“Maybe you should tell this to Simon. He could talk to her and admit his mistake. It could possibly help you to patch things over.”
Tristan nodded his head in agreement. “As soon as the sun sets tomorrow, I’ll go and talk with him.”
Once Tristan awoke from his day’s rest, he hurried back to his and Simon’s hotel room. Tristan grimaced to himself for he’d hardly slept a wink through the day anyway so he should have returned to his hotel instead of crashing in one of Raleigh’s guestrooms. But he didn’t because he knew his anger would have gotten the better of him and he and Simon would have torn each other apart.
Tristan gritted his teeth in anger as he thought about last night’s events. He still couldn’t believe his brother’s betrayal. When Simon had confronted him some time ago, he’d admitted his wrongdoing and even promised he would never use his powers against Chloe again. But instead of holding his confidence, Simon had turned around and stabbed him in his back.
Finally reaching their suite of rooms, Tristan called out his brother’s name. He wanted to talk to him right then and there so they could resolve this and Simon would no longer interfere with his and Chloe’s relationship.
However, when his brother didn’t answer, Tristan walked through his hotel room and molten rage began to fill every fiber of his being as he soon discovered that not only was Simon not there but his bags were gone as well.
“That son of a bitch,” Tristan muttered as he tore out of their suite. “If he’s touched her, I swear I’ll kill him.”
* * * * *
Chloe had been sitting at her home office desk for the past hour staring blankly at the computer screen. Instead of preparing a home market analysis for a potential client, she’d been sitting there for hours replaying last night’s events and beating herself up for being such a fool for thinking someone like Tristan Smythe could really be into her.
What was his motive for charming her anyway?
He had more money than King Midas himself, he was supermodel handsome and he was totally unassuming. So what could he gain from abusing his powers? Was he a control freak and only plus-size women in their thirties fit the bill? It just didn’t make sense.
Sighing, Chloe massaged her temples to help alleviate the headache she’d been suffering from for the past twenty-four hours. Thinking another cup of chamomile tea might help her head and her spirits, she headed to the kitchen.
While she sliced lemons for her tea, the doorbell rang. “Now who could that be?” Chloe mumbled, placing aside the cutting knife. She walked to the front hallway and paused to look at herself in the hall mirror.
What she saw made her groan. She looked a hot mess! Her hair was still piled on top of her head from last evening’s affair. But due to a restless sleep, it was now leaning to the left. Her eyes were no better. They were red-rimmed and puffy from crying. And her silk robe was dreadfully wrinkled and stained from lounging around in it all afternoon.
“Oh well, whoever it is, they can talk about me all they want. I’m not feeling up to being the diva today.” Chloe unlocked her front door but kept the security chain attached.
“May I help—” The rest of her sentence died in her throat as she looked up into Tristan’s face.
Chloe was surprised he was there but she was even more surprised at his appearance. He looked in worse shape than herself. Dark shadows rimmed his eyes. He sported a five o’clock shadow. And his hair was disheveled like he’d just rolled out of bed. Obviously he had because he still wore the same black suit from last night’s party.
Even in his rumpled suit, he’s still gorgeous
, Chloe thought, pissed.
“Is my brother here?” Tristan asked quietly. “His bags weren’t in our hotel rooms when I returned this evening and I thought maybe he’d come here.”
Chloe’s brow knitted in confusion. Why would his brother crash at her house? Slowly, the implication of his question dawned on her. Chloe’s headache immediately evaporated and was replaced by white-hot anger. He thought she’d slept with his brother! Chloe wished she were trifling enough to do something like that. It would serve his ass right for his deceit.
Without answering his question, she moved to shut her door. But before she could press her full weight against it, he’d broken the security chain and pushed her out of the way like a useless rag doll.
Righting herself, Chloe followed him down the hallway. “I’m calling the police!” she yelled.
“Go ahead, love. What can they do to me? I’m a vampire, remember,” Tristan shouted over his shoulder.
With Chloe sputtering angrily at his heels, Tristan stalked through her condo like a man possessed. He went through every single room. Not finding what he was looking for, he retraced his steps back into the living room where he began to pace fretfully in front of the fireplace.
“Are you satisfied?” Chloe shouted. “Are you sure you don’t want to check the closets? Under the bed? How about the wastebasket as well?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what comes over me when it comes to you but I—” Tristan suddenly stilled. He cocked his head to the side as if listening to something.
“What’s wrong? I guess now you think I have him hidden in the walls.”
“Sh…do you hear that? It sounds like a wounded animal.”
Chloe ceased her tirade and listened as well. Was that a woman crying? It was but it wasn’t the ordinary tears of the brokenhearted, instead they were tears of anguish and torment. Instantly Chloe knew who it was.
She made a move to steer him to the door. “It’s none of your business.”
Tristan raised an eyebrow at her. Then he looked past her toward the far wall in the kitchen. “But she sounds tortured!”
Chloe sighed. “Her husband beats her.”
“He beats his wife?” he asked, his voice tight and restrained.
She nodded her head. “I-I tried to help her by calling the police but she didn’t press charges. She’s afraid of him.”
“Well, I’ll give that bastard something to be afraid of!” Tristan bellowed and he was out of her apartment in a flash. By the time Chloe made it out in the hall, he was already shouldering his way into the Rominovs’ apartment.
Chloe quickly followed him. When she entered her neighbors’ apartment, the living room was empty. Hearing a noise, she ran down the hallway to the back bedrooms. Upon entering the master bedroom, she saw that Tristan had Mr. Rominov dangling in the air, his hand wrapped around the man’s throat.
“Tristan! What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m teaching this bastard to pick on someone his own size!”
“Where’s Mrs. Rominov?” Chloe asked, looking around the room.
“She’s over there on the floor by the window. She passed out when I came in. The filthy pig was beating the poor woman with a belt.”
“Let me go!” Mr. Rominov cried, struggling ineffectually in Tristan’s powerful grip. Chloe looked up at the man and was reminded of a bug caught in a spider’s web.
“Not until you learn your lesson,” Tristan drawled. He tightened his hand on the man’s throat, causing Mr. Rominov to gag.
“W-w-who the fuck are you?”
“I’m your worst nightmare come true!” Tristan parted his lips and grinned, giving him a clear view of his elongated canines. Mr. Rominov’s round face paled and he began to cry.
Tristan looked at Chloe and rolled his eyes in disgust. He then turned back to Mr. Rominov. “Good God, man! Have a little more pride about yourself. I know that a man who beats a woman is a coward, but you’re a crybaby as well?”
“What do you want from me?” Mr. Rominov sputtered, snot spilling out of his nose and onto his upper lip.
“You’re going to stop beating your wife.”
“You can’t come in here and tell me what do within my own home!” the older man retorted, obviously forgetting his precarious position.
Tristan’s angry roar filled the room as he dropped Mr. Rominov down to eye level. “I can and you will. Or I will gut you like the beast you are.” Tristan opened his mouth and his canines lengthened some more until they extended beyond his bottom lip.
“Okay, okay! I won’t touch her again. J-j-just please don’t kill me!”
“What do you think, love? Should I spare the wanker?”
Chloe looked at Mr. Rominov’s face, now marked with red splotches. Although she’d listened to many of his wife’s daily beatings and had wanted to beat the shit out of him herself, she still didn’t want his blood on her hands. Although reluctant, Chloe shook her head no.
Tristan opened his hand and Mr. Rominov dropped to the ground like a trash bag.
Chloe looked down at the man groveling on the floor at Tristan’s feet. Then suddenly a fecal smell filled her nostrils.
“What’s that smell?” she asked, wrinkling her nose.
“The poor bloke has soiled himself.”
“That was absolutely classic!” Chloe crowed as they left the Rominovs. “Thank you for what you just did back there, Tristan. You didn’t have to step in but you did and I appreciate that.”
“No problem, love. That man was a monster,” Tristan sneered. “Any man who physically beats a woman is a beast and I couldn’t stand by and allow that to continue.”
When Chloe stopped at her door, he was close at her heels. She turned around and looked up at him. Tristan opened his mouth to say something then, as if thinking better of it, he shut it. He stepped back from her and shoved his hands in his pockets, reminding her of a little boy.
“Well, I guess this is goodbye.”
Chloe knew she should say goodbye as well but something inside her didn’t want him to leave. There were too many questions that needed to be answered before she could close this chapter in her life. And in order for her to finally have peace of mind, there was one major obstacle to surmount.
“Why did you do it, Tristan? Why did you use your powers?”
Tristan looked down at his feet for a moment. Then he cleared his throat and looked back at her. He looked uneasy and surprisingly unsure of himself.
“I know this may sound strange to you. In fact it was a complete shock to me as well, especially since I’m not a firm believer in love at first sight. But the moment I first laid eyes on you, I was completely taken. But unfortunately for me, you felt the opposite, which was a new experience for me.”
“What do you mean? I had the hots for you when we first met!” Chloe huffed, recalling their first meeting.
“No, you didn’t!” Tristan countered. “If I clearly remember, you turned down all my advances. Bloody hell, woman! I had to almost beat you over the head to get you to have dinner with me. And you only agreed when I invited your friend Shirley along.”
Chloe opened her mouth to refute his accusation but closed it because he was telling the truth.
“Why is that, Chloe? If you were as attracted to me as you claim, why did you turn down my advances?”
Chloe sighed heavily. It was now time to cleanse her soul. “Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately, Mr. Smythe? Do you have any idea how attractive you are? You look like a freaking supermodel. And I’m about as close to supermodel material as I am to becoming a cosmonaut.”
Tristan rolled his eyes heavenward. “I would have never thought that your low opinion of yourself would be the root of most of our troubles,” he sighed.
Chloe’s hackles rose. She stepped up to him and poked her finger in his chest. “Well, you don’t know how it is to grow up being the chubby girl. Who no one wanted to date because her body wouldn’t fit into a pair of size-six jeans. Or the girl who was overlooked at all the school dances because the boys were afraid their arms wouldn’t fit around your waist. Or…or…or even worse, they kissed you behind the bleachers but laughed at you when they were with their friends!”
Tristan grabbed both of her hands in his own and pulled her to him. “They were idiots, Chloe! Complete and utter idiots to ignore someone as beautiful as you!”
Chloe snatched her hands from his grasp. “Do you honestly think I’m going to believe that you were so taken by my ‘beauty’ that you went to such great lengths as to use magic to win me over? Heck, it took me twenty-five years to come to love this body and you’re going to tell me that it took you only one glance?”
“Chloe, I have been on this earth for six hundred years. The women of today would be considered ugly in past generations. You on the other hand would have been worshiped. Your luscious curves immortalized in paint. Despite what you may be thinking and what today’s society wants you to think, you are a very beautiful and desirable woman. Therefore I’m glad all the others overlooked what I love about you. For one look at you with another man and I would have ripped his throat out. So deep in the throes of bloodlust I was for you.”
“Bloodlust? What’s that?”
“It’s a condition that vampires experience only once in their lives, thank God! When vampires have found their one true mate and our pursuit has been refused, we become utter fools and in some extreme cases, if the bloodlust goes on for too long, we walk the earth as raging lunatics. Fortunately I only hit the foolish state before I caved in and decided to use my powers to charm you into marrying me.
“Despite what you might be thinking, I can only manipulate your thoughts and actions, love, not your heart. And that can only be done if I’m within close proximity to you. So if you missed me in the least bit these past few weeks, which I pray you did, that was your heart dictating your feelings, not me.”
Chloe’s heart flip-flopped in her chest as the implications of Tristan’s words sunk home. From the moment she’d laid eyes on him over the roulette table at the casino, she’d experienced an instant attraction for the handsome British hotelier, but it wasn’t necessarily love at first sight, which was so popular in many romance novels. She was too pragmatic for that silliness.
However, she had to admit that during the brief time they’d spent together something had developed. Something so intense she felt butterflies in the pit of her stomach every time he was near her. And during the few short weeks they were apart, she was absolutely miserable. So if his powers were limited to only controlling a person’s mind and actions, then how could she explain her acting like a lovesick teenager?