Page 75 of Act of Brotherhood
Clara touched Nicolette’s shoulder. “Okay, enough lurking out here. Let’s go on in and I’ll get some food started for us.”
Nicolette turned slightly to follow Clara back into the house when she heard something shuffle towards the back of the courtyard.
She froze.
So did Clara.
Neither woman said a word as they glanced over their shoulders and into the darkness.
Nicolette’s cell phone rang, and both women jolted and screamed at the same time. They grabbed ahold of one another and shared a look that said the phone had just scared the shit out of them.
With a shaky laugh, Nicolette answered her phone. “Hello?”
“Nicolette, are you well?” asked an accented, male voice she knew well.
Nerves got the best of her and she giggled again. “Hi, Uncle Landros. Oddly enough, we were just talking about you.”
A seductive smile spread across Clara’s face. “Oh. Tell the stud muffin I said hi.”
Covering the phone with her hand, she gave her best friend a stern look. “I am not telling him anything and he’s not a stud muffin. He’s my uncle.”
“Yeah. An uncle who doesn’t look a day over thirty, with muscles to die for, who wears leather pants that look painted on, and who looks to be hung like a—”
Nicolette gagged. “Stop!”
“Stop what?” asked Landros, a hint of amusement in his voice saying he’d more than heard Clara’s outburst.
Heat rushed up Nicolette’s chest to her cheeks. She was thankful she wasn’t looking her uncle in the face or she’d have ducked and hid. Talking about sexy men or sex, in general, wasn’t something she and Landros did. No. He called once every two weeks to check on her. They spoke for an hour and then they hung up. It had been that way since she’d graduated from college.”
The fact Landros was calling before their slotted time was worrisome. “Is everything okay?”
“That was my question to you,” he said.
“Everything here is—”
Nicolette’s words were cut short by Clara’s bloodcurdling scream.
Spinning around, Nicolette found herself standing in front of two men. Both were huge, and both looked dangerous. One was a man she knew well.
He had Clara by the arm.
Why in the world was he holding Clara like that and why had he suddenly shown up out of the blue after a week, looking scary as hell?
“Garth?” she asked, her jaw dropping open.
Clara yelped. “Viking-Cupcake Dude?”
As Nicolette noticed the scar above the man’s right eye, clearly visible at this distance, she stilled. This man looked like Garth, but he didn’t feel like him at all. In fact, he felt downright deadly.
It hit her then. This guy wasn’t Garth. That meant it was Garth’s brother. The one he’d made what she’d thought was a joke about trying to kill. From the evil expression on the man’s face, Nicolette had to wonder if maybe Garth wasn’t kidding about having to kill his brother.
“Nicolette, finally we meet in person,” he said, grinning. “I’ve spent years watching you. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been in your room, watching you sleep, watching you shower. You’re a heavy sleeper.”
Clara gasped. “You’re how the window and door are getting open.”
He winked.
Nicolette blinked several times, her mind slow to process everything that was happening. She shook her head. “No one can get in and out of the bedroom window without falling to their death. Well, unless they’re one of those vampires Clara likes so much.”
