WB (23 page)

Then he was gone. I heard the front door slam and the house was quiet.

I pushed away my plate of food and my head throbbed with pain. I wasn't sure what to do. I was falling in love with Gage and the longer I spent with him the harder it would be to leave.

He was infuriating too. Always pushing, pushing, pushing. Never giving me time to know him and make a decision, although, I already made a decision and that wasn't likely to change. The chances of my being hurt by him seemed to be rising the more time I spent with him and I didn't like it one bit.

He, on the other hand, had shown no signs of affection for me. I knew he was attracted to me and wanted to have a child with me, but it wasn't enough. I wanted his heart and until I had it, there was only one choice for me.

WARLOCK’S BRIDE JENNIFER RINEHART 93

The men downstairs were giving me strange looks and every time I walked into a room the conversation would stop and someone would ask if I needed anything. By the third time it happened I got the message and went upstairs to my room. I pretended not to notice that one of the guards followed me and sat outside my closed door.

The room was large, with an amazing view of the ocean and a Louis XIV armoire that had been converted into an entertainment center. I tried the TV, but all I got was static, so I turned it off and walked the length of the room trying to find something to occupy myself with.

The room was twenty five paces long by nineteen paces wide. I briefly thought of taking another bath but discarded the idea after discovering the lack of a lock on the bathroom door.

There were no books or magazines and someone had made the bed and straightened up the bathroom already, so I didn't even have that to waste time on. I peeked through the keyhole and saw a tall, burly guard looking bored and picking his nose while he leaned against the wall outside my room.

Boredom wasn't something I was used to. In fact, I always felt rushed trying to get things done. There was always someplace to go and something to do; work, reading, laundry, grocery shopping. My world was filled with activities and for the life of me I couldn't remember the last time I had been at loose ends like this.

The house was spotless, someone else did the cooking, there were no books, no movies, no gardening to be done. I had just decided to walk downstairs and announce my intention to walk on the beach when Gage walked into the room.

He had on a beautiful black suit and held his sword in his right hand and a small flat box in the other. He saw me looking at the sword and said, “I am the head of the Hawthorne Coven, it is a ceremonial requirement, I wont need it today, or, at least, I hope not.”

With a strangely shy smile he set the flat box on the bed and motioned me forward, “This is for you.”

I cautiously approached the box and sat down to open it. The emerald bracelet inside glowed in the sunlight. I felt my breath catch as I picked it up from the white silk lined interior and held it up to the sunlight and watched as a flicker of blue gleamed from inside of the dark green jewels.

It was surprisingly light and delicate and I recognized it immediately from the shop on Bond Street. I turned the box over looking for a price tag but the bottom was bare. I knew this was something I couldn't hope to pay him back for, but I was curious to know how much it had cost him.

“I would like you to wear that to the meeting.”

I undid the clasp and carefully set it across my right wrist and admired the way it looked.

“How much did it cost?”

“It doesn't matter. I want you to have it.” I gave him a sour look but he blandly smiled back.

“Do you like it?”

WARLOCK’S BRIDE JENNIFER RINEHART 94

“Do I like it? Are you kidding? This is the most beautiful bracelet in the world. I love it!”

His face brightened and then turned grim when I added, “but, I can't accept it Gage. We aren't engaged and it isn't right for me to accept gifts from you ….”

I carefully put the bracelet back in it's case, shut the lid, opened it again for a last peek and then closed it and pushed it away before I changed my mind. Emeralds were my favorite gemstone and I had a vision of wearing them with my green dress at some swanky party, but it wasn't meant to be. I would have to give back the green dress too, it wasn't like I had anywhere to wear it. Taryn might be able to return it for a refund as long as it didn't wait too long.

He paced back and forth in front of me like a caged animal and a thrill of fear made the hair on my arms stand on end.

“You still don't get it! I am your husband in everything but name now! You have shared my bed and you may be carrying my child! Why do you still fight me? What do you hope to achieve with this behavior?”

My heart stopped at his mention of a child and my hands protectively covered my belly before I realized what I was doing and I dropped them to my lap.

He was still ranting at me but I was lost in thoughts of babies. What would our baby look like? Would he have my hair and Gage's eyes? Or Gage's hair and my eyes?

If we lived here the baby wouldn't have an English accent. I kinda liked the idea of a little boy or girl calling me 'mummy,' and asking for treacle tarts and mash. How soon would an over the counter pregnancy test work? Did you have to wait until you missed your period? I had sex for the first time yesterday, I was guessing that no test could be accurate that soon. I could ask Taryn about it. Would she tell Gage if I asked her to buy me a test from the local pharmacy?

“I'll go with you, alright?” I said.

He stopped mid rant and turned quickly to look at me.

“But, I don't want you to introduce me as anyone but Helene's daughter, okay?”

His face hardened with anger and for a moment I thought he would refuse, but with a tight nod he agreed.

“We leave in one hour for Seattle,” with that he walked from the room pulling the door closed after him.

WARLOCK’S BRIDE JENNIFER RINEHART 95

Ten minutes later I was still standing in front of the closet. What does one wear to a Coven Council? A broomstick and black cloak seemed appropriate, but I had the feeling that Gage would love an excuse to strip the clothes from my body and dress me himself. If I was being honest, I liked the idea too.

A soft knock at the door broke my reverie and I heard a voice whisper, “Anna, are you awake in there?”

Taryn! She would know what to wear I thought with relief pulling the door open for her.

After a few minutes discussion, Taryn and I had laid out trousers, a blouse and a silk lined blazer for the chilly Seattle weather. We carefully folded away a change of clothes and a nightgown and Taryn helped me gather some toiletries into a chic makeup bag she bought for me in London.

Gage was waiting for me at the bottom of the staircase and his eyes widened with appreciation as he looked me over. A small frown tugged at his lips as he saw my wrist, bare of the emerald bracelet, but wisely he didn't say anything.

The ride to Seattle was boring. I have never liked traveling. The being there part is fun, the getting there portion is dull beyond belief. I don't care if it's on a plane, train or a stretch limo, I just want it to be over and done with as soon as safely possible.

But two hours trapped in a car with an angry warlock, well, I didn't know the meaning of tortuous before. He was so angry I could almost feel waves of heat emanating from him and I spent the entire drive sitting straight backed looking out the window at the sights like I was fascinated by the scenery.

I counted twelve advertisements for blackberries and fifteen for organic honey before we reached Seattle and slowed to a crawl crossing the bridge.

I had never been here before so I watched with interest as we crossed Lake Washington and passed Safeco Field and the Space Needle. The sidewalks were crowded and the freeways had entrances and exits from both sides. A mad scramble of cars had my eyes bugging out with fear as they cut across four crowded lanes of traffic to get to the off ramps with a reckless disregard for safety.

Our car was long and sturdy and edged out several smaller vehicles when we reached our exit and swung off the freeway. I was relieved to not be driving in this confused jumble of skyscrapers and bridges. I cracked the window open and breathed in deep of the damp, piney air.

The car finally pulled into a large, crescent shaped driveway in front of a low redwood house on the edge of a lake. Armed guards stopped us before we could park in front and carefully checked the papers our driver held out the cracked window. Papers? What kind of papers did warlocks carry I wondered? With a nod the papers were given back to our driver and we were ushered forward.

Several limousines, plus a multitude of dark SUV's were parked outside of the large house and I hoped we weren't the last to arrive. I hate making a grand entrance.

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Our escort of three black SUV's emptied and I watched wide eyed as twelve body

armored men swept the area with automatic weapons. A tap on the window separating the backseat from the driver lowered with a discreet whirring sound. Gage gave the driver a nod and opened the door.

His hand was held out for me and for a moment I was tempted to ignore it. Gage gave me a disbelieving look as he noticed my hesitation and with a saucy smile I took his hand. I took a perverse pleasure in pissing him off and I reminded myself not to push him too hard. He wasn't like the pampered, tighty-whitey wearing men I was used to dealing with. Not to mention the fact I had seen him kill people to protect me.

The house was large and spread out to both sides with a double door of earth toned stained glass in the middle.

A tall thin man with a cadaverous appearance pulled the doors open for us and led the way from the large, light filled vestibule to a room on the right.

If I didn't know better I would say this was a cocktail party. Men in natty business suits and women in formal dresses sipped champagne and cocktails while snacking on tiny canapés being offered by the circulating white coated servers.

All conversation came to a halt as we stood in the doorway, until a handsome, older gentlemen excused himself from the group he had been speaking with near the window and walked towards us with hands held out in greeting.

“Lord Hawthorne, welcome to my home,” he said with a friendly smile while eying me curiously. Lord Hawthorne? I thought Gage made that up to bamboozle his way into Lillian’s office. I checked the urge to look behind me and stared at Gage with wide eyes.

“Thank you Jerome, we appreciate the invitation, you do us honor.” The men gave each other solemn nods and in spite of myself I was impressed. This meeting must really be a big deal then and I reminded myself to be on my best behavior.

With a slight smile in my direction Gage said, “This is Anna, Lucien and Helene Vallois'

daughter.”

Jerome was all politeness as he welcomed me but his bright blue eyes were curious as he glanced between Gage and me. I held out my hand to shake his and his warm dry hand gave it a solid two shakes while he looked me over from my caramel leather shoes to my boat-neck blouse.

That's when I caught sight of her. She was wearing the same tweed jacket, but had traded the purple sneakers for persimmon high tops with sparkly laces. Her white hair was a curly nimbus around her head and she was twirling the end of an extremely long, pink and white crocheted scarf in her left hand.

“Edna?”

She turned to look at me and a beaming smile crossed her face as she left a circle of black clad men to walk across the room to me.

I was frozen in place as she pumped my hand in an enthusiastic shake and pulled my head down to kiss my cheek with a loud smacking sound.

“I am so glad to see you again Anna! So you made it here okay? Your flight was fine?”

She laughed girlishly and had a delighted expression on her face that made her eyes crinkle up as she looked me over and gave my hand another shake with her small rheumy one.

This was just too much, I couldn't quite get my mind to wrap around the idea that she was a witch too and my silence finally clued her in and she rattled to a stop and gave my arm a gentle WARLOCK’S BRIDE JENNIFER RINEHART 97

pat and whispered, “We'll talk later, hmm? When we can be alone.”

I watched as she slowly walked back to her waiting entourage. Her steps wobbled a bit and one of the men, (bodyguard?) placed his hand under her elbow to steady her.

I turned to look at Gage and found him looking as shocked as I was. More surprising was that everyone else was silent in the room as well. I caught several speculative looks being cast our way and if I had been able to I would have dragged Gage outside for an explanation.

He saw my questioning look and mouthed, 'later,' at me with a rueful shake of his head.

I'm not sure what I was expecting of the Council, a round table of solemn, gray haired men in robes or a large bonfire with naked people around it chanting to the heavens, but the reality was pretty tame in comparison.

Our host, Jerome Wishart, was the head of Seattle Consolidated and with a tap, tap, tap on the side of his wine glass he asked everyone to make themselves comfortable for the meeting.

I settled onto a loveseat next to Gage and my eyes roamed the room. I was looking for someone who looked like a witch or warlock, but so far I saw five men I was sure were computer nerds, a tall woman with a shaved head, two women who looked like extras from Little House on the Prairie, complete with flowered, puffed sleeve dresses and fussy hairdo's, plus Edna, who I would have sworn was a sweet little old lady with a penchant for iced gingerbread.