Мишель Роуэн - Stakes & Stilettos

I shook my head. "It's me. All me. And I don't know why you're here. You obviously accepted it when I told you the first time and didn't care one way or the other. It's better that way. You and I are through and it's never—"

Placing a hand on either side of my face, he leaned over and kissed me. I gasped against his lips before wrapping my arms around his waist and opening my mouth to his. After a moment he broke it off and stared down at me.

"We're through?" he said softly. "Are you so sure about that?"

I cleared my throat. "I can't help it if you're a good kisser."

"Who forced you to end things with me?" he asked again. "Was it the Red Devil? Who is he? What does he want from you? Please tell me. You don't have to be afraid."

I tried to pull away from him but he held on to me tightly. "Why do you think that? Maybe this is the way I feel. I mean, your money—"

"A lie. You don't care about my money."

"I totally do. I love rich guys. The richer the better. Money makes the world go around.

And, to say the least, you're way too old for me. My parents think you're eight years older than me, which sounds a lot better than 650 years older."

"You knew that from nearly the moment we met. I've tried to push you away for your own good because of our many differences, but you wouldn't let me. How is it any different today?"

How was this different? The fact that Thierry didn't want to take my break-up at face value was unbelievable, especially since he'd reacted so coldly only a couple hours ago.

"Look, Thierry, this isn't right—"

"You love me," he said. "I know this more certainly than anything else in my life."

I glared up at him. "Somebody needs an ego check."

"And I love you." He swallowed. "I love you, Sarah. I know if I tell you that in my many years I've never felt like this for anyone else, you probably won't believe me, but it's true. I had my fortune told two hundred years ago, and it said that my true love would one day arrive and that I would fight for her. I always thought it was a lie until I met you. I love you. Only you. That's how I know that you were lying to me earlier. And that's how I know you're afraid. But I'm here now and nobody is going to hurt you."

It was obvious. I was dreaming. I guess I'd been more tired than I'd thought. I'd come home, turned off the lights, and fallen completely unconscious enough to have a very vivid dream starring the man who was now out of my life forever. The real Thierry would never say these things to me, would he?

But then Thierry kissed me again and it felt very real.

A tear slipped down my cheek and that felt pretty real, too.

"How did you know?" I whispered against his lips. "How did you know I was lying?"

"I just knew." His lips curled to the side. "Now are you going to tell me who has you afraid, or do you want to continue to keep this terrible secret from me?"

I bit my bottom lip and let out a long, shuddery breath. "It's Gideon Chase."

I'd never seen shock on Thierry's face before. It didn't really suit him. "But… Gideon is dead."

I shook my head. "Empty casket. He's horribly burned, but he's not dead."

And then, as quietly as I could, I told Thierry everything and with every word I spoke I felt the horrible weight that pressed against my chest lift little by little. I told him about

Gideon's plan for me to sire him, and of his threats if I didn't. I told him that Gideon was the one who'd killed Stacy. And finally how Gideon had forced me to break up with him.

His expression grew more grave and serious with everything I said, and there was a fierce look of determination on his face by the end when he met my gaze.

"And yes," I said. "The Red Devil obviously isn't the real one. Hindsight is twenty-twenty and all that."

"I will refrain from saying I told you so."

"I'd appreciate it." I let out a long sigh of relief. "I'm so glad you know. Now we can fix this together."

He didn't say anything to that.

"Thierry?" I prompted. "How are we going to fix this?"

"That is a very good question," he said. "Gideon Chase is a formidable hunter, and one who has never shown any mercy. Now he's desperate to be cured even if it means becoming the very thing he's hunted for his entire life. There is no easy answer to this."

"But we'll figure something out, right?"

He stroked the hair off my forehead and tucked it behind my left ear. "Yes, we will. But until then we need for him to believe that I know nothing. It's safer if we play along with his little games."

"So what do we do?"

"I'll be leaving on the next plane to France, and you can sort all of this out here by yourself. Please let me know how it all turns out."

I gaped at him. "Please tell me this is another attempt at that humor thing you've been trying lately."

He frowned. "I'm not very good at it, am I?"

I shook my head. "I love you even without the knock-knock jokes. Seriously."

His expression softened. "This is good to know."

"Gideon is convinced I was successful at breaking up with you."

"Then he must continue to think that. As far as anyone will know, we're no longer together."

"Everyone? Even George?"

His dark eyebrows raised. "Especially George. If George knows, the world knows."

"Good point." I twisted my hand into the silky material of Thierry's black shirt. "So we'll stay away from each other until this is over."

He nodded slowly. "That would be best."

"Then you probably should be leaving now."

"I should." He kissed me again deeply and it nearly took my breath away. "I'm very glad you have the gold chain. Much safer that way, isn't it?"

"This doesn't feel very safe to me," I breathed against his mouth.

He picked me up in his arms. "George is working until 6:00 a.m. at the club. That, I believe, gives us four hours until he returns."

I wrapped my arms around his neck. "For a master vampire, you're very good at math.

But… but we need to figure out what we're going to do about Gideon. And how can we make everybody believe that we're not together? Obviously I'm a really bad liar if you figured it out."

"We'll find a way. But not tonight. Or, at least, not in the next four hours."

"But—"

"Do you love me?" he asked very seriously.

"Yes." My eyes filled with tears again. "I love you so much."

"Then that's all that matters. You haven't known me that long, Sarah. You don't know how I can be when there's something I want and someone's standing in my way. And I want you." He frowned then. "However, there is one thing that troubles me more than anything else at this very moment. More even than Gideon Chase."

"What?"

He met my gaze and smiled. "That nightshirt definitely has to go."

My heart swelled. I hugged him tightly against me and felt right then that everything was going to be okay as long as we were together.

And, quite honestly, my nightshirt was seriously ugly.

"I can definitely deal with that," I said just before I kissed him again… and again.