Captured by Desire (2 page)

* * * *

Jules was waiting for Cristian before the sun peeked over the horizon to shed soft rays of light upon the gray morning. She couldn’t shake the feeling that he might very well leave without her if she was even a second late. Sleep had been near impossible, but she had managed to catch a few hours.

The six men she’d hired stood around her, each with a bag full of coins tucked away somewhere. She had one bag left, which held the money for Cristian.

She shifted the small satchel on her shoulder that held a change of clothes. As much as she longed to wear her trousers, she knew Cristian would look for any excuse to leave her in town, money or not. So, she planned to wait until they were in the mountains before she removed her skirt.

“You’re early,” Cristian said as he strolled up.

“And you’re late,” she retorted. Anxiety made her snap at people.

She handed him the last of her money while she prayed she wouldn’t need to spend any more. She would face his wrath as well as the other men when they returned and she couldn’t pay them the rest. No need for them to know that now.

Cristian looked her over with his unusual gold-flecked green eyes. His cropped, dark brown hair was still damp from a recent washing, and the sun glinted off barely visible golden strands hidden in the brown.

His brow furrowed as he took his time looking her over. His face was all hard angles and ruggedness, softened by his thin lips.

Those lips flattened a moment before he said, “You’re going to have a hard time climbing in those skirts.”

“I’m a woman, Mr. Dragomir. What else am I to wear? But never fear, I’m wearing the correct boots.”

“What a relief,” she heard him mutter sarcastically as he started off.

She fell into step behind him and she tried to keep her eyes averted from the beige shirt stretched over his impossibly wide shoulders. The sleeves were rolled up over his elbows, giving her a glimpse of sun-kissed skin and calloused hands.

He walked and moved with such deadly grace, giving him an air of confidence none of the six men around her possessed. It was more than that. His shirt didn’t hide the honed, thick muscles of his body from his wide chest that narrowed to trim hips and long legs.

Cristian glanced over his shoulder, giving her a glimpse of his strong jaw line and stubborn chin. She liked the little indent in the middle of his chin.

Handsome really didn’t describe him properly. There was a hardened edge to him, mixed in with a persona that oozed power and sexuality.

Just to look at him made her blood sing and her heart race as it never had before. If she wasn’t careful, he could tear down her legendary control. It had been so very long since she’d given into her body’s desires, and the urge to do so now was almost overwhelming.

It was one of the reasons she was glad she and Cristian weren’t alone.

Jules was quickly pulled from her perusal of Cristian as the climbing got difficult. Cristian remained ahead of them by nearly two dozen steps, and the men she’d hired had clustered together.

It was impossible to ignore the men’s growing anxiety. A look at Cristian calmed her when she noted nothing in his stance had changed.

Jules bit back an oath as she tugged her skirts free from limbs and undergrowth as they climbed the foothills to the Carpathians. The scenery was spectacular, but she didn’t spend much time looking. Instead she searched for clues that her father might have come through the same area.

The day passed relatively quickly, and she tamped down her disappointment that she didn’t find any clues to her father's whereabouts. She hadn’t given up, though. She would find him.

That night, she didn’t rise to the bait when Cristian asked her if she was ready to return to Brasov. She just smiled at him and reached for her share of the rabbit roasting on the fire. Though she wanted very much to put him in his place, she was too exhausted. Tomorrow would be much better since she planned to leave her heavy skirts behind.

She lay down on the packed earth and looked up through the dense trees to the sky above her, weariness making her lids heavy. The moon, just a slit in the night sky, hid behind thick clouds while the stars winked down at her.

I’ll find you, Papa. I promise.

Chapter Three

Cristian continuously scanned the area, searching for any clues of his parents. He knew their normal route, and even though he had already tracked them into the mountains, he couldn’t help but think that he was missing something important.

After one last look, he rose and turned to see if Juliann was ready. And found his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth.

She stood with her back to him, not in the skirt and bustle she had worn the day before, but in a pair of trousers that showed every delectable inch of her curves, from her small waist and flared hips to the firm swell of her bottom.

He stared at her slim legs and found himself envisioning those legs wrapped around his waist as he buried himself in her hot, slick sex.

Cristian shook his head to clear it just as Jules turned toward him, and he found his gaze drawn to her full breasts. If he’d thought bringing her along was going to be hell, what stood before him now would test his resolve more than anything before.

He turned his back on her and lifted his bag onto his shoulder. “We’ve got a long day. Let’s get moving.”

They were at the base of the Carpathians, and one glance at Jules’ men told him they were getting more nervous the deeper into the mountains they went. He had thought the men might come in handy if something attacked, but now Cristian wasn’t so sure.

If anyone was going to watch over Jules, it seemed he was now the man to do it.

The day was bright and warm, and the foothills were alive with animals. Several times as they walked, Cristian spotted deer, squirrels, and birds. Four hours later, he halted and looked around him.

“What is it?” Jules asked in a soft voice as she came to stand beside him.

An uneasy feeling came over him, a feeling that only someone such as himself could understand. “Do you hear that?” he whispered.

She glanced at him then looked around the forest. “Yes, I hear nothing. Absolutely nothing. What happened to all the animals?”

“I don’t know.” Cristian’s instincts came alive. His heightened hearing told him there was some type of creature out there, but what exactly, he didn’t know.

Then he remembered Jules had said her father had written to her about his find. By the look of fear in her hired men, Cristian decided to wait before he asked her about it. The last thing he wanted was for her men to leave, because the more members of their party, the better.

It was entirely too easy for the creature to capture two people traveling alone than it was to take them from a fairly large group.

“This isn’t natural,” one of the men said in Romanian.

Jules looked over her shoulder at him, then turned to Cristian. “What did he say?”

Cristian looked down into her sherry eyes to see the uneasiness and fear lurking in her depths. Strands of dark hair hung about her face, making her look more irresistible than ever.

He inwardly shook himself. She put her trust in him, and he wouldn’t betray her now, not when there was evil so close.

“He said it isn’t natural,” Cristian finally answered.

She blew out a nervous breath and shook her head. “No, it isn’t. Can we leave?”

As she started forward, Cristian reached out and grasped her arm. She turned to him, her brow furrowed in worry. “Jules, it would be a lot safer for you back in Brasov.”

“I know.” She attempted a smile and failed. “But my father is all I have. I can’t leave until I know where he is. He may be injured and in need of help.”

Cristian released her reluctantly. He’d liked the feel of her softness, her heat. Her nearness. “I don’t know what’s out there.” He leaned in to whisper so the men couldn’t hear him.

“Neither do I, and if my father was searching for it, I can guarantee it’s not something we want to encounter.”

He longed to touch her again, to gather her close and inhale her soft fragrance of mint and lilacs. “Stay close to me,” he warned.

She nodded and fell in step behind him as he moved deeper into the eerie mountains. There wasn’t a need for him to carry a weapon, not when he was a weapon himself. But he never thought to make sure Jules had one. Though, if she ever saw what he really was, she might decide to use the weapon on him instead.

And that wasn’t a chance he could take.

He might not be human, but he wasn’t evil. Most people didn’t see the difference, and he didn’t have time to figure out if Jules was like most people.

The deeper into the mountains they went, the more whispers he heard from the men. Their fear ran in a thick, swift current around them, and he wasn’t surprised when one of them turned around and headed back down the mountain without a word to anyone.

Cristian hurried after him and tried to tell him it was safer to stay in a group, but the man refused to listen. The others seemed to debate whether they would continue on with him and Jules or go with their friend.

“I’ve only paid you half the money,” Jules reminded the five remaining men. “If you leave now, I won’t pay you another penny.”

That made their decision. For the moment. Cristian knew that frightened men would let their fear rule them sooner or later. There would come a time when nothing he or Jules said could convince them to stay.

He turned back the mountain and she walked beside him. “Should I let them go?”

“No. We need them.”

She bit her lip. “They’re frightened, Cristian. They know something is out there.”

“So do you, but you aren’t running back to the village.”

She smiled wryly and looked up at him through her lashes. “True, but I’m an Englishwoman.”

Cristian found himself chuckling at her response. “You might not be so brave once that thing out there finds us.”

“I have you to be brave for me.”

He glanced at her, surprised at her words. They warmed him deep in his chest. It was an emotion he both craved and feared. “You don’t even know me.”

“I’m a good judge of character. I’ve learned to be since my father never was. He gets buried in his work and would forget to eat if I didn’t set a plate in front of him.”

“So, without him you don’t feel needed.”

She gave an unladylike snort. “Lest you forget, you don’t know me either. I won’t deny, however, that I do feel needed with my father, but that isn’t why I’m looking for him. He gave me stability when my world was knocked off kilter. He was the lone person who stood beside me when others turned their backs. What kind of daughter would I be if I didn’t look for my father?”

He didn’t have an answer for her. “You seem the type of woman who does what she wants, regardless of society’s rules. I gather that’s what made others turn their backs on you?”

She lifted a shoulder in a nonchalant shrug. “It doesn’t matter now.”

But he could see that it still affected her in more ways than she realized. He admired her strength and courage in an age where women were dictated to by society. She was a rare gem, one that he was surprised hadn’t been snatched up by a man already.

If he was in the market for a wife, Cristian admitted that he would fix his gaze on her. There was something about Jules Little that made his blood heat and his cock thicken with raw need and wild longing.

But he wasn’t looking for a wife.

His parents had been lucky when they’d found each other, but it had been a chance meeting. In all his thirty-two years, Cristian had never found a woman that wouldn’t run screaming from him once she learned what he truly was.

* * * *

It wasn’t until the sun lowered in the sky that the men began to grumble again, not that Cristian could blame them. The higher they had climbed on the mountain, the less and less animals they had seen. To make matters worse, he had lost his parents’ trail.

All in all, it wasn’t a good sign. If he was honest with himself, he’d make Jules return to the village – even if he had to carry her there himself.

At midnight, Cristian stood to take his watch. He paused beside Jules to see her on her side facing the fire. The need to touch her was so great, he fisted his hands and remained still.

Once he was in control, he drew in a deep breath and stepped out of the firelight. He blended into the darkness, searching for a sign that the evil was near. There was no doubt it was out there watching them, waiting for a chance to strike.

The farther up the mountain they climbed, the deeper into its territory they walked. But Cristian had no other choice. He had to find his parents, and their trail led this way. Although deep down, he knew they would have returned had they been able.

Whatever had gotten them, he intended to make it pay.

* * * *

Jules woke after a restless night of hearing what she was certain had been growls of something that wasn’t an animal. So, when she turned over to find Cristian watching her with solemn green eyes, she quickly looked around their small camp and noticed they were alone.