by Cora Zane
It seemed as though the world stopped for an instant. Her attention settled on the open-mouthed expression of shock on Gisele’s face. The servant stood amid a mess of strewn clothes.
Eleni could barely believe what she was seeing. The maid had dressed herself in the sleek blue evening dress she’d brought with her from San Francisco. It was ill-fitting on Gisele’s body shape. It fit her trim waist perfectly, but fit too tight across her large bust and curvy hips.
A sharp pain lanced Eleni’s heart. Anya had given her the dress as a sobriety gift before she’d left for France. But Gisele hadn’t stopped with just the dress. She wore a slash of red lipstick that Eleni suspected came from her makeup drawer in the bathroom. But what infuriated her most, was that the servant had secured her lush, honey blonde hair into a loose knot at the nape of her neck with her great grandmother’s floral hairpins.
Gisele’s face blazed scarlet. “I came in to prepare the room for you, and the dress—”
“—was on the bed,” Eleni cut her off in a flat voice. “Yes, I know where I left it.”
“Is it truly a reason to be angry?” Gisele asked in stiff defense. Shaken, she looked remarkably like a little girl discovered playing in her mother’s wardrobe.
“I don’t know what to think,” Eleni said truthfully. She pulled Julian’s bed sheet tighter around her, clinging to it like a shield. “We both know you shouldn’t be in here going through my things.”
Before her date with Julian, she’d tried on the dress, but decided it was too long, too glamorous for the evening. She’d left it lying across the foot of the bed with the intention of hanging it up later. She didn’t know how to take it situation—as an insult, or an awful gesture of flattery? Gisele was a veritable stranger. One she would have to live with, but a stranger all the same. It felt like a violation of more than simply trust.
“Take it off.” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded angry and resolute. She had lived in Rubio’s house with eighteen other women, and while it had ended poorly, no one had ever trespassed on her privacy in this way. No one had ever worn her clothes or jewelry without asking her for permission first.
Gisele began to shimmy out of the too-tight dress. “You plan to tell Julian.” It sounded like an accusation.
The thought hadn’t crossed her mind until now. It didn’t surprise her that Gisele would be worried, but Eleni didn’t need to involve him in a small squabble she could handle by herself. If she presented Julian with a problem so soon after moving in, he might believe her to be a troublemaker.
She turned her back while Gisele changed, but now that Eleni knew she could not trust the woman, it was hard not to watch her in the dresser mirror. Eleni glimpsed Gisele’s white bra straps as the servant turned to toss the dress onto the end of the bed. She spoke to her reflection.
“I will clean my own room from this day forward, is that understood?”
“Perfectly,” Gisele responded stiffly. Once she had pulled on her jeans, she slipped her feet into a pair of gray flats and grabbed for her yellow patchwork cardigan off the floor. She whipped the sweater around her shoulders like a cape, and had only pulled one arm through before she started toward the bedroom door.
“My grandmother’s hairpins, too,” Eleni called after her.
Gisele froze, backtracked. Making no move to look Eleni in the eye, she stepped over to the dresser and fumbled to remove the delicate, enameled flowers. Her hands were shaking as she pulled the pins free and scattered them on top of the dresser. At once, she turned on her heel and hurried from the room.
Eleni didn’t realize she was trembling until Gisele was gone. Immediately, she walked over to the bedroom door and locked it. She wasn’t sure how much good locking the door was going to do since Gisele probably had a key, but it made her feel better—slightly more secure. Still, she couldn’t stop herself from going through her jewelry box to see if anything had been taken.
To her relief, everything appeared to be in order. Nevertheless, she didn’t intend to leave her jewelry box lying around anymore. She replaced the hairpins and shut the blue velvet box, securing the gold latch. Glancing around, she noticed the bedside table had a drawer. Of course, a drawer didn’t compare with a safe, but it was better than nothing—especially now she knew she couldn’t leave things lying around for the staff to find.
She tucked away her jewelry box then closed the drawer and glanced out the window. Night had fallen. The sky was an inky, purple black with a crimson rim along the far horizon—still early. If Julian wasn’t already up and about, he would be soon.
She cursed under her breath. She still needed to shower and get dressed before she went downstairs. The incident with Gisele had put her completely on guard, but it didn’t change the fact that if she was going to catch Julian at breakfast, she’d have to hurry.
* * * * *
Julian stirred from a dream and stretched. With his eyes still closed, he rolled over and reached for Eleni, but his hand found only cool, satin sheets. His eyes popped open and dark brows pulled into a frown. He sat up on his elbow and raked his hand through his hair. The door was closed, and the room silent. When had she left his bed?
Their shared night of pleasure was seared on his memory. The scent of her blood beating with lust had nearly driven him mad with desire. He had not felt so alive in centuries before claiming her.
A twinge of disappointment plucked at him that she hadn’t stayed until the lure of nightfall woke him. Exhaling deeply, he rolled onto his back and folded his arms behind his head. It had been a very long time since a woman had shared a bed with him. Sometimes, he called on Marguerite to sample a woman from her harem, but it was not the same as having an Acolyte of his own to share his bed. The women were faceless, nameless. Gone the next morning as their vampire mistress demanded of them, which suited him fine. Eleni was different, special in some way he couldn’t put his finger on. And it wasn’t simply because she answered to no one but him.
He tossed back the covers, and sat on the edge of the bed, at once noticing the belt to his robe tossed across the chair. A flare of pride rose up in him. How deliciously willing she’d been. And she had not once asked him about his scars.
Remembering that he’d tossed his robe into the fireplace, Julian got up and walked around the bed to take one down out of the closet since he still needed to shower and shave. On his way there, he stopped to pick up the heap of blankets that had fallen onto the floor at the foot of the bed. It was then he realized one of his sheets was missing. A sensual thrill skittered through him at the idea of Eleni walking through the house wrapped in a black silk sheet with nothing underneath.
A minute later, he opened the closet door and pulled a robe down off the hanger. He slipped it on quickly, eager to seek her out. She’d been abused, misled by her former Biter, so it didn’t exactly come as a surprise that she’d left his room before his awakening, not with her trust issues. Nevertheless, he was eager for her company. If that meant he had to go to her, so be it.
On his way out the door, Julian was already thinking of all the wicked things he wanted to do to her. Like bend her over the desk in his office and kiss his way up those long legs. A slow smile twisted his lips.
He made his way over to the premiere suite, and rapped his knuckles against the door. He didn’t want to barge in on her, but when she didn’t answer, he tried the door handle. The room was locked.
For a moment he stood staring at the door, his surprise slowly giving way to simmering anger. He turned away and started back down the hall to his own suite. If there was one thing he didn’t approve of, it was being locked out of a room in his own house. Secrets had nearly killed him once, and he’d vowed long ago that would never happen again.
* * * * *
Eleni stepped out of the bathtub onto the mat and pulled a towel down off the wooden rack. Even after a long soak, she still felt jittery from her confrontation with Gisele, and now she had to get dressed and go downstairs to face Julian.
Dread settled in her heart at the thought of having to watch her back all the time. It was too soon. She didn’t want to go through that again. Was she even strong enough? She’d already fought that battle with Sabilla and Rubio, and it had nearly cost her both her health and her sanity.
When she’d left San Francisco, she’d thought, aside from the times she’d have to report to a probation officer from the council, that she was leaving that old life behind. After all, that had been the goal—to start a new life without the constant stress her former relationship had placed on her. And yet, even as she stood buffing herself dry with a bath towel, that familiar feeling of sadness and anxiety curled through her at the mere thought of the having to live that way again.
Eleni patted her face dry then wrapped her body in the towel before heading off to her closet to pick out something suitable to wear. If she could’ve come up with a passable excuse to hide away in her room all night, she would have done so.
Although she had managed to overcome her Biter’s Addiction to the point that the urge to be bitten no longer ruled her life, she knew she was not the same woman as before. She couldn’t handle stress very well. Confrontations got under her skin easily, and she didn’t want Julian to see her shaken, especially after their first night together. He could get the wrong idea, and she didn’t want him to think his bite had affected her negatively, when in truth, making love with him was probably the first time in months she had felt both sexy and at ease—a woman capable of continuing her life as an Acolyte.
After spending twenty minutes of fidgeting in front of the dresser mirror, Eleni finally admitted she was only putting off the inevitable. Dressed in a white sheath dress and strappy heels, she checked her nude lipstick before heading downstairs to find Julian.
At the base of the stairs, she veered right and walked through the open archway into the dining room. She shuffled to a stop just inside the room, her heart pitter-pattering at the sight of Julian sitting at the far end of the table, deep in conversation on his cell phone.
There was a magnetic quality about him she couldn’t easily define. Her eyes drank in the sight of him. He’d showered and shaved, and wore his long hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail. Dressed in a crisp black suit jacket and a black silk shirt, he looked the epitome of male arrogance and beauty. It excited her, but at the same time, made her extremely nervous.
The chandelier was aglow over the formal table, which had been set for two, with a space for her at his right hand side. It came as a great relief that Gisele would not be joining them, not that she had expected it, but she had wondered if the woman might appear, perhaps to see if she mentioned anything about the incident upstairs. Thankfully, Julian sat alone. It would be much easier for her to talk to him about Gisele without an audience, although in her experience, being alone didn’t necessarily mean they wouldn’t somehow be overheard.
Almost as though Eleni’s brooding thoughts had summoned her, Claudette bustled into the room pushing a serving cart. Her iron gray hair caught in a kerchief, she lifted the tray from the cart and set it on the table. She took one look at Eleni and nodded curtly. “Bonsoir, Mademoiselle.”
Smartphone pressed to his ear, Julian looked up at her as she neared and did a double take. His eyes glittered with heat, but almost as soon as her gaze connected with his, his expression frosted over. He spoke quickly and quietly into his phone and hung up. Confused and wary, Eleni forced a smile as she approached Claudette and reached for a chair. “The coffee smells fantastic.”
The housekeeper responded with a pleased grunt as she poured steaming coffee into the cups set out on the table. Eleni was just about to reach for her chair when Julian stood and came around the corner of the table to hold out the chair for her.
“Thank you,” she murmured as she slipped into the seat, and allowed him to help her scoot toward the table. Something was up, she sensed it. The minute Julian took his seat again, his phone began to ring. Cursing under his breath, he picked it up long enough to silence it then set it down again.
Claudette uncovered a tray of fresh baked croissants, and the smell of warm bread made Eleni’s stomach growl. She hadn’t had much to eat since her arrival in Ville Cleménce, but the way Julian watched her with such focused intensity, she didn’t know if she’d be able to eat anything.
By the time Claudette had left the room and closed the door to the kitchen entrance to allow them their privacy, her heart was hammering. Eleni stirred a spoonful of sugar into her coffee and when Julian still did not speak, she sighed. “Last night was wonderful, Julian. At least, it was for me.” She looked up at him and studied his stern face. “If something is bothering you, I wish you would just tell me.”
A storm brewed in his gray eyes. He rested his elbow on the table, and the way he traced the pad of his thumb over his lower lip made Eleni put down her spoon. A sinking feeling took root low in her belly when he ran his tongue over his fangs.
“The matter is simple—you are here for my pleasure. In return, I offer you the comfort and richness of my house. It is the old way, and I’m an unashamed traditionalist.”
She frowned in confusion. “I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me. I can’t imagine what I’ve done to make you think otherwise.”
“I don’t like secrets.” His voice was rough with anger. “There isn’t a single room in this house I shouldn’t have access to. That includes your suite. The doors in my house are to remain unlocked at all times. Do you understand?”
A chill prickled over her skin even as heat rushed into her face. “It wasn’t my intention to lock you out. Gisele —”
“Do you understand?” He punctuated each word with cool authority.
“Perfectly,” she said, and was about to excuse herself from the table when Julian threw another surprise her direction.
“I also will not tolerate mistreatment of my staff. Gisele told me you banned her from your room.”
“Did she?” Her brows went up. “I suppose she also told you I found her playing dress up in my clothes? She was wearing my great-grandmother’s hairpins.”
If the news surprised him, his expression didn’t show it. “I’ll investigate the matter, and if what you say is true, I’ll speak to her about it.”
“You do that,” she said in a brittle voice. More than likely, Gisele had already fed him some reason for the locked door. How clever of her. From now on, she’d know to watch her back. “In the meantime, I’ll take care of my own suite.”
“As you choose,” he grated, and picked up the silver blood cup from the table and sipped. “From now on, if you have a problem with one of my servants, you bring that issue to me and I will handle it.”
Eleni lost all appetite for her breakfast. Julian’s droll arrogance was too much for her. If not for her probation, she would’ve had a few choice words to say to her new Biter.
But really, what was the point of furthering the argument? The early evening was already ruined. He said he’d talk to Gisele, whatever that was worth.
She pretended an interest in the croissant on her plate, but the first bite she took was like ashes in her mouth. She picked at her food because Julian watched her, but the moment his cell phone rang, she saw her doorway to freedom. The second he picked up his phone and answered it, Eleni daubed at her mouth with the edge of the napkin and stood up from the table. She didn’t wait to be excused, or bother to push her chair in. Why bother with niceties when he was already angry with her? She just wanted to be away from him, the sooner the better.
Hurt, ang
ry, and confused, she took her coffee with her and headed toward the doorway, aware that he watched her back as she strode out of the dining room. Let him look. Clearly, the loyalty lines had been drawn well before her arrival. What a fool she’d been to think a day in bed with him would have made any impression on him. But then maybe that was where she kept failing—by mistakenly thinking she could be something more to a vampire than a blood meal and a body to warm someone’s bed. The worst part of it was that she’d actually opened herself to the idea of being close to Julian—another failure on her part. One would think she’d have learned her lesson by now.
If holding her at a distance was how Julian wished to pursue their relationship, she could go along with that. In fact, she should count it as a blessing. She was far less likely to get her heart broken if she gave up any idea of being loved, and simply took her duty at face value.
Despite feeling like a grand fool, she squared her chin and started up the stairs to her room to setup her laptop and check her email. From now on, she’d make an effort to keep it light and impersonal with Julian. But even as she made that resolution, she wondered how she’d deal with Gisele if she ever found the woman in her room again.
Chapter Seven
Julian strode into his office and slammed the door behind him. He headed straight to the bar across the room and took a bottle of the Sévigné special sang vin from the refrigerated wine cabinet. His lips compressed into a grim line as he took out a glass and a corkscrew and set about opening the bottle. He much preferred to drink hot, rich blood straight from the source, but as always, he would do as he must.
The early evening was a total bust. If things had gone differently, he could have had his breakfast in bed—Eleni.
He’d waken up wanting her. It annoyed him to no end, but it wasn’t so surprising, really. She was beautiful and willing, her skin as smooth and sweet as fresh cream. When he’d bitten her, her delicious blood had flowed into him like a potent liqueur. Just thinking about it made his heart pound and his body restless. He cursed himself for wanting her so strongly. Despite his anger, he craved her nearness, her touch. If she hadn’t locked him out of her room, he would have instigated a repeat of the previous night. Instead, he’d chased her from the room like a shameless boar.