“It’s yours too now.”
The quiet murmur next to his ear, having not heard Thorn move, made Ledger jerk his gaze back to the vampire standing right at his shoulder.
“It’s a good job I don’t have a weak heart or else I might have a heart attack with you creeping up on me like that!” He pressed a hand to the center of his chest, feeling his heart thud against his ribs.
Thorn’s chuckle sounded forced and caused Ledger to frown and focus, only to face Thorn’s wall.
“Your body is changing, getting stronger, so do not fear, Sweetling.” He walked towards a door, moving with a fluid ease that Ledger envied. It totally distracted him from what Thorn had said when the glorious ass bounced, making his teeth ache to get a bite.
“The bathroom is through here.” Thorn opened a door and glanced back at Ledger, one brow once again lifted.
Heat searing his cheeks at getting caught being so obvious, Ledger sailed past Thorn into a bedroom that held the biggest four poster bed. “Wow, you’ve decorated it so it resembles a boudoir in a brothel!”
Ledger walked deeper into the room, glancing about. It was as if he’d stepped back in time and into a movie where the mistress of the house had a decadent and sumptuous boudoir to do all her entertaining.
Thorn’s deep belly laugh warmed Ledger at the freeness of it and he grinned at Thorn. “What? It is.”
“Sweetling, I never considered it looked like a brothel,” he spluttered, looking to regain his composure. “I haven’t changed the décor in here since I furnished the place some hundred years ago. It’s all the original furniture I purchased new.”
Ledger blinked rapidly, twisting as he looked closer at the furniture, then back to his mate. “How old are you?”
“Old,” Thorn replied, walking over to the door on the other side of the room, past an armoire that gleamed in daylight revealing the richness of the wood. “The bathroom is more modern, though I don’t have a shower.”
Ledger hustled after him, ready to complain until he stepped into the bathroom, which was, as he said, more modern. Navy marble glittered with flecks of silver from floor to ceiling, only that wasn’t what held Ledger’s attention. It was the huge gorgeous porcelain bath sat in front of a window that gave an unobstructed view of the vineyard. The lushness of the vines stretched out before him was breathtaking. It was as if Ledger had found himself transported to a vineyard he’d visited in Italy.
He walked to the window and stared out.
“I can open the windows if you like. They slide back so you can lounge in the water and smell the ripe vines. There is nothing better.” The pride was there, and Ledger understood it. The brothers had helped create this.
“No, we didn’t help, we did this.” Thorn wrapped his arms loosely around Ledger’s shoulders, resting his chin on his head. “There was nothing but endless pastures of grass and dirt. We tilled the land using horses and carts. It was long, laborious work, but those results…” he brushed a kiss over the slow beating pulse beneath Ledger’s ear, “brought you to me.”
Ledger relaxed against the solid wall of muscle behind him and, for the first time since he’d first looked into Thorn’s eyes,understood what this all meant. Destiny… no one could outrun it, and somehow the path he’d chosen had led him to Thorn.
Would it be enough?
Would he be enough?
He kept those thoughts on lockdown when he didn’t want the doubting side of him to spoil the moment. There was plenty of time for that.
Chapter Four
Thorn
“Finally managed to drag your ass out of bed, did you?” Dacian muttered crossly as Thorn came into the main reception area of the winery, which housed the offices they used. Dacian stood at the main reception counter holding what looked like a pile of invoices while Calvert was working on his computer.
They had diversified the business over the decades and they had each taken on different roles that suited their skills.
Thorn, who was the more outgoing of the three, dealt with the merchants whom they shipped their wines to. Dacian preferred the creativity of winery production, which included the special blood wine they created solely for vampires worldwide. Dacian’s nose was one of the best in the business for creating the delicate blends of their award-winning wines. As for Calvert, he was an organized soul and managed the vineyard and all the connected properties they had, which catered to tourists and those seeking to hold an event at the vineyard.
Their business had become very profitable over the last few decades, not that they needed the money. They had more than they could spend in a hundred lifetimes. Yet it never ceased to surprise Thorn how much money folks would spend on the ‘perfect wedding’ or event, and the brothers were more than happy to help them spend it at their vineyard.
The three seconds he gave himself to control his temper failed. Dacian had been on his back since he had arrived home with Ledger.
“If you want to find your head rammed up your ass, then keep talking, brother!” he snapped back, resisting the urge to turn tail and return to where he’d left Ledger. He had insisted Thorn leave him alone so he could talk to Aster about the vines.
Aster had worked for them for five years. He was an omega with a definite talent for managing vines and knowing when it was best to pick the grapes to get the best out of them. The wolf shifter lived with his mate. Had that made any difference to the insanely protective—obsessed—side of Thorn?
Nope.
