Rises The Night (The Gardella Vampire Hunters 2)

Somewhere there were vampires, though. Not in the room, that she could tell, but somewhere nearby.

“I’m going to kill you,” she said behind her teeth.

“Why do you think I took the precaution of confining you?”

“Did you say Beauregard is your grandfather?”

“Well, more precisely, he is my great-great-great-great…some vast number of generations back…grandfather.” Sebastian smiled benevolently, as though he’d just announced his relationship to the king. He’d left his jacket off and sat in his shirtsleeves and breeches with a glass of wine next to him on the table.

“He’s a vampire.”

Sebastian bowed his head in acknowledgment.

“A vampire whose name obviously carries a great amount of weight and influence.”

“So you heard me through the fog of their thrall? I wasn’t certain what you remembered.”

“I heard it all, including the part where you claimed that I belonged to you, like some piece of horseflesh. I had no idea you meant to spirit me off like a primitive and take advantage of me.”

He looked at her then with tiger eyes that gleamed warning. “Might I remind you, Victoria, that I did not take anything you did not freely give.”

She forced away the blush of fury and mortification and turned the conversation. “Who ordered you to take me away?”

“I was not ordered to do anything. I was asked quite reluctantly, and I readily agreed, knowing that it was to my benefit as well as your own since it would keep your pretty skin from being caught in the crossfire and myself from being forced to take sides. And, might I clarify, I did so without requiring any compensation. Do you not think that heroic of me?”

“Heroic? Or self-serving? After all, it appears you took great advantage of the situation and got your compensation after all.”

“Now, Victoria, you must admit that our quite satisfying intimacies were a long time coming, and in truth, were merely an unexpected benefit of my task. Truly, my only intent was to see you safely out of the way while things progressed the way they will.”

“What do you think I am, a helpless female? I am a Venator! I didn’t need to be spirited away, you bloody fool! I needed to be there!” She pulled at the ropes around her wrists, causing whatever she was tied to to creak softly. When she saw the interested gleam in his eyes at the reminder of her helplessness, she quickly started up her inquiries again. “Who asked you to take me away? Beauregard?”

He appeared to be enjoying the situation quite immensely, which made Victoria all the more determined to wipe that sardonic grin from his beautiful mouth. “You mean you haven’t figured it out yet?” He laughed. “You really don’t know? It was Pesaro, of course. Pesaro, who would never have asked such a thing of me if he’d had any other choice—which, of course, he did not. Poor sot.”

Victoria stopped. Yes. It made sense. Max had told her to leave Rome, had known she would not listen—which, of course, she wouldn’t have—and had taken matters into his own hands.

“Why is there such enmity between you and Max?” she asked.

Sebastian shook his head. “That is not something I wish to discuss with you at this time. But feel free to ask any other questions you might have. Perhaps you will hit upon another topic of interest. We do have some time to kill. Unless you would like to indulge in some other pleasant activities.”

“You truly are addled if you think I will ever let you touch me again.”

“Now you are beginning to sound like those heroines in Mrs. Radcliffe’s novels—and not the least bit Venatorial. Is this what happens when the best has been gotten of you? It’s a wonder you made it as far as you have if you fall into those clichéd protestations.”

“Why don’t you untie me and we’ll see how much of a Gothic heroine I am.”

“And allow the Venator her full strength?” he replied in mock horror. “I think not. Although…” He moved and was suddenly sitting next to her, his hip touching the side of her waist. “I don’t know why I shouldn’t take further advantage of the situation; for, as you’ve pointed out, once you’ve been set free, I’m not liable to get within a few yards of your lovely person. Which I would find to be quite distressing.”

He curled his fingers firmly around her jaw to hold her head in position and bent forward. She expected a rough, controlling kiss, but was surprised when it turned out to be soft and gentle: the antithesis of the forcible way he confined her. She told herself she kissed him back just to lull him into complacency. When, after a moment, she tried to bite his lip, he pulled back, laughing, and released her face. “There’s my fighter.”

He trailed a finger along her chin, over her neck, and down through the little dip at the base of her throat to the swell of her breasts, leaving a trail of gooseflesh in his wake. “Very tempting, you are, my dear; so much so that I’ve risked more than I should have since we met. But, then, I am not the first Vioget to allow a woman to influence my better judgment. The men in my family do have their weaknesses.”

Sebastian had not moved from his place next to her side, and the warmth of his legs next to her body was becoming unbearable. He’d shifted and was leaning over her, propped up on a palm on the other side of her arm, his cravatless shirt brushing her gown.

She didn’t give him the satisfaction of asking the obvious question. She just glared and tried not to think about how near he was. She refused to notice the way the pulse beat calmly in his throat, and the way the shallow opening of his shirt exposed just a bit of the golden hair that grew on his chest. And how one of his fingers played gently with the curls near her ear, sending uncomfortable prickles along her neck.

Instead, she focused her attention on the fact that he’d tricked her again. Certainly he claimed it was to keep her safe…but he was the grandson of a powerful vampire. She couldn’t trust him, even if he was a delicious lover. Their lovemaking had merely been a way for him to catch her off guard and abscond with her somewhere to keep her safe.

Her! A Venator!