Operation Saving Daniel (Entangled Covet) (7 page)

For a moment, she resisted. “But Daniel, where do I belong? I don’t know.”

“Well, right now, you belong in your room with Julia. I presume Julia is in your room.”

“She was. But I was thirsty. I needed a drink.” She frowned. “I found you instead, but I’m still thirsty.”

“Okay, I’ll get you a drink first, and then we’ll go to your room.” Ushering her with one hand on her arm and the other at the small of her back, he headed away from Sophia’s room toward the staircase. The warmth of her skin penetrated through the thin material of her top, heating his palm. She leaned against him and he pressed her shoulder so she sank down onto the top stair. “Don’t move. You sit here and wait for me. I’ll be right back with your drink.”

Daniel hurried away, but on the bottom stair, he turned to look at her. She had her hands resting on her knees and her chin resting on her hands.

“You have a sensational butt,” she said, her tone serious.

Had he heard her right?

“Actually, you have a sensational everything.” She sighed. “Were you always this beautiful? How did I ever walk away?”

There wasn’t really a lot he could say to that. Had he changed in appearance that much since she’d left? It wasn’t something he’d really thought about. So he turned away and headed for the kitchen.

He grabbed a bottle of sparkling water from the fridge and was pouring a glass when she spoke from behind him.

“Daniel?”

He jumped. Why the hell hadn’t he heard her? Sophia wasn’t the only one who was supposed to have inhuman hearing. He was probably too busy thinking about the fact that Lissa thought he had a beautiful butt.

“I thought you were waiting?” he said.

“I got lonely.” She shuffled into the kitchen. Her feet were bare and made no sound on the terra-cotta tiles. “And you were gone for ages.”

“About thirty seconds.”

She ignored him. “And I missed you.”

Maybe she needed coffee, not water. He crossed the room and switched on the coffee machine. He should leave her to it but he couldn’t resist spending a bit more time with her. The state she was in, he doubted she would remember much of the conversation. And on the plus side, he’d keep his hands off her because she was drunk, and he didn’t take advantage of women who were in no state to say no. “How much have you had to drink?”

“Lots and lots of sangria.”

He leaned back against the counter and shoved his hands in his pockets. “How many jugs?”

“I’m not sure, but more than one.”

“Quite a lot more, I’m guessing.”

“Well, the waiters were so sweet and so obliging.”

“I bet they were.” He had a thought. “I take it you all made it back.”

“Debora wanted to stay. She liked one of the waiters,” Lissa said. “I mean
really
liked.” She leered at him in case he didn’t get her meaning. He did. “She wanted to go home with him, but Marcy made her come back with us.”

“Good.”

“So Debora invited him to the party, tomorrow.”

Oh well, one more was hardly going to be noticeable. This party was turning into a circus. But he supposed his mother was only sixty once. “That’s nice.”

He was trying his damnedest not to look directly at her, because then he would remember that she was wearing nothing but a pair of silky pajamas and that she was naked underneath. Instead, he got milk from the fridge and poured it into two cups, added the coffee, and finally turned back to her.

She’d perched on one of the stools at the breakfast bar, her bare feet dangling inches from the floor. Her toenails were painted goldy yellow and sort of matched her eyes. After placing the cup beside her, he moved a safe distance away.

“Don’t you want to sit next to me?” she asked. Leaning over, she patted the stool next to her, giving him a view right down the front of her top to the shadows between her breasts. He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry.

“I’m okay here, thank you.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “Are you afraid of me?”

“Terrified.”

She nodded solemnly. “You’re right to be afraid. And you know why?”

“No, but I suspect I’m about to find out.”

“Because I’m out to ruin your perfect life.”

“My life isn’t perfect.” He tried to keep the bitterness from his voice.

“No, it isn’t, is it? You’re going out with the bitch monster from hell, a.k.a The Evil One.”

He bit back a smile at the amazingly accurate description of Sophia. “She’s sweet underneath.”

“Are you really going to marry her?”

He glanced away, staring out of the window into the night. “Yes.”

“That is so sad.” She blinked and a tear spilled out of one eye and dribbled down the flawless skin of her cheek. She blinked again and another tear. Oh, God, she was crying. He took a step toward her, before remembering something. Lissa had always been able to cry at will—it was one of her party tricks.

“Cut the crocodile tears, Lissa. I know you too well.”

“Ha, nearly got you though.” She pulled a face and then grinned. “It was worth a try. And it is sad. Very sad. Do you want to tell me why?”

“Why what?”

“Why are you marrying her?”

“Because I love her?” It came out as a question and he hadn’t meant it to.

“Bullshit.”

Too right, it was bullshit. He searched his mind for something she might believe. “Because she’s beautiful, sexy, and great in bed.”

“Yeah well, she’s probably had a lot of practice.” She took a sip of her coffee. “Is she better than me?”

What was he supposed to say? Nobody had ever been better than Lissa. That night was indelibly ingrained in his mind. He still dreamed of it—woke up with a raging hard-on from the memories at least once a week. In the past, he’d tried to tell himself that it was because she was his first. Everyone remembered their first. But he knew it was more than that. The wolves had a legend that everyone had a true mate, though most never found them, some found them and lost them…

He peered into her face. She was blinking. Oh God, she was going to cry again. Then he remembered it hadn’t been real the last time. Still, he needed to answer her question.

“More experienced than you,” he settled on. He couldn’t believe he was talking about sex with Sophia to Lissa. It seemed a little surreal. Especially considering he was making the whole thing up. He’d never had sex with Sophia and God forbid he ever would.

Her gaze flashed back to his. “I’m more experienced now.”

A jolt of rage and jealousy shot through him. Inside him, his wolf howled—he wasn’t happy about the idea either.

That night, she’d said she wasn’t a virgin, but she’d been sweet and innocent and he’d gotten the distinct impression that it was very new to her, that they were discovering pleasure together.

“You said you weren’t a virgin—”

“Did I? Of course I’m not a virgin. I am twenty-eight, and anyway you know I’m not—I slept with you.”

“I meant that night on my twentieth birthday. You said you weren’t a virgin. Who had you been with?”

She regarded him suspiciously. “Are you taking advantage of the fact that I am slightly inebriated to find out all my deep dark secrets?”

“Do you have lots?”

“No. That’s sad isn’t it?”

“So who’s this guy you slept with before me?”

“You remember your mother employed someone to clear the back garden the summer I was seventeen?”

Daniel searched his memory.

“That dickhead?” He couldn’t remember but he’d bet the guy had been a dickhead. Though really Daniel was quite aware that he wasn’t going to like whoever it had been.

“He wasn’t a dickhead. He was a student.”

“Did you seduce him as well?”

“No, he seduced me.” She grinned. “But I let him. I was curious and he was sort of hot.”

Not something he wanted to hear. He tried to remember the boy, but he’d been away most of that summer, and he came up blank.

“Was he better than me?”

“No he wasn’t. No one has ever been better than you.” She sounded mournful and it so mirrored his own thoughts earlier.

“So you’ve tried a few?”

“One or two.” She peered at him closely while swaying on the stool. “Why are you asking?” Something must have occurred to her, something good if her expression was anything to go by. “Are you jealous?”

He didn’t answer, because she really didn’t need to know how jealous he was. But he had no right to be jealous. She wasn’t his to be jealous of.

When he didn’t reply, she pushed herself off the stool and wobbled toward him. He thought he should back off but he was leaning against the counter and had nowhere to go. She stopped only inches from him and her sweet perfume drifted into his nostrils. He closed his eyes for a second, but she was still there when he opened them. Resting one palm flat on his chest, she gazed up into his face.

“You don’t have to be jealous,” she said. “There’s absolutely nothing to be jealous of—I’ve never really wanted anyone but you.”

Her eyes widened as though she couldn’t believe she had said that. He couldn’t believe it, either.

“Oh God,” she said.

“What is it?”

“I feel a little…woozy.”

Then her eyes fluttered closed, and she fainted. He caught her as her legs gave way and scooped her up in his arms. For long seconds, he stood with her clasped against his chest. Her eyes remained shut but the pulse beat rapidly under the skin of her throat. She felt right in his arms, too right, and he headed for the stairs.

When he got to the top, he paused. He didn’t know which way to go, but a door opened across the hallway and a sleepy Julia poked her head out.

“Daniel, I was coming to hunt for her.” She nodded down at the unconscious Lissa in his arms. “Is she okay?”

“Just too much to drink. I hope.”

“I don’t think she’s done much drinking in the past.”

“Well, she seems to be making up for it.”

“Yeah.” She eyed him with a speculative gleam in her eyes. “Is she making up for anything else?”

Daniel ignored the question and nudged past her. The room was large with twin beds. One rumpled, one in pristine condition. Julia hurried around him and pulled back the top sheet from the made bed.

He lowered Lissa gently to the mattress. She clung to him a little, though that might have been his imagination.

She lay, her head on the pillow, her eyes closed. Daniel willed her to open them but she didn’t move, and he resisted the urge to drop a kiss on her slightly parted lips. Instead, he touched his fingertip to the pulse in her throat; it was fast but strong, and he straightened and stepped back.

Crap. Bollocks.

She admitted she still wanted him, and he’d bet anything his sisters hadn’t put her up to saying that.

And he admitted it—he wanted her. Badly.

Christ, he hated his life.

He glanced away from Lissa to find Julia studying him. “You can’t marry Sophia,” she said.

Shit, he wished people would stop telling him that. “Just watch me,” he growled and turned on his heels and stalked out of the room.

…

Lissa kept her eyes clamped tight shut until she heard the door click closed and she knew he had gone.

Holy hell. Had she really told him how she felt about him?

Nah. She was hallucinating again, like she’d done when she was sick with malaria. Now, she’d snuggle down in this nice cozy bed, go to sleep, and in the morning she’d find it was just a bad dream. Though it hadn’t all been bad. The bit where he’d cradled her in his arms and held her against his hard, muscled chest had been pretty damn nice.

“Come on, you can stop the Sleeping Beauty act,” Julia said. “Open your eyes, or I might be tempted to pour a glass of water over your head to check that you’re alive.

She’d do it as well. Lissa opened one eye. “I’m very tired, and I’m going to sleep.”

“Oh no you’re not. Not until you give me a blow-by-blow account of what just happened.” Julia plonked herself down on the bed.

“Nothing happened except I made a colossal fool of myself. Again.”

“Did you kiss him?”

“No, and more to the point he didn’t kiss me.”

“That’s because he’s a gentleman and you’re drunk.”

“Am not.”

“Am.”

“Okay, I concede that one.” She pulled herself up so she sat back leaning against the wall, then reached out, took Julia’s hand, and squeezed. “He’s going to marry Sophia.”

“I know.”

“And I told him how much I wanted him. And he’s still going to marry her.”

“Life sucks. But you know what they say: it’s not over until the fat lady sings.”

“Sophia isn’t fat. I wish she was. It’s not fair. I came back to get Daniel out of my system. When I was ill in that hospital, I decided that if I made it, I was going to move on, put the whole Daniel thing behind me, and find a nice man…”

“Daniel’s nice.”

“No, he’s not. Maybe once he was, but there’s nothing nice about him now. Sometimes when you peer into his eyes…” She shivered. “It’s like there’s something else in there, something sleeping, waiting to wake, and…”

Julia leaned toward her, her eyes eager. “And?”

Lissa shrugged. “And I don’t know, except it’s not nice. But it doesn’t matter—I love him. And I don’t want to love him anymore, not when he doesn’t want me.”

“Oh he wants you. But for some reason, he’s decided he can’t have you.” Julia patted her on the arm. “Go to sleep. In the morning it will seem much better.”

“Or much, much worse.”

…

“We’re here,” Julia said, tapping Lissa on the arm. She’d been staring out of the taxi window but not really seeing anything.

They were having lunch in Marbella on the seafront while the caterers set up the villa for the party that evening. Lissa had dressed in a tangerine T-shirt dress, very simple, with a deep scoop neck and cut low at the back. All she wore beneath it was a yellow thong, and the thin cotton of the dress clung to her lean figure. She knew she looked good from the whistles directed at them as they strolled along the seafront to the restaurant. She’d hoped the color would brighten her mood, but she couldn’t shift the feeling of impending doom. Hopefully, it was nothing more than a hangover, and she settled her dark glasses firmly on her nose.