His eyes didn’t move from hers as he bowed slightly. “Miss Lumas, of course. My name is Thaddeus Dragomir, Mr. Sterling's valet.” Without letting her hand free he drew them in further into the room. “You may set up over there with the rest of them,” he dismissed Brian over his shoulder as he led her to a chair in the front row.
Adele grew uncomfortable with the contact of his slender hand around hers. She wasn’t a touchy-feely person to begin with, and those she did touch were very familiar people who had earned her trust – not some strange man with a cool veneer and even colder skin. Finally she managed to pull her hand free as politely as possible. He looked slightly offended, so she gave him a small smile. “Thank you, Thaddeus,” she managed before reaching into her bag for her tablet computer.
He nodded and then took his place at the podium. He waited for the room to settle into silence, which everyone was quick to do under his haughty stare. “Thank you all for coming,” he began, his eyes scoping the room and then coming to land on Adele. They remained there until the residual noise of the room had died down. “Allow me to introduce Nicholas Sterling.”
A door at the far end of the room opened and Nicholas emerged. It seemed all the air was sucked from the room the moment he appeared. This rarely photographed man stepped up onto the podium and, without words, commanded the attention of the entire crowd.
Quite simply he was beautiful. Such a word rarely fit a man, but in this case, it was the only word that would.
Long dark hair flowed like silk to the collar of his cream colored shirt. His face was tanned and so flawless it looked like it had been carved, like one of her mother’s statues. His cheekbones were high and his lips were sensual and full, and a mole pierced his left cheek. The elegant suit molded itself to the muscular contours of his tall, lean body. His smile was broad and charismatic as he bestowed its brilliance for the half dozen cameras that exploded with light from all across the room. He was a man refined, with complete possession of self that took Adele’s breath away. No one spoke as he quietly inspected the crowd before him, coming at last to find Adele sitting on the far seat on the first row.
When their eyes met Adele felt her heart slam to a stop. Deep brown eyes were framed by thick, dark lashes, and his gaze drifted lazily over her face. Brazenly he glanced appreciatively over her more generous proportions contained within the navy pantsuit with a white silk shirt she wore. Instead of seeing right through her, he took notice, and for far more seconds than she was used to. Warmth spread under her skin as if he’d actually reached out and touched her where his eyes lingered. She felt her tummy tighten and her toes curl as fire spread throughout her entire body, warming a soul even as cold as Adele’s. It was all so new to her she wanted to wrench herself out of this psychological embrace, but she couldn’t move to save her life. She was captive in his powerful gaze.
Frankly she didn’t like it. Not one little bit.
She gulped and wrenched her eyes away, as hard as it was to do. Instead she concentrated on the notes in front of her, trying to think of something, anything to write, but unable to think of anything but those endless brown eyes.
“Thank you, Thaddeus. And thank you all for coming. I apologize for the hour, but as you all know I’ve been very busy these last few weeks as I prepare to bring Sterling International to Darlington.”
Denise instantly piped up. “And does that include tearing down part of our forest to create a logging company?”
Nicholas looked her straight in the eye, and Adele could have sworn she saw her colleague physically back up a bit. Adele couldn’t deny how gratifying it was to see Denise taken down a notch or two. “Yes, it does,” Nicholas answered without apology.
Another reporter filled the gap. “What do you say to the petitions being circulated to stop you from destroying our woods?”
Again Nicholas looked the reporter in the eye, and again the reporter shrunk back. “It’s a free country. People can sign petitions if they like. Just as I can purchase land that was available for sale and do what I wish to do on that land. And I’ve chosen to bring industry to this town and boost the economy of Darlington.”
“But at the expense of what?” Adele asked. When his eyes fell on her face again she willed her spine to remain straight. She backed down for no one, and just because this man had a pretty face wasn’t going to change that.
Yet it was more than just the handsome face. There was a charge between them. It was more than being attracted, she felt instantly connected. When he looked at her she felt exposed. It made her feel vulnerable. She gulped and carried on with her interrogation. “The main economy of Darlington is tourism, and the tourist draw of this city is our woodlands. For you to tear down a good portion of that could, in effect, hurt the economy of Darlington.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t get your name.” His voice was soft, but what it did to her nerve endings was anything but. It tumbled over her senses like rolling thunder.
Once again Adele found herself having to fight to compose herself. An energy surged between them that was impossible to deny. She gulped, “Adele Lumas.” Then she eked out, “Action News.”
He smiled. Adele was suddenly very grateful she was already sitting down, because she knew her unsteady legs would have failed her. What was wrong with her? He was just a man like any other man. Actually he wasn’t like any other man at all. He was a monster who threatened her peaceful community. “Tourism has been on a steady decline for six years,” he answered, almost reading her thoughts. “And on a sharp decline in the last few months, which has helped drive up unemployment. Bringing Sterling International to Darlington, therefore, improves the economy by providing much needed jobs.”
Denise jumped in the conversation, which startled Adele. For a moment there she could have sworn that she and Nicholas were the only ones in the room. “How do you respond that your company is responsible for the attacks on the wildlife that has caused that sharp decline?”
Damn, Adele thought to herself. That should have been her question. Nicholas tore his eyes away from Adele to answer Denise, and Adele felt much better that the woman he responded to seemed to wilt in the same way she had done. So it wasn’t just her. “I don’t respond to them,” he answered in a firm voice, “because they’re ridiculous.”
Adele cleared her throat. “It’s a curious and unpublicized fact that these wolf carcasses are found only on your land and not anywhere else in the public forest. Do you think that has anything to do with the death threats you yourself have received? Do you think they’re a warning for you?”
Nicolas glanced back at Adele, only this time she sat straighter and looked him dead in the eye with a defiantly arched eyebrow. Whatever spell she was under before, she fought like an animal to resist. He suppressed a smile as he answered, “I guess people are willing to do just about anything to fight for what they believe in.”
Her eyebrow arched. “Including you, Mr. Sterling?”
“Including us all, Miss Lumas.”
Another reporter rescued her from his gaze as the press conference lingered on. Adele spent the rest of the time organizing her notes and avoiding his gaze like the plague. She didn’t understand the physical reaction she was experiencing to this man, but one thing was certain. As soon as she could return to her former self, the hard-hitting, take-no-prisoners reporter with a cause, he was toast. It was almost a vendetta now.
Later she wrapped with a final thought in front of the camera. Brian positioned her in his view finder as she concluded with, “The controversy still grows as the citizens of Darlington prepare to fight this man they tout as a ‘Monster.’ This is Adele Lumas reporting for Action News.”
She gave Brian the kill signal and turned around, right into the broad, muscled wall of Nicholas Sterling’s chest. He was welcoming and foreboding all in the same instant. “And do you believe I’m a monster, Miss Lumas?”
“I don’t believe in monsters, Mr. Sterling,” Adele replied, caught decidedly off guard, bu
t she wasn’t about to let him know that.
From the look on his face she sensed that she wasn’t fooling anyone. “You must call me Nicholas,” he corrected.
She hoisted her bag on her shoulder. “Must I?” she queried pointedly.
His smile was lazy and slow as his eyes traveled over her face. He said not a word as his gaze landed on her full mouth, powerful like a kiss. Adele could feel her pulse thunder in her ears as she cleared her throat. “Well, I’m sure you have many more commitments. I won't keep you. Mr. Sterling,” she added, giving him a defiant glare, trying to get her crazy reaction to this man under control.
Before she knew what was happening he grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips. Like running sensitive fingertips across velvet, her skin blazed with the warm contact. In an instant, pictures flashed in her mind – of an open mouth against quivering flesh, hot breath and a tongue etching a blazing trail across bare, supple skin. Such thoughts were so foreign to her she couldn’t help but gasp.
Her shocked eyes met his and he looked as though he saw through to her very core. “Till we meet again,” he murmured, with a tone in his voice that left little room for doubt that they would.
And then he was gone.
Adele couldn’t speak as she followed Brian out of the room and toward the elevator. Once inside Brian couldn’t suppress his grin.
“What?” she finally spat out.
“I never thought I’d see the day when the unflappable Adele Lumas would literally swoon over some guy.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she denied, unable to look him in the face. “My interest in Nicholas is purely professional.”
Brian pounced. “It’s Nicholas now?”
She gave him a cold stare. “It’s a story, that’s what it is.”
Brian coughed “Bullshit,” into his hand and was rewarded with deafening silence the entire ride back to the studio.
Adele couldn’t shake thoughts of Nicholas from her head as she opted to walk home the few blocks she lived from the studio. It was late, it was dark, but Adele was oblivious. All she could think of were those dark eyes and the feeling of his mouth on her skin.
She swore she could still feel it. Like remnants from a movie’s cutting room floor she kept seeing sensual but disjointed flashes of two lovers locked together in passion. Never in her life had any thought been more vivid, especially any thought based on something she had no basis of knowledge.
Sex was just not something Adele ever thought about, nor love or romance. Those things did not exist in her world. She’d made sure of that with a pretty hefty donut addiction. It was unintentional armor but it had always worked for her. She made up her mind she would never take that risk. She’d never marry. She’d never have children. Her lineage stopped with her. The blood that ran through her veins would never be imposed on another living thing as long as she lived. It was dirty. Tainted. Worthless.
And, so she felt, was she. Her birth had been a mistake… her life a tragedy.
She ran her fingers through her hair and inhaled the crisp air deep into her lungs. The night was still. The streets were empty. Off in the neighboring woods a wolf howled at the moon, a lonesome woeful sound.
Loneliness had never bothered her much before, but this night it taunted her with each step that echoed into the night. Single footfalls were such solitary sounds, especially down an empty street. She was alone. She walked alone. She’d die alone. It was her curse.
It was just like those children who lost their lives, those children who haunted her dreams. Maybe that was why she dreamed of them, she thought to herself. That despondent feeling of knowing there were no saviors left in the world spilled from her sad life to touch the lives of others. And she was witness to it all in her subconscious, where all the demons that tortured her lived.
As if the weather sensed her mood a wind began to whisper around her, pushing everything out of her way as she made her sad trek home. It caught a can and tumbled it along the gutter, loud clangs and bangs shattering the quiet stillness. The wolf brayed again, only this time it seemed closer. Adele stopped and stared off toward the dark recesses where the city trailed off into the forest.
She waited a moment before resuming her walk. The wind whipped her hair across her face as it began to howl around her, and another wolf joined in the chorus. A familiar low mist hung over the tall tops of the darkened trees. Instinctively Adele picked up the pace, her heels clattered against the stones as she raced along the street. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. She could almost swear another set of footsteps followed her own, but she was almost too petrified to look behind her and see for sure.
It was her dream all over again, only this time it was real. She felt a hysterical scream gurgle up into her throat. Every sound of the night rose to a crescendo until Adele couldn’t take it anymore for fear she’d split completely in two. She whipped around to face her fear or die trying.
The street behind her was just as empty as the street before her. The wind picked up debris and swung it up in a spiral that almost seemed to chase her. Adele took off in a sprint last few steps between her front door and whatever it was out in the night air that preyed upon the frightened.
She struggled with her purse to find her keys, then pushed the door open and shut out the world. As she leaned on the door, she listened for the wind to whistle through the cracks in the door frame, but there was nothing.
With a quizzical frown Adele opened the door and peered outside.
All was still.
Even with her bedside lamp on she still tossed and turned fitfully through another sleepless night.
CHAPTER FOUR
The next morning Adele stifled a yawn as she watched her mother light her candles, say her prayers and rise from her kneeling position before the altar at the Church of the Holy Sacrament. Brenda heaved a thoughtful sigh as she gazed up at the statue of Jesus impaled upon the cross.
As she turned she gave Adele a smile and then headed for the confessional. Adele couldn’t help but wonder what her faithful, God-fearing, home-bound mother could have to repent for, especially since this was a weekly ritual from which Brenda would not be swayed.
Adele’s eyes slid back toward the statue. Jesus looked down at her with sad eyes as he hung there forever at his most helpless. Adele tried to wrap her mind around the kind of love her mother said it took for him to die so violently and so ruthlessly for sins he did not even commit. Once more she came up empty and once more she discounted the entire string of events as nothing more than just folklore to keep people indebted and guilty so they would unquestioningly tow the line during their brief stint on earth.
“That thing gives me the creeps,” a tiny voice came from behind, breaking into her reverie. Adele jumped and spun around to see Danielle Spaulding standing behind her, polishing the tops of the pews. Adele had an instant smile for the ten-year-old girl.
“I’m glad I’m not the only one.”
Dani abandoned her chores and came around to sit with Adele. “Father Mike says it’s an act of love. I don’t know if I would ever love anyone that much. Could you?”
Adele shrugged as she looked back up at the statue. “Never have.” She glanced back at Dani. “Except you of course.”
The little girl smiled. “Of course.” They laughed in unison. It was so easy to laugh when they were together. They understood each other on their most basic, fundamental level.
Adele met Dani three years before, when Dani’s mother lost custody of her kids due to drug addiction. Her infant son Adam had been born addicted at that time, and the courts seized both children before their mother could even leave the hospital. It was a big story in their sleepy, small town, and Adele was hot in action to cover it.
Little did she know she’d fall in love in the process.
Details unfolded that Dani was emotionally disturbed and needed much the same therapy that Adele herself had gone through. From the pills to the therapy to the behavioral
problems, Adele felt like she was watching herself grow up all over again. Only Dani didn’t have the loving support of a devoted mother like Adele had. When Dani’s mother lost custody permanently and Dani and Adam became wards of the state, Adele attempted to rescue that little girl and give her everything she felt saved her in the end – unconditional love from a supportive parent.
The problem was Adele herself had a long history of emotional instability. The insides of her wrists bore the evidence of a suicide attempt when she was only fifteen, and records detailed the stint in the psyche ward that followed. She required heavy narcotic pills to quell voices in her head and visions that disturbed her sleep. Even though she had grown up into a model citizen who had a steady job and a place to live, the courts were not eager to release a child into her sole care, especially a child with the kinds of problems Dani had.
So Dani bounced between foster care and the children’s home run by nuns. She hung around the church to do favors for her second favorite person in the world, Father Mike. Her most cherished fantasy was that Michael and Adele would raise her together, that they’d get Adam and finally be a family. But how could she ask that of either Father Michael or Adele? Father Mike was a priest and even Dani understood what that meant.
Instead she stayed as close as she could to both of them, even if that meant more trouble for breaking curfews and rules or even running away from foster families who seemed to regard Adele as skeptically as the courts had.
One thing Dani knew above all else was that no one could ever love her the way Michael and Adele did. And she knew that she loved them back just the same. She’d asked Adele many times about trying again, especially since she’d made it so plain she only wanted to be with her, but Adele would shake her head and hold her close saying that the courts had made their decision. She couldn’t put either of them through the cruel process that was doomed to disappoint them yet again.
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