose scene was cut from Rajmund, but who finally made it on-screen in Sophia. Huge thanks go to all of the reviewers and bloggers who help get the word out about my vamps, and to my readers who let me know every single day how much they love Raphael, Cyn and all the gang. Your support means so much to me!

Thanks to Adrian Phoenix (writer of brilliant books) for her generosity and support, to Kelley Armstrong for hosting the OWG, the best online writing group ever, and to all of my fellow OWG members for their advice and enthusiasm. Special thanks go to Danielle Wegner for hosting me in the Book Club at KelleyArmstrong.com. Totally cool!

And finally, thank you to my enormous family for their continuing love and support, and to my wonderful husband for putting up with a wife who writes all the effing time!

Stop by my blog at http://dbreynolds.wordpress.com for the latest news, contests, and Vampire Vignettes!

If you’ve enjoyed this book, you’re sure to enjoy the books written by our other authors.

Search ImaJinn Books on the Kindle website, or visit us at www.imajinnbooks.com to view our full catalog.

This book is a work of fiction.

Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Sopha ©2011 by
Donna Beltz
.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express permission of ImaJinn Books, Inc.

E-book ISBN:

978-1-61026-050-3

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