Chapter 8
OF FEROCIOUS DOGS, HISSING KITTENS, AND PROPER SYNTAX
Maia had so many questions she could hardly quiet her mind to select one for consideration.
But when she climbed into Corvindale’s landau—for he’d absolutely forbidden her to hire a hack to take her home from White’s, and she was simply too tired to argue about propriety—and settled into her seat across from him, suddenly her wild musings and whirling thoughts scattered, leaving her mind blank and focused on one thing: him.
The door closed, and as had happened little more than a week ago, they were alone in the vehicle.
Corvindale seemed to take up the entire expanse of his seat, sprawling his long legs to one side and the flaps of his sable coat open wide like a bird fluffing its feathers to make it appear larger.
Settled across the top of the squabs behind him were his arms, hands dangling casually.
His dark hair, always a bit out of sorts, flipped up and around his ears and temples.
He looked none too pleased with the current situation, but that was nothing new. He’d never looked pleased with anything, ever since Maia had met him. But there was also something else about him that struck her. Something different.
A sort of wariness, like a large, ferocious dog who’d been cornered by a kitten.
Maia considered herself the kitten in this situation, and even through her weariness and confusion, she decided she rather liked the metaphor. And because she was the kitten, Maia thought she’d bare her claws—as small and insignificant as they might be.
“And so you are a vampir,” she said, primly arranging her skirt so not even the tops of her slippers showed.
She would not think right now about what sort of mess her hem and shoes were in.
Or what her hair looked like. She was hissing and spitting in her own quiet way, all the while trying not to be completely overset by the fact that her brother had put her into the wardship of a vampir.
“The proper term is Dracule. Or, if you insist upon using the archaic word vampir, I would appreciate if you would use the Anglican pronunciation—‘vampire’—rather than attempting to speak Hungarian. Your accent isn’t quite spot-on.
” He sounded supremely bored, and looked as if he hadn’t a care in the world other than her diction and whatever was so fascinating out the half-curtained window of the carriage.
But despite his interest out on the streets, he was watching her. Particularly when she wasn’t looking directly at him. She felt the weight of his regard as if it were a thick blanket, shuttling down over her shoulders. Warm and heavy. And not altogether unwelcome.
“Very well,” she replied, clearly enunciating her words so that there would be no mistake. “You are a vampire, then, Lord Corvindale, and I have a variety of questions—”
“Only a variety? I was expecting a plethora of them. Or perhaps a score?”
It was all Maia could do to keep back the little gust of a chuckle at this unexpected, wholly uncharacteristic show of levity.
Or perhaps he wasn’t jesting and was being quite serious.
She eyed him from the corner of her eyes and noticed his ungloved hand with its exposed wrist resting on the top of his seat.
It vibrated and jounced a bit with the rumbling movement of the carriage.
As it happened, the moon or a streetlamp chose that moment to shine directly on it, and Maia found her attention attracted to the shape of that wide, dark appendage.
Long, sturdy fingers, the ridges of slightly flexed tendons, the curve of a broad thumb and neat fingernails.
It wasn’t often she’d seen a man’s hand uncovered—certainly Chas’s, and her father’s when she was young, and of course Alexander’s—but Lord Corvindale’s hand seemed particularly wide and well shaped.
Even there, settled, fingers bowed gently, a latent power seemed to emanate from it.
They reminded her…Maia caught her breath, her belly suddenly fluttering, and her mouth dry…they reminded her of the smooth, dark hands from her dreams. She could imagine them, sliding over her pale skin, large and strong—
“Well?”
Maia’s eyes bolted back to Corvindale and she swallowed, frantically trying to catch up to the conversation. Then she remembered. She had a variety of questions for him.
But she would start with the most pressing one. “Do you truly think Lord Dewhurst will be able to save Angelica?” She wasn’t fully able to keep the pitch of concern from rising in her voice.
He seemed to relax a bit, his fingers shifting into a looser curve.
“Voss—er, Dewhurst—isn’t one of my favorite people,” he said, clearly understating the facts, “but his arguments were sound and I believe he’ll succeed, if only because the man is very manipulative and sneaky.
And, one must confess it, intelligent and resourceful, too.
If not burdened with a lack of responsibility.
“Aside from that, Moldavi has no reason to suspect Dewhurst of any threat, so if he doesn’t find them before they get to Paris, he certainly has the best chance of gaining access to Moldavi.
And further, your brother is close on Dewhurst’s heels.
In the event he fails, Chas wouldn’t hesitate to do whatever it takes to retrieve Angelica. ”
Maia blinked. She could hardly believe it, but not only had he given her information that she’d actually requested, he’d spoken in normal tones. “Your opinion means a good deal to me,” she managed to say.
He didn’t respond except to lift his brows and look down his straight nose at her.
So she continued. “Chas seems to think Angelica isn’t in any danger of being hurt, at least until that vampire delivers her to Moldavi. Do you agree?”
“I do.”
Maia couldn’t hold back a smile, partly borne of relief. “I can scarcely believe we are having a normal conversation, my lord.” She realized her own gloveless hands had ceased adjusting the folds of the cloak and gown in her lap.
“That,” he said, shifting in his seat, moving his long legs so that they brushed briefly against her skirt, “is because you are asking reasonable questions. In a reasonable tone. Although, I might point out if you had stayed home like any reasonable woman would have done, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Civil or not.”
She bristled a bit, then recalled she wanted more information from him—and now that she was as assured as she could be that Angelica would soon be safe, she thought it prudent not to annoy him.
Although whatever she’d done to annoy him in the past, she couldn’t know, and therefore how could she keep from irritating him now?
“And so you are a vampire, and my brother is a vampire hunter? And you are friends? He works for you?”
“A rather irregular circumstance indeed, but true, nonetheless.”
“But how can that be? Aren’t you—well, mortal enemies?”
The corners of his eyes crinkled a bit, which Maia took to mean that he’d had a flash of humor. Astounding. Twice in one night, in less than one hour?
“Now who is sounding sensational, like one of Mrs. Radcliffe’s Gothic novels, Miss Woodmore?” he asked, almost lazily.
Something fluttered inside her, for his voice had dropped low. She could barely hear it, mixing as it did with the constant rumble of carriage wheels. There were no other sounds outside, and she realized with a jolt it must be very late. Near dawn.
“Well?” she prodded tartly. And then realized, for all of her irritation with the situation, he was still an earl, a peer of the realm. And a vampiric—was that even a word? She dared not ask him, but he would certainly have an opinion—earl at that. And her manner had become quite familiar with him.
He shifted, adjusting his coat lapels and running a hand briefly through his hair in a surprisingly endearing gesture. “I shall make a very complicated situation as simple as I can, Miss Woodmore,” he said.
“Oh, you need not condescend to me, Lord Corvindale.” The kitten had unsheathed her little claws again.
“I’m quite capable of comprehending any situation you might describe.
It was I who had to tutor Chas in geometry and Greek.
” And what a task that had been, especially since Greek was just as difficult for her.
But she would never have admitted that to Chas.
“Indeed? Very well, then,” the earl said.
And his eyes crinkled a bit more, and perhaps even the corners of his lips shifted.
“I have a variety of business interests throughout the Continent, the Far East and even some limited ones in the New World. As the wealthy and powerful often do, I have more than my share of enemies—”
“I can scarcely imagine that,” Maia murmured.
“—who would take any chance to see my investments fail, or to damage them, or any number of things,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken.
But his eyes had sharpened a bit and she knew he’d heard her.
“Many of those are members of the Draculia, and there are some who are mortals, as well. Your brother acts as my agent and, if necessary, will—er—remove any problematic individuals from—er—causing any further disruptions. He also assists me in managing some of my other associates, who are also of the Draculian race.”
“What you mean to say is that my brother is your paid assassin?” Maia said, her eyes wide. “He kills people?” She thought she might faint. Her heart was pounding in her chest in an ugly beat, thrumming through her stomach, which had suddenly become queasy.
Mama and Father…what would you think if you knew? Oh, Chas, what are you doing?