Banshee Seduction (Montgomery's Sin Book 1)

by Diane Saxon

  “But it’s not the one I want.”

  “Ah, well…perhaps you need to order the one you want.”

  “Are you being sarcastic?”

  “Sarcastic.”

  “You want us to be sarcastic?”

  “We can be sarcastic.”

  “Let us at him.”

  With a gentle touch of her fingers to her aching ear, Ginny mustered up a pained smile. “No, sir, just pragmatic. Would you like me to order another book for you, sir?”

  “Well, yes, of course.”

  Her heart dropped when Matt wandered away, hands dipped in the pockets of his jeans. She spared him a quick glance, noting how the material pulled taut across his tight, toned ass; his solid muscular thighs filled the faded blue material to the stretching point and made her mouth water. Perhaps a kiss wouldn’t be enough. Perhaps…

  “Huh-hum!”

  Her attention reluctantly turned back to Mr. D’Mon, while the quiet slide of the doors indicated Matt had left the building. “Which book would you like me to order?”

  “Well, I don’t know, but it’s not this one.”

  “Would you like to hazard a guess?”

  “No, I would not. I thought you were here to help.” With a fast move, he slapped the unwanted book on the counter hard enough to make it bounce and marched out of the automatic doors, leaving her alone. She scanned the library, checking for any further strays who might have wandered in to disrupt her day.

  She heaved a sigh and glanced at her watch. Hallelujah! Time to go.

  •●•

  He pushed himself away from the wall where he’d been leaning to wait. The cute kitten walked toward him, wearing her conservative gray suit. Her skyscraper heels flashed fire-engine red with black flames licking across the top of them. Tiny steps brought her teetering closer to him.

  He inhaled her scent and allowed the warm glow to swirl in his belly and seep into his chest.

  No mistake. She was his mate.

  From the nervous glances she kept giving him, it was going to take a bit of time and patience to convince her.

  He narrowed his eyes to watch her approach. He had time. He wasn’t so sure about the patience, though. He wondered how long he needed to wait before he again suggested they go to bed. He didn’t fare so well last time. Perhaps a drastic change to his approach was required.

  He blew out an exasperated breath and took a step forward.

  She hesitated. Her delicate hand fluttered to her neat bun that he had the urge to destroy. He wanted to pull out the clips, or whatever shit she used to tether it down, and ruffle it up, make her look as though they’d just made love.

  She stopped altogether, and he figured it was probably the look in his eye giving away how much he wanted to devour her. Her eyes widened behind her heavy glasses, and she looked like she might run. He smiled and hoped like hell he wasn’t blowing smoke out of his nostrils. Perhaps he was. The fire she’d stoked in the pit of his belly could certainly generate it.

  “Hey.” He took another step forward, so close he could touch her. Apart from a hesitant blink, she never moved. “Did you bring my book?”

  Several more confused blinks and her full, sexy lips parted. “No. It’s special order. You never left your details. I thought you didn’t want it. You just, ummm, left.”

  She touched her top lip with her tongue in an uneasy gesture, tempting him to remain silent and see what else she would do in her nervous state. Still looking like she might do a disappearing act, he raised his hand, touched his fingers to the silken skin of her throat, and slid them around to the back of her neck to give it a gentle rub.

  “Yeah. I wanted to punch the little guy. I figured it was safer if I got out of there.”

  “Well…” She waited in silence and then glanced down the street. “I’d better get going.”

  No chance he would let her go again. He smoothed his thumb in a circular motion over her tender skin. Wearing her hair up definitely had the advantage of exposing her elegant throat to him. “I thought you might like lunch.”

  “Lunch?”

  “Yeah, you know, the meal you eat between breakfast and dinner.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, normally so you don’t fall in a heap on the floor with racking hunger pains.”

  “I meant why do you want me to have lunch with you?”

  Hell, she made it difficult. He stepped in closer so her panicked breaths puffed against the opening of his shirt. Oh, she was beautiful. Her hesitation made him want her all the more.

  “Because I’m hungry, and I’m guessing you are too.”

  He reached down, took hold of her hand, and considered she might just poof into thin air again as the color rushed over her neck and flooded her face. He rubbed his thumb in a reassuring swipe over the erratic pulse in her wrist, thinking it might calm her down. His eyes dipped to the severe gray suit, and he wondered if it might be a lot easier to relieve her of it than the slinky number she’d worn the night before.

  He tried not to smile too wide in case he frightened her away, but he’d just had a vivid image of him peeling the white dress off her, and he couldn’t contain his excitement.

  “I could eat.” Her breathless voice tempted him to move closer, lean down—a long way—and brush his lips over hers.

  “Ginny…”

  He skimmed his fingers over her sleek, perfect hair and felt the heat radiate through her head.

  “Yeah.” Barely breathing, she tilted her head back in a blatant invitation to take advantage of her exposed neck. He never hesitated. Desire so strong, the heat in his belly had started to hurt. He needed her, but obviously his skills at romancing her fell far short of her expectations.

  He stroked a sly tongue along the length of her neck and nibbled the underside of her jaw. Her rapid breaths made him bold. “I could eat too.”

  She reached her hands out and held on to him to keep her balance, and he smiled knowing he’d won her over. Her eyelids fluttered and persuaded him to continue.

  “Yeah, all of you. Starting with your sweet dainty toes and working my way up your calves.” He nipped her earlobe and felt the shudder tremble through her. “Then I’d lick the back of your knee. Just like I wanted to last night.”

  He touched his tongue to the sweet shell-shape of her ear and smiled as her legs gave way and she grasped his shoulders with both hands. Obligingly, he placed his own hands on her tiny waist, almost encircling it with his long fingers to help her stay upright. “You have great legs.”

  Her small murmur emboldened him.

  Victorious in his easy conquest, amusement laced his tone as he placed a kiss on the very top of her ear and felt heat pulse from her. “I’d trail my tongue up the inside of your thigh, and when I reached your—” Her body trembled so hard with desire, he almost laughed out loud with his triumph. He could feel her need, smell her desire. “—sexy, swollen, warm—” With a groan, she melted against him.

  Delighted with his mate’s passionate response, he dipped his tongue straight into her ear, and with a surprised squeal, the woman he thought he had a firm hold on went poof.

  “Goddammit, where the hell have you gone?”

  The acrid smell of brimstone assailed his nostrils, but the sweet, elusive, feminine scent of Ginny had disappeared as swiftly as she had, with the sound of fluttering wings and the smell of charred clothes. He let his arms fall down by his sides and searched up and down the street with his keen eyesight.

  His gaze was drawn to the huge old graystone building of the library opposite. The chiseled plaque above the door declared the doors first opened in 1842.

  He took a deep, frustrated breath, leaned back against the wall, and studied the old structure.

  Strange, she hadn’t gone up in a ball of fire when they were within the confines of the library, and yet he would have thought she’d been put under even more pressure with the asinine customer he’d been tempted to stuff into the nearby trash can.

  He w
aited, surprised she didn’t emerge from the double doors again and walk down the stone steps toward him. Confused, he detected her presence within the building, but when he reached out his senses farther, he felt no pull, no defining direction in which she could have gone. And yet, she had to live somewhere. She couldn’t live in the library. It was just where she worked.

  He rubbed the back of his neck and considered further. She had to spend a lot of time there, which was why her aura was so strong in the vicinity, but he needed to find her lair. It probably wasn’t a lair—dragons had lairs. What did she have? Not a coven—that was witches. She definitely wasn’t a witch. And why the hell couldn’t he feel her presence anywhere as strong as he did near the ancient building? This was the place he’d been drawn to by his senses. Nowhere else had felt as strong.

  He pushed himself away from the wall and let his gaze roam to the top of the library and across the skyline.

  His stomach protested. Damn, but he was still hungry.

  •●•

  Her stomach rumbled in angry protest. She took a step back from the window while Matt seemed to scan the building, as though he could sense her presence. A quick ripple of excitement blasted molten through her veins to heat her stomach and weaken her knees.

  She’d thought he hadn’t recognized her, but he had. He’d said her name and shot her up in a blaze of passion. His touch had inflamed her.

  Tempted to dash out to grab him and apologize, she considered how long it would take her to run down the four long flights of stairs, out of the back door, and all the way around to the front of the building. She edged forward, and disappointment fluttered its wings as she watched him walk away with a regretful glance up at the window where she stood. Damn. It was almost as though he knew she was up there.

  She placed her overheated forehead against the cool of the window, and her heart yearned. He was gorgeous. Larger than life, more than she could ever hope for. He’d looked for her and found her. She had no idea how, but he seemed to have tracked her down. It wasn’t coincidence he’d turned up in her library. He’d obviously sought her out, and he wanted to take her to lunch.

  Lunch. Her stomach growled with unfulfilled promises. Laughter gurgled from her throat. Knowing her luck, she’d have toasted his sandwich, flambéed his fries, and caramelized his ice cream.

  She pushed away from the window, disappointment rolling thick in her empty stomach. Soup. She didn’t want anything else but soup.

  “Hey, girl.”

  Guilt flushed through to her hairline as she almost jumped out of her flame-retardant skin. “Sweet Jesus, Roni, do you have to do that?”

  The vampire stood in the entrance to the dark hallway covered in Ginny’s quilt, thin spirals of smoke rising from it. With a cautious move, she pushed a large cardboard box against the wall, presumably before it caught fire.

  Ginny yanked down the blackout blinds on her windows, tempted not to, just to get rid of the woman who casually threw off the covering once it was dark. She looked for all intents and purposes as though she’d just stepped out of the pages of the fashion magazines her image liberally daubed. Except for the faint mist still surrounding her.

  “Well, no, I don’t have to, but it gives me a great thrill to see you pee your pants every time I do, as though I’ve never done it before.” She flicked her thick, lush locks over her shoulder. Her gaze met Ginny’s as she stared at her from the pretty armchair in the corner of the room she’d flashed to. The box she brought with her lay on the sofa beside her.

  Pure elegance drew every line of her reclining figure. Upholstered in bright yellow chrysanthemums, the contrast of the chair gave Roni an even more sinister appearance as a background to her black leather trousers and midnight silk blouse. Her bright red lips curved, wicked and feline, as she nibbled the end of her perfectly manicured fingernail. She gave Ginny a knowing look. “I’m surprised you weren’t struck by lightning with the blasphemy you just used.”

  “Pah.” Ginny flicked a cautious glance heavenward, and then in the absence of any retribution, crossed her arms defiantly under her chest as though she were the bravest half-banshee on Earth—which she probably was, all things considered.

  Roni gave an amused chuckle. “I thought we might go out again tonight.”

  “No.” Not this time. She didn’t think she could cope.

  “Come on, Ginny. You need to meet more men.”

  “I met one last night.”

  “I know, and you can hardly call it a success.”

  With a confident toss of her head, Ginny shot her hip forward and placed her hand on the generous curve of it, giving her best friend a hard look over the top of her glasses. After all, what did she know? “He came to the library today.”

  Roni unlinked her legs from where she had them draped over the arm of the chair. Her straight red eyebrows shot up in evil curiosity. “Really? And?”

  Deflated—after all, what had actually happened? He’d made some dirty talk, and she’d incinerated. Hardly the makings of a torrid affair.

  “And nothing.” Ginny gave a quick regretful glance toward the window she’d been staring out of and jumped as Roni appeared in front of it, her back to her.

  “Is he still here?” She pressed her forehead against the blackout blind as though she could see through it, in a similar manner to Ginny’s stance a few minutes previously, but not for the same reason. She peered over her shoulder.

  Ginny felt her mouth twitch with amusement. “He’s gone.”

  “Why?”

  “I…you know…poofed.”

  In a flash, Roni faced her. “How did you poof? You don’t poof in the library.”

  “Nope, he was waiting for me outside—I poofed.”

  “Did he notice you poof?”

  “He’d be hard pressed not to. I was standing in front of him at the time; he had his hands wrapped around my waist.”

  “Wow, give me the dirt.” Roni’s golden eyes flickered, and she wrapped her arms around her slender stomach, prepared to wait.

  “There isn’t any. Except maybe…he put his tongue in my ear.”

  “And you poofed? How could you?”

  Ginny shrugged at the accusing glare. She didn’t understand it herself. How was anyone else expected to?

  Roni stepped forward to drape her arm around her. Ginny laid her head on her shoulder. It was good to have such a caring friend. At least Roni only wanted what was best for her. She sighed and linked her arm around her friend, who stroked her hair and continued to grill her. “What did he do?”

  “He waited. Then he left.”

  “He waited? What must he have thought when you just…?” Roni clicked her fingers with attitude.

  “I poofed last night. He didn’t appear terribly fazed.”

  “I assumed he might have been drinking.”

  She glanced up at her friend’s face. “No, he barely had the chance. He left his beer on the bar.”

  Roni’s forehead crinkled with confusion. She raised her long, slender fingers and rubbed them to straighten out the crease between her eyebrows. “I…can’t remember. I think I must have had too much to drink myself.”

  “No. I don’t think so. The last time I saw you, you were dancing with Daniel.”

  “Daniel? I don’t recall a Daniel.” She rubbed harder as though trying to rid herself of a headache.

  Ginny opened her mouth to explain, and then thought better of it and changed the subject. If she told her best friend what she knew, the woman was likely to have a hissy fit. “Point being, Roni, I don’t want to go out again tonight.”

  Roni pouted. “Don’t be a spoilsport. You know I’m a night person.” At Ginny’s snort, Roni gave a persuasive smile. “Besides, I found you a new dress.”

  “I don’t want a dress; it’s my shoe I lost.”

  “Your shoe?”

  “Yes. I thought I told you.”

  “No.”

  “Well, just before I poofed, I got my heel caught in a crack in
the sidewalk. I left it behind. In the hands of The Dane.” She sulked “One of my favorite pairs of shoes.”

  With a genuinely sympathetic pat on her shoulder and a friendly kiss to the top of her head, Roni gave her a moment before her impatience got the better of her. She strutted to the two-seater sofa, opened the box she had carelessly dumped there earlier, and flicked out a stunning ice-blue sheath dress.

  Ginny’s heart stuttered. “Oh my.”

  “Indeed. Try it on.”

  The moment Ginny touched the waterfall of material, she knew she was defeated. She glanced at Roni, saw the triumphant smile spread wide, and heaved a sigh. “What time?”

  “I’ll pick you up at nine. Be ready. We are going to hit the town. Or Montgomery’s Sin, to be more precise.”

  Concerned, Ginny stared at her friend for a moment and narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure that’s where you want to go? Some very strange people frequent it.”

  “Of course I do. That’s what makes it interesting. It’s where all the action is.”

  Confusion filled her. How strange Roni didn’t appear to recollect all the events of the previous night. It was as though a curtain had been drawn over her memory.

  •●•

  He didn’t understand why he’d had such a hell of a job trying to persuade Daniel to come back to Montgomery’s Sin. The man was being perverse. He’d moved hell and high water to get him to go the night before, and now he was hedging. Damn him.

  Matt scanned the huge array of aftershave bottles lined up on his bathroom shelf. Donated, all of them. He gave a lopsided grin as he met his own eyes in the mirror. Not by a woman but by various perfume companies, desperate for him to promote their brands. Huh, it didn’t bother him. If he liked a brand, he was happy to say he did.

  He hovered his hand over the top of them. Something subtle. He reached for a ceramic white bottle, removed the lid, and took a whiff. “Whew.” His nostrils flared as the aroma almost took his head off. Not that one. He re-scanned. His gaze landed on an ice-blue bottle reminding him of Ginny’s eyes. He took a sniff. Mellow. He caught the flavor on the top of his tongue. Fresh lemon after-notes. Yes.