Darkness Revealed. Alexandra Ivy

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ

      “Which means you’re the one responsible for screwing up my life.”

      “I did nothing more than take a few sips of blood and your…”

      She slapped her hand across his mouth. “Don’t you dare,” she hissed, glaring at an approaching waiter. “Dammit, I’m not going to discuss this here.”

      He gave a soft chuckle as his fingers stroked over her shoulders. “You’ll do anything to get me to your room, won’t you, querida?”

      Her breath lodged in her throat as she took a hasty step back. Damn him and his heart-stopping touches. “You really are a total ass.”

      “It runs in the family.”

      Family? Anna turned her head to regard the large, flat-out spectacular man who scowled at them from across the room. “Is he a part of your family?”

      An unreadable emotion rippled over the chiseled, faintly golden features. “You could say he’s something of a father figure.”

      “He doesn’t look like a father.” Anna deliberately flashed a smile toward the stranger. “In fact, he’s gorgeous. Maybe you should introduce us.”

      The dark eyes narrowed, his fingers grasping her arm in a firm grip.

      “Actually, we were just headed to your room, don’t you remember?” he growled close to her ear.

      A faint smile touched Anna’s mouth. Ha. He didn’t like having her interested in another man. Served him right.

      Her smile faded as the scent of apples filled the air.

      “Anna…oh, Anna,” a saccharine voice cooed.

      “Crap,” she muttered, watching Sybil bear down upon them with the force of a locomotive.

      Cezar wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “A friend of yours?”

      “Hardly. Sybil Taylor has been a pain in the freaking neck for the past five years. I can’t turn around without stumbling over her.”

      Cezar stiffened, studying her with a strange curiosity. “Really? What sort of business do you have with a fairy?”

      “A…what? No.” Anna shook her head. “Sybil’s a lawyer. A bottom-feeder, I’ll grant you, but…” Her words were cut off as the Conde hauled her through the alcove and with a wave of his hand opened the elevator doors. Anna might have marveled at having an elevator when she needed one if she hadn’t been struggling to stay on her feet as she was pulled into the cubical (that was as large as her L.A. apartment) and the doors were smoothly sliding shut. “Freaking hell. There’s no need to drag me around like a sack of potatoes, Conde.”

      “I think we’re past formality, querida. You can call me Cezar.”

      “Cezar.” She frowned, pushing the button to her floor. “Don’t you have a first name?”

      “No.”

      “That’s weird.”

      “Not for my people.” The elevator opened and Cezar pulled her into the circular hallway that had doors to the private rooms on one side and an open view to the lobby twelve stories below on the other. “Your room?”

      “This way.”

      Anna moved down the hall and stopped in front of her door. She already had her cardkey in the slot when she stilled, abruptly struck by another night she attempted to best Conde Cezar.

      The night her entire life had changed…

      Chapter 2

      London, 1814

      Anna gave a small scream as she was jerked into the dark bedchamber and the door slammed behind her.

      “Do you seek something, querida?” A soft voice drifted on the night air. An accented voice that sent a strange shiver over her skin. “Or is it someone?”

      “Conde Cezar?”

      “Yes, it is I.”

      Anna stumbled back into the wall, cursing her damnable luck. How the devil had she managed to muck up something so simple as keeping track of her cousin?

      Not only did she not know where Morgana had gone, but she had managed to get caught by the one man who disturbed her in a manner she could not entirely comprehend.

      “You…you frightened me. I did not realize anyone was here.”

      “No?” A candle blazed to life, revealing the dark, impossibly handsome gentleman as he moved to stand directly before her. “Then you did not deliberately follow me here from the ballroom?”

      A flush stained her cheeks, as much from his proximity as from embarrassment. Despite nearing her six-and-twentieth birthday she had yet to have a gentleman pay her attention. And certainly none at such proximity.

      It was…

      Terrifyingly wonderful.

      She sternly jerked her thoughts from such dangerous matters. “Of course not. I…I was searching for a maid to help mend a tear in my hem.”

      “So you are a liar as well as a sneak.” Without warning he planted his hands on the wall, one on each side of her head, effectively trapping her. “Hardly attractive qualities in a young maiden. Tis no wonder you find yourself alone in dark corners while the other ladies have their pleasure in the arms of handsome suitors.”

      She sucked in a sharp breath, wishing she had not when her senses became clouded by his sandalwood scent.

      “How dare you?”

      He chuckled softly and then brazenly lowered his head to brush his cheek over hers. “Quite easily.”

      Dear heaven above. Anna shuddered as her entire body reacted to his touch. What was happening to her? Why did her lower stomach feel as if it were filled with butterflies? And why was her heart lurching against her ribs as if it wanted to leave her chest entirely?

      “I am no liar.”

      His lips touched a place just below her ear. “Then admit that you followed me.”

      Something that might have been a whimper escaped her lips before she gathered what remained of her shattered composure.

      “Fine. I followed you.”

      He continued to nuzzle at her throat, almost as if he was tasting of her.

      “Why?”

      Anna struggled to think. “Because my aunt charged me to keep an eye upon my cousin, and when I noticed you slipping from the ballroom just moments after she claimed to be in need of the withdrawing room, I feared that the two of you had arranged a meeting.” Her lids slid downward as he discovered a particularly sensitive spot. Then, realizing his hands had left the wall to tug at the ribbons on the back of her gown, СКАЧАТЬ