by Lynsay Sands
Vincent waved the question away with irritation. “No. As I said in the kitchen, I don’t like to read people’s thoughts.”
“Well, you shall have to try to overcome your reticence and read Jackie’s,” Marguerite said firmly. “There’s something in her past that causes her distrust of immortals and I think it would help if you knew what.”
Vincent stiffened. “She doesn’t trust us?”
“She doesn’t trust anyone with immortal blood in their veins,” Marguerite said quietly. “Except perhaps for Bastien and even he she only trusts so far.”
Vincent frowned. “Why?”
“Try to read her mind and you might find out,” Marguerite suggested. “Otherwise you’ll have to read Tiny.”
“Try to read her mind?” he asked and then his eyes widened as Vincent recalled Bastien saying Marguerite was coming out here because she thought he was lonely and might need help cheering up, or even seeing to the situation.
“Oh, no,” he said grimly. “No, no, no, no. Do not even go there.”
“Go where?” she asked innocently.
“Do not start playing matchmaker. I could read Jackie if I tried, I just haven’t tried. She is not my life mate.”
“I don’t know Vincent. I’ve seen it four times now in the last couple years. There’s a certain chemistry between life mates and you two seem to have it.”
“Aunt Marguerite,” he said in warning.
“So, prove me wrong. Try to read her,” she challenged.
Vincent’s mind raced. Part of him was excited at the idea that Jackie might be his life mate. The other part was absolutely terrified. He’d lived more than four hundred years on his own. Four hundred years was a long time to wander the earth in search of a mate, and that’s what he’d been doing.
Vincent wanted a life mate. He wanted someone to share his hopes and dreams and even his sorrows with. His parents’ relationship had been full of love and support and caring. They’d been true life mates, bonded and inseparable until his mother’s death. He wanted that. He wanted someone to laugh with and cry with and to hold close in the dark of night and the harsh light of day. It was why he’d traveled so far and wide during his life. Vincent had been actively seeking his life mate.
During the first three hundred years, Vincent had gained a reputation as a ladies’ man because he went out of his way to meet as many women as he could. It was only the last fifty years or so that he’d grown tired of the hunt and begun to fear he might never find her. Not all immortals did.
Now, his aunt was holding out that hope to him and he was afraid. Oddly enough, he wasn’t just afraid that he might be able to read Jackie, which would mean she wasn’t his life mate, but he also feared not being able to read her, a sure sign that she was his life mate.
Vincent liked Jackie, he found her intelligent, and funny and sexy and he even enjoyed her strength and her slightly hard edge. His own mother had been a strong woman and he wanted that kind of woman for himself. But…
“Go try to read her,” Marguerite said quietly. “If you can read her, there’s nothing to worry about or fear. If you can’t…” She shrugged. “Then you can begin to consider the possibilities.”
Vincent nodded slowly, then turned and made his way back to the kitchen. He’d try to read Jackie. If he could, nothing had changed. If he couldn’t…Everything had.
Six
Vincent was disappointed when he returned to the kitchen to find Jackie had already left. His disappointment was balanced by relief, however. He had a little time to adjust to the possibility that she might be his mate. It was time he could use.
“Oh, hey,” Tiny smiled and got to his feet as he entered. “If you’re hungry, there’s lots of chicken left.”
Vincent opened his mouth to say “no thanks,” but then caught himself. Actually, he was hungry. He hadn’t felt hunger for anything other than blood for a long time, but now he was experiencing actual hunger pangs at the thought of the delicious smelling chicken Tiny had brought out earlier.
Reading Vincent’s expression correctly, Tiny moved to the refrigerator to pull out the chicken.
“Thanks, Tiny,” Vincent murmured as Tiny filled a plate with chicken and then added some coleslaw. Taking the plate from him, he led the way back to the table and settled across from the other man to eat.
Vincent bit into the first piece of chicken and sighed as the robust flavor hit his tongue. “Mmmm. If you ever decide to give up detective work to start your own restaurant, let me know and I’ll bankroll you.”
Tiny merely smiled at the compliment as he ate his own food. The two of them ate in silence for a while, then Vincent said, “So, if I were to ask you what Jackie’s problem is with immortals, I don’t suppose you’d tell me?”
Tiny was silent so long, Vincent had begun to think he wouldn’t answer, then he asked, “What do you think of Jackie so far?”
Vincent considered the question before admitting, “I think she’s beautiful, intelligent and interesting. She appears tough as nails, but I suspect isn’t as hard-boiled as she appears.” He hesitated, debating revealing that Marguerite thought Jackie might be his life mate, but in the end just said, “And for the first time in a very long time I’ve met a woman I’d like to get to know better.”
Tiny nodded, but remained silent for several more moments. He finished off his own food before finally saying, “She is beautiful, intelligent, and interesting. And she isn’t as hard-boiled as she’d have everyone believe she is. Of course, there’s a reason for her hard attitude, but I couldn’t possibly tell you. That would be betraying a friend, and I couldn’t betray her like that…even if it was for her own good.”
Disappointment was just claiming Vincent when the man added, “I like you. I think you’re a good man. I think you’re the kind of man who could make Jackie happy.”
Vincent raised his eyebrows, but remained silent, waiting. His patience was rewarded when Tiny added, “When we first meet immortals, Jackie and I are always on the alert for the possibility that they’ll try to read our minds. Jackie stays that way because of an experience I couldn’t possibly divulge without betraying her trust. I, however, tend to relax my guard if I come to like the immortal…as I do you.”
Vincent blinked, wondering if Tiny was suggesting what he thought he was.
“Of course, if you were to read my thoughts and learn about Jackie that way, I wouldn’t be betraying our friendship,” he said mildly. “However, if you were to do that, I would expect that you’d never ever admit such a thing to me, because then I might have to feel bad about not guarding my thoughts properly.”
Vincent felt a smile tugging at his lips at the man’s cleverness.
“Now, you just sit there and eat quietly. I’m just going to spend a few moments pondering the reason Jackie has a hard-on for immortals and how sad it is that she does.”
Vincent prevented himself from laughing by biting into a fresh piece of chicken. As he chewed, he cleared his mind and began to probe the thoughts Tiny was offering up.
“I’m surprised you didn’t have Allen Richmond install a higher wall and put electric wire along the top,” Tiny teased as they walked along the perimeter of the yard, following the high brick wall that ran around Vincent’s property.
Jackie smiled, but seriously considered the possibility. It wouldn’t be a bad idea now that they knew the saboteur had definitely turned their attention Vincent’s way.
A frown claimed her lips as she thought of the letter that had arrived today. Jackie had found it on returning downstairs from taking a shower and changing. She’d spotted the small stack of fresh mail on the hall table as she was passing it. Realizing Tiny and Marguerite must have collected the mail on returning, she’d picked up the small stack and leafed through the envelopes as she walked into the office. There had been two bank statements, a credit card statement, an electric bill, and a new letter from the writer they suspected was the saboteur.
Jackie had stiffened as s
he saw the telltale return address. It was the same as the delivery address. She’d quickly opened it and read:
Ready to play?
The hair on the back of her neck had suddenly stood on end and adrenaline had shot through her like a cold bullet. Clutching the note, Jackie had whirled toward the door and hurried to the kitchen, only to find Tiny there alone. Vincent and Marguerite had left ten minutes earlier to make the rounds of the clubs.
Jackie had spent quite a while discussing the implications of this letter with Tiny. It was a change in pattern. The previous letters had all been dated the day after each event took place, taunting Vincent after each occurrence. This one seemed to imply a threat of something to come. It had Jackie worried and she knew Tiny was worried too, but they didn’t know what they should be worried about. They had no idea what the saboteur’s plans were.
After discussing it for quite a while, Tiny had suggested a walk around the perimeter of Vincent’s estate. Jackie knew it was just an excuse to work off a little of the tension and anxiety the letter had caused in them both. She didn’t really expect to find anything of interest as they followed the high brick wall that ran around Vincent’s property.
“I doubt a higher fence or electric wire would do much good,” she said now. “Immortals can jump higher than us, but who knows how much higher?”
“Hmm.” Tiny eyed the wall with consideration. “And no doubt they can climb trees too. There are lots of those on both sides of the wall.”
Jackie nodded. “The real security is the motion sensor cameras and alarms on the house itself. Hopefully those will help.”
Tiny grunted agreement and they fell silent. When he spoke again it was to change the subject. “Marguerite is an interesting woman. She cares about Vincent a lot.”
“Oh?”
“She seems to thinks he’s lonely,” Tiny added and Jackie glanced at him with a start of surprise.
“Lonely?”
“Yes. Marguerite thinks he’s losing interest in life. He takes on acting roles less and less often, and she thinks he’s spending more time at home. Marguerite says she doesn’t think he’s been feeding enough either, that she’d noticed he’d lost weight when she saw him in New York.”
Jackie had spent enough time around immortals to know that boredom was their worst enemy. When they lost the passion for life and fed less and became reclusive, it could lead to indifference and depression, then self-destructive behavior. She didn’t like the idea that Vincent might be sinking into depression.
Her thoughts scattered as Tiny suddenly took her arm to turn her to the left. Jackie glanced around to find they’d reached the gate at the driveway and he was urging her up toward the house.
The lights on the ground floor were shining brightly, but Vincent and Marguerite hadn’t yet returned. Jackie wasn’t pleased that he was away from the safety of the house just now, she had a feeling things were going to start happening soon.
“You’ve got that hinky feeling,” Tiny commented.
Jackie smiled faintly at the term they’d coined for her sense that something was about to happen. “It’s showing, is it?”
“You’re about ready to crawl out of your own skin with tension. That’s usually a good sign that you’ve got that hinky feeling.”
She nodded and blew her breath out on a sigh. “I do and the walk hasn’t helped ease it much.”
“Why don’t you go for a swim?” Tiny suggested.
“Maybe I will,” Jackie murmured.
“In the pool or ocean?” he asked. While the house was on prime oceanfront property, there was also a heated outdoor pool. Excess in Hollywood.
“The pool,” she decided. Excess or not, Jackie had seen Jaws on television at an impressionable age. She wouldn’t be able to relax in the ocean if she was scanning the horizon for shark fins and jumping every time some poor fish brushed against her.
“If you’re swimming in the pool, I’ll join you.”
“You saw Jaws as a kid too, huh?” Jackie asked with amusement.
“Oh yeah. Wouldn’t go in the local pool for a week afterwards.”
They chuckled together as they entered the house, then parted to go to their rooms and change, agreeing to meet at the pool. Jackie made quick work of stripping her clothes and donning her red one-piece swimsuit. She returned downstairs and went into the kitchen to find she’d beat Tiny back.
Pausing at the security panel, Jackie punched in the code to release the kitchen door so that their opening it wouldn’t set off the alarms. She then stepped out onto the patio only to hesitate.
The air was still warm from the day’s heat, but it was dark night outside and she briefly debated whether to turn the pool lights on. In the end, Jackie decided the light shining from the kitchen windows lit up the area well enough. It wasn’t as bright as daylight, but light enough they wouldn’t swim head first into the side of the pool, which was good enough for her.
The patio tiles were cool under her bare feet. Jackie dropped the towel she’d brought with her onto one of the iron chairs around the patio table, then walked over to sit on the edge of the pool. She dangled her feet in the water and leaned back to peer up at the star-studded sky, her thoughts wandering briefly. After a moment, Jackie glanced impatiently back toward the house, wondering what was taking Tiny so long.
She was about to go look for him when the kitchen door opened and Tiny walked out in baggy swim trunks with Sylvester the cat on them. Jackie grinned with amusement and shook her head. The man’s size scared most people silly, but no one would be scared if they knew the real man.
Or perhaps they would, Jackie decided. Tiny had as much courage as common sense and was stronger than your average bear.
“What are you waiting for?” Tiny asked as he crossed the patio. “You’re dying to dive in. Go on.”
Chuckling softly, Jackie pushed off, gasping as the water enveloped her. Heated it might be, but the water was still cooler than her body temperature. She quickly dove under the surface to wet herself everywhere and speed up her body’s adjustment to the temperature. When she broke the surface again and glanced around, Tiny was in the water, swimming laps. Jackie relaxed for a while, just paddling her feet, then she too began to swim laps.
It was a good twenty minutes later when she noticed movement at the side of the pool. Stopping abruptly, Jackie peered about, relaxing when she saw it was Tiny. He’d got out and was now drying himself off at the poolside.
“Are you done?” Jackie asked.
“I’m here. Go on and keep swimming,” Tiny assured her as he sat down with the towel wrapped around his shoulders.
Nodding, Jackie continued with her laps. When next she stopped, Tiny was no longer in the chair and Jackie glanced around sharply to see where he’d got to. She then saw the shape moving toward her through the water and gave a little laugh.
A heartbeat later, her amusement gave way to confusion and even fear as she realized the figure moving through the water was too small to be Tiny. Just as Jackie was about to strike out for the pool’s edge, the swimmer surfaced in front of her and she blinked as Vincent’s head and shoulders popped out of the water.
“You’re home.” As greetings went it was pretty lame, but it was the first thought that popped into Jackie’s head.
Vincent chuckled at her surprise. “We got home a couple minutes ago. When I realized you two were out here swimming, I changed and came to join you.”
Jackie nodded and glanced toward the house. “Where did Tiny go?”
“He headed in to change and dry off now that you wouldn’t be left alone.”
“Oh.” Jackie shifted in the water. While she hadn’t been ready to get out when Tiny was there, now that Vincent was there instead, all she could think of was getting out. It suddenly felt dangerous being there, like she’d suddenly discovered she was swimming with a shark.
Jackie headed for the ladder, but then recalled Tiny’s words earlier, about her fear and Vincent not being Cassius. Tin
y liked Vincent and Jackie trusted her co-worker’s judgment. She decided to stick it out and try to be pleasant despite her fears and anxieties. She could handle it, Jackie assured herself, and determinedly ignored the defense mechanisms screaming at her to flee, or insult him, or do whatever was necessary to get herself out of his sphere of influence.
As if sensing her discomfort, Vincent began to backstroke away from her, giving her space. Jackie watched, finding herself admiring his efficient stroke.
“I’m surprised you chose to swim in the pool rather than the ocean,” he commented.
Jackie’s gaze flickered to his face, then she eased into a side crawl as she said, “I like to see what’s in the water with me.”
Vincent chuckled softly.
“I take it you like to swim in the ocean at night?” she asked.
“Yes. I rarely use the pool.” They fell silent for a minute, then he asked, “Is the ocean cold to swim in during the day?” Before she could answer, he said, “I suppose it would be, wouldn’t it?”
“You’ve never swum during daylight?” Jackie asked.
“No, never,” Vincent answered. “Is it nicer than swimming at night?”
Jackie frowned as she considered. “Not nicer, just different,” she decided. “Do you miss the freedom to go out in sunlight when you wish?”
“You can’t miss what you’ve never known,” he said simply.
His answer made her wonder what else Vincent didn’t miss because he’d never known it. She tried to think of things that were strictly daytime activities, but found she couldn’t come up with anything. Jackie worked days and there wasn’t much she did on her days off that couldn’t just as easily be done at night. Swimming, fishing, barbecuing…all of them could be done at night. She supposed sunbathing with a book would be out, but then the specialists claimed the sun caused skin cancer anyway.
“What’s it like to live so long?” Jackie asked suddenly.
Vincent stopped swimming and moved to the side of the pool to hold on to the rim while he considered her question. After a moment, he shook his head. “I don’t know what to say. It’s all I know, I have no way to compare it to not living long.”