Page 17 of Night's Fall
I got even angrier.
Fortunately, beforeIsaid anything that might send me to the guillotine (not that we had a guillotine, it’d been retired a couple hundred years before, butI’dgone sarcastic with theCaptainJacques’sbusiness, and that was already pushing it with a male who expected you to curtsy to him in a bar, soIfiguredI’dbest be on good behavior from here on out), the human returned with my champagne.
I took the coupé glass he offered with a murmured, “Thankyou,” and brought it to my mouth.
Even beforeItasted it,Iknew it was liquid heaven by the delicate, flirtatious way the bubbles teased the tip of my nose, the heady fragranceIscented, but when it exploded across my tongue with graceful flavor,Ihad to press my thighs more tightly together, becauseIhad a sexual response to it.
And considering how unexpected that was, onceIswallowed,Igaped at the human and said, “Holywow.”
He dipped his chin.
“ChateauLeBrand,” the prince put in.
I turned my head and blinked at him back in his shadow.
ChateauLeBrand?
TheChateauLeBrand?
I’d never had it (obviously), primarily becauseIknew the glass in my hand cost over two thousand marks.Anentire bottle would be considered a bargain at twelve.
“You have good taste,” the prince decreed.
“I—”
“I’ve seen dukes sip that, set it aside, and get themselves a beer,” he went on.
I made a face.
“Precisely,” he drawled.
I lifted the glass his way. “Well, thank you for allowing me to experience it.”
“My pleasure,” he murmured.
Okay, that murmur and him saying the word “pleasure” made me press my thighs more tightly together again.
I never in my life thoughtI’dthink this, but now thatI’dmet him,Ineeded to know how fastIcould get away from him.
“Are you here for a celebration?” he inquired.
Of course he would assumeIwasn’t a regular and this was a special night out.
Then again, it would be easy for him to assume if he was and had never seen me there.
“Of a sort,”Imumbled and took another sip of the amazing champagne.
“What are you celebrating?” he asked.
I couldn’t tell himIwas celebrating releasing myself from the confines of my own home whereI’dbarred myself due to loss, fear and grieving.I’dgone theTMIroute that night already, and anyway, it wasn’t any of his business.
“My friend finding a male to love,”Ireplied.
“Which friend would that be, and which of those males is she falling in love with?”
I turned my head to look across to the bar.
Bash andTayhad changed positions, thank goodness, withBashtalking toCat, andTaytoGayle.
