Authors: Melissa Schroeder
Alex spoke before Malik could answer. “So, you’re the poor
bugger who is attached to our little Scottish bastard?” Alex said.
Anger shifted through him and sparked into rage. One minute
he was telling Malik that he would control himself, and in the next, he was
holding his brother-in-law by the neck as Alex clawed at his hands.
“I would advise you that Nico does not like you using that
name,” Malik said calmly.
Nico had no intention of being calm. “Were you the one
behind her abduction?”
“He cannot speak, Nico,” Malik said.
With an angry shove, he pushed Alex back into the chair with
such force, it almost toppled over.
“Tell me,” Nico said through gritted teeth.
“I didn’t think it right,” Alex answered. “She married you,
a commoner, without approval of her family.”
Nico was quickly losing his patience. “Your oldest sister
was in attendance, and I myself sent you a note.”
“I did not approve,” Alex huffed out as he leaned over to
grab a bottle of brandy. “As the brother, I should have been contacted for
approval.”
“And so you decided to have your sister abducted to get
money from me?” Nico suspected the man was crazy.
Alex snorted. “Good lot that did me. She has been a blight
on our family since the day she was born. Must be the Scottish blood coursing
through her. Cursed she is.”
“I think you might want to rethink your opinion on your
sister, Alex,” Malik said.
Her brother blinked, looked up at Malik and sneered. “I do
not have to answer to the likes of you.”
Malik glanced at Nico. “Do what you want.”
“I hope you got her unsoiled.” Alex sneered. “With her
mother’s blood, I cannot say I would be surprised if she wasn’t.”
That pushed Nico over the edge. The bastard drank and whored
his sisters’ money away, and he sat there passing judgment on her. Without
hesitation, he stepped forward and took hold of the bastard’s collar again. The
crack of Alex’s nose beneath Nico’s fingers was loud and satisfying. He kept
hitting Alex, until he felt someone tugging on his arm. Through the haze of
anger that clouded his vision, he heard his wife’s voice.
“Nico, please stop, you are going to kill him.”
He turned, still holding Alex by the collar. “What?”
He was trying to come to terms that his wife was there when
she yanked on his arm.
“Please, stop.”
Nico shook his head, trying to clear it. She released his
arm and then cupped his face in her hands.
“Let’s go.”
He released Alex, who dropped to the floor with a loud thud.
Alex was coughing and sputtering, gasping for a good bit of air.
“I will have you arrested by God.”
Cordelia released Nico and looked around him at her brother.
“You even think of saying anything about my husband to the
authorities, I will let everyone you owe money to know that you are in town.”
His eyes widened.
“That’s right. I will also let it be known that you have
nothing to your name.”
With that she turned around. “Let’s go home.”
He noticed for the first time that Diana was in the room.
“Come, Malik, Diana, let’s do as Cordelia says.”
They settled in the carriage. No one said a thing for a few
awkward moments.
Diana broke the silence. “Well, things do seem to happen
around you, Cordelia.”
“Diana, I do not think my wife needs to hear that right
now.”
Diana looked at him. “Of course.”
Cordelia felt the need to defend her sister. “Don’t berate
her, Nico. Diana was just trying to help. She was never good at silences.”
Diana gave her a thankful smile. “True.”
“Would you like us to drop you off at your townhouse,
Diana?” Nico asked.
Diana smiled. “That would be wonderful. I do believe I will
stay in tonight.”
“No, come with us. We are not going to do anything, and we
can have dinner. You too, Malik.” Nico offered. He sensed Cordelia’s study, but
he did not look at her.
“That sounds wonderful. Thank you,” Diana said.
Malik answered with a low growl.
Cordelia leaned back in her seat, wondering what her husband
was up to.
*
*
*
*
Dinner had been a test of his wills, Nico thought. Cordelia
had held her head high, not once letting on to anyone else that she was close
to falling apart. As he followed her up the staircase, he wondered just who the
woman he married was.
It was an odd thought considering the intimacies they had
shared over the last few days. Still, there was a lot to her that he didn’t
know. When she reached the door, she reached for the knob at the same time he
did. His hand landed on hers. She bowed her head.
“I can open doors for myself, Nico.”
It was an odd statement. “Of course you can, but it doesn’t
make you weak to accept help.”
She nodded and said nothing else. Nico opened the door and
waited for her to step into her room. He followed her, shutting the door behind
him.
"Did my brother say anything horrible?"
He wondered at the tone, but he answered. "No. Nothing
I did not know before."
She looked at him over her shoulder. Most people would say
it was a coy gesture, but he saw the earnest look on her face.
"So he said horrible things you already knew?"
"Why are you worried about what he said?"
She shrugged and sighed, walking over to the window.
"My brother is not a nice man."
"No, but London is littered with men like him."
'Yes, and they think they have a right to everything."
"Is there something else I should know about your
brother?"
She shook her head but did not look at him. "Knowing
what a bastard he is should be enough."
He sensed there were things, things she would never reveal
to him, and it made him so tired. So bloody tired. They couldn't truly know
each other while they were in London. With the case hanging over him, he
couldn't concentrate on her and her needs.
"What he is has no reflection on you."
"I always thought it odd that he acted as a bastard
when the rest of us were bastards in the truest of ways."
"Your brother has no character."
She shook her head. "A loveless marriage. My father had
to marry, and he wooed my mother. Her family was rich as Croesus and had money
to spare. So, he married her. Then he ruined her life."
Nico did not know what to say to his wife to comfort her. He
couldn’t imagine what her life must have been like as a child.
Her voice had grown very quiet. "I wonder what would
have happened if she had never met him. If she had a life that was worth
living."
His heart broke at the sadness he heard in her voice. She
wasn't a woman given to melancholy, not that he knew of. But being confronted
by her brother and his actions might be a little too much for her.
"Cordelia—"
"He paid them, didn't he? My own brother hired the men
who tried to abduct me?"
He could lie, but she needed to know the truth.
"Yes."
She dropped her head against the window.
"It is no reflection on you."
She turned to him then, and he could see the unshed tears in
her eyes. "How can you say that? I share blood with him. If someone in
your family did that, what would you think?"
Tears spilled over. "I tried. For a very long time, I
tried to fit into the Collingsworth household, but by the time I was seven, I
understood. I would never be accepted. By him, by my father. And the worst of
it? Being considered a bastard. I would never try what he tried today."
Of course she wouldn't. Cordelia did not take the easy way
out.
"And, to bring Diana in on it. That is lower than I
thought he would go."
"Then why did you protect him when you got to his
house?"
She frowned at him, her brow furrowing in confusion.
"What?"
"You pulled me off him."
She rolled her eyes. "It had nothing to do with him and
everything to do with you.”
He needed to know. Did she think him a monster? He would not
blame her. She had been thrust into an unknown world where everything she
thought was true wasn’t.
“Did you think I would kill him? That I am like the Mades
who are running the streets?”
“What are you talking about?” Confusion was plain on
Cordelia’s face.
“I worried that you thought I could not control myself.”
“Of course you couldn’t. You were ready to kill him.”
“I can control my temper.”
“No you cannot.”
Frustration boiled over. “I am not an animal.”
Her eyes widened. “Yes, I know that.”
“Then why did you stop me?”
“Because, I did not want my husband to go to jail for
killing my brother. I might not have wanted to get married, but I definitely do
not want my husband in prison.”
Something close to relief rushed through him. The fact she
sounded so irritated told him she was telling the truth. He reached for her,
pulling her into his arms. He needed her so much. More than he would admit to
even himself.
She came to him easily, tilting her head back and offering
her lips up to him. He wanted to taste…to tease...to conquer. It wasn’t about
that, not this time. This time was to show her just how much he cherished her.
He kissed her slowly, biting at her lips. She hummed and
closed her eyes. The sound of her approval washed through him. Had he ever
worried about another woman accepting him? He did not think so. But this woman,
he desired her in a way that was not normal.
If he thought more about it, he might worry, but instead he
wanted to show her what she meant to him.
He kissed a path down her neck. Drawing in the scent of her
and the sweet smell of her blood, he shuddered. He had been feeding for
hundreds of years, but he could not remember ever needing someone this much. He
licked her pulse point, then grazed her neck with his teeth. She shivered and
moaned. Carriers had the need to provide nourishment to their mates. It was
primal. Cordelia probably didn’t even know what was compelling her.
He broke her skin and vein, drawing a little of her blood
into his mouth. The taste of her essence danced over his taste buds. His inner
beast roared to life, demanding he take more. It took all his control to fight
it back. This was about Cordelia.
He pulled back and watched as her lashes fluttered, then she
opened her eyes. He bent and picked her up.
“Nico,” she said, but did not finish. He did not let her. He
swooped in for a kiss, trying to pour every bit of his hunger for her into it.
He walked her to the bed and set her on her feet. Cupping
her face, he kissed her again. Then, he slipped behind her and undid the
buttons down her back. As he pushed the fabric apart, he encountered bare skin.
He sighed and sent a prayer to his maker for giving him such a wonderful wife.
Her flesh was smooth as porcelain. Unable to resist, he touched his mouth to
the back of her neck. Slowly, he moved his way down her delicate spine, pulling
her dress down as he went. Soon she was completely naked. He laid her on the
bed and joined her.
“Nico?” He could hear the question. What was he doing? If he
told her, she would never believe him. So, he showed her.
He bent his head and tasted her then—licking and nipping her
flesh until he lost himself in her soft curves and scented skin. When he set
his mouth on her sex, the flavor of her desire shot through him. His teeth were
actually throbbing, aching with the need to feed. It only took moments before
she was gasping his name, her body shivering with her release.
By the time he made his way back up her body, he was
consumed with a hunger only she could satisfy. When he reached to undo his
trousers, he realized his hands were shaking.
He made quick work of his own clothes and joined her on the
bed. He entered her in one hard thrust, and she moaned his name. Waiting was
not an option. Every primal urge was pushing him to feed. He continued to
thrust inside her as he punctured her skin, sinking into her vein and drawing
her sweet blood out. It rushed through him as he continued to thrust inside of
her. The sensation of reaching his orgasm while drinking from her had his head
spinning. He pulled his fangs from her throat, licking over the punctures to
ensure they would heal properly, then he collapsed on top of her.
She lay beneath him, the scent of her still filling his
senses. With great effort, he lifted his head and looked down at her. Her eyes
were closed, her flesh dewy, and she was smiling.
“Don’t ever assume that I look at you through your
relations.”
She opened her eyes and looked at him. A long moment passed
as she studied Nico. Then she cupped his face with one hand and gave him a
sweet, slow kiss.
“Thank you.”
He had thought she might say something else, but for now, it
was enough.
*
*
*
*
“I hate this bloody place,” Saint said. Malik glanced at him
but dismissed him again. Saint wasn’t happy unless he was complaining. It was
something that Malik had learned well over the last week.
He could not blame his friend, though. This hell was one of
the worst he had ever been inside. It was nice enough, had all the things most
of the
ton
wanted in their hells.
But, the debauchery went beyond what either he or Saint liked. Malik had
certain tastes, but this place definitely lean toward the extreme.
“So you talked to Lady Diana,” Saint asked. “Is she like her
sister?”
He didn’t like the tone in Saint’s voice. “Yes, and no, she
is nothing like her sister.”
“Hmm, she is quite beautiful, but she has not mated. Odd.”
Saint’s mouth formed a faint smile.