by Virna DePaul
But then her beloved Ryan shoved her into a van with two strangers and told her she was his ticket to easy street. They’d held for her two days. Contacted her parents and asked for one million dollars. When her father hadn’t paid them fast enough, Ryan’s friend had sliced her cheek as he’d stood silently nearby. She’d known then that she was going to die.
But she hadn’t.
Because someone or something had intervened.
She’d never been able to explain what had happened, but one by one, the men had left the van to investigate a strange noise. Eventually she’d been left alone so long, she’d been able to work herself free from the rope they’d tied her with and open the van doors.
Free. No trace of them anywhere. Somehow she’d found her way home and her parents had covered the incident up. Frankie had survived, but she’d been forever changed.
She knew instantly that the person demanding a favor from her was the person who’d helped her escape that night. But she had no idea who he was or what he wanted her to stop Jake from doing.
“What’s wrong?”
Jake’s voice snapped her out of her trance. She shook her head, and her gaze alternately bounced between the words “Ryan Turner,” “Jake Rios,” “request,” and “endangered.”
“Who is Ryan Turner?” Jake questioned. When she didn’t answer, he crouched in front of her, swiveled her chair so she faced him, and gently grasped her arms. His touch made her feel even more dizzy, and she longed to curl up in his arms. But then she remembered last night, and how his heat and hardness had lulled her into a false sense of security.
But clearly she wasn’t safe. Especially not now that she’d become involved with him.
Tell the governor to deny Jake Rios’s request or everyone you love will be endangered.
As if there was anyone she loved. Her parents were dead. She had no friends. No children. And the only man she’d let close to her in all this time had tossed her aside…
A chill seemed to climb its way through her heart and to her face until it settled along her scar. Her breath hitched. Vaguely, she sensed Dylan Cook step up to her desk.
“Frankie, listen to me,” Jake said, his tone low and metered. Implacable. “Who is Ryan Turner?”
Who was Ryan Turner? He was a young man with sandy brown hair, light blue eyes, and a slight Southern drawl. He had a slight cleft chin, strong white teeth that showed often because he liked to smile, and hands that had once made her feel cherished. Ryan Turner was the boy she’d given her virginity to; the one she’d thought she would marry someday. Only that obviously hadn’t happened. She didn’t even know if he was dead or alive.
“Frankie—” Jake began again, but she shook her head.
The chill had spread from her scar throughout her entire body now. She was so cold she doubted she’d ever feel warm again. She shrugged off his touch and deliberately pushed her chair backwards, away from him. “Don’t—don’t touch me,” she said softly. “Ryan Turner is…”
Jake looked at her with narrowed eyes, his jaw clenched as if he didn’t like the way she’d pulled away from her. Too bad. He’d left her alone in her bed. He’d made her feel loved when obviously that had just been an illusion. She’d experienced that particular cruelty twice in her life now, but never again.
“Ryan Turner is the man who kidnapped me when I was seventeen years old, held me for ransom and then, when he didn’t get it, let his friend cut me.”
Horrified understanding spread across Jake’s face, as well as Dylan’s.
“Ryan Turner,” she continued, “is the man who gave me this scar.”
***
Frankie crossed her arms over her chest and stared daggers at the object of her displeasure. When Jake failed to look up, Frankie glared even harder. Finally, she gave up, sighed, and sank back into her office chair. Everyone in the office was running to do his Lordship’s bidding.
Well, no one in the office was actually running. Rather, they moved slowly but efficiently. Taking apart her computer. Dusting for prints. And, she knew, doing the same thing to her car. All because of that vaguely threatening email.
But vaguely threatening or not, no one, especially not the governor’s head of security, Jake Rios, was taking any chances.
Shivering slightly as she remembered the violent expression that had twisted his features after she’d dropped her little bombshell, Frankie stood up again and began pacing. Her entire body was bristling with nerves. Jake had yet to tell her what “request” he’d made to the governor and why someone would threaten her in order to make sure it was denied, but that was no surprise. He was practically a stranger to her. Cold and expressionless once again, he barely resembled the man who’d asked her out and taken her to bed.
Something between them had changed, and it couldn’t be coincidence that it had changed after she’d had sex with him and he’d drunk from her. Maybe he hadn’t liked how her blood had tasted? Or maybe that’s all he’d really wanted from her, and now that he’d gotten it, he was simply biding his time until he could wipe the entire encounter from her memory or something. Vampires could do that kind of thing, couldn’t they?
A hysterical laugh burst out of her. No matter how she tried to convince herself otherwise, she actually believed what Jake had told her about being a vampire.
And vampires could live forever, couldn’t they? Was Jake Rios immortal?
Pacing wasn’t making her feel any better, and her imagination was clearly running away from her. As had become her habit when he wasn’t looking, she let her gaze travel down Jake’s tall, powerful frame.
Frankie didn’t flatter herself that Jake’s quick response was due to any personal concern for her. She wouldn’t mistake his attention for genuine interest in her again. But because she worked so closely with the governor and traveled with him almost everywhere he went, a threat to her was a threat to the governor. One that he apparently took seriously.
He scanned the room, not missing a thing, making sure every task was being done to his satisfaction. Absently, she raised a hand to her marred cheek before she realized what she was doing.
Frankie snapped her hand down, and Jake glanced at her and frowned. Before he could say or do anything, Eddie Johnson, the Press Secretary’s Senior Aide, walked in. Frankie breathed a sigh of relief when Jake turned toward him. Eddie shook his head, then walked up to Frankie to crouch down next to her.
He patted her hand. “How are you holding up, Frankie?”
She felt Jake’s gaze on her again but kept her own on Eddie. “Like a bother. But I know we have to take the email seriously, even if it is just some kind of twisted joke.”
“Threatening everyone you love is more than a twisted joke, Ms. Stewart.”
Frankie jerked at the sound of Jake’s voice. He was staring down at her impassively, his hands clasped in front of him and his back straight, like a soldier at the ready. She felt an evil impulse to kick his shin or knee him in the nuts. Anything to assure herself that the man, vampire or not, indeed had blood running through his veins.
“That may be. But unlike you, some men actually get carried away by true passion, Mr. Rios. Sometimes it makes them act impulsively when they have no intention of harming anyone.”
He narrowed his eyes at her jab.
“Heat of passion may be a defense to murder, but that doesn’t change the fact that someone dies, Ms. Stewart. Passion is better controlled by reason, wouldn’t you agree?”
Since when did he bother controlling passion with reason, she wanted to snap. But Eddie was looking at them with a puzzled expression on his face. She stood and took his arm, leading him away from Jake. “Look, Eddie, it’s not unexpected to get this kind of response given the governor’s new stance on green fuel, especially with the gala scheduled for tonight. There are a lot of extremists out there who believe—”
His cell phone went off and he looked at the screen. “I’m sorry, Frankie. I have to get this. Just listen to what Jake says and do eve
rything he tells you.” Eddie rushed from the room.
To her surprise, Jake closed and locked the door behind Eddie before turning back to face her. “This has nothing to do with the governor’s stance on green fuel,” Jake snapped.
Frankie cocked a brow. “Then what does it have to do with? And why would someone think I have any influence over whether the governor grants something you’ve requested, anyway?”
“Because,” he gritted out, his cool façade suddenly swept away like a quarter tossed into the sea. He strode toward her, grabbed her arms, and jerked her into arms, heedless of the fact that Dylan and several others still watched. “Obviously someone knows what you don’t, Frankie. That you’re mine. That you’ll always be mine. And that I’ll do anything to ensure your safety.”
She was still sputtering at his response when his mouth slammed down on hers. Immediately, his kiss infused her senses with desire so that she almost forgot the threatening e-mail and the fact he’d abandoned her in the middle of the night.
Almost.
Furious at his ability to sway her so easily, she ripped herself away from him and stumbled backwards. He watched her intently, clenching his fists as if to stop himself from reaching out for her. She glanced around the office, at the impassive faces of those around her, all security personnel who’d joined the governor’s officer after Jake had. And she knew.
She turned to Dylan. “You’re all vampires, aren’t you?”
He didn’t betray himself by so much as a flicker, but it was in his lack of response that she found her answer.
“They’re not all vampires, Frankie, but they know I’m one,” Jake said.
Of course. Dylan couldn’t be a vampire; he actually walked around during the day. But which of the others… With a sob, she backed away from him. From all of them.
“Frankie…” she heard Jake say, a warning in his voice.
Her thoughts were a conflicted mess, with part of her wanting to run into his arms and hide, and the other part of her wanting to run from the threat he represented. Not any kind of physical threat, regardless of his blood-sucking tendencies, but a threat to her heart. Because she knew what Jake didn’t.
Frankie didn’t have any loved ones that could be endangered by the person threatening her. But if anyone was close to fitting the bill, it was Jake.
***
“She’s going to bolt,” Dylan said.
“I know,” Jake sighed, just before Frankie turned and ran towards the office door.
He beat her to it, blocking her path with inhuman speed.
An almost hysterical giggle burst out of her, and Jake told himself to be careful not to push her too far, too soon. She’d already accepted his vampire nature with amazing aplomb, only to have to deal with that threatening email this morning. Right after he’d left her bed without so much as a “thank you, ma’am.”
Of course, he hadn’t left her voluntarily, but she didn’t know that.
He’d tried to talk to her and explain, but she’d frozen him out. He’d let her and that had been a mistake. He’d still wanted to give her the illusion of control. He’d wanted to give her space. Then that damn email had shown up…
Someone knew of his plan to approach the governor about vampire integration. But how? And who?
Immediately, his gaze swept the individuals behind Frankie. A few vampires. All trusted friends. Could one of them have betrayed him?
“Get out of my way,” Frankie ordered.
His gaze returned to her, and he felt his expression soften. “Listen to me, baby—”
“Don’t call me that!”
He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the door, not caring who heard their conversation now. Dylan and the others would have guessed by now that she was his mate. That made the idea of one of them betraying him far less likely, because such an individual would know Jake would do anything to protect her. “You didn’t mind when I called you that last night,” he taunted her, breathing a sigh of relief when the accusation and fear in her eyes transformed into rage.
He’d take her rage over her fear any day.
“How dare you talk to me about last night after you—”
“After I what, Frankie?”
She glanced over her shoulder at the others, but they’d all huddled together at the far side of the room, giving them at least the appearance of privacy. She turned back to him. “After you sucked my blood then left, that’s what.”
He nodded. “I did, but not because I wanted to.” He wasn’t surprised when she looked doubtful.
“Look, I know men haven’t given you cause to trust them, Frankie, but you can trust me. I’ll never lie to you, I promise.” He stepped up to her and raised his hand, cupping her scarred cheek despite her instinctive attempt to move away. “I’ll never hurt you or betray you.”
She gasped and looked away, but he saw the tears that flooded her eyes. Ryan Turner had been her first lover and, it turned out, a criminal even then. He’d used her and had stood by as his pal had sliced Frankie’s cheek. It was a helluva lesson in betrayal for a seventeen-year-old girl to undergo, and he wanted to kill the bastard for daring to hurt her. If he wasn’t already dead, that is.
Frankie had told him about how the men who’d kidnapped her had vanished into thin air. Such a thing seemed impossible and, as such, Jake knew immediately a vampire had been involved. A vampire who’d apparently done her a favor and was now asking for his own. His run-in with the four vampires this morning merely confirmed it.
He couldn’t help wondering if Frankie’s three kidnappers and three of the four vampires he’d run into last night were the same individuals… Had Frankie’s savior turned them?
“I’ll kill anyone who tries to hurt you, Francesca Marie Stewart. I’ll kill Ryan Turner if you want me to. Maybe even if you don’t want me to.”
Hesitantly, Frankie raised her hand and pressed it to the one he still used to cup her face. He saw her yearning to trust him, to believe in him, on her face. Taking her hand, he pressed a kiss into her palm and nodded. “You can count on me, Frankie. I’ll protect you. And I’ll cherish you. Forever.”
“Forever?” she asked, her tone clearly dubious.
He smiled. “Take me back to your place and let me explain, okay?”
“The gala—”
“We don’t have to show up for almost an hour. Let’s talk first. Please?”
She bit her lip, and he saw the war that waged inside her. He held his breath, relaxing when he saw acquiescence in her expression. Frankie wanted so badly to act cold, but it just wasn’t in her nature. When she cared for someone, and he knew she cared for him, she couldn’t help giving all of herself, no matter what had happened to her in the past or what ludicrous scenario a person threw at her.
“Okay,” she said. “You can explain. But then if I want you to leave…”
“Then I’ll leave,” Jake promised. As a vampire, he wouldn’t be able to stay in her home if she wanted him gone anyway. But that didn’t mean he’d leave her alone. Public property was fair game and he’d hound her to his dying day until she trusted him again.
And loved him.
CHAPTER 7
When they got back to her apartment, Frankie brewed a pot of coffee and was handing him his cup when she suddenly frowned. “I assumed…Do you drink coffee? You drank wine at the restaurant, but…”
He took a sip of the coffee but said nothing.
Holding her own cup, she took a seat on her sofa and sighed. “It wasn’t wine, was it?”
Shaking his head, he took the seat next to her. “I normally don’t drink bottled blood, but I knew…well…” He flushed and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand.
Was he actually blushing? Something that felt very much like amusement ran through her. “What is it?”
“I—I—figured I should be at my strongest for when we…” His voice trailed off again. “Damn it.”
She straightened and set her coffee cup dow
n on the low table in front of her couch. “For when we had sex? Yes, Dylan told me you were planning on spending the night here. Are you always right?” She snorted. “What a stupid question. You’re a vampire. You probably have mind control powers, don’t you?”
His expression gave her her answer. “Oh my God! You do! If you want something to happen, you can make it happen. And I fell right into step, didn’t I? I—”
Jake put down his own mug with a thud. “I never used mind control on you, Frankie, and you damn well know it. I told Dylan where to reach me and, yes, I believed we’d be spending the night together. I was right. You gave yourself to me of your own free will, because you wanted me as badly as I wanted you.”