First Love: A Superbundle Boxed Set of Seven New Adult Romances (51 page)

"They don't look smushed." Eliza bent her head over the tarts, inhaling deeply.

That was the other thing that was different—the smell. Inside the city was a jumble of scents, but here there was only the clean dark smell of the pine trees, and now the fig tarts. It smelled wonderful, and Robb was buoyed by the fresh air.

"Alright, we can watch from the front," he said decisively. Eliza had tucked the tarts under her arm and was trying to put the necklace on.

"Here, let me help," Robb said. His fingers felt thick and awkward as he fumbled with the tiny gold clasp. A dark strand of Eliza's hair fell onto her neck and he brushed it away carefully before fastening the clip, the touch of her skin sending thrills through his body. The sun was falling quickly behind the trees, and the air around them grew chilly.

"Come on," Eliza said, letting her hair fall down her back over the necklace chain. She strode toward the forest edge. Robb followed, not wanting her to think him a coward. The fading sunlight shone eerily through the mist in the trees, and he wished that they had stayed inside the city walls and watched from the top ledge with the other children. He glanced back at the stone walls.

"Hurry," Eliza said. "It's almost sunset."

She plunged into the dark forest, and Robb traipsed after her. Just beyond the forest edge, a stream bubbled through rocks in a chasm that was deeper than it was wide; the water had etched a deep groove into the forest floor over the years. It was like a half of a moat that flowed next to the castle; they’d often played there.

They followed the stream down to where a log had fallen across the rocks. Eliza walked quickly across the wide log, and Robb matched her steps, his arms stretched out to balance himself. He looked down at the stream below his feet. He was high enough to be injured severely if he fell, if not killed outright. His knees trembled and he walked the few remaining steps quickly, holding his breath.

"This is our moat," Eliza said decisively. "We'll watch for the ghosts from
there
."

Robb looked to where she was pointing. A black pine stood next to them on this side of the stream, its roots bursting through the rock underneath.

"Maybe we should go back inside the city," Robb said, nervous now that the sun was almost gone. "It'll be dark when we have to leave."

"Go back if you're afraid," Eliza said, turning her back on him. Robb bristled at the accusation and followed her to the base of the tree. He stole a glance around him: despite his bristling, he
was
afraid. A tiny bit, anyway. The mist was settling down into the lower branches of the forest.

"We won't even be able to see the ghosts with this much fog. Besides, someone might see us here. I'd get in trouble hanging around your type."

Robb meant the insult to prick her as she'd pricked him, but as soon as he saw Eliza's hurt expression he regretted it.

"Whatever you want," she said, looking up at the tree. "I can't reach the bottom branch anyway."

"Here," Robb said, hoping to make amends. "You can get up if I help you. Hold my shoulder."

Eliza paused, then smiled broadly. She'd never stayed sullen long; it was one of the best things about her, Robb thought. He wrapped his arms around her legs to lift her up, his fingers clammy against her warm skin. She was wearing only a thin cotton dress and he could feel the shape of her body through the fabric as she reached up for the branch. It excited and scared him in ways he didn't quite understand.

"A little higher," she said, one hand already on the branch. She scrambled up and stood on the branch. "Don't look up my skirts!"

"I'm not!" Robb lied. "Make room so I can get up there with you."

Eliza scooted sideways and Robb scrambled up awkwardly onto the branch with her. He'd never stood so close to her before, and it was intoxicating. There was a smell in her hair like crushed violets, and the necklace sparkled against her olive skin.

"I'm sorry," Robb said suddenly. His face was hot. "What I said, I mean. I like you loads, I really do. I say stupid things."

To his surprise, Eliza didn't seem angry at him at all.

"I'm sorry I made fun of you being scared of ghosts," Eliza said. "But you know there's no such thing, not really."

No such thing.
Robb had never considered that Eliza didn't believe in the black ghosts. It came as a surprise. But what came next was even more surprising.

Eliza leaned forward and pressed her lips quickly to his. Her touch was sweet, her fingers brushing against his cheek as she pulled back from the kiss.

A kiss. His first kiss. His mind whirled at the thought.

Robb's face might already have been hot, but now his body was
burning
. His heart beat so loud that he worried she would hear it and laugh at him.

Then again, he loved nothing more than the sound of her laughter. She had
kissed
him!

"I'm going to climb higher," Eliza said, a funny look on her face.

"Be...be careful," Robb said lamely, but she was already onto the next branch.

Robb heard a branch snap behind him. He whirled around.

"Eliza?"

"Yes? Are you coming?" She was already three branches up.

"Did you hear that?" Robb had thought that the forest was quiet before, but he found now that it had gone completely silent with the snap of the branch. No birds called overhead, no rats rustled in the forest floor.

"Are you trying to scare me?" Eliza called down.

"No, I heard something." He heard another
snap
. The fog was moving in the trees, swirling, and Robb couldn't see far at all. Everything was lost in the white mist and dark branches.

"Get up here," Eliza said. "You'll miss it."

Robb turned away from the forest and quickly grabbed the next branch, planting his foot against the trunk. He was about to pull himself up when—

"Aiieeeeeee
!"

Eliza's scream only lasted a second before a tremendous
crash
shuddered the tree. Pine needles rained down, and before Robb could open his mouth to shout, Eliza had dropped out of the branches, falling on her side onto the ground. The tarts rolled away over the pine needles.

Robb scrambled down to her.

"Eliza, what happened?"

"Run!"

She sprang up, terror in her eyes, and stumbled against Robb. It looked like she had a sprained ankle. Blood dripped down her face from her hairline. Robb clutched her upright.

"Your head—"

"Run
!" she cried. She spun, her foot smashing one of the tarts, and burst into a limping run back toward the way they'd crossed the streambed.

Robb didn't waste a second following her. Behind them, he heard a loud cracking, and as they scrambled across the makeshift log bridge, he turned to see the two halves of the pine trunk come crashing down. The impact shuddered the ground. In the middle of the splintered wood, where the main trunk had stood, there was a dark shadow that Robb could barely make out but for the outline. It didn't look like an animal, though.

It looked like a man.

Robb turned back to the log bridge. If he could make it fall, the man wouldn’t be able to cross the moat. Bracing himself against a rock, he shoved the log once. It only moved a few inches.

The shadow moved forward—floated forward, it seemed, the mist clearing a path in front of his feet, and Robb pushed at the log with all the strength his terror gave him. The log shifted, then rolled, and then fell down into the stream with a splash. Robb scrambled to his feet and fled. He could already hear Eliza screaming at the guards to open the gate, and he thought that they might make it in time. Turning back to look, though, he saw the figure move, and his jaw dropped.

The black ghost—for what else could it be?—leapt halfway up one of the nearby pines, and then sprang off of the tree, seeming to fly over the stream without any effort. It landed hard on the city side of the stream and Robb caught a glimpse of two eyes, glowing red. Terror seized his heart and he ran desperately toward the main gate. The guards would never open the gate without an order from a higher command, and Robb knew that he had to give himself away.

"It's me! Prince Robb!" he cried out as he reached the gate. A guard leaned out from a window in the side tower overhead. "Let us in quick!"

He heard shouting and the latch on the gate began to ease open slowly. Much too slowly. Robb turned to see the mist creeping across the empty space between the city and the forest, the black shadowy figure visible only partially, the red eyes still glowing as it moved forward to them. There were noises from the top of the city walls, and Robb knew that the other children must be watching them in excitement.

"Here," he said to Eliza. "Climb!" He grabbed her again by the legs and lifted her up to the guard opening. It was too far, but maybe she could climb up. Eliza's fingers scrambled for purchase against the cracks in the stone wall. The gate latch was still being raised slowly, but then it stopped. Robb didn't know why. The mist swirled around his feet, crawling up his ankles.

The guard leaned over with a short length of rope, and Eliza grabbed for it. There! Robb felt her weight ease off of him.

Holding on tightly to the rope, she reached a hand down to Robb.

"Come on!" she cried. "Hurry!"

Robb reached out but the guard was already pulling her up.

"Wait!" she screamed. "Wait, he's not up yet!"

"Eliza!" Robb shouted. The mist was at his waist, and a coldness swept over his whole body. He tried to clamber up the wall to catch her hand, but the mist had made the stones slippery. He had only made it up a few feet before his foot slid over the stone and gave way, sending him tumbling back into the white mist. Before he landed, cold arms caught him and held him tightly around his chest. It was not a ghost—no, this flesh was all too real—and as Robb kicked and twisted, the arms dragged him backwards with seemingly no effort.

"
Robb! ROBB
!"

The last thing Robb saw before he was plunged backward into the woods was Eliza. Her necklace dangled from her neck as she leaned out the window, her arms reaching out desperately to him. Then there was only the white mist and black figures hooded and menacing above

him, and Eliza's screams fading into nothing.

Chapter One

"Robert?
Robert
!"

Robb yawned and opened his eyes, expecting to look into the face of a beautiful woman. Instead, he found himself staring at a pair of bushy white eyebrows furrowed over a wrinkled brow. He blinked hard, instantly awake.

"Gerry?"

"So sorry to interrupt, sir, but you
do
have an appointment this morning."

Robb groaned and turned his face away from his butler. The beautiful naked woman sprawled next to him in bed continued to snore lightly, her light blond hair spread out over the pillow. One of her arms was still draped over his chest. He tried to remember his dream. In his dream, she'd been tied up, and he'd pulled her up onto his lap and began spanking her, yes, spanking until her skin was red and his hunger drove him to lean forward and bite her shoulder, bite down hard—

"No." The night had been normal. He'd bit her on the neck during foreplay and then given her more wine, and she'd fallen asleep shortly after they'd tumbled into bed.

Gerry flung the curtains open and a flood of morning sunlight filled the large room. The wall-sized television turned on and began to play a soft Mozart sonata while abstract shapes floated across the screen.

"I said no!" Robb squinted into the morning sunlight coming through the glass-paned wall across from his bed.

"And yesterday you said—
and I quote
—'Before nine o' clock, don't listen to anything I sa'—"

"Gerry, come on! Ten more minutes?" He looked back at the girl.
What he could do with her in ten minutes...

"Sir, you insisted that I get you up at eight sharp for your appointment."

"Appointment?"

"The dedication speech at the university library, sir." Gerry stood politely beside the doorway, his hands clasped behind his back and his eyes averted from the bed.

"Right." Robb slapped his forehead and shook his head. He should never have to wake up so early. "Damn. The dedication. Right... could you see that...ah..." He gestured to the girl in bed, snapping his fingers. Gerry glanced over.

"Madison, I believe, is her name, sir."

"Right. Madison." He wiggled sideways, extricating his arm from the tangle of limbs. Madison rolled over sleepily and murmured something unintelligible. "Could you get her breakfast and see that she's out before I get back?"

"Of course, sir."

He pulled on his pants and took the newly pressed shirt that Gerry held out for him, slinging the tie over his shoulder. He'd put it on later. In his bed, the girl—
what was her name again?
—began to stir. He strode out the door, Gerry following him calmly.

"There's a pot of yogurt for you on the counter and a banana to go with it. The doctor said—"

"Thanks, Gerry!"

Robb grabbed the brown paper lunch bag and dashed out of his apartment into the private elevator. At the bottom of the building, he passed by the security guard's desk. Tossing the brown bag onto the desk, he reached over and plucked two donuts out of the box sitting in front of the guard.

"Hey!" The guard sprayed donut crumbs from his lips as he spoke. "What gives?!" He turned the bag over and out fell the fruit and yogurt. "What the hell is this?"

"You shouldn't eat so much junk food," Robb said, winking as he took a bite of the chocolate cream-stuffed donut. "Have a banana every once in a while."

"Screw your banana," the guard said.

"Come on now, Joe, I'm only looking out for your health."

"Next time you take one of my donuts, I'll shoot you," Joe said, sniffing at the yogurt warily.

"This
is the thanks I get for caring," Robb said, shaking his head in mock disappointment as he backed toward the door. “You’re welcome.”

"See you later, Mr. Chatham," the guard said.

Robb held his hand up in a half-wave as he strode out the door, nodding to the doorman as he went. The valet pulled his car up to the curb a second after he walked out, and he hopped in, resting his head back on the leather seat for a moment before stuffing the remaining donut into his mouth and revving the motor. The Porsche Cayman's engine roared to life, and he tore down the street, the acceleration waking him up more than any of Gerry's admonitions ever could.