Blood of the White Witch (11 page)

“What do you think of our grandson this
morning?” he asked Fiona as he sat down at the table, and Vance
came to kiss me on the cheek before he sat down as well.

“I think you’d better be careful or you may
find yourself run through,” she replied with a laugh. “I’ve never
seen anything like it.”

“Me either,” Douglas replied. “I was really
sweating it out there!”

“So I can see,” Fiona replied wryly as she
waved her hand back and forth in front of her face lightly,
scrunching her nose up slightly. “You’re a mess!”

“Blame it all on this one,” Douglas replied,
reaching over to squeeze Vance’s shoulder.

Vance was beaming, thoroughly enjoying
himself.

“You’re giving me too much credit,” he
replied modestly with a slight shake of his head. “I’m just as
sweaty as you are, and you landed the last point.”

“True, but there were three points,
remember? That means you’re the currently the victor,” Douglas
replied. “Now let’s enjoy some breakfast with our lovely company,
and then we’ll hit the mat again.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Vance agreed
with a grin, and he reached to fill his plate.

I watched him as he moved, thinking he
looked like a gorgeous mess with his flushed face and sweaty hair,
clothed in the white garment. If he worked out like this every day,
he would certainly have me as a captive audience for every minute
of it. My eyes practically devoured every inch of him.

“Portia,” his voice suddenly penetrated into
the thoughts in my head. “You have to quit staring at me like that.
You’re making my grandmother blush.”

My eyes quickly flickered over toward Fiona
who was indeed watching me with avid interest, and I quickly cast
my gaze down into my lap, feeling the flush creep into my own
skin.

Vance chuckled out loud at this, and I
kicked him under the table, mortified at his reaction.

He leaned over and kissed my cheek once
more.

“Don’t worry, baby,” he whispered into my
ear. “It’s all good.” He winked as he pulled away from me, and I
could tell he was totally enjoying my reaction to him … again.

After they were done eating, Douglas and
Vance returned to the mat. This time the instructor explained
things in much greater detail to Vance, and the two worked slowly
together on moves.

“Well, I think I’m done here.” Fiona sighed
as she stood. “I have some correspondence to take care of this
morning.”

“I’ll walk with you,” I said to her,
standing also.

Vance flicked me a smile as I left the
room.

“See you in a little while, baby,” he said
into my head, and I smiled widely back at him.

“I’ll send Colin up for your dress shortly,”
Fiona said, capturing my attention again. “He’ll have the maid get
it properly pressed for this evening.”

“Thank you,” I replied. “That’s very kind of
you. Is there anything I can do to help out with the preparations
for tonight?”

“No, not at all,” she said. “The catering
staff and the decorators will be here shortly after noon. They
should have things well in hand. Just get rested up and be ready to
enjoy yourself.”

She paused when we reached the grand
staircase.

“Okay,” I answered turning to go up. “I’ll
go pull mine and Vance’s clothes out for Colin now.”

“Thank you,” she said. “And I enjoyed your
company at breakfast this morning.”

I turned to smile back at her.

“Thanks, it was fun for me, too,” I replied
with a smile.

Vance walked back into the bedroom a couple
of hours later, still dressed in his protective fencing gear,
thoroughly sweaty and flushed.

“Hey, baby,” he said as he walked toward
where I was sitting in front of the roaring fire.

“Don’t you even touch me!” I protested, and
I lifted a finger in warning to him when I saw the wicked glint in
his eye.

He laughed seductively.

“Aw, you’re no fun,” he mumbled as he leaned
his head in toward me and I shied away from him.

“You’re all sweaty!” I exclaimed.

“Come on, baby. Just one little kiss on the
cheek for me then,” he begged, and he tapped his index finger on
his face, his eyes sparkling.

I couldn’t resist him. His power of
persuasion over me would be my complete undoing. He knew I would do
whatever he asked, following him to the ends of the earth and
beyond.

I leaned my head in to lightly to place a
peck against him, but before my lips landed, he turned his head and
kissed me full on the mouth, wrapping his fingers around my chin
and holding me there.

Sighing into him, I made up my mind right
then and there that if kissing were a sport, Vance would win in
every category every time. He could turn my insides to complete
mush with even the slightest touch.

He pulled away from me with a chuckle, his
face mere millimeters away from mine.

“See, that wasn’t so bad now, was it?” he
asked with a dimpled grin as his eyes searched mine.

“Go take a shower,” I said, smiling,
refusing to give in to his charmingly manly display.

“I want to show you something first,” he
said straightening, and that was when I noticed he had something
draped over his arm. He lifted it in his hands, revealing a red and
green plaid kilt. “What do you think?” he asked with a grin,
lifting an eyebrow at me.

“A kilt?” I asked with a slight snicker at
the idea of Vance wearing such an article of clothing, completely
unable to wrap my mind around the thought. “Where did you get
it?”

“Douglas gave it to me,” he smiled. “This is
the Cummingses’ tartan, I guess. He said I was part of the family,
and I should have one.”

I knew this must be a huge thing for him, to
actually be treated like family by his family, and I tried to tone
down my humorous reaction.

“Does he want you to wear it tonight to the
reception?” I asked, not really sure if I would care for that or
not.

He shrugged his shoulders.

“He said I could if I wanted to, but it was
up to me since I already bought the other suit,” he said.

“So what’re you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” He chuckled. “I told him I’d
think about it. Honestly though, I don’t know if it’s my cup of
tea. I have a hard time even wearing the tuxedo.”

“Well, it was a very nice gesture for him to
make,” I said.

“I agree,” he replied, leaning down to kiss
my cheek. “I’m going to go get in the shower now,” he added.

My eyes followed him as he left the room,
before turning to look back at the fire while I contemplated recent
events.

I was very happy Vance seemed to be finding
his niche with his family and that they seemed to be genuinely
receiving him with open arms. Family was something he had always
wanted a connection with.

The fire danced in the grate before me, and
I soon became caught up in my thoughts, so much so that I didn’t
hear him approach again until he spoke to me.

“So what do you think?” he asked and I
looked up to see him standing just outside the doorway.

My mouth went slack, and I thought my teeth
would fall out onto the floor.

He was standing there, dressed only in the
kilt, with the length of plaid thrown up over his shoulder. His wet
towel-dried hair stood up messily off his head, and I could smell
the scent of his aftershave wafting through the air toward me. He
looked down to make an adjustment on the belt at his waist, and all
the muscles in his body rippled in response.

My gaze traveled from his head to his toes,
and I was afraid to blink for fear this luscious apparition would
disappear. He looked like an ancient highlander straight out of a
romance novel.

“Well?” he asked me again, when he was done
with the adjustment.

I got up out of the chair and walked boldly
toward him, grabbing his face in both of my hands and kissing him
with every once of my being.

I caught him off guard, but he chuckled
against my lips before his arms came tightly around me and he
really kissed me back. Threading one hand through his hair, I let
the other drift down over his muscled shoulder and over his bulging
bicep, squeezing it slightly as I passed.

This evoked a low growl from him, and he
moved forward aggressively several steps until I was pressed up
against the wall.

He ravaged my mouth until I felt faint from
lack of air before he broke the kiss, staring at me as we both
gasped for breath.

“So I take it you like the kilt?” he asked
with a quirked eyebrow.

“On you, Vance … definitely,” I answered
with a nod, breathing heavily, and he pushed into me again, picking
right up where he had left off.

The place was aglow that evening, and I
stood at one of the windows of our room watching the cars pull into
the circle driveway one after another to drop their richly attired
guests off at the door.

I was all dressed in my new clothes and had
pulled some of my hair up into a knot at the back of my head,
letting the rest drape in a long curl that lay down the side of my
neck, which helped to hide the scar there with a little artfully
applied makeup.

The jewelry Vance had given me went
perfectly with everything, and I felt quite sparkly, despite the
nervous butterflies in my stomach at meeting a bunch of people I
had absolutely nothing in common with.

He stepped out of the dressing room, and I
turned to look at him in the formal cut tuxedo he had purchased,
while he fastened his tie in the mirror over the mantle.

He was magnificent, and I couldn’t even
blink, let alone look away from him. For someone who was a
self-proclaimed t-shirt and jeans kind of guy, he sure could pull
off the formal attire well.

After finishing with his tie, he finally
turned, letting his hands drop to his side while he stopped to
stare at me.

“Stunning,” was all he said, and his gaze
raked over me, not once but twice, his blue eyes sparking to life
as if I had lit a match in them.

He was over to my side in two strides,
reaching out for me, and I backed away laughing holding him at
arm’s length.

“Don’t touch me. You’ll mess me all up
again,” I said, knowing he wouldn’t care in the least.

He grabbed me easily and pulled me back to
him, up against his chest, his fresh breath floating over me as he
spoke.

“I’ll be gentle. I promise,” he said, and he
placed a soft kiss on my lips.

I relented under his masterful touch,
wrapping my arms around his neck and really kissing him back,
letting my emotion flow into him, and he did the same to me. It was
a breathless, yet tender, moment.

In the end, when the kiss was over, he had
kept his word, and I only had to retouch some makeup around my
mouth.

“I guess we’ve kept the guests waiting long
enough,” I said with a sigh while he watched me reapply my lip
gloss in the bathroom mirror.

“We don’t know any of them,” he replied with
a smile. “If it weren’t so rude to my grandparents, I’d be much
more inclined to stay in here tonight with you.”

“Me too,” I added with a nod, and I turned
to place my hand against the side of his handsome face.

His eyes flitted down over my features and
to my neck.

“I guess I should let you have the
opportunity to show off your new jewelry, though,” he teased.

My hand flitted up to where the new necklace
lay at my neck, and I fingered it as several thoughts ran through
my head.

“What’s the matter?” Vance asked me
curiously.

“I was just thinking about how my amulet
protected me when the roof fell in at the school, but it didn’t do
anything when you or Damien bit me. Why is that?” I asked him.

He let out a soft sigh and pondered this for
a moment before he answered. “Things like talismans are very
selective in the way they activate. It’s a magic that’s helpful,
but not to be relied on heavily.” He held up the hand which had the
ring my grandma had sent to him. “I wear this because it’s a gift
of good magic from the coven. Maybe it’ll help me someday, maybe it
won’t, but what does it hurt?”

I nodded my head.

“I remember Grandma telling me that it might
not do you any good as your dad’s coven had already figured out a
way around the charms in the past,” I replied.

“It’s very difficult for something like a
charm to ward off live magic,” he said while he fingered the
diamond at my neck. “Your amulet protected you from something
non-magical when the explosion happened, and it may have very well
played a part in you being unharmed when you were almost hit by the
car. Neither of those instances had a magical force directly behind
it.”

“Oh, I see,” I said, suddenly understanding
the difference in the situations I had been placed in.

The amulet had successfully protected me in
physical circumstances, but the magical things that had threatened
me were too powerful for it.

“Why all the questions tonight, baby? Are
you feeling nervous, under protected?” he asked while he looked at
me carefully.

I laughed nervously.

“No. I just feel a little naked without the
amulet. I’ve worn it for so long. And I’m a little nervous about
meeting a bunch of people I don’t know,” I admitted truthfully.

He reached out and stroked my face with his
hand.

“Portia, you have nothing to worry about
tonight,” he began. “You’ll be the most beautiful thing in the
room, and the guests are sure to be mesmerized by you as much as I
am. And I promise you, I won’t let any harm come to you.”

“I know you won’t,” I said, trusting him
completely, staring into his blue eyes.

I held my arm out to him, and he took it
then, leading me out of the door and to the grand staircase. We
walked carefully down the stairs, turning into one of the massive
hallways and walking until we reached the doorway to the
ballroom.