Читать книгу Nevermore - Maureen Child - Страница 9

Chapter 3

Erin looked up.

Way up.

Her gaze traveled the length of long muscular legs, wearing black slacks with a knife edge crease. Up past a flat abdomen and a broad chest covered by an open-throated, long-sleeved white shirt. Up beyond a square, hard jaw, a proud nose that had been broken at least once and into flat, dark eyes that stared, unblinking, down at her.

“Santos.”

He frowned, glanced up and down the street, then shifted his gaze back to her. “You again. How do you know my name? Who are you? What are you doing here?”

Erin pushed herself into a sitting position, dusted the palms of her hands together to get rid of the gravel biting into her skin, then glared right back at him. “I’ve come a long way to find you.”

“That explains nothing.” He set fisted hands on his hips.

She was tired, dirty, sore and oh, yes, terrified. So she wasn’t exactly feeling polite when she said, “I’ll explain everything. Later. Right now, I’d like to recover from someone just trying to run me down in the street.”

He nodded and shot a look in the direction the car had disappeared. “I saw it. I couldn’t reach you in time—”

“Someone did,” she pointed out.

“I saw that, as well.”

“You had quite the view, then.”

“Who are you?”

“Erin Brady,” she said and held one hand out toward him.

He looked at it for a long moment before grabbing it and yanking her to her feet in one smooth motion. “And I am Ricardo Esteban Amadeo Santos.”

“Wow.” She’d known the Santos part, but his whole name was magical and musical and…back on track, Erin.

“You have told me your name, woman. Not who you are.”

But Erin hardly heard him. At the first touch of his hand on hers, her mind had erupted with images. Visions rushed through her brain and she held her breath as she experienced them all in a heartbeat of time.

She and Santos. In bed. Limbs tangled on ivory sheets. His mouth on hers. His hands caressing. She felt the need swell within and heat filled her center, making her knees weak and her breath catch in her throat.

She tried to pull free, but his fingers tightened on hers. And in the space of a breath, the sultry, sexual images faded. Terrifying images swamped her. Darkness. Shifting shadows. Glittering knives. A palace of black stone that shone like obsidian under the light of an orange moon. Memory? One of his memories? They didn’t feel like memories though, and that scared her.

Erin swayed with the power rocketing through her.

“Woman?”

She couldn’t hear him.

Couldn’t hear anything but the screams rising up from the shadows in her mind.

Santos watched the woman’s eyes roll back in her head. Moving quickly, he caught her before she smacked down hard against the street. He heard each wrenching breath torn from her lungs and knew he couldn’t ignore her. Though truth be told, he would not have left her on the street anyway. Not until he discovered just who the hell she was and how she had come to haunt him, not only now but five hundred years before.

He looked down into her face and felt the strength of the connection that had been forged long ago. On the night of his death. When she had appeared to him on the heaving deck of the Niña, he’d thought at first she was an angel. A portent of death. And since he had died only moments after seeing her, that seemed a reasonable assumption.

Her features had danced through his dreams for centuries. Taunting, teasing, smiling at him in a way a woman does when desire takes her.

Santos swept the woman into his arms and simply held on to her for a long moment. His heartbeat hammered in his chest. His breath rushed in and out of his lungs. The woman from his dreams. Impossible to believe she was here. Warm and real and in his arms. The woman he’d seen the night he died. The woman who only yesterday had appeared before him on a city street.

He held her closer and narrowed his gaze. Instinct had him searching the area with a slow, thorough scan. But there was nothing out of the ordinary. The man who had saved her from the speeding car had disappeared as quickly as the threat.

He sniffed the air, but found no trace of a demon nearby. Finally, he shifted his gaze back to the woman lying unconscious in his grasp. She was short and curvy and her breasts rose and fell with her even breathing. He wanted her to wake up. Wanted to look into those emerald-green eyes again.

Wanted to know who the devil she was.

“Soon,” he whispered and bent to scoop her purse off the asphalt. Then he stalked to the drive, holding his own personal phantom close.

The magical wards set up around the perimeter of the property strained as he passed through them. Strong enough to keep out any demon that might try to invade the Guardian’s home, the protection spell allowed passage to all but the demon realm. Now, he thought that perhaps he should arrange for stronger wards. To keep out all but he and those who worked for him.

Moments ago, he’d been standing on the balcony of the great house hidden in the trees. He had seen the woman start across the street. Seen the car burst into life and charge at her—aiming directly at her. Seen the man come out of nowhere to push her to safety. All in a matter of seconds. He had been too far away to reach her and in that heartbeat of time, he’d felt more helpless—more powerless than ever before in his life. A man used to action, to protecting mortals, he had been forced to watch as a young woman faced her death. Only to see her survive.

At the memory, his arms tightened around her, pressing her body closer to his. He’d had no idea then that she was the woman he had dreamt of for centuries. No idea that she was somehow even more than that.

From the first instant he touched her, he’d felt it. A rush of…expectation. Of destiny. He wanted to shake it off, but that bone-deep realization would not fade. It was the sure and steady sense that nothing in his life would ever be the same again after today. That this woman was going to bring chaos and wonder into a world that had become commonplace.

But there was a part of him that resented her very presence. His life was as he had made it. As he wanted it. Introducing a woman—even this woman—into it was only asking for trouble.

She stirred as he crossed the meticulously kept lawn. Her amazing eyes opened and fixed on him. And for one brief moment, Santos indulged himself by looking into the depths of those eyes.

Then she spoke and the spell was shattered.

“Where are we going?”

His jaw tightened and his spine stiffened. He was a Guardian. No man to be waylaid by the promise of deep green eyes and a lush body. “My home.”

“Oh,” she said on a grateful sigh, “good.”

One eyebrow lifted. As much as he felt a connection to her, he was not ready to dismiss centuries of suspicion. “Do not think yourself a guest quite yet, woman. There are questions that must be answered.”

“That’s okay.” She cuddled in trustingly close to him, making his body fire with a need he couldn’t quash. “I can do that. All I need is a little sleep. Then I’ll be good to go. Really…”

Her eyes closed again before he reached the front door and anything he might have said died unuttered. Santos stopped dead in the middle of the yard. A cold, damp sea breeze swept past him, lifting her hair into a swirl of dark red flame about her head. He shouldn’t take her into the house, he knew. She wasn’t a demon. He knew that much, as there was no wash of trace energy clinging to her. But she might be in league with a demon. She could be the Trojan horse, sent to invade his sanctuary—seduce him into compliance so that—

As soon as the thought rushed through his mind, Santos threw back his head and laughed. Yes, he wanted her. Yes, his body already hungered for hers, as if every cell of his being had suddenly wakened to a ferocious need. But the idea that Ricardo Esteban Amadeo Santos could be turned from his duty by the beauty of a woman was absurd. Shaking his head, his laughter faded slowly as he studied her.

“If it is your plan to trap me with desire, woman,” he whispered, “be warned. I’m not a man to be led by his cock. I will have answers from you or—dream woman or not—you will find yourself back in the street where I found you.”

He headed for the house again with long, sure strides. Santos kicked one of the oak panels and waited impatiently until it swung open. A tall, dark-haired man with pale blue eyes, wearing jeans and a gray sweater looked at him, shocked. “Is she injured?”

Thomas Hawthorn and his wife Amy had arrived only three weeks before from England. They and their families had worked for Guardians most of their lives. They knew exactly who and what Santos was and did all they could to assist him.

“She will not remain awake long enough for me to determine that,” Santos admitted. He carried her easily down the marble hall to the wide staircase. As he started up, he glanced back at the man still watching him. “Please ask Amy to make some tea. If I can wake her up, I’m sure she will appreciate it.”

“Yes, sir.”

Santos barely heard him. He took the carpeted stairs two at a time, his footsteps muffled in the stillness of the vast mansion. This opulent palace by a cold sea would never feel like home to him, though even Santos could concede that it was more than adequate. Pale ivory walls were dotted by framed works of art. A thick, dark red carpet runner stretched along the long hall, covering the gleaming oak floorboards and lending richness to the surroundings.

But Santos paid none of it any attention. He hit the second-floor landing, turned left and walked directly to the master bedroom.

He could have used one of the guest rooms, but until he knew who and what this woman was, he planned on keeping her close. Even if that meant in his own bed.

Weak afternoon sunlight washed through the sheer white curtains drawn across the French doors leading to a stone patio that overlooked the back garden and the ocean beyond. A massive dark oak bed was pushed against one wall and opposite it was a huge stone fireplace with two plush armchairs pulled up before the now cold hearth.

Santos walked directly to the bed and laid her out on top of the pale blue silk duvet. He reached down to pull off her tennis shoes, then moved back to the head of the bed. She moaned, whispered something he didn’t catch and turned onto her side, facing him.

Her long, dark red hair lay in tumbled curls around her shoulders and across her face. In sharp contrast, her fair skin seemed even paler than it should have. There were bruised shadows beneath her eyes and the soft sigh that escaped her told him just how tired she was.

Something inside him stirred again and he didn’t look too closely at the sensation. If it was pity, so be it. But he would remain in control of this situation. He would not allow a woman—no matter how beautiful—to turn him from the duty that was first and foremost in his life.

“Sleep then.” He couldn’t resist reaching out to lift her hair away from her face. And if his fingers rubbed the silky strands, who would know? When he straightened, he said, “But when you wake, I will be expecting those answers you promised me.”

Erin woke with a jolt.

She sat straight up and looked around wildly, half expecting some new threat to come flying at her from the corners of the room. That’s when her gaze landed on the man she’d come so far to find.

Sitting in a chair at the far side of the bed, his arms were folded across his broad chest and his legs were crossed, one booted foot resting on a knee. His dark eyes were fixed on her and his features were hard. Expressionless.

If she had been hoping for comfort, she wasn’t going to find it here.

But that was all right. She didn’t need her hand held. What she needed was help in finding out what was happening before it was too late.

“When I was asleep, I dreamed I met you,” she said and her voice was almost lost in the cavernous room.

“This was no dream.”

“No,” she said as aches and pains began to make themselves known. This was all too real. Her hip throbbed from where she’d landed on it in the street and the palms of her hands were scraped red and raw. Plus, her stomach was rumbling, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten in hours. Or was it days?

Beyond him, curtains were pushed back to show that night had fallen. An icy wind swept through the opened French doors and in the sky, stars shone down with cold indifference.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“Hours.” One word. Clipped.

“I was tired.” Exhausted would be a better word, but he didn’t need to know that she hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in weeks. Shoving one hand through her hair, she pushed it back from her face and let her gaze slide from his. He was too intense. Too…focused on her. Her body stirred under his direct stare and she didn’t want to think about that at the moment.

Instead, she took another look at the room where he’d brought her. A fire burned in a stone hearth and before the fire rested a small table in front of a pair of bloodred wingback chairs. On the table rested a covered dish and her stomach growled again, this time loud enough for him to hear it.

From the side of the bed, Santos sighed and she whipped her head around to look at him. “You are hungry?”

“Starving,” she admitted. What was the point of denying it?

“There are cold sandwiches,” he said, lifting one shoulder in a careless shrug. “The tea is no doubt long cold, but I will arrange for more.”

“Thanks, but more tea is not necessary.” She scooted off the bed on the opposite side from him. He wasn’t looking any too friendly and she needed something to eat before delving into the reasons why she was here.

Heading for the table, she lifted the silver cover off the plate and almost groaned upon seeing the thick, roast beef sandwiches. Grabbing up a half of one, she took a big bite, then turned abruptly as she sensed him directly behind her.

She almost bumped right into him. In her defense, he took up a lot of room. Up close, his shoulders and chest were even broader than she remembered from her first glimpse of him. His eyes burned with a dark fire that seemed to singe every nerve ending in her body.

Erin swallowed hard, took a breath and said, “God, you move quiet.”

“So I have been told.”

“Could you back up a little? You’re making me nervous.” Not completely true, she thought. He was making her a lot more than nervous. She hadn’t expected this. Hadn’t been prepared for the rise of desire so thick it nearly choked her. She hadn’t anticipated the incredible want building inside her. And she wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it. She needed his help. She didn’t need him in her bed.

Keep that in mind, Erin. She took another bite of the truly excellent roast beef, chewed and swallowed, stalling for time.

“I can wait. Take as long as you like to eat and drink, to regain your senses. But you will not leave this room until I know why you are here. And how you come to appear before me at odd moments with no warning.”

God, that voice. Soft and dark and compelling. He spoke with an Old World sort of formality, which tugged at something inside her. Plus, there was the accent. A hint of Spanish flavored his words and made him all the more hard to resist. He could probably have been a very successful hypnotist or something. Send women into hormone-driven comas just by speaking.

“Do you hear me?”

“Yeah. I hear you.” All too well. That voice of his was a weapon, designed to bring women to their knees. And boy, did it work well.

She took a breath and tightened her hold on the sandwich. Get a grip on yourself, Erin. She couldn’t afford to be distracted by the lush swell of sexual attraction—though God, it wasn’t easy to ignore. Still, he was right. Stalling was pointless. After all, she’d come a long way to talk to this man. In her vision, she had felt unerringly that he was the one person who would be able to help her.

Forcing herself to look up into his eyes, she fought to not lose herself in those dark depths swirling with impatience and suspicion. Because strength was also there. Strength she needed.

So much had happened over the last few weeks. She had felt herself surrendering to fear that seemed to color every breath she took. And now, when she had finally found the one man she was sure could keep her alive, she had to throw caution to the wind. She had to take a firm stand. Tell him who she was and what she needed. Then she would tell him that she knew he would help her.

Because he had a secret he protected.

And thanks to her visions, she knew what that secret was.