Abby took it, allowing him to lead her to the maroon rug before the roaring fire. He helped her settle down. “Wait here while I fetch it.”
“Do you want help clearing the table?”
“No.” He poured her a glass of wine and handed it to her. “Just relax, Abby.”
She stared at him for a moment before doing exactly that. “You got it.” She toasted him and took a sip, licking her lips as if to savor the taste.
It was all he could do to walk away at that point without claiming her mouth.
A few moments later—the dishes cleared—he placed a bowl of fresh strawberries and another of whipped cream on the rug. Seth settled down across from her and took one of the fresh strawberries, swirling it in the whipped cream. He held it out for her, fascinated by the way the firelight played over her skin. “Have a taste.”
She leaned forward and took a bite. Her lips grazed his fingers, made them hotter than the fire. He was going to taste that sweetness straight from her lips.
Abby swallowed the bite of strawberry. She picked another up from the bowl, swirled it and held it out to him. He knew exactly what he was doing when he let his lips brush her fingers.
But tonight was about more than seduction. Tonight, he wanted to learn all about her. He smiled, and held out another strawberry. “Tell me, Abby, what’s your biggest dream? What do you want out of life?”
She paused in the act of biting the strawberry, unaware of the picture she made with her lips wrapped around it. He almost forgot he’d asked a question when she replied. “I want a happy home. I want to feel safe. I want to know that, no matter what, I have good friends who will stand by me and support me. I already have a career I love, and I don’t want to lose it.”
She swirled a strawberry and held it out to him, but he paused before taking the offered tidbit. “What about a family? Do you want one?” He hoped so. His one regret about his life with Fiona was that they hadn’t had children.
She shrugged. “Yes. Someday.” Even by the light of the fire he could see her blush, and she wasn’t looking him in the eye anymore. “With the right man.”
If he had his way, the only child she’d ever carry would be his. “It already sounds like you have most of what you want. You have a family that loves you, good friends, and a career you obviously enjoy. You’re a very lucky woman.”
He took the strawberry. He was enjoying this give-and-take far more than he’d thought he would.
“What about you, Seth? What do you want?”
What he saw in her eyes caused his heart to skip a beat. The vulnerable heat of her gaze had him powerless to resist her lure as he leaned toward her and kissed her.
Abby tasted of strawberries and cream, wine and warmth. The taste was intoxicating, and Seth drank her in, savored every flavor he could find. He explored her mouth, one hand resting gently on her thigh, the other holding himself upright. He felt the warmth of the fire at his back, heard the light sound of rain on the roof, but none of it really registered in the face of her kiss.
He took his time, exploring and teasing and doing his best to drive her wild. He wanted to be closer, to crawl inside her and set up house, but didn’t want to disrupt the mood he was generating. She was leaning into him, stroking his biceps, her fingers curling and uncurling as pleasure slowly suffused them both.
He broke the kiss. He wasn’t ready to take it to the next level yet. They had all night, and he planned on using every second of it to seduce her into his arms for the rest of their lives. He picked up a cream-drenched strawberry and held it out to her. He watched as she reached forward and took the strawberry in her mouth. “Does that answer your question?”
She met his eyes and slowly nodded. She couldn’t seem to tear her gaze from his. The wonder he saw mirrored his own. He had an angel in his arms, and he wasn’t going to let her—
Cra-boom!
* * *
The sound of the thunder overhead had made them both jump. The rain pounding the roof of the cabin drowned out the crackle of the fire. Abby shivered and moved closer to the fireplace. She picked up a strawberry and popped it into her mouth, trying not to jump as a second crash of thunder sounded overhead. She listened as the wind began howling outside the cabin, and waited patiently for Seth to return. He’d gone to check that all the windows were shut—a precaution they should have taken earlier. A small smile crossed her lips as she popped another strawberry in her mouth, nearly squirming with glee. He wasn’t just seducing her.
Seth was wooing her.
Who would have guessed he’d be such a romantic? A home-cooked meal, fresh strawberries and whipped cream for dessert, candlelight and soft music in the background. It was perfect. Seth fascinated her. He was tender, caring and protective. She felt safe around him, even when he was yelling at her. He could have hit her on the road earlier. His parents wouldn’t have arrived in time to stop him. But he hadn’t. He’d yelled, waved his arms, even shaken her a little, but he hadn’t hurt her.
A woman who’d been through what she had needed to know things like that about a man. She’d understood why he lost his temper. She’d been kicking herself ever since for being stupid enough to follow Doug, but at the time she hadn’t stopped to question it. Instead of finding Doug, she’d confirmed that Seth could lose his temper and she still wasn’t afraid of him.
Seth. She couldn’t get over it—the way he was looking at her, the affection in his gaze. Here she was with her secret fantasy man, and he was doing all sorts of Mr. Right things at all the right times.
Another crash of thunder broke through her thoughts. She noticed the lights in the kitchen flicker off, then on, then off again. She got to her feet just in time to hear Seth’s muffled curse. “Seth?”
“It’s okay, Abby. Let me find a flashlight. You stay put. No need for both of us to be stumbling around in the dark.” He began to open drawers, and soon she saw the beam of light. She watched it come closer, and then Seth was in front of her. “I’m going to go check the fuse box. You sit tight.” He gently removed a small spot of whipped cream from her lip with his finger and licked it off, his gaze never wavering from hers. “Keep my spot warm.” Then he was gone, the sound of his feet on the basement stairs almost drowned out by the rain.
With his departure, the cabin became almost eerily quiet, her only companion the sound of the rain pounding on the roof and the creak of wind whipping through the branches of the trees. She could barely hear the crackle of the fire at her back. The only light came from the fire, the few candles Seth had lit and the occasional flash of lightning outside the window.
She felt horribly alone.
C’mon, this isn’t some B horror movie where the slasher jumps out of the shadows with a meat cleaver. She tried to settle the shaking of her hands, but every instinct she had screamed that danger was close.
A door banged shut overhead. She jumped, stifling a scream with her fist. Seth. It had to be Seth. But he’d gone downstairs, hadn’t he? She was positive. There was no stairway that led from the kitchen to the rooms upstairs.
Was there?
She heard a creak, and remembered the squeaky floorboard right outside her room.
But...Seth had gone downstairs.
She was hearing things. She had to be. There was no one else in the house, just her and Seth and—
Cra-boom!
—a dark and stormy night. Abby bit her lip and strained her ears, but all she could hear after the thunder was the rain pounding on the roof.
There was no one else here. No one.
Nevertheless, she moved closer to the fireplace. She reached out a hand behind her, grasping at the fireplace tools until her fingers closed around the handle of the poker. She swung it in front of her like a sword, her eyes glued to the deep shadow of the stairway, and wished Seth would hurry up and get the lights back on.
I’m not alone, I’m not alone, Seth is in the house, and I’m not alone.
She squeaked in terror as thunder rattled the h
ouse once more. A cold draft moved across the room and she shivered. Fuck not being alone. Something was seriously wrong.
She jumped at the crash of the rear screen door slamming shut. She listened to it thump in the wind, and remembered Seth’s mother locking it just before she left. “Oh, shit.” It had a tendency to swing open on its own, and Marian hadn’t wanted it banging against the house in the storm.
If someone was in the house, they could get to Seth. She hadn’t heard a peep out of him since he disappeared, not even when the screen door slammed open. Maybe he hadn’t gone downstairs like she thought. Maybe he’d gone up, and he was in trouble, while she stood here like a wimp, trembling in fear.
She had to be sure. She had to check. She had to...
Shit.
Abby inched her way slowly from the fireplace, clutching the poker like a lifeline. She moved toward the stairs, using the flashes of lightning and the light from the fireplace behind her to avoid banging into the furniture. She slowly inched her way across the room, listening for any indication that there was someone in the house other than herself and Seth. But all she heard was the thunder and the banging of the screen door.
The squeak of the stairs was like mini cracks of doom. It was darker than the pits of hell in the upstairs hallway—not even a flicker of light visible.
“I truly am a moron. Seth’s going to kill me when he finds out I came up here alone.” She gripped the poker tighter, ready to swing at the first sign of movement. “You hear that, asshole? I’m not alone. Seth’s going to kick your fucking ass for scaring us.” She whimpered as the screen door banged again. “The only thing I need to complete the fucking picture is a cheerleader outfit.” She turned toward her room, lightning her only source of illumination, and slowly opened the door. Her heart raced a mile a minute as another jagged slash lit the room briefly, but there was no one there. She approached the bed.
Rose petals adorned it, covering the blanket in a deep sea of red that appeared black in the bright flashes of light. But she knew. Doug only gave her red roses. In the light of another strike, Abby saw a gleam of gold on her pillow. She reached out a trembling hand and lifted the locket Seth had thrown away in his town house in Delaware. She swallowed, hard, and peered out onto her deck as another flash of lightning lit the sky.
Nothing moved.
She made her way down the stairs the same way she’d made her way up, the locket clutched in her free hand. She moved toward the fireplace, shivering with fear, and put the poker back with the other tools. She stared at the locket like it was a live cobra.
Doug had been in the cabin. In her room. She couldn’t stop trembling. Had he been lurking in the shadows, watching Seth seduce her with gentle kisses?
She glanced up just as lightning struck, and screamed. There, outside the rain-slicked window, his face distorted by the rivulets of rain running down the glass, blond hair plastered to his forehead, was Doug. She only saw him for the second or two the lightning lit up the sky, but she knew it was him. She raced for the basement door just as Seth came tearing out of the kitchen. She’d have sworn he was glowing, but it was probably just a trick of the firelight and the tears in her eyes.
“Seth.” She rushed into his arms, sobbing. He held her close for a moment before putting her away from him.
“What happened?”
She held out the locket, shaking like a leaf. Seth stared at it, his jaw clenching and unclenching. The hands resting on her arms tightened almost to the point of pain, but she barely felt it. She was numb, teeth chattering with a freezing cold that came from within.
“I saw him, Seth. He was right outside the window. He was in my room.” She laid her head against his chest and cried until she had no more tears left.
Chapter Seven
Seth wasn’t willing to let Abby out of his sight for a moment, not even when she felt the need to go to the bathroom. He took her outside while he started up the backup generator and refused to allow her into her room again. He tried not to show how upset he was when they checked on the fuse box and he saw the shape it was in. She was already walking the fragile edge of panic, her hands shaking, her face pale. She was holding the back of his shirt in a tight grip.
“I think Doug did something to it, but I have no fucking clue what.” The mass of wires was hooked into some sort of timer. “The damn thing’s a mess. I’m going to have someone come and take a look at it, make sure it’s safe to stay here.”
She flinched.
“Abby. This is not your fault.”
She shrugged and refused to look at him.
Sighing, he took her back upstairs and made her a hot cup of tea, hoping it would soothe her fractured nerves. Seth handed it to her, angry all over again when he saw the way her hands still shook.
He wanted to punch something. Preferably Doug. Or yell at her for going upstairs all by herself and scaring ten years off his life. But she kept shivering every time thunder sounded, so he let it go, at least for now.
He picked up the phone and began dialing, his gaze never leaving Abby. Her posture was bone weary, her eyes glazed. Seth’s first call was to Dante. When he got on his answering machine, he decided to leave a message. Dante must have been out on patrol with Damien. The message was short and sweet. “He got in. I’m taking her to Romanov’s.”
His second call was to the local police department. He quickly filled them in on the situation and told them to call Dante for more information. The local dispatcher said she would send someone out immediately, but in this storm he wasn’t holding out much hope that immediately would be quick.
His third call was to Piotr Romanov.
“Dobryj vyechyer, Seth.”
“Good evening to you too.”
The warmth of Piotr’s chuckle would have startled Damien and Dante. “You would not be calling me if there wasn’t a problem. Has Dante finally lost that famous temper of his?”
Seth watched as Abby nibbled on a strawberry. He walked far enough away that he could still see her but she wouldn’t hear him. The kitchen. He settled in his favorite chair, turning it so he could watch Abby pretend she was eating fruit instead of having a meltdown. He decided to put the problem in terms the Russian would understand completely. “The Shemyaza are after my woman.”
Not even Seth could follow the string of guttural curses that followed. “Bring her home.”
He hadn’t realized how tense he was until Piotr said that. If anyone could help keep Abby safe it, was Piotr. “Thank you.”
“Prebyvaniem bezopasny, moĭ brat.”
The familiar words soothed him despite being in Russian, a language he’d never mastered. “Stay safe, my brother.”
He hung up, heading back into the living room and handing Abby the phone. “I’ll be right upstairs packing. Don’t move. If anyone calls, go ahead and answer it. It should be Piotr or his assistant. Anyone else, hang up on them, even if they say they’re a cop.”
She crossed her heart, clutching the phone to her chest. Thank God it didn’t take long to pack. He borrowed some of his parent’s luggage and basically threw everything into them.
A lot of the clothing still had tags on them. Seth had the urge to curse all over again. How the fuck had the Shem found them so quickly?
His parents arrived home just as the sheriff did. “Seth?” Marian was pale, clutching Joe’s hand like a lifeline. His father was obviously furious, leading Marian over to Abby and settling the women down together.
It was just what they both needed. Marian fussed over Abby, wanting all of the details, which the sheriff, Jake Turner, listened to with an increasingly concerned expression.
Jake turned to him. “Can you show me the fuse box?”
Seth led the way to the basement, certain his father would protect Marian and Abby with his life.
The man shook his head over what had been done to the fuse box. “Man, whoever did this really knew what he was doing. Don’t know if I could have rigged this myself. Got to wonder where some
one would learn to do something like that.”
“What do you mean?” Seth pushed his way forward to study the fuse box intently.
Jake shot him a concerned glance. “My father is the local electrician, and I can tell you that whoever did this is a master. Maybe an engineer of some kind. I’ve never seen anything like it.” He pulled a cell phone from his pocket. “Dad? I need you to come up to the Van Licht place and take a look at something.” He clicked the phone shut and repocketed it. “He’s on his way.”
Mr. Turner arrived faster than Seth thought he would. He poked and prodded at the fuse box, muttering to himself. Before long he was packing his equipment away. “Jake, whoever did this was a pro. There’s no way I’m going to be able to tell you what he did, not without a thorough examination of what he used. All I know is, he crossed the wires, maybe used some kind of timer so the fuse wouldn’t blow before he wanted it to.” Mr. Turner pushed his way to the basement stairs. “I’ll talk to Marian and Joe about getting this fixed. Don’t want them without electricity any longer than they have to be.” He shook his head. “What a mess.”
Seth shared a look with the sheriff. “I don’t think Doug Finley was a master electrician. Abby told me he sold real estate. Is it possible he had someone make the device for him with instructions on how to use it?”
Jake studied the fuse box. “Possibly. Not sure how far I can follow this, though, especially if you folks are leaving.”
“What makes you think we’re leaving?”
The sheriff stared at him like he’d just gotten off the stupid train. “You said you were working with the New Castle police on this back in Delaware?”
“We’ve been working with Detective Dante Zucco.” Seth handed over Dante’s phone number without a qualm. No sickly green smoke surrounded the sheriff. He was safe enough.
Jake shook his head sadly. “I’ll do what I can on my end, but it may not be much. I’ll send anything we find to Detective Zucco.”
“Do what you can, Jake.” Joseph clapped his hand on Seth’s shoulder, startling him. “Just so you know, your father is upstairs trying to charm the ladies.”
All for You Page 14