Gisele froze. “It was her decision. I offered, but she declined.”
Interesting. Gisele often left Claudette to take up her chores. The housekeeper was getting older, and he feared the day he would lose her. She had been a trusted servant to him for many years. He would have to bring Eloise from Paris if something happened to Claudette, and that was far from ideal as Eloise was not getting any younger herself. He didn’t know how the woman would handle moving from the city to the chateau, but on the other hand, he didn’t think Gisele wouldn’t be able to handle the running of his house.
His brow furrowed. For the past few years, he had been wondering what to do with Gisele. She was a woman now, twenty four, probably not many years younger than Eleni. Still, he would always think of her as a child, as she was Claudette’s great niece, and he had watched her grow up in his home. Whenever he looked at her, he couldn’t help seeing the bright-eyed little girl Claudette had begged him to take in, but it seemed like Gisele should be doing something more with her life. Discovering her passions or putting her degree in literature to good use. He knew Claudette was certainly worried about it.
After a long moment of silence, Gisele leaned her head against the door and said, “Eleni is beautiful. Elegant.”
Julian could certainly agree with that. “Her breeding is evident.”
“I suppose.” Gisele frowned faintly and pushed away from the door. She crossed the room and came to stand at the edge of the bar while he uncorked the bottle of wine. “Still, I thought she would be…I don’t know. More sophisticated?”
He chuckled. “You thought she would be French.”
Instead of laughing with him, a frown creased her brow.
Julian sensed an undercurrent of tension, as though Gisele perhaps wanted to tell him something, but didn’t know how. Perhaps Eleni had seemed dismissive to the girl. Gisele was not used to being treated that way. She had been raised to treat Chateau du Sévigné as though it were her own home. In a way, it was, even though she was still a servant.
“What’s on your mind?” he asked.
She started to speak, but hesitated. Julian frowned. Something about the curious look on her face made him think she was about to say something important, but before she uttered a word, she stopped herself, her lips pressing together in a thin line. She shook her head. “It’s nothing. You’re working.”
“I was, but not now. It’s too hard to concentrate.” He didn’t tell her it was because he couldn’t stop thinking about his new protégé. He couldn’t keep his thoughts off her body, and his desire to sample the sweetness of her blood.
“You know,” he said as he poured wine—a glass for Gisele, a glass for himself. “Ms. Audridov—Eleni—has gone through a lot. On top of that, she is American. It may take her time to acclimate herself to our ways, so be a friend to her.”
“Of course,” she said as she took the wineglass and brought it to her lips. Her dark eyes watched him across the rim of the glass as she sipped.
He took his glass and returned to his desk. Once again, his gaze strayed to the clock. It was a few minutes after the hour. He frowned. Perhaps Eleni intended to be fashionably late.
“I’m going to take this with me.” Gisele held her glass up as if to toast her departure.
Julian saluted her with his glass, and the minute she was out of the room, he opened his computer and tapped into the security camera feed to look for Eleni.
* * * * *
It seemed ridiculous to be so nervous. After all, by moving into his house it was as if they had a signed contract to be free with one another. Still, Eleni felt awkward and tense as she walked down the stairs to the main foyer. She’d kept a careful eye on the time, but after her shower she’d hesitated over everything—how to arrange her hair, and what dress to wear for her evening with Julian.
Her own inefficiency frustrated her. At one time, she’d known by instinct what to wear for a lover. It had seemed almost second nature to her, and only during special occasions had she given her appearance any real thought. But her earlier meeting with Julian left her feeling nervous and unsure of herself. It didn’t help that he was drop dead gorgeous, either. She was used to seeing judgment in other people’s eyes, and hadn’t expected anything different from him, but it was more than that. Even though he had accepted her into his house, he didn’t seem the least bit charmed with her. The idea bothered her more than she cared to admit.
At the last minute, she’d fastened her long, straight hair into a simple coil at the nape of her neck and wore the red, body skimming halter dress her sister had given her as a reward for her success in going six months without being bitten. Perhaps in some way, the dress would give her strength, because she certainly needed courage.
The silence of the house made her hyper-aware of the way her red suede heels clicked over the marble floors. The solitary echo reminded her of the many times she’d visited her mother’s mausoleum. Anya had gone with her only once. All the other times, through years of visitation, Eleni had gone alone, and the marble corridors had been devoid of everything but the haunting sound of her own footfalls.
The last time she’d gone to leave flowers for her mother, she’d been living with Rubio for about a year. She’d rarely known a moment’s peace in his house. The rooms there were always occupied, the halls ringing with the busy chatter of the other Acolytes in his harem. It had annoyed her at first, but after so many months, she’d grown used to having that noise around her.
While facing her mother’s name engraved in stone, she’d stood in that bubble of absolute silence and realized that as much as she missed Ekaterina Audridov’s guidance, she didn’t belong there. The mausoleum was no place for the living. It was a place for ghosts.
Chateau du Sévigné gave her much that same feeling.
Avoiding the watchful eyes of St. Vincent, she entered the hallway beneath the second floor balcony, and was on her way to Julian’s office when one of the double doors opened. Surprised, Eleni stopped short. It must be Julian coming to look for her, she imagined, but to her surprise Gisele stepped out of the room carrying a glass of red wine.
The scene struck Eleni like a bolt out of the past. She took a step back, but there was nowhere to go. It was too late to hide. Gisele shut the door softly, and as she turned her direction, their eyes met, and Gisele jumped slightly.
“
Mon dieu
!” Gisele’s hand fluttered in surprise. She laid it against her heart and laughed in relief. “Eleni, but you gave me a fright.”
A slow heat crept into her face. “I have an appointment with Julian,” she said dully, unable to take her eyes off Gisele’s wine glass.
“Never mind me.” Gisele took a sip of wine and as she passed Eleni in the hall. “Go on in. He should be ready to see you now.”
The servant’s stiletto boot heels rang through the long corridor. Eleni hadn’t considered Julian might be in his office with someone else. Her confidence shaken, she watched Gisele walk away, her curls bouncing against her back, until she passed through the archway at the far end of the hall and veered off to the right in the direction of the kitchens.
A strong sense of disappointment rose in her, and she struggled to tamp it down. If Gisele was Julian’s lover, it was no business of hers. But, at the same time, it bothered her. Although she didn’t know Julian well, one of the supposed benefits of living with him was that he didn’t keep a harem. It never occurred to her she might be placed in competition with someone on his serving staff. She had always thought such a thing was taboo.
In spite of her mixed feelings, she went over to the door and knocked. She heard shuffling within the room, and a moment later, the door opened and Julian stood there in a black bathrobe, looking severe and disheveled. He raked his eyes over her from head to toe, then pushed the door wider to allow her entrance.
“I wondered how long you would stand in my hallway.”
“I saw Gisele,” she said as she brushed past him and glanced around the study. “I thought you might be…indisposed.”
He shut the door and turned to her. “Gisele is a servant, and I respect that position.”
Heat rose to her face. Despite the awkwardness of the conversation, she was relieved to hear it from Julian’s own mouth. Still, she had seen no evidence of a blood source. Who wouldn’t naturally assume that he might use someone young and pretty like Gisele to feed from?
“Care to sit down?” He gestured toward a small seating area in front of the fireplace. She walked over to one of the chocolate leather wing chairs and sat down, the seat cool against the backs of her legs. Julian had gone to the wet bar in the corner and looked perfectly at ease—if a little distracted. He set his empty glass down on the counter, and pulled out a second stemmed glass from beneath the bar.
“You’re in luck,” he said, ice rattling as he pulled the bottle of wine from the bucket and began to pour. “I was just sampling this new vintage of Sévigné red we hope to export next year. Perhaps you will like it.”
The wine. Gisele. A flood of relief poured through her, even if she was only putting two and two together.
He nestled the bottle back into the ice, then scooped up the glasses one by one, and carried them over to where she was sitting. Instead of offering her the wine right away, he towered there, looking down at her. Did he expect her to reach out and take the glass without him offering it to her first? Perhaps he played a game, or this was some unspoken test. Eleni looked at the wine glass, then up at him. His gray eyes glittered with some fierce, indefinable emotion that awakened a sweet fluttering low in her belly. “Is something the matter?” she asked him.
He didn’t answer her. A faint smile tugged at his lips, giving him a smug appearance. At last, he held out the wine, and it seemed almost as if he dared her to take it. His hand was cupped beneath the bowl, the stem caught between his fingers.
Eleni shifted uncomfortably in her seat. There was something remotely intimate about the presentation. Nevertheless, she accepted the glass, pinching it by the stem. His fingers grazed hers, work roughened and surprisingly warm.
“Thank you.” Her voice trembled a little, but if Julian noticed, he said nothing.
He backed away, and as he sat down in the chair across from her, he lifted his glass. “For our courage.”
She could certainly relate to the toast. She raised her glass, and when he took a drink, she did the same. The wine tasted sweet, flavored strongly of blackcurrant. The tannin made her mouth instantly dry, but she was already so nervous it hardly mattered. Julian swirled the wine in his glass a moment, steely eyed and thoughtful looking, then he leaned forward and set his glass on the sofa table. Eleni’s heart fluttered. The moment to prove herself to him had finally come.
Splayed across the chair in rakish fashion, he traced his thumb over his lower lip and took a deep breath. “I think you know what this evening means.”
“I do.”
“When was the last time you were bitten?”
Eleni swallowed hard. “It’s been over a year.”
“Do you crave it?”
“S-sometimes…” She swallowed hard, and stared into the flames for a moment. “But nothing like I did once.”
He watched her steadily, heightening the tension that twisted inside her. “Get up.”
Her head snapped up in alarm. The curt tone of his voice made her heart race. But she saw no evidence of anger on his face or in his posture. Lust burned bright in his eyes. He gazed toward her neck, then to her breasts.
“Reveal yourself to me.”
She took another sip of wine, then rose from the chair and set the glass down on the sofa table. Her mind whirred as her nervousness intensified. Had she really come this far after her fall? Until now she’d gone untested. It worried her that she might not be able to please him. She questioned her endurance, and her ability to fall into the role of a lover again, but at the same time, she wanted him. She wanted to test herself. She may not be worthy of love, but wanted to feel something—sex, pleasure, the sweet pain of fangs sinking into her throat.
Reaching back, she unfastened the top of her halter dress, her hands shaking as she lowered the straps, revealing her breasts to him. Her nipples peaked to hard nubs, and his eyes darkened. Close-mouthed, he ran his tongue over his fangs, and a shiver passed through her. A sudden ache throbbed between her thighs.
His thumb stroked over his lips, and she could have sworn she felt it deep inside her, a physical caress. His eyes drifted to the lower half of the dress, still tight around her thighs.
“Show me more.”
Chapter Five
Julian watched in aroused awe as Eleni did as he commanded. Her shy obedience made his cock surge to attention. He knew she was no innocent; Dominic had told him her entire story. He had read through every page of her probationary records from the Vampire Council. And yet, she was not at all what he expected from those reports.
There was a vulnerability about her that drew him. Nervousness was written all over her face, but a high flush of arousal also clung there, and this pleased him very much. Nothing would please him more than watching her beautiful face while she came for him again and again.
Their relationship might be strained, but he wanted her to desire him.
The lower half of the dress had a back zipper. She reached for it with both hands, one to slide the zipper down, the other to hold the fabric, and Julian’s eyes zeroed in on the thrust of her breasts.
“That position suits you,” he told her. “I must remember that.”
The zipper gave, and she gently worked the fitted dress over her slender hips. The fabric whispered to the floor and became a puddle of crimson at her feet. She stepped out of it, her towering red heels and matching thong accentuating her mile high legs.
“Take down your hair.”
She reached for the pins and pulled them free. Her hair gleamed like moonlight as it uncoiled and tumbled down her shoulders.
Mon dieu,
but she was a beautiful woman. He had been around many lovely women in his lifetime, but he had never met one like her. Every curve of her enticed him. She dropped the pins onto the fallen gown, and waited for his next command.