by Tina Folsom
The sound was that of a woman, hysterically screaming at the top of her lungs. It came from the back of the house. Then the whining of a toddler mingled with the woman’s screams. The sound of the woman was bloodcurdling.
When they reached her, they understood. There was nothing they could do. They’d come too late.
There was no doubt in Thomas’s mind that John had been killed by a vampire. He could still sense traces of energy the assailant had left. John’s body looked almost peaceful had it not been for the utter horror forever etched into his open eyes. He’d seen his murderer seconds before he’d struck.
John’s body lay on the floor of the den. His neck had been snapped. Ignoring the woman’s screams, Thomas bent down and closed John’s eyelids. There was no need for his wife to continue looking at her dead husband’s horrified expression.
They couldn’t stay to comfort the woman, but they could wipe her memory. Thomas laid his palm on her forehead. Her screams subsided, and she went still. He not only erased any memory she had of him and Ricky, but also of her husband’s eyes. It was better if she didn’t know how terrified he’d been in the seconds before his death. Dealing with her grief would be difficult enough.
***
Delilah threw her clothes into her only suitcase, not bothering to fold them. Somebody had moved her things into Samson’s bedroom during the day, and now she couldn’t get out of it fast enough. She couldn’t be with a man who didn’t trust her. Hell, he hadn’t even made an attempt to get to know her. Instead he’d gone behind her back. She couldn’t tolerate that kind of betrayal.
She heard the door open and close behind her and knew Samson had followed her. She had expected as much. She could sense his presence, but she didn’t want to acknowledge him. He didn’t deserve it.
“I’m sorry, Delilah.” His voice was closer than she’d expected. He couldn’t be more than a foot away from her. She didn’t want him this close. Not now.
“I’ll be gone in two minutes, and don’t worry: I’m not stealing anything from you.” Her voice was icy. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing just how much he’d hurt her. This wasn’t the first time she was disappointed in a man, and it wasn’t going to be the last. He wasn’t going to be the last man in her life. She was more than used to it, used to always dating the wrong guy. Maybe that was why she’d stopped dating altogether. She’d probably make a better choice with a cat or a dog.
“I deserved that.” Samson’s voice was calm. “Please give me a chance to explain.” He probably had a standard speech prepared for occurrences like these. How else could he remain this unmoved?
She felt his hands on her shoulders and pushed them off.
“Okay. I won’t touch you.” He sounded resigned.
Anger welled up in her. She could feel it boil up from her stomach and travel through her chest. It was too much to hold in.
“How could you? How could you go behind my back like that?” Delilah spun around to face him. “You could have just asked me what you wanted to know.” And why was he still so attractive, so sexy, when she needed to be angry at him? In his jeans and black t-shirt he looked as good as he did naked, even though she preferred him naked.
She shouldn’t have turned. She should have just walked out without even looking at him.
His biceps flexed, and she was again aware of his strength and physical beauty. The way his hazel eyes searched hers as if he was trying to look into her soul made her knees weak. She had to pull her eyes away from him if she ever wanted to get out of the room.
“It was wrong. But I needed to know who you were.”
Standing within inches of touching him only added to her agitated mind.
“I told you who I am. What were you expecting?” She let all her disappointment and pain out in her voice. “After all the things we did … you couldn’t just ask me? No. You had to run a background check on me, like I’m a common criminal.”
“Sweetness, don’t—”
Samson raised his hand as if he wanted to touch her face, but stopped when she shot back at him, “Don’t call me sweetness!”
Delilah had liked it when he’d called her that the night before when they were making love, but not now. She turned and snapped her suitcase shut.
“Delilah, I apologize. I wish I’d trusted my instincts more, but I didn’t. When Carl packed your things, he found something and brought it to my attention. I should have gone straight to you and asked you about it, but I … I don’t know why I didn’t …” His voice trailed off.
His hazel eyes stared into hers, trying to force her to listen to him. “You had files of Scanguards’ in your possession.”
“So what? I work for them. Carl had no right to go through my stuff.”
Samson nodded. “Yes. But he saw them. And I understand now that you had every right to have those files on you. I know that now. Because I now know that you work for me.”
Confused, she looked at him. “I don’t work for you. I work for Scanguards,” she insisted and grabbed her suitcase. “And besides, what’s it to you who I work for? I didn’t think you were all that interested in what I do.” She tried to push past him to get to the door, but he blocked her escape.
“You work for me. I am Scanguards. I own it.”
Delilah stopped in her tracks, and Samson instantly realized that this was news to her. She hadn’t known that he was the owner of Scanguards, that he was worth in excess of a few hundred-million dollars. His heart jumped when the realization settled in, when he understood that his fear had been unfounded. She wasn’t after his money, because she’d had no idea how filthy rich he really was.
Samson could see that she was trying to make sense of his words. But then it was like a dark cloud settled over her face. Her jaw dropped, and she glared at him.
“You thought I was after your money? Oh my God! You thought I slept with you because … Oh my God!”
The pain he saw in her eyes hurt him deep in his chest. If he’d thought telling her who he was would make her understand why he’d acted the way he had, it had backfired. It had actually made it worse. Much worse.
“I’ve never felt so cheap and dirty in my life. I felt cleaner when you thought I was a stripper. But you thought … you thought I would … no, no …”
She ran for the door, but he leapt in front of her and stopped her. He wanted to take her into his arms and kiss her pain away, apologize with his body for everything he’d done. But he knew she’d push him away. He had hurt her, his lovely mortal, and it pained him more than if he’d been hurt himself. At this point he’d do anything to make her pain go away.
“Please tell me what you want me to do to make it up to you.”
She stared at him, her eyes glistening with the tears she was holding back. “You think you can buy me? Haven’t you humiliated me enough? Keep your damn money and get out of my way!”
“Please stop for a minute, and listen to me.”
“Why? Don’t you already know everything you want to know? Isn’t that why you assigned me a bodyguard today? So you could spy on me? Do you control all your women like that?”
“Delilah, it was for your own safety. I never wanted to hurt you, believe me. But you scared me.” He was scared alright, scared of what she could do to his heart. Maybe it was better if he told her upfront what she’d done to him.
“Scared you? How? Because you’ve been slumming it with a poor little auditor? Yeah, that’s downright scary,” she bristled full of sarcasm.
“Don’t say that. It’s the things you make me feel when I’m with you. That’s what scares me.”
“Stop lying to me.” She shot past him and ripped the door open. Her suitcase in her hand, she rushed down the stairs. Samson was right behind her, not willing to let her go.
The entrance door opened a second before she reached it. A sudden blast of cold air entered the foyer and with it Ricky and Thomas. Ricky stared at Delilah and then at Samson who was only a step behind her.
“I’m not letting her leave.”
“Good. ‘Cause somebody killed John Reardon. And she might be next.”
“John?” Delilah’s voice was just a hoarse whisper. She dropped her suitcase to the floor where it made a loud thump.
Samson exchanged surprised looks with his two friends. Did she know him?
Delilah braced herself on the wardrobe. A split-second later Samson was by her side; he wrapped his arms around her and led her into the living room. He wouldn’t let her leave, not now, not ever.
Samson gently sat her on the couch and stayed close to her. Keeping his arm around her, he was relieved to feel she didn’t push him away.
“Ricky, pour Delilah a brandy, will you?”
His friend complied eagerly and handed him the glass a few moments later. Samson led the brandy to Delilah’s lips and made her sip from it as he brushed a strand of hair out of her face.
“Here you go, sweetness.” His voice took on a soothing tone while he stroked her arm tenderly. She didn’t protest. He knew she hadn’t forgiven him yet, but right now she was in shock, and he would do anything to make her feel better. Later, he’d seek her forgiveness. And then there was another hurdle to jump over—but she wasn’t ready for that yet.
In the seconds when he’d followed her down the stairs, he’d made up his mind. He wouldn’t let her go back to New York. Screw the fact that she was human. She was his. He needed her, and he could make her happy. He knew it deep down in his heart.
He caught Ricky exchanging a look with Thomas who nodded. Neither one of them had ever seen him in such a tender exchange with a woman. Samson planted a soft kiss on the top of Delilah’s head, not caring what his friends thought of his behavior.
“Delilah, tell me what you know about this man. He was the one who hired that guy who attacked you.”
She suddenly stared at him, her eyes wide in disbelief. “John? John hired that thug?” She looked up at Thomas and Ricky who nodded.
“Yes, it was him. Who was he?” Samson asked again.
“You should know who he is. He works for you.”
“For me?”
“He’s an accountant at Scanguards,” she announced, looking back and forth between Samson and his friends.
TWELVE
Samson sent Ricky and Thomas off to investigate the murder of the accountant. They would also review background checks of John and anybody he worked with at Scanguards. Amaury remained at the house with them.
“I think it’s pretty clear that it wasn’t John’s idea to harm you. He was obviously working for somebody, and this somebody killed him,” Samson stated.
“But why would somebody want to harm me? I only met him a week ago, and I don’t know anybody else here in San Francisco. I have no enemies,” Delilah protested.
“And this person knew we were onto him, don’t forget that,” Amaury interjected. “And got to John before we could. Isn’t that telling us something?”
Samson nodded. “That’s right. Whoever it was, he didn’t want us to interrogate John and find out who’s behind this, or what this is about. Can you think of any reason why he or anybody else would want to hurt you?”
The thought that somebody else was still out there, wanting to hurt the woman he desired so deeply, tore at his heartstrings. If anybody as much as harmed a hair on her head, they’d have to deal with his wrath. It would be ugly.
“I’m only here for the audit, nothing else. I’m used to people not being too happy to see me, but that doesn’t mean they want to harm me.”
“Then it has to do with the audit. It’s your only connection to John and to San Francisco. It’s the only explanation. Has the audit produced any results?” Samson was curious.
She shrugged her shoulders. “Nothing unexpected, at least not so far. I’ve had problems getting to some of the supporting documentation for some of the issues I’m looking into, but I still have till Wednesday, so I’m sure I’ll figure out what’s wrong.” Delilah seemed very confident about her work. “I’ve always found whatever there was to be found.”
“Is that your reputation? Is that why New York hired you?” Samson let his eyes sweep over her small form. Was she some kind of super sleuth? Would she also figure him out soon? How long did he have until she’d discover his secret? How long till she’d run screaming from his house?
“That’s all I do. I don’t do regular financial audits. I only work on special investigations. If somebody is cooking the books, I’ll find it. I’ve already found a few indications that somebody is defrauding the company. I just have to confirm who is behind it.”
There was an air of confidence about her, almost pride. He believed her instantly. If she said she’d find it, she would. Of course, this also meant, he himself had to be extremely careful and quickly come up with a strategy of how to tell her what he was. He had to tell her that he was a vampire, because he wasn’t going to let her leave.
“Take all the time you need—I’m extending your contract indefinitely.” This would take the time pressure off him. Wednesday was just too early.
“Can you do that?” Delilah looked first at him and then at Amaury. “Can he do that?”
Amaury smirked. “He’s the boss. What he says, goes.”
“You make me sound like a tyrant.” He gave his friend a scolding look. “I assure you, I’m nothing of the kind. But being the boss does have its perks.” Samson smiled at her. “You can work out of here. My office is at your disposal. You’ll have universal access to all files, not just for the San Francisco branch, but all our branches. Whatever information you need, I can get it for you.”
“That won’t be necessary. I can work at the downtown office. Besides, I need the box of transaction documents I had John get for me. I’m not done with it yet. It’s still at the office.”
Samson shook his head. “I’ll have somebody bring it here. I’m not letting you out of my sight. If somebody was able to get to John and kill him, they’ll try to do the same to you. I can’t take that risk.” A cold shiver ran down his spine at the thought of anybody harming her.
“Do you always get what you want?” Her voice had an edge to it. He understood why. She was still angry with him for checking up on her background.
“I don’t. But this time I will. No discussion. You’ll work here. One of us will always be with you.” He nodded at Amaury, asking his friend silently to support him. At present, Delilah seemed more inclined to listen to anybody else but himself.
“He’s right, Delilah. If somebody thought it so important to get rid of you, they’re not going to stop just because we tracked down John and his brother-in-law.”
Great, so they were both ganging up on her. Maybe she was still in shock, but her thoughts seemed clear to her. Delilah was still mad as hell at Samson for not trusting her. She was confused about the mixed signals she was getting from him, and she was frightened at the thought of somebody being after her to harm her. If everything had been fine between her and Samson, she would have had no problems with the arrangement, but now, things were different. If he thought that by making her stay at his house, he could get her back into his bed, then he’d get a rude awakening.
She would tell him so right now, so he’d know his place. “Fine. I’ll stay here to finish the audit. But I don’t date clients.”
From his reaction she could see that he hadn’t expected her statement. His jaw dropped. It took a few seconds for him to find his composure.
“We’ll discuss this later, in private.”
The hell they would. The less she was alone with him, the better. Delilah recalled the moment when Ricky had told them about John’s death, and how Samson had taken the opportunity to take her into his arms. She hadn’t had the strength to protest then, but she felt better now. She wouldn’t give him another opportu
nity to wiggle his way back into her heart, only to let him hurt her again. She had to shut him out. This was just a job, nothing else. And that was exactly how she would treat this from now on.
“I’d better get to work.”
“Now?” Samson raised an eyebrow.
“I can’t sleep anyway.” Delilah knew that with all the things that had happened there was no way in hell she’d be able to close her eyes. “You don’t have to stay up with me. Just show me your office and give me access to the files.”
Samson’s office was larger than Delilah had expected. It was paneled in a rich, dark wood and had one wall of shelves completely stuffed with books from top to bottom. There was a huge desk with several computer screens, a sofa with a couple of armchairs, and a coffee table.
She had expected him to show her the systems and then leave, but instead both he and Amaury stayed and started working with her, assisting her with reviewing files, tracing transactions and making phone calls to New York to verify information. It appeared that even in the middle of the night people worked at Headquarters. With direct access to all files of the company her work would be much easier. Nobody was putting any restrictions on her.
Delilah found it strange that he suddenly trusted her like this. Samson had one of his staff bring the storage box from the office which she’d been working on during the day. Now he and Amaury were pouring over information spread out on the coffee table, while she sat in his comfortable office chair and scrolled through the computer files.
He’d given her his logon and password, and she had free reign. If she had wanted to, she could have gone into all his private files and looked at what he was up to. But she didn’t. She wouldn’t snoop around. She wouldn’t stoop so low and do to him what he’d done to her. This was different from opening a few drawers in his bedroom.
Delilah looked at Samson who had his head buried in the papers, talking quietly to Amaury. His long lashes were as dark as his shaggy hair, which she’d made a mess of the night before, wildly running her hands through it and pulling him closer to her. Even now, despite how much he’d hurt her, she found him more desirable than any man she’d ever met.