A Wolf's Heart (Harlequin Nocturne) (22 page)

Chapter 37

E
lise shielded her eyes from the sun as she stood out on the patio and looked across the field toward the woods. It was a gorgeous day and she never got bored of the view. For the rest of her life, she could stare out at the vegetation, the flowers and the trees.

Which was exactly the plan.

It had been three weeks since that night on the old movie set where she had thought she was going to die or, at least, lose the most important part of her life. But she still thought about it, still had nightmares.

She hadn’t gone back to work. Reginald had been gracious and understanding about it and promised her that he would finish the film as is and it would be something she would be proud of. He’d called her yesterday to tell her it was done, but she hadn’t had any desire to go into the city to see it. She probably never would.

The Nouveau Monde police had charged Rory with two counts of murder, her driver and Constable Ron Sharpe, one count of kidnapping and imprisonment, assault, harassment and vandalism. They had enough evidence to put him away for the rest of his long life.

Gabriel’s last attempt to stop Rory from fleeing had taken his eyes, and ultimately his power. He was nothing now, just an empty shell of a man. Elise wasn’t sure if he had ever really been a man. At least not a good one.

Sometimes she berated herself for not seeing it sooner. But according to Gabriel, Rory had one of the oldest and most powerful vampiric powers. Glamour. It had been used thousands of years ago to subdue a vampire’s victim. Rory had used it to manipulate his way through his life. He had damaged many people along the way.

Lily had been a mess when Gabriel had brought Elise home. The girl slept in the chair in the hall just outside Elise’s bedroom for three nights straight. Then Elise had told her she could move into the guest bedroom. Permanently.

Despite the Lily’s lack of judgment with Diego, Elise trusted her. Enough that she left her affairs with her when she moved out to the cottage. Lily told her she’d hold down the fort until Elise came back.

She didn’t have the heart to tell her that she wouldn’t be back.

It was too hard. And those nightmares were still too raw and real. During the nighttime terrors, she would call out his name, thinking she’d lost him again, but he was always there for her, soothing her back to sleep, brushing away her tears. Gabriel had not left her side since that night and she knew he never would.

She turned to go back into the house. And there he was at the stove in the kitchen, stirring their dinner and talking on the phone.

When she moved into the room, he looked up and saw her, and a beautiful, slow, sensual grin spread across his handsome face. It made the butterflies in her stomach flutter something fierce. She put a hand to her belly and wondered if it would always be this way with him. Would he always stir something deep and primal inside her?

She certainly hoped so.

He flipped his cell phone closed and set it on the counter. “Dinner’s just about done. Are you hungry?”

“Starving.”

She moved into the kitchen and came up behind him to wrap her arms around him. He settled one of his hands on top of hers as he continued to stir the food.

“Was that Olena again?” she asked.

“Yeah. She couldn’t find some form in the filing cabinet. She thinks my filing system sucks.”

Elise laughed.

“So I told her to change it, since it’s her office now and not mine.”

He set the spoon onto the counter and turned around in her arms. Running his hands into her hair, he brought her head forward and covered her mouth with his. He tasted of wildness and nature and the spice he’d put into the tomato sauce he had concocted.

Soon kissing turned into caressing and the licking of her neck. She didn’t mind. Gabriel could lick whatever part of her body he wanted. He was skilled with that appendage. And others, as well.

“Are you going to miss it, do you think?” she asked as he nibbled on her right earlobe.

“Miss what?”

“The job. Saving people.”

He pulled back and looked at her, his fingers stroking her cheek and her chin. He shook his head. “I saved the most important person to me. As far as I’m concerned, my job is done.”

She buried her hands in his hair and pulled him to her, brushing her lips against his. He smiled, then deepened the kiss. A flush of heat started at her head and went all the way down to her toes. The man could kiss, that was for sure.

She peppered his jaw with kisses, as she made her way to his neck and up to his ear. She licked his lobe and nibbled on the sensitive flesh there. “Turn off the stove,” she whispered into his ear.

“I thought you were starving?”

She pulled back and smiled, lifting one eyebrow. “I am.”

Gabriel whipped his arm around and turned off the stove, and then he came back around and picked Elise up, slinging her over his shoulder. He walked as fast as he could down the hallway to the master bedroom, where he tossed her onto the bed.

She laughed. “I didn’t know you were so wild.”

He stripped off his T-shirt and flung it over his shoulder. His fingers went to the button of his pants and had them undone and down his legs in mere seconds.

“I have a wolf’s heart, sugar.” Gloriously naked, he crawled onto the mattress toward her. “And it’s all yours.”

She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. “Forever?”

He grinned. “Absolutely.”

There had never been a happier moment in her life than this one. She possessed everything she’d ever wanted in life. And he was all hers for the rest of it.

* * * * *

ISBN: 9781459227538

Copyright © 2012 by Vivi Anna

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

www.Harlequin.com