Before she could form a response, he grabbed her hips and swiftly flipped her over on the bed so she was flat on her back. He kissed a warm trail down her body, then eased her knees apart to plant one between her legs.
She thought she might scream in surprise, but all that came out from her was a mewl. Her hands fisted in his hair as he lashed her with his tongue, then slid two fingers in her, thrusting them in and out of her the way he had their first time together, only this was so much more frustrating. She needed more than fingers.
Samuel seemed to sense that, and he lifted his head and crawled up the bed, his body aligning with hers. He fitted himself in the cradle of her hips, cock against her inner thigh. His mouth found hers as he fitted himself inside her, and she stiffened a little at the invasion. She forced herself to relax as he moved farther inside her, and wrapped her legs around his hips, urging him to sink deeper inside.
She could tell he was struggling to control himself with his first few, careful strokes and she wiggled her hips, urging him on. “You won’t break me,” she whispered in his ear.
That was all the encouragement he needed. He thrust harder inside her, increasing his pace, hips slamming against hers. She dug her nails in the scarred skin of his back as the first wave of orgasm washed over her, the intensity tearing a wail from her. She sank her teeth into Samuel’s shoulder to muffle the sound, and he groaned in response, his body furiously pumping in and out of hers. He stiffened as his own climax overtook him and she felt him pulse deep within her.
He sagged against her, then rolled on his side, taking her with him. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and finally pulled out of her before drawing the bedsheet around them.
They lay together, limbs entangled, feeling each others’ heartbeats. Violet thought she could stay like this forever.
She was starting to doze off in his arms before he finally spoke. “Violet?”
“Mm?” She rearranged her arm around his chest.
“I’ve never been so glad to be bitten in my life.”
Chapter Nine
Three months later
Angus Singer was not pleased about Violet’s resignation.
Still, to his everlasting credit, he didn’t berate her too badly for stepping down. “It was bound to happen,” she told him at branch headquarters. “We both knew this was temporary. Francis Burgess would be a better choice, anyway. He’s literate, experienced, and his wife doesn’t want him in the field anymore.”
She had other ideas for how she could help improve the Searchers’ fight against vampires, spurred by letters and telegrams she’d exchanged with Samuel.
She was pleased to find out that their affair hadn’t ended with his return to London, that he hadn’t just brushed off their time together as a diversion. Although even if he had, Violet wouldn’t have hated him for it. Knowing that he still cared about her from his home, hundreds of miles away, warmed her heart in a way she’d never experienced before.
Besides that, there was the serious issue of the vampire problem growing in England, and the lack of Searchers to combat it. That problem, accompanied by Samuel’s letters and a telegram from the London branch, were the biggest reasons Violet stood before her uncle in his office with another announcement to make.
“I’m going to England,” she said as he read a letter from Samuel that wasn’t scandalous. Samuel had even included all of the photographs he’d snapped at Ada and Max’s wedding. They would be happy to receive them, when Violet called on them later in the day to tell them her news.
Angus didn’t reply, only reading silently. She fidgeted with her skirt while she waited.
Finally, he laid it on his desk and removed his spectacles, letting them rest against him from a thin chain around his neck. He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I see,” he finally said after a long pause.
She didn’t reply.
“I shouldn’t be surprised,” he said. “And I’m not, really. London has a lot of work ahead of itself if it isn’t going to be completely overrun by vampires within the next ten years. I know it’s bad all around.”
She nodded.
“You understand that you’re walking into the lions’ den, don’t you?”
“I know,” she said. “Ada and Max Sterling have told me all about the Searchers there.”
“I don’t know if they can offer a subjective opinion, given that Max didn’t become a Searcher until he arrived in New York and Ada only dealt with them briefly.”
“It’s funny that you would remind me of that,” Violet said. “Especially since Ada was treated terribly until she was nearly maimed. I know exactly what I’m getting myself into, Uncle Angus, and it needs to be done. They have to expand their ranks, and they need a fresh perspective. New eyes, you know.”
“I do.” Weariness etched itself into Angus’s features and he rubbed his eyes. “Damn it, Violet, I don’t want you to go.”
“I know. But you also know that New York will do fine without me. We have the best group of vampire hunters in the world. Think of me as going overseas to teach.”
“Don’t think I don’t know that Samuel Seecombe figures into this.”
“Of course he does.” What was the point in denying it? Angus wasn’t stupid; he knew they had been in contact since their return from Niagara Falls. Ada had breathlessly asked after him every time she received a cable or letter. While she didn’t speak of their interludes in Niagara Falls to anyone save her—and even then she was vague—she was sure it was obvious to anyone that she was in love with the man. “I’m needed in London, Angus. The vampire problem is only going to spread here if we don’t extinguish it as soon as possible.” She paused. “I’ve already purchased an airship ticket. It’s one-way.”
“What about your flat?”
“You can use it to host guests when they visit. Or who knows, maybe down the line we’ll return to New York.”
“You said ‘we.’”
“I did.”
“You’re sure about this, Violet?”
“Yes,” she said. “More than I’ve ever been in my life.”
****
Transatlantic travel, it turned out, was deathly boring once the novelty of flying over water wore off. And it was cold. A frigid Canadian or New York winter had nothing on standing on the open observation deck of an airship, even in April. Violet had to stay belowdecks for the entire flight, counting down the minutes until the airship landed in London. Ordinarily someone who didn’t mind small children, she found their bored chatter and wails in the passenger lounge nearly unbearable.
Or maybe it was the frustration of having to wait to see Samuel again. Somehow, those last few hours of waiting were worse than the months that had passed.
And beneath all of that, there was nervousness she hadn’t been expecting. She’d never been so consumed by “what-ifs” in any of her travels, none of which had been farther away than Canada until now. She didn’t know she was afraid of open water until she took a short, freezing trip up to the observation deck, and she’d never been afraid of an airship crashing until now, either. So she waited in the lounge, ignoring the other passengers as best she could, until the airship docked in London.
It was early evening and her body felt out of sorts with the time shift when she finally disembarked the airship, a porter beside her with her trunk behind him. Nervousness and excitement had her stomach twisted into knots, and fatigue tugged at her with a strength she’d never known before now.
Despite his letters and cables, would Samuel still care for her, once they were in closer quarters?
Was she making the biggest mistake of her life, moving to England?
You can go back, she reminded herself. Although as she sucked in a deep breath of damp air, its taste so different from New York’s, and saw the grand old buildings gracing what she could see of the skyline, she wasn’t sure she wanted to.
You’re being foolish, she chided herself. You’ve been here all of ten minutes. You haven’t seen a
nything or anyone of London yet.
Or was she being foolish making this journey to help an organization that shunned women even though they could sense vampires, too? Or that she was here, largely in part, to be with a man she knew mostly through letters and telegrams?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice calling her name. She turned, heart in her throat, to face a grinning Samuel. He held out his arms, and before she could overthink it, she ran to him.
They immediately wrapped around her and she squeezed him as tightly as she could, breathing in his familiar scent.
“I missed you,” he said into her hat, knocking it askance.
“I missed you, too,” she said. To her embarrassment, she realized her eyes were wet.
“I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Me neither.” She lifted her gaze to meet his. “This is lunacy, isn’t it?”
“Yes, for both of us.” A deliberate, polite cough had Violet turning around to face the porter, who looked slightly embarrassed at their affection in public. She dismissed him and he took off, leaving her trunk beside her.
Samuel relaxed his hold on her and gestured to a pair of men standing behind him. “This is Dr. Pilcher and Reginald. Pilcher was the doctor who sewed up Mrs. Sterling last year. Pilcher, Reginald, this is Miss Violet Singer, former second-in-command of the New York branch.”
“New York extends its gratitude to you, sir.”
“How are Mr. and Mrs. Sterling faring?”
“You mean, how is Max handling living in Brooklyn? He’s fine. They both are. Mrs. Sterling will be earning her pilot’s license shortly.” Although she doubted either of them wanted to return to England any time soon, but she didn’t mention that.
Reginald collected Violet’s trunk and they walked through the crowded airfield to find a steam cab. They were much cleaner than she was used to, and more spacious even though the four of them shared the space.
“Did you make a hotel reservation?” Pilcher asked casually.
“No,” said Violet and Samuel simultaneously.
Pilcher raised a bushy eyebrow at that answer.
“I have a room prepared for her at my home,” Samuel said, and Violet’s heart sank a little. But that answer seemed to mollify Pilcher a little.
The steam cab left Pilcher and Reginald at an ordinary-looking house in a working class neighborhood. He whispered in her ear so the driver couldn’t hear. “That’s Searcher headquarters. We’ll go there tomorrow, after you’ve had some rest.”
The cab left Samuel and Violet in front of a large home in a much grander area that reminded her of her uncle Angus’s but more … stately, she supposed. Definitely older and more elegant. The driver carried Violet’s trunk to the door, and a liveried servant quickly brought it inside. “Where shall I take this?” he asked Samuel.
Servants in livery. Oh, my.
Her prepared room. Inwardly, she gave a small sigh.
“My chamber,” Samuel said. “And you will see to anything else that Miss Singer requires.”
“Of course.”
“Has supper been prepared?”
“In the dining room as you asked.”
Samuel helped Violet out of her coat. “Are you hungry?”
She hadn’t known until he asked that she was. She hadn’t eaten anything aboard the airship, convinced that it might come back up. “Yes.”
He escorted her through the house until they reached a dining room, already set. Samuel dismissed a waiting servant and pulled out a chair for Violet, then sat down next to her at the head of the table.
He lifted the cover from a silver platter, revealing a roasted chicken. “Will this suit?”
Why was he being so formal? She nodded, feeling a little confused over the whole situation. One minute he was flirtatious, the next as stiff as the day they first met.
He poured wine for both of them, and they ate in companionable silence. Despite her reservations about Samuel, she was still famished, and finished every morsel of food.
Finally, she couldn’t stand it anymore. “Sam?”
“Yes?”
“Is something wrong? You’re so quiet.”
He paused. “No. I’ve just never … done this before.” Before she could ask for clarification, he continued. “I haven’t lived with anyone, let alone someone who traveled across the ocean to be with me and help out a group of men more stubborn than I am. This is all new for me.”
Relief spread through Violet at this admission. “Me, too.”
“There’s also the issue that I want to do unspeakable things to you right now, but as with our living arrangements, I’m unsure of the etiquette involved.”
She felt her face heat at his words. “What etiquette? I wouldn’t object if you carried me to your bedroom right now.”
He raised an eyebrow at her and rose to his feet. Before she knew what happened, he collected her in his arms and carried her out of the dining room to the corridor, passing a scandalized servant as they did so.
She held on to him as he carried her up a set of carpeted stairs and down another long corridor to a darkened bedroom. Without setting her down he turned on a flameless candle, casting yellow light over the room.
He gently lay her down on top of a large bed and climbed in next to her. Instead of ravishing her like his eyes wordlessly promised to do in the dining room, he threaded his fingers through hers and finally kissed her.
She’d been waiting for that since he left on the airship back to London so many weeks ago. Her free hand reached for his shirt buttons, but he stilled it and broke the kiss.
“Is it all right that you’re staying with me?”
“You already asked me that, and I said yes.” She reached for him again, but he still held her off.
“I want you to stay forever, Violet.”
That knot of doubt that had twisted itself in her since she boarded the airship unwound. She breathed a sigh of relief she hadn’t known she’d been holding. “I do, too.”
“You haven’t seen anything of London yet, nor met the other Searchers.”
“I know they’re going to be challenges.”
“They’re willing to cooperate with you. We all know the importance of changing the old ways.” He winced. “Damn it, I’m really making a muddle of all this.”
What was he talking about? “No, you aren’t.”
“I am. I’d planned to ask you to marry me properly, not like this.”
Surprise had her sitting upright. “What?”
“I’d planned on something more romantic.”
“I don’t need romance!” Excitement thrummed through her. She’d been hoping for this, certainly, just as much as she wanted to help extinguish the growing vampire problem. “Samuel, I’m here for you. I love you.”
“I love you, too. And you deserve a proper marriage proposal, not a botched mention of one before I get you naked and have my way with you.”
“Either works for me.”
He turned on his side to face her, levering himself up on one arm. “Will you marry me?”
“Of course!”
“Even though I’m not on bended knee and your ring is locked in a safe in my study at the moment?”
“Yes, Sam. I already told you yes.” Her fingers lightly traced his face, skimming over his jawline and the lips she loved to kiss. “We’re in this together.”
“For better and for worse.”
“Yes.” She squealed as he hauled her bodily atop him. She felt her heartbeat synchronize with his through their layers of clothing, and their breathing quickened. “Samuel, I came here with the intention of staying. I love you.”
He pressed a heady kiss to her mouth that sucked the breath from her. “I love you, too, Violet.”
The End
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The Falls (The Searchers Book 3) Page 11