Tempting Fate (9 page)

Jean laughed, but it was a horrible sound, strangled and hard. “
Bien sûr.
”

“I’m going to be late, Jean.”

“This, all of this, is just some fling for you. You aren’t serious about him, any more than you were serious about me.”

She bit her lip. How could she explain what she was feeling without sounding like a fool? He would never understand. She barely understood herself, but Ethan was so different, so focused when they were together. As if no one else existed but her—no one else was worthy, but her.

When she didn’t answer, he turned to look at her, studying her face. “Mia, you can’t love him.”

“Maybe if you just met him—”

“It’s only been three days!”

She searched for the words, but nothing seemed adequate with him staring at her that way. All the arrogance was gone, replaced with a desperation she had never thought he was capable of. “He’s different.”

Jean moaned, closing his eyes and dropping his forehead to the steering wheel. He muttered something in French that sounded like a prayer.

“Jean?” She hesitated, then touched his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think you would be this upset. I mean, we were only together for two weeks.”

He laughed again, bitter and harsh, and lifted his head. “You have no idea, Mia. No idea at all what you’re doing.” He slammed the heel of his hand against the steering wheel so hard the car shuddered. “I cannot even explain!”

She dropped her hand and sat back. The skin around his eyes was gray and tight. “I don’t understand.”

“Of course not!” He clenched his teeth, the muscles along his jaw twitching beneath his skin. “Because we DeLeons, we are so good at keeping our secrets, and the gods who promise their protection do not think to protect anyone but us and her. Always her!”

“You’re not making any sense.” Her eyes strayed to the dashboard. If she left now, she could still make it on foot. Ethan would wait. “I don’t really have time for nonsense right now. Can it wait until tonight? I promised Ethan—”

“It doesn’t matter what you promised him.” He started the car and glanced over his shoulder at the traffic. They were on a side road, but it was narrow. He began to back up as though he would turn.

She stared. His jaw was set tight and the color had returned to his face, but he looked as though he would kill someone with his bare hands.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking you home.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I will be damned before I take you anywhere near that man!” He slammed his palm against the steering wheel again. She did not like to consider what that kind of force would have done if it had been directed at something living.

Jean seemed to gather his self-control when the car had turned and they were driving in the direction of the house again. He glanced at her and mumbled an apology she only half heard before clearing his throat.

“Call him, if you must, but you will not see him again.”

She swallowed her anger. There was an edge beneath his words that frightened her, and she had no idea what he was capable of. Not then. Maybe not ever.

“You’re not my father, Jean. You’re not even my brother. You have no right to police my life.”

He shook his head. “Hastings is a snake,
un escroc
—a con artist—at best. He will use you, Mia, and discard you again when he is through. I am sorry, but this is the best way. The only way. And your sister will agree.”

“Abby doesn’t rule my life, either!”

He swore in French. “In this, she might as well. You would be better off!”

“You’re just jealous.”

“
Non,
” he said. “Fear for you has wrapped itself so tight around my heart I have no room for anything else.”

She sat back, unsure of what to say. It was clear he wouldn’t listen, anyway.

Her mobile buzzed in her hand. Jean glanced at her, his expression bleak, and she silenced it. She would call Ethan back when she didn’t have an audience. When Jean wasn’t there, staring at her desperately. Besides, if Ethan was more worried than annoyed, she would know how much he cared for her. If he cared for her. It was a perfect test.

She hoped he was sick with concern.

Ten

Adam

She was late.

Adam closed his eyes, shutting out the noise of the café and the street, the conversations of the other patrons. But even as familiar as Mia was to him, now, he couldn’t quite find her—just an impression of irritation and…

Anger. The black, roiling, oily rage of a man made impotent, and far too near to her for Adam’s comfort. But surely Mia would be more than irritated if she were in danger? She wasn’t a fool. Not when it came to her own self-preservation. He’d spent enough of his time distracting her from her suspicions to know that by now. Not that she had anything to fear from him, so much as he simply didn’t want her realizing his association with her family and her sister. And he couldn’t blame her at all for her paranoia in that regard, the way Eve had boxed her in so carefully, ruled her life for so long without ever knowing it, without ever realizing what kind of influence her presence had on the people around her.

Adam had no intention of letting Mia fall back into her hands or anyone else’s. Not when he understood too well what it was like to be leashed so utterly to someone else’s ideas of what he should or should not be doing.

But he didn’t like the scent of that anger in her presence. Impotence made men desperate, more often than not, and if Mia came to any harm under his watch, her damned Lions would hunt him to the ends of the earth, imagining it some slight to their honor. With the exception of Jean, he supposed. From what Mia had said, Garrit’s cousin had probably been genuinely fond of her, but as long as he worshipped at the DeLeon altar, he’d never be able to give her any kind of freedom. Not really.

Not the way that Adam could.

He called her, and it went to voicemail, and he forced himself to focus, to
find
her—No. It wasn’t any use, with all the background noise of the city and its residents. Maybe if they’d been in Sospel or even Marseilles, he might have had a chance, but in Paris? The city was far, far too large, and the sound of so many minds all at once reminded him too much of the weight of all those memories, crashing over him in wave after wave after wave, crushing him into dust, a mote in the tapestry of time.

Adam shook his head to clear it, and tossed a few euros on the table to cover his bill. Mia wasn’t coming, that much was certain, and he had a sinking suspicion that it had something to do with Jean. The man had probably just realized he’d lost her utterly, and in any event, she certainly hadn’t snuck out beneath his nose again. He ought to have known the Lion would be suspicious if Mia simply forgot to make arrangements for them to meet. Not that it wouldn’t have been a Mia thing to do. Adam imagined she was quite skilled at forgetting things she didn’t care for, and he’d really only nudged her along on a path she’d set for herself, when it came down to it.

But just because she was with Jean didn’t mean she was safe. Not if he was that angry, and not if Mia had let her self-satisfaction cloud her better judgment. Adam moved briskly to his car, complete with driver, and waiting just around the corner. She’d said she was staying just outside the city to the south, and perhaps if he got close enough he might catch the flavor of her mind. It might be enough to guide him the rest of the way, and he was sure the DeLeon stench wouldn’t be too difficult to miss when he came across whatever mansion they’d built for themselves from all those Golden Lions—Asgardian Gold, he guessed. The kind that never diminished no matter how much they’d spent.

His phone rang just after he’d directed his driver south, and some of the tightness in his chest eased to see it was Mia. The stress of imagining himself hunting for her, no doubt, with all that noise in his head. Paris was not a quiet city by any stretch, and the people in it weren’t shy in broadcasting their emotions.

“My God, I thought you were lying dead in a ditch somewhere! Are you all right? What’s kept you?”

“I’m afraid that I can’t make it today.” He could tell from her tone, it was the response she’d been hoping for. Sweet, self-centered Mia. “Jean practically locked me up in the house when I told him your name.”

Adam grimaced. “Did he say why?”

“He says you’re only using me, but of course he wouldn’t say why. They keep all these stupid secrets and won’t explain anything to me even when it ruins my life!”

He laughed. She was so dramatic, but it wasn’t anything he hadn’t expected—even if it had come sooner than he’d liked. “They won’t ruin your life, Mia. I won’t permit it.”

“Well they’ve ruined my plans for today, at least.” She was sulking, he thought, and he could just imagine her wide, doe eyes, begging him to rescue her. “Jean says I’m not allowed to see you anymore. Ever.”

“And how will Jean stop you from seeing me when you’ve gone back home to London?” he asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure if someone can find a way, it’s him. And Abby. He says she wouldn’t let me see you either. It just isn’t fair! I finally find a man I like and she has to mess it all up with her stupid new family!”

“Just like?” He hadn’t meant the words to come out so gently. “Not love?”

“Oh,” she breathed, and the tightness was back, though he didn’t understand why. “I’m afraid to say it.”

He forced another laugh. “That doesn’t sound like you at all. The Mia I know is fearless.”

“Do you?” she asked. “Feel that way about me, I mean.”

“I want to watch you fly, Mia,” he heard himself say. “Free from all of this. The two of us together. Love doesn’t quite cover it.”

It wasn’t a lie. He hadn’t expected that it wouldn’t be. He’d expected—

“I love you, too.” She sighed.

He’d expected to lure her, to set her free, to let her soar, but now? Those words lodged themselves in his chest, thickening his throat with physical need. To have her. Safe and free at his side. In his bed.

“No one is going to believe us, though,” she went on. “After only three days? How can I love you after only three days? How can you love me?”

“Fate,” he said, without even a moment’s hesitation. “And if you can find your way free of DeLeon custody, I’ll prove it. We can elope. Tonight, even.”

The sooner the better. And he didn’t dare put even a toe onto their property, or risk the whole thing ruined. It was only a matter of time before Jean spread word of it all, and any delay now would only make it that much harder. It was now, or never, and never wouldn’t do at all.

“No one can tell us we can’t be together if we’re already married,” he said softly. If he were only there, with her, it would be no effort at all to persuade her. “Not even the DeLeons. You’ll be free from them, from your sister, from your parents. We can spend every night together and Jean won’t be able to say a word.”

“He’ll hate me.”

“Does it matter?”

She hesitated, just for a moment. A moment that stretched into eternity. If he were only there—a touch of her hand would wash it all away. But that wasn’t how he wanted her. Not really. And he needed her willing, besides, without a trace of coercion in her mind, or it would never stand.

“Can you come get me?” she said at last.

He let himself breathe again. “The moment you’re ready.”

“Tonight. After dinner. That will give me time to pack, and no one will miss me until morning.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

“Can I have a wedding dress?” He could hear the smile in her voice, somewhere between shy and sultry.

Adam laughed. “Mia, you can have anything you want. A dress will be the least of it, I promise you.”

And he meant that too.

Eleven

Mia

They didn’t actually marry until the following morning, and Ethan carried her over the threshold into a gorgeous suite, complete with rose petals sprinkled over the bed. He didn’t even pause to let her look around, and as eager as they both were, she was surprised that neither her gown, nor his suit suffered damage.

Her mobile rang incessantly, but she ignored it, and Ethan left her only long enough to shut it off and let the room service in with an incredible lunch. She sat up in the bed when he wheeled the cart in, wrapping herself in the sheet. It was enough food for three meals.