Rafe’s heart stuttered. “Ms. Brooks left town this morning.”
“Oh dear, we were under the impression she was going to retrieve her luggage from us before leaving. Could you please let her know we can have them shipped to her if that would work best?”
“Are you telling me she never picked up her luggage?”
“No, sir. I mean, yes, sir, she has not claimed them.”
“Did you try her cell phone?”
“Yes, sir. There was no answer. The manager said she left Once Bitten as her forwarding address.”
Damn it. She might not be picking up her cell because she was on the plane, or maybe her battery died. But why would she leave town without getting her bags? Every instinct screamed that she wouldn’t. Rafe ground his teeth, remembering the way she’d acted this morning. The way she had refused to even meet his gaze. And wouldn’t wait to let him give her a ride to the airport.
Because she wasn’t going to the airport! Because she hadn’t left town. Damn it. She’d gone out to that asylum on her own to rescue Julia. Eight hours ago.
If she’d been successful, wouldn’t she have gotten her luggage before heading to the airport? And if she wasn’t answering her cell, it might be because Armand had taken it from her and was holding her hostage. Or worse.
He shot out of his chair, climbed the stairs to his apartment two at a time, retrieved his jacket and his gun and was halfway down the outside stairs before he remembered Ro.
He cursed under his breath and headed back into the bar.
“Ro, something’s come up again.” He stuck his gun in his jeans at the small of his back and shoved his arms through his jacket sleeves. “You’ll be all right here?”
Ro looked up from sweeping up the glass he’d broken earlier. He allowed a twinge of guilt. But he’d make it up to her. Give her a bonus or a raise. Whatever.
“Where are you going now? I thought she’d finally left you alone.”
Rafe squinted at her. She sounded pissed. More. She sounded possessive. “She’s gone back to help her friend. I have to make sure she doesn’t get herself hurt.”
“Why?”
Ro dropped the broom, closed the distance between them and flattened her palms on his chest. “Let her get hurt if she’s too stupid to know better. Why do you care?” She ran her hands over his shoulders and curled her hands around the back of his neck.
Rafe grabbed her hands and jerked them down to her sides. “Ro. She’s been gone since eight this morning. She could already be hurt badly. Or being held against her will. That crazy vamp Armand said there was a special ceremony tonight to drink her friend’s blood. What if they decide drinking a thimbleful isn’t enough? Those Colony people aren’t all playing with a full deck.”
“Exactly. They could hurt you, too. Don’t go, Rafe.” Tears shone in Ro’s eyes. “I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you.”
Whoa. Where had all this come from? “Look. If it will make you feel better, call the police and have them meet me at the old Delacroix asylum.” He squeezed her hands. “I have to go.” He turned to head for the door, but she latched onto his jacket.
“Wait!”
“Rowena, what the hell?” He circled her wrists and pulled her hands away.
She stared at him with glittering eyes full of anguish.
Did he even want to hear this?
Her face crumpled and she swung around to face away. “She’s not there.”
Rafe blinked. His vision blurred and the air around him seemed to evaporate. He seized Ro’s shoulders and jerked her around to face him. “What are saying? How do you know?” Terror seized his chest. He shook her hard. “Ro, what did you do?”
Ro hung her head, her mascara running black streaks down her cheeks. “It’s always been you and me against them,” she whined. When she lifted her gaze her eyes were alight with a kind of crazy he’d never seen in them before. “I know those college sluts don’t mean anything to you. And when you slept with her the first time, I figured it was just another fling. But when you left me alone again last night to go up to her in your apartment, I knew then that she had her claws in you and she wasn’t going away. She’s got you under some sort of spell, Rafe, don’t you see that?”
He released his grip on her shoulders slowly and set her away from him. “You’re right, Ro. I’ve been ignoring my business and you. But I’m back now. So you can tell me what you did to her, okay?”
“Don’t patronize me!” She shoved him hard in the chest. “I’m not crazy. I just did what I had to do. For us.”
Oh, no. What had Ro done? Despite his body quaking in dread, Rafe set his jaw and narrowed his eyes. “Then you better tell me what you did and where she is.” He leaned close and promised retribution with his expression. “Now. Or I’ll haul you into the cops and you can tell them yourself.”
13
CLAIRE LIMPED AROUND the sarcophagus that sat in the middle of the tomb, testing her ankle, trying to keep it from getting stiff. The sunlight was almost gone from the hole of crumbling bricks and she knew once darkness fell completely, maneuvering around the tomb would get more difficult.
If she could use her ankle, she’d try to climb on to the sarcophagus, lean over to the hole in the wall and use the half brick she’d found to break up more bricks and enlarge the hole.
Granted, she couldn’t hope to climb out of the hole, but maybe she’d get lucky and a larger part of the wall would crumble away. Although, if the entire wall fell, she could cause the tomb to collapse completely with her inside it.
At this point, with night coming on soon, and no hope of rescue anytime in the near future, that fate seemed almost preferable. Besides, moving around kept the cold at bay.
Rubbing her hands up and down the chill bumps on her arms, she took another cautious step, wincing at the pain in her ankle, but determined not to curl up and give in to panic or self-pity.
“Claire!”
She froze and held her breath like the last time she thought she’d heard a voice in the distance. Please don’t let this be a hallucination.
“Claire, help me find you, cher.” The voice got louder. “Can you hear me?”
With a sob, she hobbled over to the door and pounded and shouted. “Rafe! I’m in here.” She kept pounding until the door swung open and she fell out onto her hands and knees.
Then she was lifted into warm strong arms. “Claire, my God. I’m so sorry, cher.”
“Rafe.” She held on as he ran his hands down her back and up to her shoulders.
“Are you hurt? Are you okay?”
“I t-turned my ankle and I was so s-scared and I didn’t think anyone would c-come,” she babbled. “And it was g-getting dark and the t-tour group didn’t hear me when I yelled and yelled.” She was crying and speaking incoherently, acting hysterical, she knew, but she was just so happy to be free. Was she hyperventilating?
“Breathe slowly.” He was stroking her hair, her back, murmuring calming words. “It’s all right now.” His hands felt so comforting. She forced herself to draw in a measured breath and let it out little by little. And again.
She looked into his gray eyes, darkened with worry. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Claire.” His gaze dropped to her lips. For a moment she thought he might kiss her. But he drew back. “Your mouth is blue and you’re shivering. We need to get you warm.” He hunkered down to examine her swollen, bruised ankle, feeling the bone and muscle with gentle fingers. “This needs ice and elevation.” He straightened and without asking, swung her up into his arms and carried her to his car.
In his sturdy arms she felt safe. And cared for. She rested her head on his shoulder and breathed in his masculine scent. She was no lightweight, and yet he carried her with strong steady strides over uneven ground as if she weighed no more than a microbe. He wasn’t even out of breath once they reached his car.
After he set her into the passenger seat she remembered her purse and, without complaint, Ra
fe turned the motor on, letting it warm up before going back for her purse. When she unlocked the door, he got behind the wheel, switched on the heater and drove away, all without once glancing at her. His jaw was set, but his face was unreadable.
“How did you know where to find me?”
His body tensed and his face transformed into snarling fury. “Ro eventually confessed. I fired her. If you want to press charges, I’ll back you up.”
Claire was too emotional to make a rational decision about that. Part of her wanted to punch the other woman’s face to a pulp. Another part of her wanted to curl into the fetal position and hide from the world for a month. “Why did she do it? Is it because I took you away from the bar so much?”
His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “She was jealous. I thought we were friends.”
She almost asked if they’d been lovers. But it was none of her business. Still, the thought of Rafe and Rowena in bed together caused a painful jab in her chest.
“Claire, I thought she’d murdered you!” He finally looked at her, his eyes blazing with anguish.
“I’m all right.” She put her hand on his shoulder.
And then she understood. Her dying would’ve been someone else that left him, in his eyes. No wonder he was the King of Flings. If he never let himself care about anyone too deeply, then it didn’t hurt when they left him.
And yet he’d asked her to stay this morning. And she’d refused. How much courage had it taken for him to even ask? He probably wouldn’t again. And she didn’t blame him. She’d destroyed whatever they might’ve had together.
But the important thing was, he’d come for her.
She stared out her window. “I’m not going to press charges. I’m not permanently injured and at least she told you what she’d done eventually.”
The sun had disappeared as Rafe drove, shifting gears with each punch of the clutch between each stop sign. Which meant that the “ceremony” was most likely about to begin. Julia could be drinking Armand’s blood even now.
It also meant Once Bitten should be opening about now. “If you fired Rowena, and you’re here, who’s opening your bar tonight?”
His lips flattend. “Once Bitten is closed tonight.”
“Oh.” She squeezed her eyes closed. “I’m sorry. I’ve been nothing but a hassle to you.”
He shot her a sizzling look, his stare intense. “That’s not all you’ve been.”
Caught in his fiery gaze, she shivered, and not just because the heat was finally thawing her toes and fingers. She wanted to crawl into his lap and kiss her way down his body. Tear off his clothes and hers and settle in for a long, passionate night with his body against hers. With his mouth and his hands, and her mouth and her hands, taking and giving pleasure until her mind was nothing but mush.
But, besides the fact that he probably couldn’t wait to be rid of her, she still had to get to Julia.
He turned the car left and then a quick right into a hospital emergency room driveway.
“Oh.” She’d just assumed he’d take her home. She looked at the doors swishing open and people coming out on crutches or in wheelchairs. “I don’t want to go to the hospital.” What she wanted was a hot cup of coffee, a hot bath and a soft bed. Preferably the same one Rafe would be in. But she’d forfeited that privilege when she’d lied to him this morning.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Your ankle needs x-raying. You could be hypothermic. Dehydrated at the very least.”
“My ankle is only sprained. If it were broken, I couldn’t do this.” She wiggled her foot around. “I had a bottle of water in my purse. And I’m not experiencing any of the symptoms of hypothermia. Shivering, slurred speech or drowsiness.”
He scowled. “You should at least get checked out.”
She shook her head. “I’ll be fine. Could you please take me to my hotel?”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Les Chambres Royale called me when they couldn’t reach you. They still have your luggage.”
Her luggage. She’d forgotten about it. She had nothing clean to change into until she retrieved it. This morning seemed like years ago. But she didn’t care about clean clothes right now. “Okay, take me there, please?”
“Come on, Claire. You’re still going to try to save your friend tonight, aren’t you?”
She dropped her gaze to her lap. If she told him the truth, would he try to stop her? Or would he insist on going with her? She didn’t want to involve him in her mess any more than she already had. If he were to get hurt because of her, she’d never have another night’s peaceful sleep.
But could she lie to him again? She brought her thumb up to her mouth and chewed on the nail. For the first time in her life she understood, deep in her bones, the phrase, lesser of two evils.
Yet, it was crystal clear what she couldn’t do. She drew a deep breath and turned in her seat to face him. “I am going to the asylum to try to get Julia to leave the cult. But I don’t want you to get involved anymore.”
His eyes flared and he bared his teeth. “You are the most obstinate, pig-headed, unreasonable woman I’ve ever met.” He yanked the car into gear and stomped on the gas. “I thought after what you must’ve gone through today you’d have had enough of danger. You could’ve died! Don’t you think you’ve risked enough?” He drove like a wild man and cursed under his breath the whole way. “I don’t know what you think you’re going to accomplish with a twisted ankle. And I can’t stop you if you’re determined to jeopardize yourself. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to help you get there,” he mumbled between gritted teeth. “You can call a cab and find your own way. I have a business to run. I can’t believe I was going to close the bar the whole damn night for you.”
He peeled into the parking lot behind Once Bitten, slammed the gear into Neutral and pulled the brake. He jumped out and rounded the front of the car to her side. Before she could get out, he slid an arm behind her back and the other beneath her knees and lifted her into his arms, and carried her all the way up the stairs.
Claire didn’t fight him. His tirade sparked a flame of warmth inside her heart. He cared about her. Maybe they could at least end this strange relationship as friends.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed the underside of his jaw as he set her down to fish his keys from his pocket. With a deep groan, he turned his head and covered her mouth with his. He drew away only to unlock the door, then resumed the kiss as he swooped her up and carried her to the bed and lowered them both onto it.
Between kisses he pulled her poncho off and tossed it. She tugged his T-shirt over his head. He yanked her sweatshirt off and cupped her breast through her bra. She kissed him and unzipped his jeans. He slid his fingers under her bra straps and pushed them down her arms until her nipples were exposed, then he captured one between his lips and teased the tip with his tongue.
With a cry of delight Claire grabbed his hair and wiggled beneath him as he licked her sensitive peak. He sat up, took off his boots, found protection and slipped out of his jeans. Then he was back, covering her with his big warm body, his weight like a blanket shielding her from harm.
He helped her slide off her jeans and panties and she toed off her shoe. His fingers caressed her between her thighs while his mouth captured her nipple again. She was already aching for him when he moved between her legs and entered her with a deep thrust. He nuzzled into her neck and moved in her, setting up a rhythm that had her shouting out in pleasure within minutes.
But he stilled and waited until she came back to him, opened her eyes and smiled. Then, as she languidly kissed his stubbled jaw, he pulled out, took her waist in his hands and rolled her onto her stomach. Ready for him, she parted her thighs and he pushed in. She cried out as he filled her completely. He lay over her carefully, protectively, and laced his fingers through hers, to place her arms over her head, to build her up all over again.
The angle and depth of his strokes from this position had Claire calling out for Rafe, beggi
ng for completion. But he was relentless, kissing along her neck, nibbling her ear, gently biting her shoulder. Whispering other things he wanted to do to her, with her. Emphasizing his words with the powerful rock of his hips.
She came again, her body stiffening, her passage tightening in primal spasms. Rafe stilled, groaned, squeezed her hands with his and then relaxed against her. After drawing in a deep breath, he let it out on a moan and lay beside her. “Claire, Claire, aw, cher. What am I going to do with you?”
She couldn’t move. Could barely think. But he sounded resigned. As if he was done with worrying about her. But he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she snuggled close and rested her head on his chest.
His skin was hot and damp and his heart still beat double-time beneath her ear. She knew she should get up. She had somewhere to be. Her friend. She needed to save her. Stop her from doing something stupid. But Rafe’s rough hand ran up her arm and through her hair, soothing her, caressing her. The tension and terror of the day finally caught up to her. She was exhausted. Her body felt weighted down, so heavy. And her eyes wouldn’t stay open....
14
RAFE WAITED UNTIL CLAIRE’S breathing evened out. Until she sighed and burrowed her nose into his ribs. Until his arm fell asleep. Then he slowly slid out from under her, pausing to make sure she didn’t stir.
The fact that he wanted to stay in bed and hold her all night was exactly why he had to get up. Nobody had ever been able to sidetrack him like Claire had. And the only thing keeping Claire here was her friend. She would leave him. Her life was a thousand miles from here. Letting himself care about her too much was sheer self-torture. But he wasn’t sure how much longer he could be around her and not start to care too deeply. He needed her gone.
So. This would end tonight. One way or another. He’d be damned if he was going to let this problem with Julia go on one more hour. Once he got her away from Armand’s influence, she was Claire’s problem. And he could get his life back on track.
Relentless Seduction Page 12