“N-no!” She turned her face away. “It’s Nadine. Her sister.”
“Oh,” he said. “Nadine. Right.”
He had the same piercing stare he’d bequeathed to both his sons, although Cal’s were that entrancing chalcedonic hazel, whereas Ben’s were a deep, forest green. Nathaniel’s, however, were somewhere between green and brown: a pale hawk-like gold.
His face was as angular as Cal’s, but he had Ben’s weaker jaw, and the cleft in his chin that somehow only Odessa had inherited. His dark brunette locks showed no sign of receding and were just starting to go gray at the temples, even though he must have been in his fifties at least. He had the physique of a man several decades younger, and Nadine found it particularly hard to look at his chest, which was just hirsute enough to give his otherwise refined appearance a feral edge.
“I heard you were in town,” he said casually, apparently unbothered by his state of undress. “I’m surprised you didn’t come to us sooner.”
Nadine remained posted in the doorway, darting a nervous look down the hall. “I didn’t want to impose.”
“Shy are you? So was your sister.” He seemed amused when she backed out into the hallway as he approached, making her remember her first impression of him at the wedding, when he’d been looking at Noelle and her husband as if he were thinking of a nasty joke. “There’s no need to be frightened, Nadine. We’re practically family.”
“Y-yeah,” she said. “I’m just looking for my room.”
“Cal seems fond of you.” Nathaniel folded his arms. “I’m glad to see him enjoying some proper diversions. The girls around here are as dumb as deer. It’s about time he settled.”
Nadine felt sick to her stomach. “I’m just here for my sister,” she said. “All he does is—”make you forget your name“—tease me,” she finished weakly.
“Perhaps it will amount to nothing. But let me give you a piece of advice that I should have given to Noelle on her wedding night—raise his blood. Keep him excited. Boredom turns Cullraven men cruel, my dear. They need something to chase, whether it walks on two legs or four.”
His words were so similar to what Caledon Cullraven had said in her nightmare that the boards seemed to swim beneath her feet like water.Be it on twain legs or four.She felt the wall hit her back and jumped, which made the corner of Nathaniel’s lips tilt up with a familiar dark amusement.
Suddenly, she felt very sure that if she didn’t leaveright nowsomething bad would happen.
“M-my room,” she choked out. “The, uh, b-bridal suite. Where is it?”
Nathaniel pointed, the hard muscle of his torso flexing noticeably with the movement. “Down the hall. Right across from Ben’s. It used to belong to Noelle,” he added.
There was no reason for him to tell her that except to get a reaction from her. And though she tried to hide it, she was not entirely sure she was successful because his smile deepened.
“I can see why he likes you,” he murmured.
And that was all Nadine needed to hear to send her flying down the hall.
Ben’s door—at least, what she assumed was his door—was closed. Nadine was glad because she didn’t feel like talking to him right now. She did wonder where Cal’s bedroom was, though. Nathaniel hadn’t said, and that omission didn’t seem like it was an accident, either.
He wants me to be nervous, she thought wildly.He wants me afraid.
She couldn’t get that sinister look out of her mind.
The door to her room was standing open, which made her feel stupid because if she had just kept going, she could have found it on her own without running into Cal’s creepy father. The room was surprisingly beautiful, with a mahogany sleigh bed that had flowers carved right into the posts and filmy voile curtains picked out in gold. Her luggage was in a pile beneath the large bay window and she nudged it out of the way to sit on the padded jacquard cushions of the window seat.
This is nice. She could imagine Noelle sitting here, looking out at the endless forest and not-so-distant mountaintops. Some were still dusted with caps of snow. Nadine pressed her fingers to the old, pitted glass and was surprised at how cold it felt to the touch.
“Miss?”
Nadine yanked her hand away. Thomas was standing a slight distance from the made bed. Beyond him was a painting of a stag at bay, blood spattering its wounded flanks as it reared up against a dark-haired hunter in fine clothes brandishing a rifle.Charming, she thought.
“Is there anything else I can get you?”
A covering for that awful painting.“Was this really Noelle’s room?”
“Sometimes.” He spoke warily. “She mostly stayed with her husband.”
So much for separate rooms.“Mostly?”
“Except when she wasn’t well.” He looked uncomfortable. Shooting a wary glance towards the hall, he said, “Let me know if you need anything else. There’s a bell. Dinner is at seven.”
