Chapter Twenty-Seven
MINA
Marius, Roux, and I stared at the blaze. Fifty yards away, flames danced over the villa. Staff hurried to move vans and equipment away from the rear entrance — the side we faced — and a pair of women did their best with garden hoses. A doomed, but valiant effort.
“Aquí! Aquí!” Over here, someone directed them toward the front of the building.
Yes, over there, I agreed. As far from the library as possible. The faster that area burned, the better.
Party guests huddled a safe distance from the front of the building. Some stared at the fire in awe, while others jabbered into phones. One moron was actually filming the disaster.
“Have you seen Delphine? And what about Bene?” I asked, suddenly seized with fear.
Roux pointed. “Delphine is there, and I spotted Bene on the way out.”
I exhaled. “And Henrik?”
Marius snorted. “First one out, probably. Self-preservation is his greatest instinct. Just like Celeste.” And boy, was his voice bitter.
“I guess she made it out too?” I ventured.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Marius said without the slightest hint of remorse. “But Henrik will make sure she doesn’t talk.”
A cry went out as part of the building collapsed.
“Wow,” I breathed, staring at the enormity of the fire.
“Yes. Wow.” Roux shot Marius the evil eye.
Marius pointed to me. “She wanted a diversion.”
“I did,” I said quickly. “And it definitely worked. It’s just…just…” I looked to Roux for help.
He crossed his arms, mum.
“Just what?” Marius frowned, looking at the building.
“A little big,” I finished in a bold understatement.
He looked at the burning villa, then shrugged. “I guess I didn’t account for the flammable supplies in the catering truck.”
I winced. Well, that explained the quick spread of the fire.
“I guess not,” I said, choosing my words carefully.
Roux rolled his eyes.
“Not that I’m not grateful,” I added before Marius got riled up. “But next time, could you maybe…um…”
He socked me with a dark look, waiting.
I thought of a similar exchange the night he’d torched a strip of woods in search of the intruder at the chateau and of everything that had transpired since.
Time and again, Marius had come through for me.
How could I be anything but grateful? And if his style was a little more bulldozer than chisel, well, that was just the dragon in him.
I flung my arms around him. “Forget it. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said gruffly, wrapping his arms around me.
“I was the one who dragged her out of the fire. With the paintings,” Roux muttered.
I eased away from Marius to give Roux a quick hug — a very quick one, lest another fight break out. “Thank you. Again. I really, really appreciate it.”
There. Enough to stroke his tiger’s ego? I turned back to the villa, whispering, “I just hope everyone got out all right.”
Marius huffed. “Even Baumann and Dobrov?”
My answer should have been an indignant, Even them, but it was one of those times when empathy took effort.
“Even them,” I finally said. “Gordon is sure to question us about the fire. If those two died on top of that… Well, the fewer questions we have to face later, the better.”
“You mean, the fewer questions we have to face.” Roux motioned between himself and Marius. “You were never here.”
Right. Of course. I nodded quickly, though I felt a twinge of disappointment. I’d more or less aced my first super-secret mission—
Less, the back of my mind grumbled, considering all the near misses.
—but I wouldn’t be able to take credit for the good to come of it, like recovering the Van Gogh.
Then I chastised myself. My father hadn’t hunted great artworks for recognition. He only wanted to right wrongs and bless the general public with access to priceless masterpieces. Shouldn’t I emulate him?
Funny how I had to remind myself this was a one-time deal. It wasn’t like I was getting into the business of hunting down lost masterpieces.
“Well, mission accomplished,” Roux said wearily. “Let’s get out of here…and hope Gordon considers the fire a bonus.”
God, I hoped not. If he did, I had really, really misjudged my godfather.
I hung back. “What about Delphine?”
“She knows the meeting point,” Roux assured me, setting off.
Easy for him in his patent leather shoes. Not in the heels of doom, however, that he had somehow remembered to grab for me.
And boy, did that say a lot about Roux. High heels were the last item I would grab on my way out of a blaze.
At risk of seeming ungrateful, I yanked off the heels and started picking my way over the rough terrain. My stockings would be destroyed, but I would miss them about as much as I missed the heels.
Still, progress was much too slow. Any time now, the police were sure to appear.
“Here.” Marius motioned for the shoes. I handed them over, and he snapped the heels off. “Better?”
I slipped one on, then the other. Not my trusty hiking boots, but better than barefoot.
“Much better. Thank you.”
We picked our way through the surrounding brush, slipped into a fenced olive grove, and eventually emerged on a narrow track. Not far away, the rear lights of a four-wheel drive glittered.
“Delphine!” I rushed forward, spotting her by the car with Bene.
We hugged in relief, then stepped apart.
“Oh, your poor dress,” I clucked, looking down at her.
To my surprise, she barely noticed. She just gazed back toward the blaze on the hilltop. “Henrik…”
Marius, Bene, and I exchanged uneasy looks.
“He’ll be fine,” Roux assured her. “He’ll depart in the car he arrived in, but he’ll have to wait a while to avoid arousing suspicion.”
Ha. Suspicion was about the only thing Henrik aroused in me. Marius, on the other hand…
He touched my hand, and my body temperature ticked upward.
But Roux, drat him, turned to Marius with an order. “I need you to shift and keep an eye on things. Bene, you too. We’ll meet you back at the finca.”
Marius grimaced but didn’t argue. He kissed my knuckles and stepped backward, pulling at his tie. “Sorry, but…”
I forced myself to nod and hold out my hands for his clothes. “Just be careful, okay?”
“You too,” he whispered.
Seconds later, the clothes in my arms fluttered as he took to the sky in dragon form. I stared at his massive wings, long, tapered tail, and streamlined body. Then I sighed. I could live to one hundred and never get used to the magnificent sight.
“Heya, Mina. Can you take mine too?” Bene asked, totally ruining the moment.
I scowled at him, making sure to keep my gaze at eye level.
“Sure,” I grumbled, letting him heap his clothes on top of Marius’s. Then I looked up and swallowed hard. Marius was a mere shadow against the night sky. Much too far for comfort.
Not too long ago, I would have said the opposite. How things had changed.
For the better, a little voice assured me.
“Get going, Bene,” Roux ordered.
I looked over just in time to see a tawny body slink into the bushes. Roux helped Delphine into the vehicle, then called to me softly.
“Mina…”
I took one last, longing look up, then slipped into the back seat.
Roux drove, with a very quiet Delphine in the front passenger seat. I sat pressed against the window, scouring the sky for a glimpse of Marius.
We bumped down a rocky track, then turned onto the main road, craning our necks to take in the fire. Flashing lights appeared in the oncoming lane, and emergency service vehicles rushed past us.
Forty minutes later, we were back at the finca. Bene appeared a good hour later, and Marius…
“He’ll be here soon,” Roux assured me.
“Uh-huh,” I mumbled, keeping my face turned skyward.
An eternity later, the wind gusted, and a shadow loomed over us. I scurried back as it rushed closer…closer…
My hair blew across my face, and trees rustled as Marius swept in to a landing.
“Tell him ten minutes until our debriefing,” Roux called to me.
“Debriefing at ten in the morning? Perfect.” Bene sauntered off toward his cottage.
“No, I said…” Roux started, but his words faded to a frustrated growl.
“Nine in the morning,” I suggested.
His tiger eyes blazed, but he finally relented — sort of. “Eight.”
I nodded, already jogging out to meet Marius at the end of the road. Then I stopped, suddenly cautious. Maybe one didn’t rush right up to a dragon. Maybe they needed a few minutes to transition out of deadly beast mode. Maybe—
Two huge eyes glowed at me through the darkness, a good five feet above my eye level. Smaller points of light blazed below them — the last vestiges of fire flickering in his nostrils. A long, thick tail lashed menacingly.
My heart stopped. Uh-oh.
He folded his wings in a surprisingly delicate motion and shuffled forward, lowering his head.
My knees wobbled.
“Good to see you,” I squeaked.
The fire in his eyes flared, then dimmed, going from red alert to warm and welcoming.
Good to see you too, his voice rumbled in my mind.
I raised my hands, trying not to shake as he eased his muzzle forward. Rough, leathery hide came to rest over my palms, and his eyes swirled at me.
Wow. I was face-to-face with a dragon. Cupping his snout, even, or as much of it as fit.
Snout? he grumbled.
I gulped and felt around gently. “Um, nose?”
I’ll give you a nose, he muttered, transforming in front of me.
I couldn’t say if it happened in super-fast or super-slow motion, because most of it blurred and I only caught a few details. Huge chest plates compacted before me, and his claws slowly morphed to feet and toes that curled into the gravel driveway at a similar angle.
I found myself patting his shoulders, then touching his face.
“See?” he said gruffly, as if his vocal cords were still transforming. “Nose.”
I chuckled, stroking it. “Nose. Cheeks…lips…”
His eyes glowed in a softer hue, and his lips moved. My focus zoomed there, and everything else in my mind blurred. And blurred and blurred, until nothing existed except my lips and his, and nothing waited to be done except meeting them in a kiss. And another and another…
I was barely aware of walking to the cottage, stripping out of my clothes, or sliding into bed with Marius. But I was blissfully aware of every kiss, every caress, every perfectly timed move as our bodies meshed.
“Oh… Yes…” I moaned, clutching the sheets as he moved over me. In me. With me.
His eyes shone, and his glistening skin rippled with muscle. When I clenched around him, his breath caught. Then he regained his rhythm with a vengeance, sweeping us both higher, higher…
I shuddered and cried out, hitting the zenith of a very steep curve with him. We hung on as long as we could, then slowly sank into each other’s arms.
I shut my eyes, holding him close. God, what a night. What a couple of weeks. Weeks that had turned my life upside down in ways both thrilling and terrifying.
So, yikes. What would the coming weeks bring?
Throughout the summer, my life had been driven by one theme — repairs and renewal — of the chateau and, in some ways, of myself. Since Marius had entered my life, the theme had shifted to truth versus lies — in art, in love, in life — and all the gray zones in between.
Like our art heist. My father would be proud of the end, but not the means.
Like the passion that blazed between Marius and me, too. He was a good man, and he was very, very good to me. But was he good for me? Were we really meant to be?
Then there was Gordon, who had always looked out for me and my family. But his business dealings weren’t as legit as we’d always assumed them to be.
Each of those issues was a boulder perched on the edge of a cliff that loomed over me. It was only a question of time until one — or all — of them came crashing down.
“Get some sleep,” Marius whispered, snuggling closer.
I tried, but my eyes kept wandering over the room. There was just enough moonlight to make out the lumps of our clothing and the three shapes beyond them. Henrik’s short, squat box, perched on the windowsill, and the two frames I’d propped against the wall earlier.
One was Monet’s Thaw, though it was a forgery. The other was The Painter on the Road to Tarascon, and I was damn sure that was the real thing.
Marius curled his thick arm around me, and I stroked his skin gently, thinking. The Van Gogh was the real thing… What about what I felt for Marius?
“Good night,” he murmured, kissing my shoulder.
I kissed his hand. “Good night.”
It didn’t take long for his breath to settle into the slow, peaceful rhythm of sleep. But as for me…
Tired as I was, I didn’t close my eyes for a long time. I just lay there, thinking.