Dawn’s Awakening (29 page)

The next day, there were still no answers to solve the mystery of Seth’s heart, or of her attacker. The morning sped by; Seth’s meetings took up most of the morning and early afternoon before lunch. Later, Seth needed a shower. With her, of course. The playfulness he displayed eased the fear shadowing her, and Dawn let herself live, just for the moment.

She blocked the memories as much as possible and hid her awareness of the shadows creeping closer in her mind.

The knock at the suite door came as they were dressing early that evening. The investigator for the death of Andrew Breyer needed to speak to Seth immediately. He was due back on the mainland and he needed to complete his statements.

Styx was less than polite as he relayed that information to Seth. “He’s goin’ tae piss me righ’ off,” he snapped, his brogue thick. “Get his arse off the island afore I slice his dandy li’l throat.”

The investigator was still pushing at Mercury, and from all accounts, Mercury might have pushed back a time or two by targeting the female investigator and keeping her off balance with hungry eyes and little growls. But there was no arrest, because there was no evidence. Hopefully, the investigation Dash and Callan were conducting on the side would find more answers.

That was her hope as she moved to the closet and began to dress for the upcoming party they would attend directly after Seth’s meeting with the investigator.

As Dawn pulled another uniform from the small closet she was using now, Seth took it from her hands, tossed it back in without hanging it up, then pulled her to his closet.

“Those were my clothes. Am I going naked today?” She was wearing another pair of the panties he had given her. Violet silk thongs as soft as air. At the back between the rise of her buttocks was a single little bow that he seemed to be fond of.

“No, but I’m tired of those uniforms.” He pulled her into the huge walk-in closet, where she stopped in surprise. One side was women’s clothes, all in her size.

“How did you do this?”

A grin tugged at his lips. “I’m smart that way. Now, find something pretty. We have another of those damned parties in an hour or so anyway and I want to dance with my woman.”

My woman. The words shouldn’t have sent a thrill racing up her spine, but they did.

“Come on, Dawn, you know what pretty clothes are. I’ve seen you wearing them at Sanctuary functions and you look damned good in them.”

She loved pretty clothes; she just didn’t have many. Not because she couldn’t afford them, but because she had no place to wear them. No one she wanted to impress, and impressing herself had always seemed a waste of time, especially when all she did was train to fight.

She moved to the rack of clothes. Dresses of every sort hung in a long line. Then jeans and blouses, T-shirts and sporty tops. What wasn’t here probably hadn’t been invented yet or wasn’t worth having.

Beneath the clothes were rows upon rows of shoes in protective clear boxes. And they were all her size.

“You’re trying to spoil me,” she murmured, keeping her back to him to hide her reaction to the gift.

“I’m still seducing you.” He kissed her shoulder, a smile curling his lips as he pressed them to her flesh.

“Hmm, so what are you after other than what you’ve had already?” She turned to him, her brow arching as he stared down at her, that sexy little half grin tilting his lips, his gray eyes swirling with whatever emotions he kept within himself.

Didn’t he know he already had all of her?

“You—” He touched her nose with his index finger “—have no clue. Now, see how fast you can make me drool with one of those dresses. I’m betting I can hold out all of ten seconds.”

“Think you can make it ten seconds, do you?” She fingered a bronze “almost there” dress. So soft and buttery she was certain she’d barely feel it against her flesh. It was short, the back low, the straps strappy, the bodice obviously snug, and low as well.

Seth looked at the dress and swallowed tightly. “Five seconds?” he said faintly.

Her lips twitched. “I’ll get dressed.”

She pulled the dress from the rack and bent to pick up the strappy high heels that went with it.

“You have matching panties,” he said hoarsely. “They have a bow at the back too.”

He did like those bows.

Dawn gave a low, light laugh, surprised at how lighthearted the sound was. For a moment, a few short moments, she’d forgotten the events of the day before and allowed herself to be free. Just free.

As Seth pulled his evening clothes from the closet, Dawn retreated to the bathroom with her clothes. It didn’t take her long to dress. Her hair was to her shoulders now, layered about her head so it lay naturally and easily around her face. She added a slight curl to the ends, then applied a minimum amount of makeup.

She changed panties. She wore the bronze. The bow at the back was tiny, flirty. If she moved just right, the impression of it would show through the dress.

And the dress was a dream. Light as air, it flowed over her. Snug and flattering, it shimmered over her body to just below her thighs. The strappy sandals added to her height, and as she stared in the full-length mirror, she let a rueful smile tip her lips.

She loved girly clothes. She loved dressing up, but there had been no fun in it with no one to see her efforts but herself. No, that wasn’t true, there had been no fun in it without the chance of seeing Seth.

She brushed at the long fringe of hair that fell over her forehead, a narrow ribbon of it brushing past the side of her eyes, then applied a light gloss to her lips before reentering the bedroom.

Seth was lacing his dress shoes. He glanced up, then froze. His expression shifted from curious to downright wickedly lustful as his gray eyes darkened.

“You didn’t last five seconds,” she informed him as she posed before him, one hip cocked, propping her hand on it and letting him look his fill.

She felt beautiful when he stared at her like that. She felt awake, aware, and all female.

“God have mercy on mortal men,” he finally breathed out roughly as he came to his feet.

His white silk dress shirt emphasized his broad shoulders. The black slacks cinched at his flat abs and made his ass look like a female fantasy come to life.

He breathed out roughly, shook his dark head, then moved to the dresser across the room. When he returned, he was carrying a gold chain, close to half an inch thick and gleaming with a soft sheen.

“Seth, you can’t keep buying me things.” She stared at the chain until he laid it around her neck and attached the clasp.

It lay just at her collarbone, and as she turned to the mirror, she saw how the rich luster picked up the light tan of her skin.

“And these.” The gold hoops were simple in design, but as they came together with the dress, Dawn realized she looked classy. That understated elegance she had always admired in other women was now a part of her.

She touched the chain as his hands settled on her shoulders and his eyes met hers in the mirror. They gleamed with possessiveness, with hunger and something more. Something she could hope was love.

“I want to see you in emeralds.” He bent his head and kissed her shoulder, his fingers playing with the thin strap next to his lips. “Nothing but emeralds. A necklace of them, with a tiny gold bow as a clasp. And dew drops of emeralds falling from your pretty ears.” He nipped her earlobe.

“Yeah, those would go great with my uniform.” She frowned in the mirror. The woman looking back at her was too familiar, somehow, too easy to get used to.

“You don’t have to go back to Sanctuary, Dawn.” His fingers tightened on her shoulders. “You could stay, with me.”

In his concrete jungle. Where cement and iron covered the earth and the smell of the land was obliterated by the smell of toxic fumes, industrial waste and those who would no more know how to survive in the mountains than a babe.

But, as she stared back at him, she realized that unless she could adapt to his world, then she would face her world without him.

“You don’t have to decide right now.” He stepped back, his expression becoming bland, cool. “We can talk about it later.”

She stared at the gold chain, already warming from her flesh, shimmering against her flesh, and realized that Seth had given her more than a piece of jewelry.

“I don’t want to leave.” The concrete jungle couldn’t defeat her, but being without Seth could.

His expression stilled; the clouds raging in his eyes calmed. He gave her a small nod, as though he were hesitant to push that declaration, then picked up the small purse that matched her dress. The one she hadn’t known she had.

“You have a weapon, a comm link and a dagger inside,” he told her, his lips quirking in amusement. “I made certain your accessories would fit.”

“Seth?” She took the purse but couldn’t break away from his gaze, not yet.

“Yes, Dawn?” He touched her cheek with the tips of his fingers, the caress striking her heart with a weakening blow.

Her lips trembled, the words there, ready to spill between them as fear held her back. What if she said them and he didn’t return them? If he rejected her and it was just the heat holding them together, the certain knowledge of it would destroy her.

“You’re beautiful,” he finally whispered. “So beautiful you steal my breath.”

She nodded slowly and inhaled slowly, deeply. Later. She would face this battle later. When she was stronger. When she didn’t feel off balance, when she didn’t feel the heavy panic weighting her stomach.

“Shall we go see about making certain Investigator Ison has the information he needs?” He extended his elbow out to her. “I’d like to get rid of him so we can have fun later.”

“You have more soap?” She arched a brow.

“Even better,” he drawled. “I have massage oil.”

As he escorted her from the bedroom and down the hallway, his hand low on her back, feeling the softness of her flesh, Seth knew the situation was getting radically out of control.

He knew what she needed. Knew she needed to hear the words from him, the commitment he had felt in his heart for ten years now, and he couldn’t give those words to her. Not yet. Not until they caught that fucking assassin.

Hell, he should never have let her be dragged into this. He should have knocked her out and put her right back on that damned heli-jet the moment she stepped foot on his island.

Instead, what had he done? He had promised to let her fight by his side. His side? The bastard with some maniac assassin’s sights on him. He was so weak, so crazy fucking in love with her that he hadn’t been able to bear the look in her eyes when he held her in that shower the day before.

Yeah, she had trained. She had managed to save herself. And he was certain she was just as deadly as any other Breed out there. But she was barely fucking five-foot-four in her stocking feet, if she weighed a hundred pounds soaking wet he would have to have the scales checked, and the thought of her receiving so much as a single bruise defending him made him see bloody red.

He was so wrapped around those delicate fingers he was a lost cause, and he was man enough to admit that it scared the hell out of him. Added to that was the certainty that soon, very soon, the memories of those labs were going to return.

Would she even want him then? Would she remember the playful passion, the soul-deep kisses and incredible pleasure, with a sense of hunger or a mind filled with fear?

He knew he was terrified it was the fear she would feel.

As they stepped into the library and faced a frustrated Investigator Ison, Seth pushed the emotional problems to the back of his mind and concentrated now on the business of besting a council that would see his woman destroyed.

He faced Investigator Ison as he had his board members earlier. Coldly. Silently. He sat at the head of the long table, Dawn at his side, his fingers playing absently with hers, and stared the man down, let him fumble his way through the fact that he didn’t have jack shit.

Five minutes into the questioning, Ison began to stutter and sweat. Seth had perfected the look. Cold. Hard. Brutal and all-knowing. Oh yeah, he knew quite a bit about Ison now. Things the other man couldn’t imagine, and Seth promised himself that once things were settled in his own life, then he would take care to make certain Ison paid for several of the dark, violent acts he had committed against Breeds over the years.

Seth wondered if Jonas had the information Seth had managed to acquire, and then assumed he didn’t. Because if he did, the other man would be dead. It was that simple. He would have disappeared as others had, and the Sanctuary heli-jet would have once again flown a little too close to the mouth of a live volcano. Jonas could often be amazingly efficient.

Within half an hour, he’d read and signed the statement the investigator had prepared from his notes then slid it back across the table, his eyes meeting the investigator’s again.

There was a glint of promised retribution in the other man’s gaze and Seth smiled. Come after me, you little bastard. I dare you.

He sat back in his chair, his hand catching Dawn’s again as she watched him with a placid, almost amused expression.

When the library door closed behind Ison, Seth turned back to her.

“Keep your weapons close,” he murmured. “He’s up to something.”

Dawn glanced at the door as he watched her; when she turned back, her eyes were flat, hard. “Of course he is. He’s a Council puppet. He stinks of it.” She shrugged. “And I always keep my weapons close.”

Yes, she did. And that, Seth found, was both a comfort and an ache of regret. Dawn shouldn’t have to worry about keeping her weapons close.

CHAPTER 19

It was the parties that were making her nervous, Dawn realized several hours later as she stood next to Seth while he socialized with Dane, Rye and another of Seth’s allies on the board, Craig Bartel, and his wife, Lillian.

Lillian was taller, with the lush womanly figure and breasts Dawn knew men lusted after. She was dressed in a loose, flowing evening gown of smoky grays and ice blues that complemented her eyes and cool blond hair.