Fateful (4 page)

She looked to the gorgeous, more Heavenly
angel for help. An ancient sorrow rose to the surface of his blue
eyes. She again felt like he knew her and that he’d missed her
presence for longer than she could imagine. At him, she stared,
taking in every delicious detail. Perhaps he was an angel from
Heaven, she mused, because he seemed to shine with a white light
that glowed from within; while the horrible angel seemed to be
absorbing light, devouring it with his wicked darkness. Then, quite
suddenly, the hideous angel lunged at her with sharp fangs exposed.
Danielle jumped, jolting the bed while she slept, the jostle waking
her up. She lay there in a cold sweat, shivering but feeling
relieved that she’d woken up. She didn’t have to see the face of
the wicked vampire anymore, although, she did now miss gazing upon
the celestial angel.

Chapter 3

Dizzying Tea Party

On Saturday, Brianna and Danielle dressed up
for Uncle Nick’s party. He’d invited his fellow colleagues from the
college and their families.

The house and yard were open to the guests to
explore freely. Uncle Nick had everything for tea set up in his
elegant garden behind the house.

Danielle was pleased to meet new people,
although she had a tendency to stay close to Brianna’s side at a
table on the far corner of the garden. After the near attack the
other night, a stone of fear had sunk to the pit of her stomach and
lingered there. Heavily.

Karate had always been her secret comfort,
her rock. She’d been trained to sweep men bigger than her, stronger
than her. Gaining a sense of self confidence in defending herself
was the whole point of so many years of study. And now when she’d
faced a real situation, she’d failed.

Her cousin whispered the name of each guest
into her ear as they arrived. Brianna would then add other little
tidbits of information she knew about each person. It was a nice
distraction for Danielle. She felt safe here. She felt safe during
the day. And listening to how Mr. Clare wrote books about zombies
in the Victorian era made her momentarily forget that close
call....

Danielle had just taken a bite of a
tender scone slathered with melting clotted cream when Uncle Nick’s
overly animated movements caught her eye. Her attention was pulled
away from Brianna and the food. He was normally more reserved, but
was talking to a man whose back was to her. As Uncle Nick glanced
in her direction, she realized that he was talking
about
her. When the man he was
chatting with then turned to face her, she nearly fell out of her
seat. It was him!

He returned his attention to her uncle.

Danielle’s hand flashed out to Brianna’s arm,
causing her to nearly drop the pastry she was holding. “Bri! That’s
him! That’s the guy who saved me!”

“Where?”

“There, by Uncle Nick, the guy with blond
hair.” He glanced their way again, as if he knew it was his cue to
do so.

“Really?”

“Yes, that’s him, I’m certain of it!”

Brianna gasped. “That’s Ethan Deveroux!”

Danielle sighed. He was even better looking
than she’d remembered. That night she really hadn’t had a chance to
look at his body, but just like Brianna’s boyfriend, he had the
body of an athlete, broad muscular shoulders, a trim waist. No
wonder that first creep left without a fight. She felt butterflies
flutter around inside her stomach.

He then turned back to his conversation with
Danielle’s uncle, but with a handsome smile spread across his face.
He’d twisted slightly so they could still see his profile. They
both ogled over him like a couple of schoolgirls, well, at least
she did. From the look on her cousin’s face, Danielle figured that
Will was probably better-looking in Brianna’s eyes than Ethan.

“Bri, tell me about him,” Danielle
whispered.

“I’ve never really talked to him in person. I
just know who he is because my dad works with him at the
university. He’s the man seated next to my dad with the dark hair.
I’m not sure if I’m saying his name right, it’s spelled B-E-O-N,
but it sounds like Beeyone when people say it. I’ve always thought
it was odd, which is the only reason I remember it.” She took a
breath, then added, “I don’t really know what his relationship is
with Ethan either, I just know I’ve seen them together on more than
one occasion. They could be related or just colleagues of some
sort.”

There was something about Beon that made him
appear older than he looked physically. Like there was a mature
wisdom in just the way he held himself, the way he nodded to the
words spoken to him. Danielle couldn’t quite place it.

“The woman next to him is his wife.”

Shifting her gaze, Danielle studied her. She
had auburn wavy hair, which had been twisted into a loose bun at
the back of her head. Tendrils had tumbled down to grace the sides
of her Audrey Hepburn face. The woman gazed into a steaming teacup
with something that looked like sadness touching every aspect of
her features. Again, there was something strange about her that
seemed old. Weird.

“So is Ethan just visiting to go to school
like me? Could this Beon guy be his professor?”

“I’m pretty sure Ethan is from here. I think,
but he could be a student.”

They both turned to statues as Ethan shifted
his face in their direction again.

“I need to thank him,” breathed Danielle. She
secretly desired to see him up close another time.

“Um, Dannie,” Brianna stood and stepped into
her line of site. She was forced to meet her cousin’s eyes.
Disappointed that she had to rip them from him, Danielle stood up
as well.

“Yes?”
Great, what
now?
She could hear the admonishing tone in her
cousin’s voice.

“You just got here, take it slow, would you?
Plus, Will has a few double dates planned for us with some of his
buddies.”

Danielle knew Brianna meant well, and was
just trying to protect her by giving her more options. However, she
couldn’t believe that her cousin and her boyfriend had blind dates
crafted into their scheme already! She rolled her eyes and exhaled
with a huff. “Bri, I’d rather select my own dates.” She really
hated the idea of being set up, no matter how good the intent.

“I know but...”

Danielle caught movement from the corner of
her eye. Her stomach did flips at what she saw. “Bri,” she
whispered. “He’s coming this way.”

Ethan approached, smiling. Brianna gasped,
but didn’t turn around.

“Hello.” He reached out to take Danielle’s
hand. “I’m terribly sorry I didn’t introduce myself the other
night. I’m Ethan Deveroux.”

“I know ... I-I mean Bri told me.” Danielle
frowned at her own dorky response.

He turned and nodded to acknowledge her
cousin. “You’re Mr. Darcey’s daughter, correct?” He dropped her
hand to shake Brianna’s, and then swiftly took Danielle’s back into
his.

By the way he was holding her hand, she
thought he was going to kiss her fingers, but he just placed his
other hand over the top of hers, embracing hers with both of his.
It seemed sort of ... old-fashioned. His clothes didn’t reflect
out-of-date tastes though. Of course he was dressed up
appropriately for Uncle Nick’s tea, but the cut of his black suit
was trendy. Beneath the jacket he wore a gray shirt offset with a
dark gray and white patterned necktie. The fitted slacks hugged his
muscle-roped thighs when he shifted his weight from one foot to the
other. Dropping her gaze momentarily, Danielle noticed the, also
fashionable, square-toed loafers he wore.

“That’s right. Nice to meet you, Ethan,”
Brianna responded pleasantly.

“Likewise.”

Brianna’s eyes flashed with a spark of
intuition when she added, “Ethan, a bunch of us will be at the
Ministry of Sound on Wednesday night. You should come too.”
Danielle knew what her cousin was doing; she was trying to make up
for upsetting her earlier and it was working.

His eyebrows lifted. “Sure, I’ll see if I can
make it.”

Interestingly, uncertainty showed
through his choice of words as he put more emphasis on the
I’ll see
. Why did she sense
hesitation?

“Excuse me for a moment,” Brianna said, and
then she left, leaving Danielle alone with Ethan. Danielle could
see from the look on her cousin’s face that she left for that sole
reason.

He didn’t seem to mind and returned his
attention to Danielle.

Attempting to be subtle about it, Danielle
made note of the fact that he was still holding her hand. The
butterflies turned into pixies as they did a wild dance inside her
stomach. “Uh, thanks for helping me out the other night. I can’t
tell you how grateful I am.”

“Not at all, it was my pleasure. I just
happened to be in the right place at the right time. But you
should
never
be out alone in
the dark like that again. You’re new here, you must not wander.
Promise me that you’ll be more careful.”

Startled by his stern request, Danielle
frowned at the fact that she suddenly felt scolded. “All right,”
was muttered as she mused that she’d already promised herself this.
Why did he have to rub it in?

“Good. Now are you going to tell me your
name? Or do I have to guess?”

“Oh.” Danielle only then realized they hadn’t
covered that yet. Her cheeks heated. “I’m sorry, I’m Danielle
Darcey.”

“It’s a pleasure to properly make your
acquaintance, Miss Darcey.”

Miss Darcey? Who was this guy, some
hero from the pages of
Pride and
Prejudice
? Oh, she thought, maybe he’s an actor. Or
did all Brits talk like this? Her cousin didn’t.... Setting that
topic aside, Danielle said, “Um, I have to ask. I hope you don’t
mind. Did you know the other man? It seemed like he knew
you.”

Ethan’s whole expression darkened, like he
was angry. “Yes, I’ve dealt with him a few times. His name is
Lucas. He doesn’t like me much. The sentiment is mutual, I assure
you.” He seemed oddly pleased with himself about that. “He’s not
one to be trusted, especially in a dark alley at night.”

Danielle felt the guilt slap her again for
getting herself into that situation. She stared off into the
garden, scowling as she scolded herself mentally.

“I hear you recently moved here from America,
and as I understand it, you’re attending Central St. Martin’s
College of Art. Is that correct?”

“Yes. How did you know?”

Apparently he finally realized he was still
holding her hand, and let go quickly. Both of his hands disappeared
into the pockets of his pants. Danielle had to admit, she was a
little disappointed. Looking down bashfully, she brushed crumbs off
her skirt, even though there were none.

“Your uncle mentioned it.”

“But, didn’t he tell you my name?”

“No, he just referred to you as his
niece.”

“Oh.”

Danielle’s eyes wandered to his then.
She’d been so distracted with Brianna, and guilt, that she hadn’t
yet looked directly into them. What she experienced then snatched
the breath right out of her lungs. She felt like he could see right
through her eyes directly into her soul, like he could see
everything about her. The feeling that she knew him returned from
the night he’d rescued her, but still, his face didn’t look
familiar. It baffled her. Danielle thought maybe she’d imagined it
before, but here it was again—and he seemed to be experiencing the
same I-know-you feeling, with his brows pinched together, and a
look of confusion creating lines of deep thought around his eyes as
they roved over her face, touching on everything. Unable to
understand the reasons why, Danielle simply
couldn’t
look away, and for a few charged
moments they just stared at each other....

Then a mild breeze drifted through the
garden, twirling around them, ruffling his hair and hers, and
that’s when some incredible fragrance slammed into her senses like
a brick. Was it him? It was the most delicious, seductive ... this
must be some amazing fragrance only available at Harrods, because
she’d never smelled anything so perfect. Leaning forward, Danielle
drew in another deep breath, and then began feeling dizzy and weak.
She threw her hands back to grasp the edge of the table behind
her—just barely stopping herself from falling.

Concern, alarm and shame flooded across
Ethan’s face. He took a step forward, hesitated and took two steps
back. Danielle got the impression he wanted to reach out and help
steady her, but resisted the impulse to do so.

“Are you well?” he asked gently, but he
seemed to know more than he was saying because he looked around as
though he hoped no one had seen what just happened.

“I think so.” She too took in the surrounding
guests. No person was looking their way, and unable to fathom why
he appeared so nervous, her gaze returned to his. Though he was
further away than he’d been before, that familiarity remained so
intense she was forced to ask, “But ... um ... have we met? I mean
before the other night. Have you been to Colorado?”

“No, I haven’t. I’m fairly certain we haven’t
met.” His voice was calm and sweet, never reflecting the fear in
his eyes. However, he now seemed eager to get away from her, which
was confirmed when he said, “I should be getting back to Beon.
Goodbye, Danielle.”

Danielle was too stunned to say anything
more, and stared after him as he returned to Beon. He leaned down
and whispered something into the man’s ear. She stood there
motionless. Her vise-grip on the table remained solid until her
aunt interrupted her daze.

“Danielle dear, would you mind getting
another pot of hot water for tea?” Charlotte pushed an empty teapot
toward her.