“Just make sure she is safe.”
“What am I looking for?”
Mick had worked for Rhys and Sebastian long enough to know that Rhys wouldn’t send him after her unless there was a very real threat.
“Christian.”
Mick’s eyes widened just slightly, the only sign that he was startled by
Rhys’s
announcement. But he didn’t waste time heading for the door.
Rhys watched the giant disappear outside. Mick seemed to understand much quicker than Rhys what kind of threat Christian could pose.
“Excuse me, do you have the time?”
Jane turned from the bookstore window, where she was half-heartedly browsing the new titles in the window.
She blinked, looking into pale, pale blue eyes. Eyes she’d seen before. She instantly recognized him as the man from the coffee bar.
She hesitated, uneasiness stealing her voice.
The man smiled.
A warm smile.
A friendly smile.
And she immediately wondered at her nervousness.
Just wary given her bad experiences on the streets of
She laughed self-consciously as she realized she was staring. But it was hard not to look at those eyes.
“I don’t have a watch.”
“Sorry to bother you then.” He didn’t leave, but rather moved beside her to look at the books.
She pretended to browse them again, uncertain why she didn’t just walk away.
“Have you read
Interview
With
a Vampire
?”
She glanced at him. “No. Is it good?”
“Very.”
She nodded, unsure what to say.
He frowned at her then.
The lines across his brow somehow adding to the beauty of his face rather than detracting from it.
“Do I know you?”
She quickly shook her head,
then
laughed again. “Well, you bumped into me once.
Literally.”
Recognition dawned in his pale eyes. “Oh, yes. I think I used a rather bad pick-up line on you?”
“Did you?”
He shrugged. “If you don’t remember it that way, then neither do I.”
She couldn’t help but smile at his glib charm. She glanced back at the books, not really seeing them.
“I know this is rather forward. And it’s really going to sound like a pick-up line now, but would you be interested in joining me for something to eat? There is a great café across the street.” He gestured to a restaurant on the other side of the busy road.
Jane started to say no, but something about the man made her waver. Maybe it was the shape of his lips or the tilt of his eyes; something in his appearance looked so familiar.
Outside of meeting him in the coffee shop.
What the heck, she decided. It felt nice to have the attention of this very attractive man, especially after the awful evening she’d had thus far. A little conversation would be a good distraction. Good for her ego.
She cast another look over to the restaurant he’d suggested. The building’s façade was very quaint, decorated like a Parisian café. And it buzzed with patrons.
Not a dark alley.
Or a seedy bar.
She certainly would be safe enough there.
“Actually, I am a little hungry.”
He grinned, obviously very pleased. “Great.” He held out his hand, a nicely shaped hand with a broad palm and long, blunt-tipped fingers. “I’m Chris.”
She smiled, touching her fingers to his. “Jane.”
He gave her hand a polite shake and then immediately released it.
Certainly nothing inappropriate about that.
She followed him as he wove the way through the crowded sidewalk to the corner, and then they crossed to the restaurant.
But once they were seated in a softly lit corner, Jane began to question her decision. The restaurant radiated romance, from the soft French music to the flickering candles on the cloth-covered tables.
She shifted slightly, fiddling with the clasp of her purse.
Chris’s hand came out to cover hers. “You don’t have to be nervous. I just want some company.”
She stared into his eyes,
then
nodded. “Sorry, it’s just this seems like the type of place you’d take a romantic date, not an acquaintance.”
He glanced around. “Yes. But I get the feeling you could use a little romance tonight.”
She laughed at that. The sound was grim, even to
her own
ears.
“That obvious, huh?”
He moved his hand from hers and gave her a sympathetic smile.
“Sad eyes.
I’m a sucker for them. I think that must be what I noticed about you back in the coffee bar.”
She frowned.
“Really?
Sad eyes?”
He nodded. “So why are they sad?”
She didn’t speak for a moment, not sure she wanted to talk about Rhys to a total stranger. How could she tell
anyone
about Rhys? The whole story was just too strange.
She picked up her napkin, placing the linen on her lap, smoothing it over her black skirt.
“I’ve recently just—broken up with this guy.”
“Really?”
“Yes. He had been—ill. And once he got—better, he decided we shouldn’t be together. He decided that I wasn’t the right woman for him.”
Christian listened impatiently to her halting story. The only thing that really interested him was that Rhys had been “ill.”
“What sort of illness did he have?”
She toyed with her purse again, and he fought back the urge to still her hand, tightly, violently.
Instead he tilted his head with feigned concern.
“He had some type of amnesia.”
Christian paused,
then
fought back a smile. Leave it to his maudlin brother to be overcome with memory loss.
Poor Rhys, unable to accept himself.
To accept his vampirism.
The whole thing was so trite.
Of course, if he’d known this earlier, he could have put Rhys out of his misery, and dear, dear brother would have never even known what hit him.
No, where was the fun in that? He studied Jane. This was much better… and it was going to be a lot more effective.
“But you still have feelings for him?
After he has acted so callous?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
Much to Christian’s annoyance, the waiter appeared, rambling off a long list of specials in an appalling attempt at French. When he was finally done, Christian ordered two glasses of merlot.
“I’m sorry,” he said after the waiter left. “That was presumptuous of me to order for you.”
“No, that’s fine. I don’t drink much, so I wouldn’t even begin to know which wine to order. Thank you.”
He smiled, although he really wanted to roll his eyes. Leave it to Rhys to fall for little Miss Polly Sunshine.
“Do you think this man still cares for you?”
She thought it over and finally admitted, “I do. But I don’t think I will get him to acknowledge that fact.”
But he still cared. That was all that mattered to Christian. Losing her would hurt Rhys—ruin him. Rhys would, of course, be distressed if Christian hurt any mortal to get to him. But Christian didn’t want distress—he wanted devastation. He wanted Rhys to suffer with this for eternity.
Christian gritted his teeth.
Just like he ached over
Lilah
.
The wine arrived, and Christian took a sip. Ugh.
A mediocre vintage to say the least.
He set the glass aside.
“The thing about Rhys—that’s his name—is that he’s very noble, and I think he’s breaking things off with me in some misguided attempt to protect me.
Although I’m not sure from what.”
She sighed and took another sip of wine.
“Or maybe not.
Maybe I just don’t want to believe all the hurtful things he said.”
Christian pretended to listen, but his mind stuck on one thing she’d said.
Rhys is noble
.
That one statement made him want to bare his teeth. Make him growl like a wild animal.
Rhys, noble.
What a crock of shit.
“Sometimes people can be very deceiving,” he said quietly. “I know that firsthand.”
Suddenly he decided that it was important that this vapid little innocent really know the man she thought so noble. The man she was going to lose her life for.
“I was deeply in love once, too,” he told her. “
Lilah
was my whole existence. All I wanted in the world. And like anyone madly in love, I wanted her to meet my family.”
Jane
nodded,
her eyes intent on him.
“And like any younger brother, I greatly admired my older brother, and especially wanted his approval.”
“Of course,” she murmured.
“So I asked him to attend a party that
Lilah
was hosting.
Lilah
was an accomplished hostess. She loved to throw lavish parties.
Elegant parties.
And my brother agreed to come.
“That night, my brother not only met my beloved, but decided that
Lilah
was so magnificent, he had to have her for himself.”
“Oh, Chris.”
She reached out to touch him, but he pulled back before her hand could come in contact with his. He didn’t want her sympathy. That wasn’t why he was telling her this. He wanted her to know the true nature of the man she loved.
“He forced himself on her. Afterward, she did come back to me, but she was never the same. How could she be after what he’d done to her?”
Jane’s green eyes shimmered with tears. “Chris, that is awful. I’m so sorry.”
He regarded her, his expression grateful for her compassion, his insides stone-cold.
He forced a smile. “So you see
,
we both know what it is like to lose someone we loved.”
Jane picked at the soup she’d ordered.
She couldn’t possibly eat after Chris’s story, even though he tried to keep the mood lighter and put her at ease.
How could one brother do something that horrendous to another brother?
And that poor woman.
“I guess my story has ruined the atmosphere, hasn’t it?” he said regretfully, gesturing to her nearly untouched meal.
“I wasn’t all that hungry,” she assured him.
“Well, let me get the check. And then I can walk you home.”
She started to turn down his offer. She didn’t have a home at the moment. But then she decided she did have to go back to
Rhys’s
apartment. It was getting late, and she didn’t have her stuff. Plus, she wanted
to
talk to Sebastian
and
thank him for all his help. And also tell him she couldn’t take the nightclub job after all.
One more night with Rhys wouldn’t kill her. And tomorrow she would scour the city for a place to live.
“Yes, I’d love you
to
walk me home.
If you don’t mind?”
“I don’t mind at all.”
Rhys had never been a big fan of the nightclub. Even though he owned part of the business, Sebastian really ran the place. Rhys had no interest in mingling with other vampires. Or, even worse, mortals who were
enamored
with the idea of being a creature of the night. And since that was who the club catered to, he generally avoided it at all costs.
But tonight was different. He wanted to be surrounded by reminders of who he was. He couldn’t sit in the apartment with memories of Jane all around him, yet her scent, her warmth, already beginning to fade.
So here he sat on the balcony level of the club, enveloped in flashing lights, loud music and
goths
. He leaned back in his chair, propped his feet on the railing and surveyed the dance floor below him. The crowd gyrated and flailed to the pounding music. He watched them with disinterest and took another sip of his scotch.
Where was she? Where was Mick? He should have followed her himself.
“Where’s Jane?” Sebastian pulled out the chair next to him, straddling it, resting his arms across the back.
“I don’t know,” Rhys gritted out, not wanting his brother’s company at the moment.
“You told her you don’t want her, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
Sebastian shook his head, disgust clear on his face. “You know, I told myself if you got your memory back,
and
you were still too stupid to realize you need Jane… I told myself I wouldn’t say anything.”
“Feel free to stick with that plan,” Rhys said dryly.
“Oh, shut up. And stop being a fool.
Both about yourself and Jane.”
“How is it foolish to want her to be safe? To not want her to know what I really am?”