I looked away, pretending I hadn’t seen the question. This was going to cause all sorts of interrogations later.
It didn’t help that Liam had the sort of looks that made a woman, married or not, want to drop her panties and let him have his wicked way with her.
Too bad his personality was so bad.
It’d been a while since my last boyfriend. Years actually.
“I hope you don’t mind if I cut in,” a smooth voice said behind me.
Liam and I broke apart. A tall man with a thin face and a long nose regarded the two of us with a fixed gaze. He looked like a turn of the century undertaker forced into formal wear. His limbs seemed almost too long for his body and his face was frozen in a perpetually sour expression.
“Aileen, this is Robert Boone. He’s an applicant for the selection.” Though Liam’s voice was perfectly even, it felt like he had added that last part for my benefit.
I started to raise my hand to shake Robert’s when Liam’s grip on my arm tightened in warning. I dropped my hand before offering it, making it look like I had tried to give him an aborted high five.
“This is the vampire everyone has been talking about.” His tone made it clear his words weren’t a question. “I wonder why.”
I kept a pleasant expression on my face even as I felt my hackles raise. By Liam’s utter stillness at my side, he wasn’t happy with Robert’s arrival.
“We will dance,” he said, after a long moment spent studying my face. He extended his hand to me.
Liam’s tension had become my own and taking that man’s hand was the last thing I wanted to do. I didn’t see a way out of it without being rude, which might not bode well for my continued well-being.
Liam let me go, though he turned to watch as Robert stooped to place one hand on my waist and the other on my shoulder. It left me awkwardly placing my hands on his waist. Then we were off. Unlike the graceful dance Liam had somehow managed to lead me into, this one was jerky and full of hurt toes. This time it wasn’t only me doing the stepping.
“You have not joined a clan. Why?”
Here we go again, and after I’d just finished discussing this with the other vampire.
“I saw no need to.”
“Not very bright then.”
I had a feeling he was talking about me.
“What does Liam want with you?”
Judging by the way he almost barked his questions at me, I was guessing this was an interrogation by dance. Let’s hope my feet could survive the stomping they were taking.
“He’s the first vampire I ran into after joining your ranks.”
“He made you.”
“No, I didn’t meet him until last year.”
Which was true. Just not the whole truth.
“The draugr incident.”
“That would be the one.”
“You seem very familiar. He cares for you.”
Don’t know where he was getting that one from.
“I doubt it. We can barely spend five minutes in each other’s company before we start arguing.”
“Then he wants something from you.”
