Page 49 of The Highwayman's Bite

Chapter Seventeen

Vivian nearly wentmad from worry as she waited for Rhys to return. A multitude of fearful scenarios flitted through her imagination. Madame Renarde had died on the journey and Rhys had to bury her. They’d both been caught by her uncle and Rhys was locked in a dungeon and being tortured. Or they’d been set upon by other rival vampires.

As the hours passed, Vivian’s gaze constantly strayed to the clock at Rhys’s bedside. How long was the journey supposed to be? She rubbed a crick in her neck from the constant turning, but couldn’t seem to stop her pointless surveillance of the ticking minute hand. Dawn drew near, she could feel it. Because Rhys and her uncle remained indoors all day, she knew the myth that the sun was fatal to vampires had to be true.

Panic bloomed in her chest. If he didn’t return soon, would that mean Rhys had perished? Or was he simply delayed, forced to take shelter in some crypt or cellar?

The click of the lock on the door made her jump. Then elation infused her being as Rhys strode into the cave, looking pale and exhausted.

She slipped off her cot and dashed across the cave to meet him, grasping his hands as if to verify that he was truly here.

“You’ve come back!” she exclaimed, and immediately felt insipid for stating the obvious. “I mean, how was the journey?”

Rhys’s fingers, icy from the chill night air, brushed over her knuckles. “Long. We had to stop at an inn, so Madame Renarde could warm herself.” Despite the coldness of his fingers, his touch seared her. “Your companion is a very formidable person.”

That may be so, but worry churned her stomach as she recalled Madame Renarde’s horrible, ratcheting cough and the clammy feel of her skin when she’d embraced Vivian and told her farewell. “Was she delivered back to Uncle safely?”

“I assume so.” Rhys looked down at her with a deep frown. “I could not risk escorting her straight to the gate, but I brought her as close as I could.”

His guilt-stricken face made her chest tighten. Vivian’s grip tightened on his hands. “She was more ill than she let on, wasn’t she?”

Rhys met her gaze directly. “Yes,” he whispered. “Yet I made her walk to Thornton Manor all the same. I had no choice, if I were to return to you.”

A bitter laugh escaped her. “Most men would have evaded the question and tried to reassure me with worthless platitudes to assuage my fears.”

“You are not the sort of woman to be swayed by such men.” He eyed her with what looked like respect. “And I am not the sort of man to have the patience to dither.”

“Thank you for that,” she said, holding his gaze. “All my life, people have danced around the truth instead of facing it with honesty. It is one of the things I detest about being a woman. People think I should be treated like a child, coddled and shielded from the harsh truths of the world.” The impulsive outburst brought a flare of heat to her face. What was it about this man—vampire—that inspired her to blurt whatever thoughts crossed her mind? She brought the matter back to the present. “I ah, am pleased to see you returned safely as well.”

His low laughter was like warm chocolate. “Are you saying that because you didn’t want to be trapped in this cave, or because you had any concern for me?” He then pulled her into his arms, holding her so tight she could feel his heartbeat against her ear. “On second thought, do not answer. I wish to savor this warm welcome from a beautiful woman.”

Shock reverberated through the core of Vivian’s being. Not only at the sudden embrace, but at his question. It had not occurred to her that if Rhys hadn’t returned, she would have been trapped in the cave. She’d been too consumed by worry for Madame Renarde and Rhys to have thought of herself.

Now, in the warmth of his embrace, with their hearts pounding together, Vivian’s belly quivered with the same sense of excitement she’d experienced with his kiss. A chord of fear reverberated through her being. She’d read the old French fairytale of the beautiful woman who’d been held captive by a fearsome beast only to fall in love with him.

Was she falling in love this beast? A vampire who fed on the blood of innocents? Such would be folly. In the story, the beast held the beauty because love would break his curse. Rhys held her for money needed to save his family. And she doubted that love or anything else would break his curse and change him back to a human.

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