Blood Knot (16 page)

“
At least,” Sebastian added, pushing his hands into his pockets.

“
You’re going to do it,” Winter breathed.

“
I don’t even know what the job is yet,” Sebastian pointed out.

“
But you’re doing to do it, anyway,” Winter said. “I know that tone of yours. Nial just sold you on the job.”

Nial looked at her. “Have I sold you, Winter?”

“
Winter?” Sebastian said.

She looked at him. There was no anger left in him. He just looked like the Sebastian she knew so well and watched break hearts all over the world, with his limpid green eyes and charm. He gave her a small smile. “I know you probably don’t want to do this for me. Not now. But I’m asking anyway. And if you really can’t bring yourself to do it for me, then do it for Nial. Please.”

Stunned, she found herself nodding. And just like that, she was working again.

And she still didn’t know the details of the job, although she could guess. Something had to be stolen and the job was dangerous and difficult.

ONCE HE HAD their agreement, Nial insisted they hurry back to New York on the first available flight—or even charter a flight if necessary.

Sebastian made a half-hearted attempt at protest, then fell in with Nial’s demands by picking up the bags he’d never got around to unpacking and announcing he was ready to go.

As Winter had never had a chance to unpack, either, she was in the same position. She zipped up her overnight bag with a dollop of resentment and glared at Nial. “Ready,” she told him.

Nial, the only one to have unpacked anything, took the longest to be ready, but by the time the village taxi arrived at the front gate, he carried his bags out to the little sedan and tossed them in the open and waiting trunk, slid onto the back seat of the sedan, already chatting to someone at Dublin airport with the most sincere-sounding Irish accent Winter had ever heard, asking about flights to New York on various airlines.

Sebastian rolled his eyes and gave the driver instructions to head for Dublin airport. His accent was Irish, and sounded just as genuine, but with a different regional accent from Nial’s.

“
Right ye are, m’lord,” the driver told Sebastian and put the car in gear with a crunch and jerk of ancient metal.

Sebastian tapped Nial’s shoulder. “Make it a luxury line,” he said. “You can woo me with your baubles for a change. It’s been a while since I got the red carpet treatment.”

Nial rolled his eyes and turned his head to look out the window, concentrating on his conversation with the desk clerk.

Winter stared at Sebastian. “
My lord
?” she repeated softly.

Sebastian frowned. “They have long memories around here,” he said in an undertone. “Leave it, Winter.”

The taxi driver clucked his tongue. “Aye, we know how to properly acknowledge a peer, even if ‘e be a English one.” He swiveled his wrinkled, grey head to look at Winter. “Yon laddy don’t want you to be knowing he’s the elder son of the Earl of Knighton and rightwise Viscount Norwood all on his lonesome.”

“
Paddy…” Sebastian said with a sigh. “That was over two hundred years ago.”

Winter could feel her eyes growing wider. Paddy was a vampire, too? And Sebastian…was a lord?

“
What about that thing you said about more than two of you meeting at a time?” she whispered to Nial.

Nial pocketed his phone. “We’re not meeting. And there’s only two of us here, technically.”

She rolled her eyes at him and he kissed her in response.

Paddy chuckled.

“
Flight details?” Sebastian enquired.

“
A charter to Heathrow and Singapore Airlines to New York.” Nial barely lifted his mouth away from hers to give Sebastian his answer. He kept his gaze upon Winter’s face. “You’ll enjoy this journey, too,” he said softly, just for her.

Her face flamed deep red. She couldn’t help it, even though for something as simple as this, she normally could control her reactions. The blood flushed through her surface capillaries before she had a chance to halt it.

Winter barely managed not to look at Sebastian.

“
This is going to be such a fun trip,” Sebastian said dryly.

Nial grinned and touched his lips to hers lightly. His grin held all sorts of devilment.

* * * * *

But contrary to the mischief Nial appeared to be brewing, two hours out from Heathrow, peace reigned and Winter could feel herself starting to relax.

Nial had behaved himself since they had left Ireland. Nial on his best behavior meant he was a pleasant, good humored and charming man, getting along with everyone and refusing to create waves of any sort. He even defused tension between Sebastian and her in subtle ways that Winter barely noticed until the absence of tension between them drew her attention to what he was doing.

It hadn’t occurred to her that manipulating people might be used for positive reasons, until now. And damn, but Nial was good at it. She wanted to resent him for it, but the results were so nice.

Is this what he had meant by enjoying the journey?

They had three seats all to themselves in a corner. The hostesses set a table for them and a third temporary chair for Sebastian to pull up to the table. Then the graceful hostesses placed meals in front of all three of them. Even Nial had ordered a meal for himself, taking great care over the selection, picking and choosing items with care. Winter had supposed it was part of passing as human. But when his meal was set in front of him she discovered he had a different purpose in mind.

For now he had two food tasters on hand and Nial intended to take advantage of this rare and idyllic opportunity.

In between mouthfuls of her own meal, Winter would suddenly find herself confronted with bites of something from Nial’s plates. The first time, she hesitated, then chewed the morsel of duck l ‘orange and swallowed as Nial licked the fork with relish. The next mouthful was creamy mash potato and this time Nial leaned across the small table and kissed her, tasting the residue in her mouth.

Sebastian watched, astonished, his own forkful of medium-rare steak hovering in mid-air.

Nial sat back in his chair and nudged the fork towards Sebastian’s mouth. Sebastian returned to eating with a slight shake of his head. “You’ve slipped a few cogs, Nial,” he murmured.

“
I’m enjoying myself. You should try it.”

“
I do. Three times a day.” Sebastian held up his next bite for Nial to see. “Unlike you, I don’t pretend. I do it for real.” He put the steak in his mouth and chewed.

“
If you’re really enjoying yourself so much, why are you so sour about it, then?” Nial asked.

Sebastian grinned, his green eyes dancing. “You know why.”

Winter looked at the two. Why?
She
didn’t know.

Nial’s answering smile was warm. “Relax. Eat.” And the conversation moved on, giving her no time to explore this new mystery. Besides, the two of them were at peace, getting along, especially with Nial working so hard to ensure they did. Winter didn’t want to spoil the harmony with her own probing of a subject that was obviously painful for Sebastian.

Nial shook his head. “It is very strange watching you eat, Sebastian. It looks quite natural. But very odd.”

“
Yes,” Winter agreed. “It does.”

Nial held out a honeyed carrot toward Sebastian, who shuddered. “Not those. They’re disgusting.” He glanced at Winter. “Winter has a sweet tooth. Get her to try them for you.” He glanced at Nial’s plate. “The duck. I haven’t tried that myself yet.”

Nial cut a small piece of duck and slid it into Sebastian’s mouth. He licked the fork thoughtfully. “You didn’t leave much behind to taste,” he complained.

“
Next time I’ll be sure to spit on your fork for you,” Sebastian replied, deadpan.

“
If I must, I’ll try a carrot for you,” Winter offered, although she was no fan of honeyed carrots, either. “But you can’t afford to disturb you digestive system, Nial. You have to be careful. No sugars, no enzymes.”

He nodded, a tiny line between his brows. Silently he held out a tiny baby carrot gleaming with dark roasted honey and spices and about to drip on the tablecloth.

Winter caught the dollop of sauce on her tongue. Wonderful flavors exploded in her mouth and she gasped as her lips closed around the carrot. Nial withdrew the fork and she chewed, aware that she was making sensual sounds and rolling her eyes.

“
I’d better have one,” Sebastian said, watching her with his head cocked to one side.

“
I’m not sure you’d be safe with one,” Nial murmured, his eyes narrowed as he studied her.

“
Fork it over, big guy,” Sebastian said, affronted.

Winter swallowed reluctantly, delighted at the subtle flavors, spices, and sweetness. “Wow!” she said.

Nial surged across the table and kissed her, both hands holding her face steady as his tongue explored her mouth, sweeping through it to taste the after effects of the spices, the sweetness.

He fell back in his chair and licked his lips. “Damn,” he murmured. “That was good.”

“
Fuck, you’re not leaving me out of this one,” Sebastian swore. He stabbed at Nial’s tray, snagging a carrot and eating it. “Oh my god,” he declared.

Nial grabbed the back of Sebastian’s head and brought it forward to meet his lips.

Winter’s breath stopped.

It wasn’t really a kiss, she told herself. Nial was tasting the food.

But it was. It was a kiss all the same. His lips were pressed against Sebastian’s, just as they would have been thousands of times in the past. She was looking at what would have been.

Her body grew taut and hot with instant arousal. Just like that her clit was swollen and throbbing with the need to be petted. She ached for attention. To be taken.

And for a confused moment she wasn’t sure which of the two men in front of her she wanted to have her.

Or both.

And for a split second her mind flashed on the moments in the bedroom in Ireland, when Sebastian had held her pinned to the bed and Nial had been lying next to her.

Winter’s arousal spiked harder and hotter at the thought.

Nial sat back with a grin, licking his lips with the satisfaction of a cat who had eaten cream and got away with it. “It tastes different in your mouth,” he said. Then his smile abruptly dropped and he gripped the edge of the table, his gaze unfocused.

Sebastian frowned. “Nial?”

Winter reached for Nial’s knee under the table and took a reading. There were trace levels of amylase and polysaccharides. The food had been irritating his salivary glands.

“
Sweet Jesus,” she breathed. “Sebastian, pull the table out of my way. I need a better grip on him.”

“
What the hell?” But he obeyed. He jumped out of his chair, folded it up and shoved it out of the way. Then he gripped the table and heaved with a slow, controlled burst of strength.

Nial’s hand fell into his lap. He sat quiet still, staring ahead like a lifeless dummy.

“
What’s wrong with him?” Sebastian demanded in a soft voice designed not to carry.

Winter pushed between Nial’s knees, opened his shirt and placed her hand over his heart. She explained about the amylase and the salivary glands. “His systems are dormant, Sebastian, they can’t provide the saliva we would in response to the stuff he was tasting. But they were trying to and his body was rebelling and locking down on itself.”

Sebastian pushed a hand through his hair, spilling locks around his face. “Locking down?” he repeated. “What does
that
mean? I’ve never seen one of us do this before.”

“
I bet you’ve never seen one of you flirt with food before, either,” Winter replied. “You’re the computer expert, Sebastian. What happens when two programs get into a head-lock?”

“
Doesn’t happen these days,” Sebastian said.

“
What did you
used
to do, then?”

“
Reboot,” he said. Then he grimaced. “I get your drift. These days we restart the program. What are
you
going to do?”

“
Shut down the human program,” she said. “Give me a moment.”

Sebastian’s hand settled on her shoulder. “What can I do?”

“
Nothing,” she said shortly. Then she reconsidered. “No, you might be useful. I’m still learning vampire biology, Sebastian. It’s black in there. Stay with me.”

She closed her eyes and probed.

“
Can I talk?” he whispered.

“
Yes. Just don’t touch me. It’ll screw up my reading. And I might be slow answering. This takes concentration.”

“
I bet.”

Winter found Nial’s salivary glands and set about shutting them down and repairing the inflammation and damage.

“
You really let Nial coax you into his bed with a line as simple as ‘I’ll be honest’, Winter?”

“
No.”

“
Then how did he get you there?”

“
Do you want to outline for me how this is any of your business, Sebastian?”