Under a Vampire Moon (29 page)

“
Hoped
it only worked with women, more like,” Jack muttered, turning his gaze out to sea again, and then he shook his head and grunted. “And here I was thinking that for a gay guy he was acting pretty jealous over you.”

Carolyn smiled faintly and shook her head, but couldn’t help wishing that was so. Which just made her shake her head again. She obviously still wasn’t thinking clearly.

“So, I believe I was inviting you to dinner before we were interrupted,” he said his eyes never leaving the horizon.

Carolyn hesitated, her gaze sliding to Christian again. He was looking grim, a scowl on his face, but still so damned handsome she felt her heart turn over. Mouth tightening, she turned back and smiled. “And I believe I was about to say yes.”

His head swiveled, revealing sparkling eyes and a grin. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she said, and then blurted out, “But I’m kind of still on training wheels when it comes to dating. I—”

Her words died when he removed one hand from the wheel to slide it around her waist and draw her forward. Carolyn was afraid he was going to kiss her and couldn’t keep herself from tensing, but he only pulled her close to whisper in her ear, “It’s okay. I meant it when I said I was willing to go slow. Some things are worth waiting for.”

“Thanks,” she breathed with relief, managing a smile when he pressed a quick kiss to her forehead and released her. She then glanced around with surprise when a drink appeared in front of her: Tristan with another offering of firewater.

She started to refuse, but spotted Christian over the man’s shoulder, still scowling fiercely from the back of the boat, and the guilt that suffused her immediately changed her mind. She took the drink. Carolyn suspected she’d need it if she didn’t want to freeze up like some ice maiden every time Jack touched or teased her, and she was determined to see this through.

She’d go out with him and let him kiss her and—well, if she had the same reaction to his kisses as she had to Christian’s, things should be all right. She just needed to relax and not panic in the meantime. Unfortunately, the very idea of doing any of that had her in a tizzy.

God I’m so pathetic
, Carolyn thought with disgust, raising the glass to her lips.

Fourteen

“G
osh that was fun, wasn’t it?” Carolyn asked skipping along beside him as they started up the dock.

Christian grunted what could have been taken for agreement to Carolyn’s cheerful words, but wasn’t. It hadn’t been fun at all for him. Having to stand at the back of the boat watching as Captain Jack had pushed drink after drink on Carolyn “to relax her” while taking every opportunity to touch her had been nothing but torture.

He knew what the man had been doing. Christian hadn’t missed how she’d stiffened up and looked uncomfortable every time Jack had touched her. The man had obviously set out to get her used to his touching her by doing so in a nonsexual and nonthreatening way as much as possible.

It had been bad enough on the boat, but when they’d stopped at Anse Cochon to swim it had been ten times worse. Everyone had stripped down to swimsuits then, including Carolyn. She’d slid off her shorts, revealing the bottoms that went with the deep purple bikini top Christian had mistaken for a bra under her T-shirt. It had also revealed her curvy figure and shapely legs to the captain’s interested eyes.

Jack had immediately insisted she needed more suntan lotion and proceeded to “help” apply it despite her embarrassment and obvious discomfort. Then the man had set out to relax her by playing with her onshore, splashing her and teasing her before grabbing her by the waist and threatening to throw her into the water as he held her almost naked back to his bare chest.

Christian had watched grimly from the boat, resisting the urge to leap overboard, swim to the man, and rip his heart out for daring to touch her. Only the flashes of discomfort on Carolyn’s face, and the way she continued to tense at Jack’s touch had kept him from doing so. She hadn’t reacted like that to him on the bus. And she hadn’t been half-tanked at the time. The guy didn’t stand a chance.

“I can’t believe I won the ‘shake-your-booty’ contest,” she giggled.

Christian grunted again, his jaw now clenching and his teeth grinding together. That was a ten minutes he wouldn’t soon forget. By the time the “contests” had started, the drink had begun to have its effect and Carolyn had gaily joined in when the crew had pulled out a boom box and lined up the dozen or so women on the boat tour, informing them that they had to shake their booty and that the men would pick the winner by applause. Having seen her dance the night before, Christian hadn’t been at all surprised to see her close her eyes, let the music flow through her, and begin to bump and grind like a pro. The woman was pure sensuality when music played, and he hadn’t been the only one to notice. She had won easily. Many of the other women, not having drunk as much as she had, hadn’t been as comfortable doing it and had bowed out quickly or been too stiff and were voted off. Three women had been removed each round, until there had only been Carolyn and two other women left. Then they had voted for first, second, and third place. Carolyn had beat out a twenty-something young bride and a woman in her thirties to take the prize; the lei she’d been wearing all day, and still had on.

“You should have joined in when the guys did it. I bet you can shake your booty too,” she said with a laugh, skipping along beside him as they entered the main building.

Christian grunted again. As soon as Carolyn had been named the winner, the men had been lined up for the same contest with the women voting. Christian hadn’t joined in. Neither had he bothered to watch the other men gyrating lamely on the boat. His eyes had been locked on Carolyn as the captain congratulated her, dropped the lei over her head, and gave her a quick congratulatory kiss that had made her blush and duck her head. The man had then slung his arm around her shoulder possessively to watch the men do their thing and Carolyn had stood biting her lip and looking uncomfortable but determined.

It was the determined look that bothered him the most. The woman was apparently firmly fixed on having an affair with Captain Jack, whether she really wanted to or not, since her reactions hardly indicated any eagerness on her part. And it was all to take care of what she thought was premenopausal horniness and to preserve their friendship by “saving” him from her “unwanted attentions.” Good lord! He hadn’t missed the irony in that.

“So, are we having dinner tonight?” she asked as they boarded a van for the ride up the hill.

Christian blinked as they settled on the front bench seat together, realizing that with Bethany sick again Carolyn would be free to have dinner with him tonight.

“Because if not, I should run back down to the boat after I change. Jack is taking people out on a night cruise and invited me along, but I said no because I promised to play date for you—”

“Yes, we’re having dinner,” Christian growled at once. There was no damned way he was letting her anywhere near Jack again. He’d made up his mind. Her determination to sleep with Jack for his sake was madness . . . and he wasn’t allowing it. Perhaps he couldn’t risk telling her what he was and about his people yet, but he was going to tell her he wasn’t really gay. He would then kiss her silly, strip her naked, seek out every inch of skin the captain had touched, and place his own hands there to wipe away the memory of the man before making love to her until she couldn’t breathe.

By the time the sun rose in the morning, Carolyn would never again be foolish enough to imagine another man could stir her as he could. Hell, he should really just drag her up to the villa now and put his plans into action. And he would if it weren’t for the fact that his need for blood had hit the critical point again: his emotions were all over the place and his control almost nonexistent. He didn’t even dare risk holding her hand until he’d had a couple of bags of blood.

“Okay, I’ll meet you down in the lounge,” she said cheerfully.

“No. I’ll pick you up,” Christian said at once. It was going to be a proper date for a change. He was not meeting her anywhere. He would collect her, and take her down to dinner, then—

“Oh, but—,” she began.

“I’m picking you up,” he said firmly as the van slowed in front of her villa, then quickly opened the door and ushered her out.

“But—” Carolyn tried again as he leaped back into the van.

“One hour,” he interrupted firmly and pulled the door closed on further protest.

C
arolyn stared after the van with dismay, then turned to start up the walk to the villa door. She didn’t want him picking her up. Beth would give her grief, and she really didn’t want another lecture on being his beard. It would completely ruin her mellow mood of the moment, and she
was
mellow.

Okay, that was an understatement, Carolyn admitted as she staggered on the path. She was pickled. In fact, she’d had a seriously hard time walking straight on the way from the dock to the van and wasn’t sure she’d accomplished it at all. She may have been staggering a bit here or there, but fortunately, Christian hadn’t noticed. He’d stared straight ahead, his expression grim the whole way.

Carolyn had never been much of a drinker, only ever indulging in the occasional glass of wine with dinner. In fact, she’d had more to drink on this trip so far than she’d probably had in her whole life, and most of it today. It had been deliberate, a desperate effort to force herself to relax. It hadn’t worked as well as she’d hoped. She’d still stiffened a bit every time Jack had touched her, but she was beginning to think that had more to do with the fact that Christian had been glowering the entire time. Maybe if he wasn’t there looking all handsome and sexy and glaring at her for stealing a guy he was interested in, she would relax more with Jack. That was what she was hoping for anyway.

Carolyn supposed she’d find out tomorrow on their dinner date, and thought perhaps she should have a couple of cocktails before he even picked her up. She pushed that worry away for now as she reached the door and struggled to get the key card into the slot. Right now she had other matters to worry about. Like getting showered, dressed, and up the hill to Christian’s villa before he left to come collect her. She really didn’t need the lecture Bethany would give her if she knew she was having dinner with Christian again.

Speaking of which, she thought suddenly, what if Bethany was feeling better again and wanted to have dinner with her? That worry was fizzing around inside her head as she fumbled with the door, but as it turned out, it really didn’t end up being a problem. Apparently, hearing her at the door, Bethany came to open it for her, took one look at her, and just gaped for a full minute before accusing her of being drunk. She then trailed her to her room asking all sorts of questions about what she’d drunk and so on.

Carolyn muttered mostly incoherent answers as she stumbled into her bathroom and turned on the shower. She was terribly relieved when Bethany pronounced her too drunk to even make sense, and announced that she was going back to bed. She then firmly added that Carolyn too should go to bed after her shower. She could order herself some room service when she woke up if she felt like it, but was likely to upchuck if she ate now.

Bethany left her alone in the bathroom then, saying she would fetch her some water and put it on her bedside table. She should drink it before sleeping. Water helped prevent hangovers and she didn’t want Carolyn hung over on the shopping tour the next day.

“Thank you,” Carolyn had mumbled, relieved at the way things had turned out. She could shower and pretend to lie down, but dress and slip out of the villa via her terrace doors instead. There would be no lectures. Bethany wouldn’t even know she was gone. Carolyn had stripped and gotten into the shower, grabbing for the taps to keep from falling over as she did and then squawking as the water suddenly turned cold. She’d turned the taps, she realized after a moment under icy water, and quickly adjusted it back.

Forty-five minutes later she was dry, dressed, and slipping out through her terrace doors. She felt like a teenager sneaking out when grounded. Something else she’d missed out on growing up, Carolyn thought with a giggle, and wondered if all women acted like prepubescent idiots when menopause set in. She should be able to say she was going down to dinner with Christian. And if Bethany began to lecture her, Carolyn should be able to say she was an adult and could do as she wished and didn’t appreciate lectures.

However, this was easier, and actually, kind of fun, she thought with a grin as she tossed her shoes over the terrace rail and then climbed over to drop onto the grass on the other side. Picking up her shoes, she smiled to herself as she hurried around the villa and up the road on bare feet.

Carolyn didn’t stop to put on her shoes until she had almost reached the stone terrace around the villa the band was using. Pausing a few feet short of it, she quickly slid her sandals on, did them up, and straightened to brush down her skirt before continuing on. But with the first step, her strap snapped, and her foot twisted sideways out of the high-heeled sandal. Carolyn staggered to the side, trying to keep herself from falling, felt the ground give beneath her, and gasped out a surprised, “Oh,” as she fell.

“D
o you really think that’s wise, son?” Marguerite asked worriedly as she followed him to the front door.