In the Dead of Cold (8 page)

She looked away. “Don’t bring questions here.”

“You know I have to. Why did you never tell me about your abilities or that you’re Miss Magic, known around the world for your magic act?”

“I never saw you wearing a sign that said VAMPIRE HIT MAN or VAMPIRE ASSASSIN.”

Milo hated that she twisted things around on him. “I’m not a vampire hit man.” Yep, he was right about the distance. She tried to pull away from him. But when she turned to him, there was anger in her eyes.

“Oh, aren’t you? Then what are you?”

“I’m in charge of security at a ski resort or wherever Mr. M. goes.” As if he had to tell her.

“Oh, right. Since we’re all for honesty here, tell me, did you want to sink your fangs into my throat in Mr. Masterson’s office when you had me shoved against the wall?”

Milo said nothing. He owed her nothing. It was she who needed to provide a few answers. His lack of response was enough for her to get the wrong idea, though.

She met his gaze. “I knew it. I saw you look at my throat. I saw your hunger. I
felt
it. You could see my pulse there, couldn’t you? And you wanted to bite me.”

“Enough!” Hell. He sucked in a deep breath of the warm mountain air and worked to calm the rage that burned through him. He never meant to yell at her. In the two years of dreams they’d shared together, he’d never said anything unkind, much less yelled at her. “My wants aren’t in question here.”

“Why not?”

Her words were spoken so sweetly he fought the urge to shake her. “This isn’t a game, Jane. You’re in danger. We’re all in danger. I need some answers. Why the hell didn’t you tell me any of this before?”

“There was never any need to tell you. Did we need anything more than making love in the grass?”

“No,” he had to admit. He still held her hand. And she no longer tried to escape him. They sat quietly for a long moment. He worked to curb his anger, and he wished to hell he could read her as well as she read him.

“Tell me about Bart.”

“I already told you and your cronies and Mr. Masterson too. Don’t you remember?”

It bothered him that she could ignite his anger like striking a match when he was always so good at keeping his emotions under control. “I remember you left out a few facts.”

She looked as if she might deny him.

He tried to lighten the atmosphere—not that it was heavy with the high altitude of the mountain peak. But he had to mask his anger somehow. “Don’t make me torture it out of you. I have ways of making you talk, you know.”

Slowly, seductively, she unbuttoned the top few buttons of her dress. “Why do you insist on ruining this perfect place and perfect day with reality? Why don’t you just fuck me? I know you want to.”

He did. He also knew she was trying to seduce him to avoid his questions. “You’re welcome to answer my question naked if you like. And I’ll fuck you any way you want, once you’ve told me what I need to know.”

She let out something that sounded like half a chuckle. Then she grew serious. “I don’t want to tell you.”

“You have to. You’re in danger.”

“I’m with you. You can protect me. Right?” Her voice grew more seductive.

Milo did his best to ignore it. His dick, however, responded as usual. Any other time, he would have laughed at the easy way she’d managed to erase his anger, turning it to something much stronger but perhaps just as dangerous.

“I don’t know.” While it was true he’d considered killing her, he knew he couldn’t. He would, however, die to protect her. “Behind the bookstore, you scraped your knees, your hands, your elbows, your back, and do I need to mention the bruise on your chin? Did he hit you?”

Her lack of reply was all the answer he needed, and Milo tried to swallow his rage with more carbonation. “You lost some blood there. All Bart would need to taste is one drop to control your thoughts and actions. He can read your thoughts, know everything about everyone around you. He would see what’s going on through you, your eyes. It would put you in the gravest danger. Danger from which I might not be able to protect you.”

Her expression changed from one of seduction to fear so fast he felt like a teenager who had just told his naked girlfriend,
Oh no, my parents are home!

“But you don’t know for sure that he noticed it. Maybe he didn’t. Maybe—”

“He’s a vampire. He can smell blood a mile away. And I’m sure yours is very sweet.” He watched her absorb his words before he went on. “Besides, you know how fast he is. He didn’t follow you. After tasting your blood, he wouldn’t need to. He’d always know where you are. There is no place you can hide from him.”

The color drained from her face, and Milo hated that he was the one to cause it. No, he corrected himself. Bart caused it. Milo was the messenger.

“You can’t protect me?”

He hated the fear in her voice. Without hesitation, he reached out and drew her to him, holding her close. He felt her heart beat. “I hope I can. I just have no idea how deep his control over you is. Or what he plans.”

The flowery scent of her hair touched his senses. The softness of it moved him as he fingered it. “But you do, don’t you?”

She leaned against his shoulder as if she hoped to melt into him. “How would I know?”

“You touched him in the bookstore.” He needed to know what she saw.

“There was something about a child. It was just a flash. It made no sense.”

“What else?”

“Why would you think there’d be anything else?” She spoke against his shirt, her words muffled.

“You knew his thought to kill Mr. M. and hurt you. What else do you know?”

“Nothing.”

He held her tighter, hoping to send his warmth into her, hoping she understood that he would do whatever he could to protect her. But he had to know all the facts first. “What did you see him doing to you when he touched your hand?”

“I can’t talk about it.” Her whispered words against his shoulder sounded painful.

“You know you can tell me anything.” He could be as persuasive as Bart. He could control her by allowing her to look into his eyes. But he didn’t want to control her. He wanted her to trust him and share everything with him. And right now, they were in dreamland. Their dreamland. He wasn’t sure the trick of staring into her eyes would work here. And when she was awake, he’d felt her fear of him. He wanted to curb that, not add to it.

“I’m afraid,” she whispered.

He was too, but at least she didn’t say she was afraid of
him
. “Don’t be afraid. Stay right where you are, in my arms, listening to my heart, with the sun shining on us. And tell me.”

It was a long moment before she spoke; long enough that Milo didn’t think she was going to answer.

“He’s very handsome.”

”I know.” Even before becoming evil, Bart had wooed the ladies. It was how the snake lured in his victims.

“After I had put my coat on a chair at the café in the bookstore, I got in line a few feet away to order a hot chocolate. I had just finished a tour in Vegas. My sister owns a cabin not far from here near Cedar Cliff, and I planned to spend a few days relaxing there before heading home for the holidays.” She paused and shifted against him but didn’t move away. “He came up beside me and said, ‘We could have coffee together. A pretty girl like you shouldn’t be sitting alone,’ or something like that.”

She leaned against his chest but faced away from him. Milo shifted enough to look at her and saw that she’d closed her eyes. He moved one hand down her back.

“I must have smiled, because he said I had a pretty smile. I was tired, and all I wanted to do was drink my hot chocolate while I looked for a book or two. I planned to get back on the road and reach my sister’s cabin before the snow got too bad. I thought the last thing I wanted was some guy coming on to me.”

“You thought?” Milo was aware of the heat of her breasts against his chest. Liquid heat swirled through him.

“I planned to say no, thank you. But then when I looked at him, I felt lost in his eyes. I’d say trapped or caught, but that wasn’t how I felt. I looked at him, and I saw…”

“Saw what?”

She shifted and looked up at him. “You. I saw you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. Well, it was strange. I felt what I feel with you in our dreams. I wanted him, like I want you. I couldn’t say no. I almost grabbed his jacket and kissed him. I remember thinking, oh, my gosh, I’ve finally found you again.” She buried her face against his shirt. “Please don’t make me tell this. I’m so ashamed. I feel stupid, like I did something to entice him.”

“He made you feel that way.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“Why not?”

“I was like a high-school girl, staring up at the captain of the football team, having him look at me and notice me for the first time. My legs felt weak, and I was so hot, I wanted to take off my clothes—right there in the bookstore. I responded to him like I do to you in our dreams.”

“It’s all right. You did nothing wrong.”

“But I did. I wanted him to touch me. I wanted him to do the things you do with me.” Tears flowed down her cheeks. “Don’t you understand? I
wanted
him.”

Damn.
Milo closed his eyes briefly. “I understand.” He did too. He bit his lip and worked to breathe. He knew well how strong Bart’s control was. It took every ounce of willpower he possessed to keep his rage suppressed, where she couldn’t get a glimpse of it.

She shook her head. “I doubt you understand the extent. I envisioned taking his hand and leading him into a stall in the woman’s restroom and doing him standing up. You and I have done some wild things in our dreams, but we haven’t done any of them in public.”

He agreed. “So what happened?” His heart pounded. If she said she and Bart got anywhere near the women’s restroom or if Bart got under her skirt between the rows of books, Milo’s anger might get the better of him. He brushed his fingertips over her back and tried to concentrate on the softness of her skin, anything to put out the fire that burned through him.

She paused for another long moment. “I unbuttoned my blouse.”

Milo thought he might choke. “What?”

“Two buttons, maybe three, right there in the café line. Before I realized what I was doing and stopped. I remember thinking
what the hell?
I mean, what kind of woman does that?”

“One that’s under Bart’s spell,” he put in. “He was testing you, testing the control he had over you.”

“I don’t know if I passed or failed. I think steam rose out of the top of my shirt. Then a lady with a shopping bag and a big purse bumped into me, and I wasn’t hot anymore. I shivered and felt embarrassed. I told him no, thank you. His eyes changed. It was just a flash, but I saw it. They darkened, like the black of his pupils covered his entire eyes. Then like an ocean wave, the blackness receded again and the whites of his eyes were back. I wasn’t sure I saw it at first. There was more than anger in his eyes, something deeper, something worse. And I thought, boy, I guess he’s not used to having any girl tell him no. He said, ‘You know you want it.’ I can still hear those words. They were stronger than anything I felt or heard when I touch someone. And he was right. I did want it. Again, but not as strong as before. I was able to look away from him and remember why I was there. I saw he wasn’t you. At least I didn’t think he was you. I knew you wouldn’t make me unbutton my blouse in a public place like I was a slut.”

He leaned close, breathed in the flowery scent of her hair. His heart ached with her words, with knowing the terror she must have felt. He wished he didn’t have to hear the rest, but he did. “What then?”

“Before I could say no, he touched my hand. It was so simple—just a touch, but it left me shivering. It was like he somehow put his dark coldness right into me. And in that quick moment before I could pull away, I saw…I felt…”

She stopped. Milo’s heart raced. He felt hers race too. “Saw what?” He was terrified to ask what she’d felt.

“I felt him on top of me, raping me.”

Milo had to close his eyes against the vision, and he forced himself to remain calm so she didn’t feel his turmoil. It was true. He was connected to Bart in ways he didn’t want to identify, but right then, Milo wanted nothing more than to rip Bart’s head from his body.

“I felt him bite my throat. And I saw my blood on his lips and down his chin. I saw his wicked smile and heard evil in his laughter.”

Milo held her so tight she probably couldn’t breathe, but she didn’t say so.

“I felt him come.” She let out a bitter chuckle.

“What?”

She met his gaze. “For so long after I bumped into you and saw what you were, I kept telling myself, it couldn’t be true. Then I started dreaming of you, and I wasn’t sure what was real. I knew you were a vampire. But in our dreamworld, you’re a man who loves me. In the vision I saw with Bart, I saw nothing good. Only his evilness was so thick it filled the room. I choked on it. I tried to scream, and I couldn’t. I turned away, not wanting to see anymore. That’s when I saw Ella Masterson. She and Graham were on the cover of some travel magazine. It’s how I knew who she was.”

“She was in your vision?” Milo didn’t think he could be more terrified. Then he remembered Ella Masterson
had
to have been in the vision. It was what had brought Jane to the resort—to save Ella.

“She was tied up in the corner, tears on her cheeks. And I saw Graham Masterson in the chair beside her.” She began to sob and again clutched his shirt with her fists.

“What?” His single word was harsh and raspy as he forced it out. Could it get any worse?

Yes, it could.

“His head was on the table…”

After a long moment, her sobs grew quiet. But he still felt the pain in her heart, and he knew her tears continued. She was damned lucky to have escaped Bart. She was damned lucky she’d reached the Moonlight.

“Don’t make me tell anymore.” Her voice sounded so small.

There was more? Yes, he knew there was much more in her confrontation with Bart behind the bookstore. But nothing made sense. She talked as if she believed her vision to be true, or what may be true in the future. But Mrs. M. would never sit on a chair and cry with her hands tied. She was a powerful woman and Mr. M.’s life mate. Together, with the love they shared, they were undefeatable. At least he thought so.