Tempting Whispers: The Kategan Alphas 6 (6 page)

That look irritated her. What, he didn’t
think she actually wanted to do something with her life? Well, nobody else
seemed to. “I’m going to study nursing. I want to be a nurse.” Things would be
different now, that’s for sure. She didn’t have any pack to go back to,
especially if she got her divorce. She’d have to take a nursing job at a
hospital or something. She didn’t mind. The thought of working to make her own
money, of being able to take care of herself, brought euphoric warmth inside
her. God, she couldn’t wait.

“I could see that.”

Now, she shot him a disbelieving look. “Really?”

He shrugged. “Sure, why not? One thing I
know about the Kategans, is that when they want something, they get it and they
do the job right.”

That made her smile at him. He caught it
and his gaze stayed on her mouth for a second longer than necessary, just long
enough to make her inside warm, and then he looked back at the road.

They pulled up in front of a small
yellow house with a triangle roof squished between two others just like it. The
yard out front was almost non-existent, but the small house had a cute charm
about it. They got out of the SUV and walked up the stairs to the green front
door, which actually looked flattering against the yellow siding. Brayden
raised a fist and knocked. That’s when she realized just how nice his hands
looked. As his hand fell back down at his side, her gaze followed. He had
nice
hands. Manly, with just a bit of dark hair on them and long fingers and short,
cut nails. He had the kind of hands a woman wanted all over her body.

The door opened a minute later after
some shuffling inside, and then a skinny man only a few inches taller than she
answered. She inhaled and smelled the scent that could only be vampire. The
scent could only be described as…sweetly coppery. Even Brayden held a ting of
it, but his more natural, masculine scent pervaded over that one. The other man
had thinning hair, and a salt and pepper moustache that matched the color of
what hair he had left on his head.

“Brayden,” said the man.

“Daniel,” Brayden replied.

Daniel stepped to the side and ushered
them into a small living area. The floors were all wood, the walls white and
plain, and there was only one sofa—a black leather sectional across from a TV.
The room almost looked empty. No pictures on the walls, no added decoration of
any kind, unless that white throw over the couch counted. With only the
sectional as furniture, they all sat on it, which put Vanessa right up against
Brayden. Their thighs touched and the heat of him warmed her leg. It took some
effort, but she managed to keep her eyes from studying the fitness of his leg
encased in his suit pants. She’d bet they were hard and muscular, that they’d
bunch and flex when he moved.

“Are you all right?” Brayden asked her.

Her wide eyes lifted to his. “What?”

“You’re flushed. You okay?” He looked so
concerned, that she just nodded mutely.

Daniel sat on the L portion of the
sectional, his knees bent with his elbows resting on them. “Well, let’s get on
with this. I’ve got plans today.”

Brayden laid into him. That was the only
way she could describe it. He nailed Daniel with question after question about
the night of Mary Brunes’ death. Why wasn’t King Brunes interviewed hard? Why
wasn’t anyone from the household interviewed to see if there’d been any
problems in the marriage? On and on it went. The questions actually started
easy and simple and Daniel answered readily. Then, Brayden asked harder, his
voice giving no room for blathering lies. He’d interrupt Daniel, then make him
repeat exactly what he said, even going so far as to trip Daniel up. She
watched all of this with wide-eyed fascination and a bit of admiration.

Finally, Daniel snapped. “Listen; one
doesn’t question the King of the lykaen community. Do you know what that man is
capable of? Whom his connections are?”

At this, Brayden tensed, just a
tightening of his leg against hers that Daniel couldn’t see. “Are you saying
you purposely didn’t press him because of his status?”

Daniel scrubbed a hand through the back
of his stringy hair, shaking his head. “I’m saying, that I’m not a dumb man. I
did my job. There was water in her lungs. He said she fell in while he was
below deck fixing them dinner. When he came back up, she was gone. I stand by
me decision. It was a cut and dried case.”

“Yeah, well did you know she’d planned
on leaving him? That he’d been pissed about that? That gives him motive,
Daniel.”

Daniel’s mouth opened, then floundered
closed. He shook his head raggedly. “Man, the case is over, closed. It’s been
done for
years
. Just leave it be.”

Brayden stood and she felt awkward
sitting down, so she stood, too. “Since you led the investigation, and I use
that term loosely here, then you must know that the Givens family who fished
her body out of the water said they saw bruising along her face. Like she’d
been hit.”

Daniel grumbled then said, “Yeah, well,
maybe she hit her head on the boat when she fell.”

“The bruising also wasn’t listed in her
autopsy report.”

Daniel stiffened, then crossed his arms,
his eyes narrowing on Brayden. “Then, I think you need to talk to the medical
examiner. I had shit to do with that and you know it. Who’s to say what the
Givens actually saw, anyway? It was dark when they fished her out of the water;
could have been the lighting or some mud or anything else on her face and that’s
why it wasn’t on her autopsy report.”

“And you, detective, also know that this
could be a cover-up.”

“Oh hell, just get out of here, will
you. You’re meddling in closed cold case that doesn’t need to be re-opened,
Brayden.”

Brayden grabbed her hand and she tried
not to get excited, but she couldn’t help it. The warmth and strength of his
hand surrounded hers as he led her to the front door. He turned back at the
last second. “I’ll be in touch.”

Outside, Vanessa pulled herself into the
passenger seat, then turned to Brayden once he got himself inside. “Do you
think he did it?”

“It’s hard to say. What I do know, is
the investigation was shoddy, at best.”

“What if he did kill her?” she
whispered.

He turned the engine over with a grumbling
roar. “Then, I’m going to catch him.”

Chapter 6

The following day, she awoke feeling
better than she had before. This time she actually recognized her surroundings.
She showered and changed into one of her new outfits, a white V-cut shirt and a
pair of fitted jeans which clung all the way down to her ankles. She found herself
fluffing out her wavy hair and taking care to make sure she looked fine before
she headed downstairs.

Brayden was nowhere to be found so she
made herself a quick sandwich and scarfed it down. Belly full, she made her way
around his house. She still hadn’t gotten a chance to see the entire place—and
her curious side
really
wanted to see what kinds of things Brayden the
Justicar vampire liked.

As she wondered through the house
touching his vases and little black statues of horses and figures of men and women,
she thought about the kiss they’d shared. Everything had been perfect, better
than she could have hoped it to be, until he’d ordered her to get off him. But
damn, did he have a nice mouth. She wanted to spend time there, to bite and
lick him until his taste was as familiar to her as her own. Not that he’d let
her do that.

Get off me, Vanessa.

Right; utter humiliation. At least, they
both seemed to have a silent understanding that neither one of them would talk
about that kiss. Nope, it has been swept under the rug. He hadn’t brought it
up, and she sure wasn’t going to. He either hadn’t like it, even though it’d
made her body wet, and burn, or he just thought so little of her, he didn’t
want to be kissing her. God, she didn’t know which was worse. The latter,
probably.

She still hadn’t seen him around the
house. She made her way into his study and found it empty. She took her time
browsing his bookshelf, finding an assortment of classics from Hemingway to
Plato. At the far end of the bookcase, in the corner of the room, she found
something special though. Two whole shelves lined with first editions of, of
all things, Arthurian knight tales. From
Le Morte d’Arthur, Sir Gawain and
the Green Knight
,
to
Tristan and Isolde
, and many more.

Le Morte d’Arthur
caught her attention first. There were three books, each lined in order with
the number one, two, and three on it. The covers were white with gold engraving
on the spine with a lovely leafy design that went under the title down to the bottom.
It looked expensive and it was probably worth more than she could dream, so she
gently put the book back. She didn’t breathe easy until the book rested neatly
back against its brothers.

Under the first two shelves were more
interesting books. These were historical books on knights, medieval weaponry,
jousting, and the
Knight’s Code of Conduct
. Just how old was Brayden?
Had he been a knight once upon a time? The thought of Brayden wearing heavy
armor carrying a heavy sword fitted so well she knew it had to be possible.

She was about to go rifle through his
desk, albeit with a little guilt, when a woman’s soft voice brought her head
careening around. She followed the sound of womanly singing until it got louder
and turned the corner into the dining room. With its white oblong table and
elegant, high-backed white chairs, she found an older woman cleaning one of the
tall windows with a pole-like object with a sponge at the end. It looked
professional, like something building cleaners used.

“Hello,” Vanessa said.

The woman jumped then spun around, eyes
scared. They calmed in an instant, but she raised a hand over her heart. “Lord,
you scared me.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know anyone else
was here.” Anyone else but Brayden, that is.

The other woman laughed a little. She
had long hair pulled into a bun at the back of her head and a kind, round face.
“Sorry, ’bout that. Brayden mentioned you were here, but I honestly forgot when
I came in today. I’m Gail, the housekeeper,” she said coming forward and
thrusting out a sturdy, strong looking hand.

Vanessa took it and smiled. “Vanessa.
Nice to meet you. Do you happen to know where he is?”

Gail shrugged a big shoulder. She had
the kind of body that said she’d done a lot of manual work in her days, and
there’d been a lot of them. “Probably still in his room. It’s Friday, which
means it’s food time for him. So, are you all right, honey? What’s brought you
here? I’ve never seen Brayden with a woman before.” Gail gave her a pointed look
that just begged to hear all the juicy gossip.

Vanessa fidgeted. “Well, he’s helping me
with some business.” She left it at that. No way did she want to delve into her
marital problems.

“Ah, well it’s nice to see another face
around the house. It’s always so quiet here. Gets pretty boring.” She leaned
closer, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Plus, Brayden could use a little
spice in his life. The man never does anything exciting. I think you might just
be what he needs to liven up a bit.” She winked, then went back to cleaning the
window.

Vanessa stood rooted in place for a
minute before the sound of heavy footsteps sounded at the stairs. She moved
into the hallway and started to smile Brayden, but the smile halted then faded
at the harsh look on his face. His eyes were screwed tight, his cheeks pinched,
and his lips flat.

“What’s wrong?”

Ignoring her, he passed by, said a quick
hello to Gail, then grabbed her hand and tugged her into his office. He closed
the door behind him and suddenly she remembered being alone with him in her
room, and that hot kiss.
Don’t think about, Vanessa
.
It’s only going
to get you into trouble.

He stood a few feet away from her, that
harsh frown on his face. Unease skittered through her like snakes.

She rubbed a hand across the back of her
neck. “What is it?”

His mouth twitched, and not in a
laughing way, then he looked away from her then back again. “I called Joseph.”

Her response came instantly and without
thought. “You did what!” she yelled.

He seemed to harden, his body
stiffening, eyes looking stern. “I called him. I told you I would.”

Breathing became hard. She knew her
chest was rising and falling hard, but couldn’t seem to get enough air.

“Shit,” he cursed. Then he pushed her
into a chair and shoved her head between her legs. “Breathe even and slow now.
Come on, Vanessa.”

Oh, God, she couldn’t. Each breath of
air felt way too short for what she needed. She couldn’t breathe slowly; she
could only suck in air fast then blow it right back out. His big hand spanned
her shoulders, rubbing in circles again and again.

“Take it easy, now. I’m going to protect
you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”