Angel at Dawn (42 page)

Read Angel at Dawn Online

Authors: Emma Holly

Tags: #Ghost stories, #Vampires, #Horror, #Paranormal, #Fiction, #Romance, #Paranormal romance stories, #Motion picture producers and directors, #Occult fiction, #Ghosts, #Occult & Supernatural, #Love stories

Graham sniggered at the first shot of Christian’s fangs in close-up. “Hey, Christian, why do your teeth look so much better than the others?”
“
Scheisse
,” Christian muttered, but Grace could tell he was laughing on the inside.
As he kissed her hair and put his arm around her, she thought she’d never known a moment this perfect.
 
 
G
reat job, Naomi,” the head of Celestial congratulated as the audience shuffled like a big, chattering amoeba back into the lobby. “This flick is sure to pack Joe and Jane America into the drive-ins.”
Dick Stewart was a pompous blowhard, but Nim Wei welcomed the vote of confidence all the same. She’d watched the crowd from the back of the theater, with her supposedly icy heart thumping in her throat. The mortals gasped when they were supposed to, laughed and leaned forward in their seats on cue. A few appeared to be tearyeyed as they left, but none of those responses guaranteed a movie would do well at the box office.
She wanted that: the financial bonanza and the critical acclaim. She didn’t need either; she
was
a queen—but want it? Oh, yes, indeed she did.
She tensed as Christian and Grace approached her, cozily arm in arm. Christian saw her first and patted Grace to a halt.
“That was darn entertaining,” he said in his adopted Texas twang. “I believe I’m proud of myself.”
“It was wonderful.” Grace’s hand tightened on his arm. “You did an amazing job on the final cut.”
She meant it, though her body language said she remained braced against her boss. The pale blue diamond that was glittering on her third finger said something even bigger. Nim Wei looked from it to Christian, who jerked his brows and smiled. Grace’s mind might be closed to her, but his was letting slip a few things—an incredible amount of contentment being just one.
“Well,” she said, “I suppose this means I can’t count on Christian working for me again.”
Grace looked startled, but Christian didn’t bat an eye-lash. “Marrying a future director does have its perks. I expect you’ll find new actors who excite you. Now that I’ve seen how the film came out, I’m not convinced you needed to cheat by hiring me anyway.”
Maybe she hadn’t. Maybe succeeding at this game was closer to her grasp than she’d thought. She turned to watch the pair wend across the lobby with the rest of the crowd. Grace’s face was lifted toward her lover. Curious, Nim Wei tuned her ears to them.
“You’d let me direct you?” Grace was asking in wonderment.
“Maybe,” he teased and kissed the tip of her nose. “If I decide I want another break from ranching.”
In spite of all she seemed to have lost regarding her protégée, Nim Wei found herself smiling. She suspected Christian had been bitten by the movie bug, and certainly Grace was. At the very least, the three of them would cross paths again.
I’m happy for them,
she realized.
It gains me absolutely nothing, but I’m happy.
That was a development to consider, even for an immortal as old as she.
Twenty-one
T
hey’re vampires,” Grace said with an amusing gasp of surprise.
She and Christian were on the tarmac at the private airstrip where she’d first picked him up in LA. The night was misty, but not enough to interfere with their flight. The airline’s employees had just finished stowing their luggage—a bit too quickly, apparently.
“FC Air is short for Fitz Clare,” Christian explained. “The founder, our pilot, is a cousin of Graham’s.”
“Well, I’ll be,” Grace said, absorbing this.
“You two be safe,” Roy broke in, having driven them there. “I’ll see you crazy kids back in Texas in a couple weeks. Mind you, no wedding planning without me. Neither of you knows squat about throwing a good party.”
There was no real reason for Roy to stay behind in California. Christian hadn’t asked him to. In his customary no-fuss way, Roy had simply deduced that Christian wanted Grace and the Two Forks ranch to himself for a little while. Having Grace on his territory, with no one else around, was a pleasure his primal side was looking forward to.
“I’ll miss you,” Grace said, hugging Roy tightly. “I’ll try to look out for Christian as well as you.”
Roy seemed startled by her gesture of affection but also pleased. He patted Grace’s back awkwardly. “He’d better look out for you, if he knows what’s good for him. I’d rather have your pretty mug around any day.”
He let her go and shrugged at Christian, who smiled at his bewilderment. With Grace added to the mix, life was going to change from the poky bachelor existence he and Roy were used to.
He clasped the hand Roy stuck out and held it, letting his longtime friend see the fondness that filled his eyes. “Thank you,” he said. “For always being there. And don’t get into trouble here on your own.”
“Ha,” Roy snorted even as thoughts Christian had no business reading ran through his mind. “You’re the one who’s got half the females in the country chasing after him: Mr. Box Office Gold. If you weren’t so good at going incognito, you and Grace wouldn’t have a hope in hell of being alone.”
Christian chuckled as he and Grace climbed the plane’s mobile stairs. Roy might pretend to be too old to reel in the ladies, but living with a vampire—and having been one briefly—gave him any extra sparkle he needed to catch their eyes.
“He won’t really get into trouble, will he?” Grace asked. “The movie is doing well. What if reporters figure out who he works for?”
Christian squeezed the back of her neck. “Roy can give them the slip. He used to be a spymaster.”
“Really? Your Roy?”
Christian loved seeing her intrigued looks when he revealed things like this. He’d never been one to want people to know him, but with her for an audience, being known became a pleasure.
“Roy’s a wily coyote,” said a familiar voice from inside the plane. Percy Fitz Clare stood inside the cabin, beaming at both of them. His pilot’s wings gleamed on his crisp breast pocket, but thankfully he’d overcome his fetish for flight goggles. Given that he’d used to sleep in them, everyone who knew him should have guessed he’d settle on a career that let him wear uniforms.
“You must be Grace,” he said with the usual slightly manic glint in his eyes. “I’m delighted to meet you, despite your deplorable taste in men. We’ve got champagne chilling in a bucket and a steak in the warming drawer. If you need anything beyond that, please tell our stewardess.”
He’d stepped back so Grace and Christian would be able to move past him. Before he returned to the cockpit, Christian jabbed a finger at him. “None of your tricks tonight, Fitz Clare.”
Percy flashed his fangs playfully. “Not a single loop-deloop,
Durand
. That is, as long as you promise me an invite to your wedding.”
“Get us home right side up, and I’ll send you ten.”
“Deal,” Percy said, sending a wink toward Grace.
Satisfied Percy would keep his word, Christian clapped him on his shoulder and led Grace into the beautifully appointed sitting area. This private prop jet was no puddle jumper. It was outfitted to suit not only its immortal passengers’ special requirements, but their most luxurious tastes as well. The cabin could have seated forty, if it had been intended for commercial use.
Commercial
wasn’t how it looked now. Rare wood paneling gleamed on the walls, and dark glove leather wrapped the half dozen reclining chairs. The Persian carpets could have graced any tycoon’s home. The flight attendant appeared no less sumptuous—probably one of Percy’s numerous human pets.
Christian had never met a vampire with as large a harem as Graham’s cousin.
“Welcome to FC Air,” the woman said in melodious tones. “I’ll be in the cockpit with the captain if you need me.”
Since she seemed to understand they wouldn’t need her, Christian didn’t roll his eyes. For her part, Grace was too interested in her surroundings to suspect their stewardess was there to serve their pilot’s needs more than theirs.
“This is so
nice
,” she cooed, running her palms along the arms of the seat she’d picked for herself. “You bloodsuckers know how to live.”
Laughing, Christian settled in beside her and took her hand. Percy was already starting up the engines. Because Fitz Clare Air owned the airstrip, their flights had precedence.
“I think you shocked Roy by hugging him,” he observed.
“Oh, I know!” Grace exclaimed, coloring up a delightful bit. “I wasn’t thinking. He reminds me of Hans, the older soldier who looked out for you when you were human. I just acted like I would have if I knew him.”
Christian touched the warmth that had risen into her cheeks, marveling that he had the right to do this anytime he liked. “He reminds me of Hans as well.”
“Do you think he could be the same man come back?”
“I’m not sure it matters. Either way, his loyalty means a lot to me.”
Grace bumped his shoulder with hers. “It’s more than loyalty. Roy loves you and you love him. You should have warned me this would be a benefit of marrying you.”
Not sure what she meant, Christian lifted one brow at her.
“You have a family, Christian, a whole network of people who care for you. Now, maybe, I’ll be part of it.”
Her tone had turned from teasing to shy, the concept of family necessarily a tricky one for her. Touched more than he could say, Christian took her face in his hands. If he did have friends the way she believed, he was glad for it because of her, because she’d made him feel part of something, too. He wasn’t sure she realized how attached people got to her. There wasn’t one of his boys from the movie who wouldn’t cross an ocean for her.
“You’ll be part of whoever I’m connected to,” he said, “whether it be the people of Two Forks or a horde of neck biters. No one who cares for me wouldn’t adore you, and everything I have is yours. Every hope you dreamed before you met me, I’ll do my best to help it come true.”
She started to speak, but stopped as two fat tears rolled out from her eyes. She bit her lower lip and smiled at the same time. “I don’t care what Miss Wei did to me. Sometimes I swear you can read my mind.”
He kissed her tears away a cheek at a time. “I don’t need to, sweetheart. I love you well enough to guess what you’re thinking.”
“I love you, too, Christian.”
He’d never tire of her saying it.
“I’ll say it every day,” she promised, making him think she might have a gift in the mind-reading direction. “You’ll never doubt it even if you can’t peek inside my head.”
“Good,” he said, pulling her closer to his side.
The plane had begun to taxi, pushing them back into soft leather as it accelerated smoothly down the runway. Prodded by an uncharacteristic need to say more, Christian raised his voice above the engine noise.
“I trust how you feel,” he said. “Even if you don’t say it.”
She made a sound like a dove, her hand coming up to caress his face. His body tightened. Her fingers were kind and warm, a perfect reflection of what was inside her. Her lips touched his as they left the ground, causing his heart to leap with the plane. He wanted to match her sweetness, but the kiss turned fierce and deep before he could stop himself. The love he felt for her was savage, the passion that flared as hot as a burning star. She was his for always. She had said yes to him. Groaning with desire, he swung her onto his lap.
At least he wasn’t alone in his sudden lust. She was the one who tore his trousers open and pulled his erection free. Her cry of admiration lengthened him, as if being with her made him more of a man in more ways than one. Even as his stiffness thrummed at her snug long strokes, her second hand dug in to cradle his testicles. The heaviness in his groin increased.
“Don’t tease me,” he said harshly.
“No?” Her fingertips drummed his balls. The gleam in her jewel green eyes challenged him.
He didn’t bother to argue, just tumbled her to the floor under him. In her career, she was free to be the boss if she wanted. In this, the lead was his. The carpet was plush, but not half as plush as her body. His eyes glowed hot as he pulled her thighs wide beneath her full-skirted dress. In case she had any doubt where this was going, he licked his lips. Considering that the upper was curling back, she couldn’t miss the downward slide of his fangs.

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