Desire the Night

She tapped her fingertips on the arm of the sofa, wondering if Gideon kept any money in the house, and if so, where? She spent several useless minutes trying to imagine where a vampire might keep a few dollars stashed and then went looking—there was nothing in the dresser but T-shirts, socks, and underwear, and nothing in the closet but pants and shirts and shoes.

When she looked in the nightstand beside the bed, she found a brown leather wallet. Hunger overrode guilt, and she looked inside, hoping to find a few dollars. What she found was several hundred in twenties and fifties.

Taking two twenties, she put the wallet back, closed the drawer, and headed for the front door, only to pause, her hand on the knob.

She didn’t have a key. If she went out, and the door locked behind her, she wouldn’t be able to get back in.

If she left the door open … she bit down on the inside of her lower lip. She couldn’t expose Gideon to a risk like that. It was unlikely that anyone was looking for him, or would expect him to be here after being away for so long. Still … she chewed on her thumbnail, her stomach growling loudly all the while. It would be hours until he woke. Darn it. She was stuck in here until sundown.

With a sigh of exasperation, she plucked a book from the shelf and blew off the dust, thinking it was too bad she couldn’t eat the pages.

Gideon woke with the setting of the sun. A glance to the left showed he was alone in bed. So, where was Kay? Sitting up, he sniffed the air, felt himself relaxing when he heard the faint sound of her breathing from the other room.

Throwing back the covers, he got out of bed and padded barefooted into the living room to find his houseguest curled up on the sofa. She looked incredibly young lying there, her lips slightly parted, her cheek pillowed on her hand, her hair spread around her face like a cloud of ebony silk.

When he took a step toward her, she jerked upright.

“I thought you were asleep,” he said.

“I’m starving.”

“Sorry. Come on, I’ll take you out to dinner.”

“I don’t have anything to wear.”

His gaze moved over her. With her hair falling loose over her shoulders and clad in his T-shirt and sweats, she looked like a little girl playing dress-up in her father’s clothes. “We’ll stop on the way and buy you something.”

“I can’t go out looking like this.”

“Sure you can. Let me put on a pair of jeans and we’ll go. There’s a mall down the street.”

Huffing a sigh of exasperation, she muttered, “Sure, you get to change,” but he was already gone.

He returned a few minutes later wearing a pair of jeans, boots, and a leather jacket over a T-shirt. “Ready?”

She glanced at her bare feet, grimaced, and said, “Let’s just go.”

He sketched a bow. “After you.”

With a shake of her head, she preceded him out of the apartment.

She was too hungry to spend much time shopping. In the department store, she picked out a pair of jeans, a yellow sweater, and a pair of flip-flops, quickly changed clothes in the dressing room, and was ready to go.

Passing through the shoe department, Gideon insisted Kay try on a pair of black suede Gucci boots to replace the ones Verah had taken.

“You don’t have to do that,” Kay said. “It’s not your fault that witch is a thief.”

“But it’s my fault you were there.”

She couldn’t argue with that. She sat down while the clerk went to get the boots in her size.

Kay gasped when she saw the price tag. Seven hundred dollars. “These are way too expensive,” she said. They were far nicer and considerably more costly than the ones Verah had stolen.

“I can afford it,” Gideon said. “If you don’t like these, pick out something else.”

“These are fine,” Kay said. How could you go wrong with Gucci?

He nodded at a display table, then told the clerk, “We’ll take that matching bag, too.”

When she started to protest, Gideon shushed her with a look.

After they left the store, he stuffed a handful of greenbacks into her new purse. “Mad money,” he muttered. “Just in case. So, what are you in the mood for?”

“A steak and fries.”

“I like a woman who knows what she wants,” Gideon said, grinning.

Twenty minutes later, she was sitting across from Gideon in a swanky steakhouse.

“I think we’re a little underdressed,” Kay remarked, glancing around. Most of the men wore suits or sports jackets, the majority of the women wore dresses and heels.

“Are you kidding? Your boots probably cost more than most of the dresses these women are wearing.”

She couldn’t argue with that.

When the waitress came, Kay ordered the biggest steak the place had to offer—rare, please—fries, and a glass of iced tea. Gideon ordered a glass of dry red wine.

“Do you ever miss eating?” Kay asked when the waitress left to turn in their order.

“Not anymore.” He leaned back, one arm draped over the back of the booth. “So, what are you gonna do now?”

“I don’t know. Go home, I guess.”

“Where’s home?”

“Custer, South Dakota.”

“Are you serious? What the hell are you doing there?” He shook his head, and then laughed. “Couldn’t you find a smaller town?”

She looked at him as if he wasn’t too bright. “I like it because it is a small town. Not a lot of people. And it’s close to the Black Hills.”

“Ah. Lots of game and plenty of wide-open spaces.”

“You’ve been there?”

“Honey, I’ve been everywhere.”

Of course he had, she thought. “So, where are we now?”

“Phoenix.”

“Phoenix!” How did she get so far from home? “What are we doing here?”

“I maintain a couple of residences around the country. This one was the closest to Verah’s place.”

Kay considered that a moment. “So, where does the witch live?”

“Some little no-name town in New Mexico.”

“New Mexico!” Kay exclaimed. She knew she had been drugged when she went nightclubbing with Wanda, but she’d had no idea her kidnapper had taken her so far away from home.

Gideon leaned forward, his arms crossed on the table. “I don’t think I thanked you for getting me out of that hellhole.”

“My pleasure. So, what are you going to do now?”