by Donna Grant
Captured by Desire
By
Donna Grant
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Captured by Desire
ISBN: 978-0985371364
Copyright© 2012 Donna Grant
Cover Artist: Rasit Ra
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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www.DonnaGrant.com
Chapter One
Brasov, Romania
Summer, 1873
Juliann Little wasn’t a woman to stand by while life flew past her. She had lost several friends in her propensity to act without thinking. Doing so had changed her life forever three years prior when she followed her heart and had an affair. With a married man.
She hadn’t known he was married, but by then the damage had been done. She was ruined. Completely. Utterly.
After that debacle, Jules had begun helping her father in his quest to search for anything supernatural. It was used as an escape, and her father gladly welcomed her.
Yet, Jules found part of herself on those travels. A part she hadn’t known was missing. A part that needed something…more…in her life than parties and gossip.
Usually her father kept his travels centered around England and Scotland, but recently, his research took him to Romania.
That’s where everything unraveled.
Jules stepped off the travel coach and took a quick look around the small, quiet village. Everyone kept their gazes to the ground, refusing to speak to each other.
“Excuse me,” Jules said when a man walked near her. But he continued on as if she didn’t exist.
She bit her lip and inhaled deeply. If she expected to locate her father, she was going to have to get someone’s attention. Quickly.
“Miss? Where do you want me to leave your luggage?” the driver asked impatiently.
Her gaze scanned the sleepy village until she spotted an inn down the road a bit. “I’ll take it,” she said.
He dropped her valise onto the ground before she could reach him, and Jules was glad she hadn’t packed anything breakable in the bag. She picked up her case, straightened her shoulders, and walked to the inn.
A thin, pale young woman with blonde hair greeted her as she walked through the door. “May I help you?” the young woman asked, a kind smile on her lips.
Jules sighed in relief as she closed the door behind her and set the valise at her feet. Finally, someone with manners. “I’d like a room, please.”
The girl’s eyes widened. “You’re staying in Brasov?”
Jules was hard pressed not to ask what else she’d be doing in the inn but looking for a room. “I’m searching for my father, actually. Professor Little. Perhaps he stayed here?”
The girl fidgeted with her skirts and swallowed nervously. “I wouldn’t suggest staying here, miss. These are very dangerous times.”
Dangerous? Jules tamped down her growing panic and calmly asked, “What is going on, exactly?”
Not that she expected the girl to tell her there were vampires or such running around, but with her father here, it had to be something of the supernatural realm.
“There is a pack of wolves that has been attacking people.”
Jules looked out the window to her right and gazed at the Carpathian Mountains. Wolves. Her father hadn’t been hunting wolves, but he must have found something.
She turned back to the girl. “My father? Do you remember him?”
“I do, miss,” the girl replied softly. “He stayed here about six months ago before he headed into the mountains.”
“Thank you,” Jules said. “I don’t know how long I’ll be staying, but I do need a room.”
“You’re a woman traveling alone. Not a good idea in Brasov, if you don’t mind my saying so,” the girl whispered and glanced out the window.
“I’ll be fine, but thank you for the warning.”
Jules paid the girl, and then followed her up the stairs to her room. Before the girl turned to leave, Jules stopped her.
“Do you know of any men I can hire to take me up the mountains?”
The girl glanced down the stairs, her fingers clutching her her dark green skirts. “I know some men who are always looking for work, but with the wolves, you’ll have to pay extra.”
“The amount doesn’t matter. I just need someone who knows the mountains.”
“Then you really need Cristian Dragomir, miss. No one knows our mountains better than he.”
Jules’ heart leapt at the news. “Do you know where I can find Mr. Dragomir?”
The girl shrugged and took a step back, eager to leave. “You’ll find him somewhere about town.”
Jules waited until the door shut behind the girl before she turned to the window and the beautiful, dangerous mountains that rose up to the clouds.
They were dangerous because they contained the highest concentration of large carnivores in all of Europe. But the beauty with its vast array of flora turning the rock walls into multicolored canvases, was breathtaking.
Or so she’d read and seen in pictures. Jules was excited to get a closer look at the peaks, gorges, and valleys first hand.
Her father was somewhere on those mountains, and she wasn’t leaving Romania until she found him.
Chapter Two
Cristian Dragomir couldn’t shake the iron claws of dread around his heart. Many times his parents had gone off into the mountains, but always they returned. Always. Two weeks had passed since they left, and there was no sign of them.
He had scouted the foothills and found their trail, but it traveled deeper into the mountains. He’d returned to gather more gear to follow them, because he knew what no one else in Brasov did – it wasn’t wolves killing people in the mountains.
But he was going to make sure he found whatever monster was there and kill it before it could harm anyone else.
Cristian noticed the coach stop in the street. He slowed his steps as he crossed to get a better look at the lady in a stylish gown of soft blue and white stripes. Her chestnut hair was tied away from her face and a straw hat with matching ribbons perched on her head. Even from a distance, Cristian noted how her eyes took in every detail, as if she searched for someone.
And then he heard her voice.
An Englishwoman traveling alone. She wouldn’t survive long in Brasov, but Cristian didn’t have time to tell her, not when his parents were missing.
He moved on, the Englishwoman quickly forgotten as he began to round up his supplies. It was just a short hour later when she stepped in front of him on the street.
“You’re Mr. Dragomir, yes?” she asked softly.
He took in her eye-catching petite frame and bountiful curves. Her voice was smooth as silk and more seductive than any woman’s ought to be. Her heart-shaped face held high cheekbones and large, expressive eyes the color of sherry, framed by thick lashes. She held his gaze with determination.
He knew he could pretend not to understand her as most in Brasov had done, but she had a tenaciousness that caught him off guard. Too many in Brasov liked to go through their lives pretending they didn’t know what was in the mountains.
> There was a knowledge in the sherry gaze that watched him, a knowledge that said she understood Brasov. Or at least was willing to try.
Unsure why he would take the time, Cristian said, “I am.”
Her lips lifted in a grin of relief, and his heart skipped a beat. “Fabulous. I was told you know those mountains better than anyone.”
Cristian’s gut urged him to turn and forget the alluring woman before him. Immediately. But her smile had him rooted to the spot. “We all know the Transylvanian Alps.”
Her brows rose at his words. “Let me put it to you plainly, Mr. Dragomir.”
“Call me Cristian,” he interrupted before she could continue. “My father goes by Mr. Dragomir.”
She glanced at the ground. “Forgive my manners. I’m Juliann Little, the daughter of Professor Little who came to Brasov six months ago.”
“I remember the professor.” A sick feeling grew in his gut because he knew what Miss Little was about to say next.
She licked her full lips nervously. “You see, Cristian, my father wrote me constantly to let me know of his research. His last letter, well, held a note of fear, but also a declaration that he’d found something. Subsequently, I’ve heard nothing from him. It’s been three months since I’ve gotten a letter, and that isn’t like my father at all.”
“Maybe he’s doing more research.”
She covertly looked around her before she took a step closer, her voice lowered. “My father’s research is...different. You see, he specializes in the...in the supernatural.”
Cristian hadn’t been prepared for her words. His blood drummed in his ears as he waited for her to point to him and announce to the village that her father had come here for him.
Instead, she continued on, unaware of the havoc her words caused.
“Before he left England, he’d gotten a message from a friend telling him there was something in the Carpathian Mountains. The next day my father left for Brasov.”
Somehow Cristian managed to keep his voice even as he asked, “Do you know what he came for?”
She lifted a slender shoulder. “You’ll think him daft, but he was after a supernatural creature. He didn’t tell me which one.”
But Cristian guessed she knew which one it was by her silence. “I wish I could help, Miss Little, but I can’t,” he said before he turned and walked away.
“I was told you were heading into the mountains tomorrow morning,” she said as she hurried to catch up with him, her skirts in her hand.
He stopped suddenly and turned to her. “The mountains are treacherous, even in the summer. I’m sure you’ve heard the townspeople talk of the wolves, but there are more than just wolves out there. There are bears, lynx, and chamois, to name a few.”
“In other words, you don’t think I can keep up, that I’ll slow you down and scream at every little sound I hear.”
He shrugged. “As a matter of fact, yes.”
“I’ve hired six men. I am going up that mountain in the morning. I’d rather have someone like you with me, and I’m willing to pay for your services.”
He paused at her words. He could certainly use the money to fix up the manor, but was it worth the risk of her discovering just what he was?
“You’re going anyway,” she continued. “Why not get paid for it?”
“I’m going to regret this,” he murmured and raked a hand through his hair. No matter how much he didn’t want to take Juliann, he knew she’d be safer with him. “How much are you willing to pay?”
“Money isn’t a concern. My father is. How does a hundred pounds sound?”
“Three.”
Her chin lifted as her eyes narrowed slightly. “Two.”
“Deal,” he said and stuck out his hand.
She took it. “I’ll pay you half in the morning, and the rest once we return.”
“Be here at dawn.”
She flashed him a bright smile and turned on her heel. He watched the bustle of her gown sway gently as she walked. Already he regretted agreeing to take her with him, but the money had been too good to pass up.
Besides, he could almost guarantee that within two days she’d want to return.
* * * *
Jules was waiting for Cristian before the sun peeked over the horizon to shed soft rays of light upon the gray morning. She couldn’t shake the feeling that he might very well leave without her if she was even a second late. Sleep had been near impossible, but she had managed to catch a few hours.
The six men she’d hired stood around her, each with a bag full of coins tucked away somewhere. She had one bag left, which held the money for Cristian.
She shifted the small satchel on her shoulder that held a change of clothes. As much as she longed to wear her trousers, she knew Cristian would look for any excuse to leave her in town, money or not. So, she planned to wait until they were in the mountains before she removed her skirt.
“You’re early,” Cristian said as he strolled up.
“And you’re late,” she retorted. Anxiety made her snap at people.
She handed him the last of her money while she prayed she wouldn’t need to spend any more. She would face his wrath as well as the other men when they returned and she couldn’t pay them the rest. No need for them to know that now.
Cristian looked her over with his unusual gold-flecked green eyes. His cropped, dark brown hair was still damp from a recent washing, and the sun glinted off barely visible golden strands hidden in the brown.
His brow furrowed as he took his time looking her over. His face was all hard angles and ruggedness, softened by his thin lips.
Those lips flattened a moment before he said, “You’re going to have a hard time climbing in those skirts.”
“I’m a woman, Mr. Dragomir. What else am I to wear? But never fear, I’m wearing the correct boots.”
“What a relief,” she heard him mutter sarcastically as he started off.
She fell into step behind him and she tried to keep her eyes averted from the beige shirt stretched over his impossibly wide shoulders. The sleeves were rolled up over his elbows, giving her a glimpse of sun-kissed skin and calloused hands.
He walked and moved with such deadly grace, giving him an air of confidence none of the six men around her possessed. It was more than that. His shirt didn’t hide the honed, thick muscles of his body from his wide chest that narrowed to trim hips and long legs.
Cristian glanced over his shoulder, giving her a glimpse of his strong jaw line and stubborn chin. She liked the little indent in the middle of his chin.
Handsome really didn’t describe him properly. There was a hardened edge to him, mixed in with a persona that oozed power and sexuality.
Just to look at him made her blood sing and her heart race as it never had before. If she wasn’t careful, he could tear down her legendary control. It had been so very long since she’d given into her body’s desires, and the urge to do so now was almost overwhelming.
It was one of the reasons she was glad she and Cristian weren’t alone.
Jules was quickly pulled from her perusal of Cristian as the climbing got difficult. Cristian remained ahead of them by nearly two dozen steps, and the men she’d hired had clustered together.
It was impossible to ignore the men’s growing anxiety. A look at Cristian calmed her when she noted nothing in his stance had changed.
Jules bit back an oath as she tugged her skirts free from limbs and undergrowth as they climbed the foothills to the Carpathians. The scenery was spectacular, but she didn’t spend much time looking. Instead she searched for clues that her father might have come through the same area.
The day passed relatively quickly, and she tamped down her disappointment that she didn’t find any clues to her father's whereabouts. She hadn’t given up, though. She would find him.
That night, she didn’t rise to the bait when Cristian asked her if she was ready to return to Brasov. She just smiled at him and reached for her share of the rabbit roa
sting on the fire. Though she wanted very much to put him in his place, she was too exhausted. Tomorrow would be much better since she planned to leave her heavy skirts behind.
She lay down on the packed earth and looked up through the dense trees to the sky above her, weariness making her lids heavy. The moon, just a slit in the night sky, hid behind thick clouds while the stars winked down at her.
I’ll find you, Papa. I promise.
Chapter Three
Cristian continuously scanned the area, searching for any clues of his parents. He knew their normal route, and even though he had already tracked them into the mountains, he couldn’t help but think that he was missing something important.
After one last look, he rose and turned to see if Juliann was ready. And found his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth.
She stood with her back to him, not in the skirt and bustle she had worn the day before, but in a pair of trousers that showed every delectable inch of her curves, from her small waist and flared hips to the firm swell of her bottom.
He stared at her slim legs and found himself envisioning those legs wrapped around his waist as he buried himself in her hot, slick sex.
Cristian shook his head to clear it just as Jules turned toward him, and he found his gaze drawn to her full breasts. If he’d thought bringing her along was going to be hell, what stood before him now would test his resolve more than anything before.
He turned his back on her and lifted his bag onto his shoulder. “We’ve got a long day. Let’s get moving.”
They were at the base of the Carpathians, and one glance at Jules’ men told him they were getting more nervous the deeper into the mountains they went. He had thought the men might come in handy if something attacked, but now Cristian wasn’t so sure.
If anyone was going to watch over Jules, it seemed he was now the man to do it.