Page 1 of Traveling with Gentlemen
CHAPTER1
MERMAIDS ON THE MEDITERRANEAN
“Go on without me," Jonathon groaned as I combed my fingers through his hair.
I snorted and flashed a wry smile at the others. Auguste sighed and slipped into the room. We had a nice collection of rooms all in a row on the best floor of the ship carrying us through the Mediterranean to our destination of Cairo. For the sake of human propriety and not shocking all the other passengers, I was traveling with Auguste as my “husband.” Despite my objections, Booker was attending Jonathon as manservant. Ezra had offered to travel invisibly without a room, but Amon had insisted.
"I wish you could let Mr. Tanner out for some rest," I said.
"Unless the big guy gets seasick too, then we'd just have twice the trouble in our buckets," Ezra quipped.
"I'll stay with him," Auguste offered, stroking a hand over my back. "It's too complicated pretending to eat anyway."
"I could do it," Ezra offered. "I worry about staying visible."
"We should all just dine in our rooms," I suggested.
"Noo," Jonathon moaned. "Leave me in peace with Auguste. I don't want to smell your dinners while I'm like this anyway."
"Enough. We should let the doctor rest. Ezra, you join Booker for dinner. I will escort Esther to the hall for the evening," Amon said, calling our attention. When I frowned at the separation of the arrangement, his tone softened. "Just a few more weeks, my star. And tonight is the full moon. Our kind will gather together and perhaps we might find a witch who can offer a solution for Underwood's ailment."
I hesitated as Jonathon rolled over in the bed. His skin was dewy with sweat, but he was less green than when we'd arrived to bring him to dinner.
"Take good care of him," I said to Auguste.
"Always, mon coeur. We'll join you later." He leaned in, kissing my lips with a gentle scratch of his fangs. Then he took my hands and pulled me up from the bed, spinning me and sitting down next to Jonathon.
"The two of you together should stir up some good gossip amongst the humans," Ezra mused as I linked my arm with Amon's.
I shot Ezra a warning glare and he vanished with a wink as Amon and I exited into the hallway, his arm slightly stiff beneath my hand. "I'll speak with him," I whispered to Amon.
Amon softened and his head tipped, eyes warm on mine. "It's only that the rogue is right that pricks my pride."
"Mm, we're all annoyed when Ezra is right," I whispered back. A sharp pinch answered on my ass, and Amon stifled his laughter at my squeak. "Will Egypt be different?"
Amon hummed as we approached the stairs, other passengers exiting their rooms and joining us, each set of eyes glancing twice in our direction. "In my circles, yes, very different. Even tonight. You'll see.Ourkind won't blink," he said, the significance in the words pointing to his meaning. Monsters wouldn't care about the contrast between mine and Amon's skin.
"I like the company you keep best anyway," I said, squeezing his arm and holding his stare as we walked up the stairs. "Besides, it's not as though I care if I'm scandalous or not."
Amon's lips curved and I felt the soft vibration of his purr against my side. I wanted to rise to my toes, arch into my sphinx and present my lips in offering to that purr, savor its echo against my tongue.
We still had weeks left on the ship. I was sure sooner or later we would all thoroughly shock the other passengers, but perhaps it would be better to behave a little longer. The anticipation in Amon's stare was certainly worth the wait.
* * *
In spiteof Amon and the others' claim of the full moon, as the evening dwindled to midnight, I was sure that too many of the human passengers on our boat would remain awake, preventing the monsters from relaxing. And then as the moon rose higher, beaming through glass windows to cast blue shadows over the polished floors, people rose from their tables and drifted away from the railings outside, a slow but steady parade down into the sleeping cabins.
There were only a handful of diners sipping cocktails, and just one wait staff behind the counter, when Auguste and the others appeared. Jonathon was pale and looking a little wobbly, but he sagged into a seat at our table with a great whooshing breath of relief.
"Almost time," Auguste said, glancing around at the other travelers, and Amon nodded in agreement.
I took another look around us, realizing that some of those still remaining must be monsters! Vampires? Or those who shifted forms, perhaps? They certainly all appeared human.
And then a young couple yawned, rose from their seats at the bar, and drifted away. Their heads disappeared below the stair railing, and the room burst into action. An elderly pair of women reached up, unpinning their dinner veils from their hair, which immediately transformed into crowns of glittering feathers, beaks appearing where their noses had just been. Another massive man yanked loose his neck tie, his skin flashing a deep forest green, and brilliant white tusks appearing in his smile.
I turned to my own party only to watch Booker slowly take off his white gloves, the human illusion of pink flesh vanishing and restoring his lovely white and dark veined marble. I let out a delighted laugh as the small gathering of travelers shed their disguises of bespelled brooches and charmed cravats, until the company surrounding us had almost entirely appeared entirely changed.
"Witches," Ezra whispered, appearing suddenly in a flicker between Auguste and I, nodding his head at the lovely trio of young women at a table in the corner.
