Perhaps it was because Narcise herself recognized that feeling of unfulfilled expectancy. It had taken her decades to find it, to allow herself to truly feel on a plane deeper than the merely physical. To battle through the humiliation and pain at the hands of Cezar’s friends and enemies alike, to finally make love with a man who truly awakened and aroused her.
Whom she trusted and opened herself to.
Now she couldn’t bear to look at him, even when they were in the same room.
Narcise turned her attention away from those dangerous thoughts and the man in question, and happened to glance at Dimitri. The man was a rock: hard, cold and emotionless.
Exactly the way Narcise wanted to be.
Dimitri noticedthe contemplative way Narcise was looking at him, as if she meant to find some deep secret in his eyes. But she, intensely beautiful and deliciously scented as she was, was much easier to ignore than the daggerish looks Chas’s sister continued to slip him.
He was trying not to think about the shock in Miss Woodmore’s face when she’d seen him standing there, in the doorway of her chamber. Naturally he’d had a legitimate reason for being there, and it wasn’t his fault her voice carried sohe heard what she was saying regarding her dream about a vampire.
The woman needed to learn restraint, blast it all.
But for a moment, his heart had stopped cold when he thought he sawrecognitionalong with mortification in her eyes.
Then he talked himself out of it, for she simply couldn’t have put the pieces together that he was the Knave of Diamonds. He’d even taken care to remove his costume with its glass ruby and red-and-black waistcoat immediately after their…interlude.
And apparently that interlude hadn’t made as much of an impression on her as some dark, erotic dreams—which was a damn good thing. Although the fact she seemed to be having the same sorts of dreams that had been plaguinghimwas another problem entirely.
He sincerely hoped her dreams weren’t nearly as explicit and erotic as his own.
Dimitri was half listening as Chas tried to explain to his sisters that he was a vampire hunter. That he’d allied himself with a beautiful, if emotionally damaged, Dracule woman caused even more confusion for the Misses Woodmore. It simply wasn’t logical, of course, and they had questions.
And even Dimitri could appreciate the position of the sisters.
Which meant, blast it all, he’d be the recipient of more badgering by Miss Woodmore when her brother disappeared again with his paramour. For it had become abundantly clear Chas and Narcise were not merely companions on an adventure, nor was she an unwilling partner in their journey. He could smell the intimacy between them.
That wasn’t the only thing he could scent. Voss had been here, the bastard. Despite the fact that Angelica hadn’t admitted it, Dimitri knew he’d been in the house—probably in the girl’s chamber with her—tonight. For all he knew, she could have let him in herself, enthralled and helpless under his influence.
Dimitri’s teeth ground. He and Woodmore were going to take care of Voss as soon as they found him. And then Chas would have one of his problems taken care of…leaving him with a more sensitive one.
He scanned Narcise with objective eyes. Definitely a beautiful woman. But certainly not one who had ever interested him—even that night in Vienna when Moldavi had offered her to Dimitri as a bribe of sorts. When he had a woman, however occasional that event might be, he wanted her willing and without cold, dead eyes.
Not that they were cold and dead when she looked at Chas. Cool. But not dead.
Dimitri shifted impatiently and glowered at the trio of Woodmores, who had overrun his life, his home, and now even his private office.
Would they never stop talking? He just bloody damn wished everyone would get out of his study so he could get back to his work. His research and studies had been disrupted so much he was certain what little he’d managed in the last week was worthless.
The stack of books Miss Woodmore had taken upon herself to neaten as soon as she entered this little meeting reminded him he hadn’t been to the antiquarian bookstore yet. He flattened his lips. He would go tomorrow, or the next day at the very latest. He was through having his workcompletelydisrupted.
“Corvindale is your guardian for the foreseeable future,” Chas was saying flatly, looking at Maia with an implacable expression, “but I wasn’t going to stand aside and let Voss compromise my sister.”
“I’m not compromised,” Angelica said stubbornly.
“It doesn’t matter,” Woodmore replied, glancing around the room. “We know he was here tonight, Angelica. Whether you invited him or welcomed him or?—”
“I certainly didn’t invite him,” Angelica shot back in outrage. “I wouldn’t invite a terrifying creature like him anywhere!”
“It doesn’t matter,” Chas continued. “Corvindale and Cale are going to help me find him. And then I’m going to kill him.”
And then Dimitri would be able to get back to his studies, and forget about the upheaval brought by a houseful of mortal women.
And perhaps then he’d stop dreaming about one in particular.
7
