by Lynsay Sands
“That makes sense,” he allowed. “They work together, one would presume they’d need to communicate somewhat.”
“Hmm.” She nodded slightly. “They say that mothers have special bonds to their children because of it and because it is their nanos that are passed on to them. They also say that the same thing happens when sires pass on their blood to their life mates.”
“They say?” he echoed. “Is it true?”
This time it was Lissianna who hesitated, then she admitted, “Mother has always sensed somehow when I or my brothers were in difficulty or upset.”
“Did she know you were in trouble when you were staked?” Greg asked with interest.
Lissianna nodded. “Thomas kept me company for a while when I took over watching you for Mom and the others so they could get some rest. He said that she was in a state when he called here to warn them to lay in some blood because we were coming. He said—” She paused and cleared her throat. “He said her first words to him when she answered the phone were that something was wrong and I needed help…before he even mentioned that I was with him and injured.”
“So she knew.”
Lissianna nodded.
“So you may know when I’m in trouble in future,” Greg said slowly.
She gave a shrug that was hampered by her position. “Perhaps. Or perhaps it’s all just more of the legend that’s wrong and Mother just knows when we need help because she’s a mother.”
“Do you know when she’s in trouble?” Greg asked.
“Well…” Lissianna paused to think for a minute, then sighed. “I don’t know. Mother has never been in trouble. Not since I was born anyway.”
Greg accepted that, then said, “Lissianna, last night you said that turning me wouldn’t automatically make me your life—”
“Greg,” she interrupted.
He paused and waited and heard her take a deep breath, before she said, “Please, no more serious talk tonight. Tomorrow we can…” She sighed. “Just for tonight, let it be. We have all the time in the world to worry about forever.”
Greg hesitated, then smiled faintly and relaxed against her. They did have all the time in the world to worry about forever. And by waiting, he could spend some time showing her how good that time could be, he decided, then suddenly rolled out of the bed.
Startled, Lissianna sat up to peer at him. “What are you doing?”
“It’s not what I am doing,” he informed her, moving to the bathroom as he said, “It’s what we are doing.”
Lissianna smiled uncertainly as he briefly disappeared inside. She waited until he came back out to ask, “What are we doing then?”
“You’ll see,” Greg said mysteriously as he tossed the terry-cloth robe from the bathroom at her, then reached for his pants.
After a slight hesitation, Lissianna pulled the robe on and climbed from the bed to belt it up.
Greg finished zipping up his jeans as she stood up. He waited for her to finish doing up her robe, then—not bothering with a shirt, he caught her hand and hurried her to the door.
“Where are we going?” she asked in a whisper as he opened the door.
“You’ll see,” he answered, then asked, “Why are we whispering? Everyone knows we’re here.”
“Yes, but it’s morning, and Thomas said they were all going to bed,” Lissianna reminded him. “I don’t want to keep them up.”
“Ah,” Greg said with understanding, then grinned, and added, “That’s perfect.”
“Why?” she asked, but this time he didn’t answer, but merely led her along the hall to the stairs. They were halfway down to the ground floor when he suddenly froze and glanced back at her.
“The housekeeper?” he asked.
“What about her?” Lissianna murmured.
“Will she be here yet?” Greg asked with a frown, wondering what time it was. Probably just after dawn, he guessed, surely too early for a housekeeper to start work.
“Oh.” Lissianna shook her head. “Mother gave her yesterday and today off. She didn’t want Maria upset by…well…you were screaming and she wasn’t sure how long it would last.”
Lissianna looked uncomfortable as she made the admission, but her words made Greg grin and he assured her, “That’s perfect, too.”
“Perfect for what?” she asked curiously.
“Wait and see,” was all Greg would say.
“Okay, open.”
Lissianna dutifully opened her mouth. She sat on the kitchen counter, wrapped up in a fluffy white terry-cloth robe, feet swinging and the sash of her robe tied around her eyes so she couldn’t see as Greg slipped a spoonful of some unknown food into her mouth. Lissianna closed her mouth as he drew the spoon back out, then swished the food around with her tongue. Whipped cream, cherries, some sort of cake…
“Mmm,” she murmured, almost groaning with pleasure. Lissianna swallowed the cool creamy substance with a pleased little sigh, then asked, “What was that?”
“Sherry trifle.” Greg’s answer came from in front and a little to the side of her and she heard the snap of the resealable container as he put the trifle away.
“Oh,” she said with surprise, then shook her head. “No. I remember sherry trifle, and it was never that good.”
Greg chuckled and Lissianna heard him shuffling things around in the refrigerator, then a brief silence before he said, “Okay, open again.”
She dutifully opened her mouth again, then gave a start as he slapped a blood bag into her teeth.
“You were still looking a bit peaked,” Greg explained with a chuckle, and Lissianna wrinkled her nose at him. It was the third bag of blood he’d fed her this way. It was once they’d reached the kitchen that Greg had announced that he was starved and had dragged her down to the kitchen for a feast. Lissianna had then explained that he probably needed blood because of biting her.
He hadn’t believed her at first, until she’d explained that when he’d bitten her, he’d taken in her nanos and that while they would eventually die out and his body would become balanced again, in the meantime the extra nanos would be consuming blood at an accelerated rate. That, combined with the fact that his body was—and would continue for a while—going through blood at a higher than normal rate, meant that he would need to feed.
When he’d asked if she, too, might not need to feed since he’d taken blood from her, Lissianna had reluctantly admitted that she did. She’d feared he would insist on hooking her up to an intravenous, but he hadn’t. Greg hadn’t wanted her to be out of commission while she fed any more than she did. He’d lifted her up onto the counter and blindfolded her with her sash, then proceeded to pop two bags onto her teeth one after the other. The first bag had been a bit messy, but Greg had cleaned up the mess he’d made, and the second bag had worked much better. He’d gone through three bags himself as he fed her, and still he’d claimed to be hungry once he’d finished, claiming he wanted something he could chew on.
Lissianna had tried to remove her blindfold and slip off the counter then, but Greg had insisted she stay put and begun this game they were now playing. He was eating as well as feeding her a little of almost everything in the kitchen and, much to Lissianna’s amazement, she was enjoying the food. She’d enjoyed the chili he’d made the other day and had joined him in eating it then, but had thought that was a onetime sort of deal caused by never before having eaten that particular food. However, this morning she was enjoying almost every single thing she sampled and a lot of it Lissianna had tried when she use to eat, but she didn’t recall it tasting as good back then.
“There.” Greg removed the bag from her mouth, and she heard the rustle as he threw it away. “You look much better. How do you feel?”
“Good…but then I felt good before the bagged blood, too,” she said on a laugh, then stiffened briefly in surprise as his hands slid inside her robe and around her waist.
“Yes, you do feel good,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to her chin and allowing his hands to run up an
d down her naked back under the terry-cloth robe.
She felt his breath on her lips, then his mouth covered hers, and Lissianna opened to him, sighing in the back of her throat as he stirred a slow lazy passion in her with his tongue.
When the kiss ended, Greg asked, “Do you know what?”
“What?” Lissianna said on a sigh. She lifted her hands to cup his shoulders as he feathered kisses across her cheek to her ear.
“I feel absolutely fantastic.”
Lissianna smiled faintly. “Do you?”
“Oh yeah.” Greg moved in closer, stepping between her legs and urging her forward until her breasts brushed against the hair on his chest. The sensation was somehow more erotic with the blindfold on, her tactile sense seeming heightened to make up for the loss of sight.
“I think I already have some of that extra strength and stamina you guys all have,” he told her, pressing her a little closer.
“We’ll see,” Lissianna murmured, and reached up to remove her blindfold only to have Greg catch her hands.
“Uh-uh,” he said mildly. “We had a deal. I’d feed you the bagged blood on your teeth so we didn’t have to waste time with an IV, but in return, you had to stay blindfolded until I say so.”
Lissianna hesitated, then let her hands drop back down, a slow smile curving her lips. “Well then,” she murmured. “I guess I’ll just have to feel my way around, won’t I?”
“Feel your way around what?” Greg asked with interest.
Smiling, Lissianna forced him backward as she slid off the counter and reached out until her hands brushed against his bare chest. She splayed her fingers over his warm flesh, then ran them down until she found the top of his jeans.
“Oh,” Greg breathed, as Lissianna undid his jeans.
She bowed her head to hide her smile and eased his jeans down off his hips. As she had in Debbie’s bedroom, Lissianna knelt to finish removing his jeans. Once she’d pulled them free and tossed them to the side, she felt Greg’s hands take hers and he tried to urge her back to her feet, but Lissianna resisted and tugged her hands free.
“Uh-uh,” she said, reaching out until one hand brushed against his lower leg. “If I have to keep my blindfold on, you have to keep your hands to yourself,” she announced, and began to follow his leg upward until she found his erection.
“Oh that’s not fai—” Greg broke off on a hiss as she leaned forward and took him in her mouth.
Chapter 20
“So you never told me…What happened?”
Lissianna glanced up blankly as Deb walked into her office and plopped into the seat in front of her desk. “What happened with what?”
“What happened with what?” Debbie repeated dryly. “When I left my house Monday afternoon you were settling in for the night. When I returned Tuesday morning after work, the house was cleaner than when I’d left, there was a big bouquet of roses on the kitchen table with a ‘Thank you!’ card, and you were nowhere in sight. You could have left a note telling me what had happened you know.”
“I’m sorry,” Lissianna murmured. Thomas had told her that Mirabeau had mentioned the mess Greg had said the house was in when he’d left Debbie’s place. Apparently, she’d told Lucian, and he’d immediately made a call to take care of it. It seemed whoever he’d sent over to Debbie’s house to handle the matter had done a thorough job of cleaning up. Lissianna wasn’t surprised: her uncle would accept no less. The flowers startled her though, no one had mentioned those to her.
“I’m sorry,” she repeated. “I should have thought about a note.”
“Yes, you should have,” Debbie said with a laugh. “Especially since you didn’t show up for work yesterday night and your mother called in sick for you. The curiosity has been killing me for two days now.” She blew out an exasperated breath. “So? Tell me. I take it you and your mother have sorted everything out? Does that mean she’s accepted Greg then?”
“Yes, she has,” Lissianna murmured with a small smile. Everyone had accepted Greg. After spending the day alternately making love and napping, the two of them had woken up in the late afternoon to find her bed surrounded by her cousins and Mirabeau.
“Still in bed?” Thomas had asked with amusement, as Lissianna had blinked at them. “I am so glad you got at least a little rest today. I feared you’d work Greg to death while the rest of us tried to sleep.”
“Tried to sleep?” Greg had asked, stifling a yawn as he shifted from the spoon position they’d been sleeping in and rolled onto his back under the blanket.
“Yes, well it was difficult,” Thomas had informed them. “I kept hearing shouts and screams from this room.”
He’d paused then to watch with interest as Lissianna blushed bright red, before commenting, “I figured it must be those pesky nightmares that they say accompany the turning.”
“Yes, Greg had nightmares,” Lissianna had said, grabbing onto the excuse gratefully.
“Hmm, that’s what I thought,” Thomas had murmured. “Then I realized that you were screaming, too, Lissi.” He’d arched an eyebrow, then his face was split by a wide grin, and he’d exclaimed, “You two are noisy in bed. I’ve heard less racket from a cat in heat and her mate.”
Groaning as her cousins all broke into laughter, Lissianna had buried her face in her pillow as Greg had tried to break up the party by announcing that he was getting up and unless they all wanted an eyeful, they’d best leave.
Jeanne Louise, Mirabeau, Elspeth, and the twins hadn’t seemed to mind the idea of a free show, but Marguerite had shown up at that point to check on Greg. After giving him the once-over, she’d pronounced him hale and healthy and shooed everyone out of the room so that he and Lissianna could get up.
The rest of the evening had been spent in the usual chaotic family atmosphere, with everyone happy and talkative and telling Greg all the things they thought he should know now that he was one of them.
Lissianna had been sorry when she’d realized it was time to get ready for work and had briefly envied her cousins Thomas and Jeanne Louise for not having to work that week. The two of them were both employed by her brother at Argeneau Enterprises, but had been given the week off at Marguerite’s insistence so that they could help entertain Elspeth and the twins during their visit. Lissianna didn’t have the sort of job where she could just take a week off without notice. The people at the shelter depended on her.
Greg had seemed equally disappointed that she had to work and had accompanied Lissianna to her room to “help” her shower and change. His efforts had slowed her down considerably, and she might have been late for work if Thomas hadn’t come knocking to remind her of the time and offer to drive her.
Crawling out of bed, her hair still damp, Lissianna had thrown her clothes on and charged downstairs with Greg on her heels. He’d accompanied them into town, given her a kiss good-bye before she jumped out of the Jeep, then the men had driven off, headed for Greg’s place to collect more clothes to take back to her mother’s home. It had been agreed that he should stay there until he’d adjusted to all the changes he would be going through, and Lissianna was guessing that he was probably knee deep in cousins right that moment, getting a crash course in being a vampire.
“Earth to Lissi. Earth to Lissi,” Debbie repeated and Lissianna blinked as the other woman’s hand passed in front of her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured as she was pulled back from her thoughts. “I was just thinking.”
“Thinking?” Debbie arched an eyebrow. “Honey, share some of those thoughts with me, cause I want to feel whatever made you smile the way you did.”
Lissianna blushed at her teasing and wrinkled her nose, then said, “I really am sorry I didn’t leave a note, Deb. It was good of you to help as you did.”
“No problem,” she said easily. “I’ll even forgive you completely if you’ll just tell me what happened.”
Lissianna hesitated, then said, “Well, Greg got ahold of my cousin Thomas, and he and a friend named Mira
beau cleared everything up.” That was about as close to the truth as she could get, she decided. “Mom is happy, I’m happy…” Lissianna shrugged. “Everything is working out great.”
Debbie stared at her face, examining her expression minutely, then said, “You don’t sound completely sure.”
Lissianna dropped her gaze but didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t all that sure. She was mostly happy, but…
“Is it fear?” Debbie asked. “Cold feet? Now that there’s no resistance from Mom, is it giving you a chance to have some doubts of your own?”
Lissianna started to deny it, then realized she would be lying. She was afraid.
Debbie didn’t make her say it. Instead she simply said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if it is. I felt much the same way before Jim and I married. It was fear, pure and simple. I was afraid he couldn’t possibly be as wonderful as he seemed, that something would happen to wreck things, that I’d get my heart broken…” She sighed heavily. “And I was right.”
Lissianna’s head snapped up in surprise.
Debbie smiled wryly at her shocked expression, and added, “The day he died my heart broke irretrievably.” She let that sink in, then said, “Life isn’t always easy, Lissianna. It’s full of tough decisions and heartache, and things don’t always work out the way we hoped. Life just doesn’t come with guarantees. And while it’s true that sometimes, by avoiding taking a chance on people, we can avoid some heartache, we might also miss out on the best times of our life. Don’t be afraid to love.”
Lissianna sat back in her seat as Debbie left her office, the other woman’s words playing through her head. “Don’t be afraid to love.” It reminded her of her conversation with her uncle Lucian.
“You think I am afraid to love?” he’d asked, and when she’d nodded, had said, “Well, perhaps…And perhaps it’s true that it takes one to know one.”
Lissianna blew a slow breath out and acknowledged that she was indeed afraid. Fear had kept her from discussing “forever” with Greg when he’d wanted to talk about it after waking up from the turning, as well as the two other times he’d later brought it up. She was scared of being hurt. Not by rejection, she already knew that he was willing to be her life mate, and Lissianna knew it wasn’t because she’d turned him. Greg loved her. She felt that every time their minds merged. What she was afraid of was the future and what it would do to their love.