The Reluctant Goddess (The Montgomery Chronicles Book 2) (16 page)

The distance didn’t ease the craving, however. I’d have to handle that on my own.
 

Instead of taking me around to the great hall and the staircase, Dan stopped in front of an ornate paneled wall and pushed one of the carved figurines. The wall slid to the right, revealing an elevator.

"That's handy," I said.

"My grandfather planned for all contingencies."

What contingencies had Arthur Peterson, the founder of Cluckey's Fried Chicken envisioned? No more chickens? No more really bad oil? No more salt?
 

If you’ve ever had a really greasy fried chicken meal it was probably from Cluckey's. Cheap, filling, and horrible, it was still popular throughout the country. Lucky Dan.
 

I looked at him.

He was smiling down at me, his green eyes sparkling. The man was a handsome creature, with lips I really did want to sample.

I looked away, kicked myself a few times mentally, and said something brilliant like, “Unh.”
 

 
Marcie Montgomery, astounding conversationalist.

Once we got to the second floor and the elevator door closed, I could barely tell where it was. I had the feeling the castle had lots of secrets I didn’t know about.
 

“Are you doing okay?” he asked.
 

Other than a small ache, I was doing fine. Unfortunately, the ache wasn’t in my leg.
 

“I’ll send up lunch,” he said at my door.
 

I nodded and sincerely hoped that he wouldn’t bring it. I needed to slap my libido into submission.
 

I took a shower and shaved my legs, wondering what I would have looked like if the cast had remained on for a week instead of two days. I swung my leg while I held onto the towel bar, then did a few bends. Nothing hurt. Nor was there a scar from the compound fracture.
 

Sometimes this vampire thing worked out. I just wished the driver of the other car had been as lucky.
 

Once I was dressed in comfy jeans and a top (I don’t know what possessed me to buy this thing. The state of Texas was outlined in gold sequins on brown cotton.), I succumbed to my version of the vapors by sitting on the chaise and staring out the window.
 

Dan was true to his word and sent up lunch on a tray. I smiled as the nice young woman set it up on a collapsible table beside me. Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, my comfort food of choice. Of course, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches would do in a pinch. He’d added chocolate cheesecake, which made me wonder if he was almost the perfect guy: handsome, charming most of the time, and considerate.

Was he a Dallas Cowboys fan, by any chance?
 

He did one more thing and this gesture made me cry, but good tears, the very best kind. When the knock came, I was almost finished with lunch. I’d started with the cheesecake and worked my way through the grilled cheese and was now on the soup.
 

When I called out, he opened the door. Charlie made a beeline for me, almost toppling over the table. I caught it with one hand as I bent to wrap my free arm around Charlie’s neck, laughing as he bathed my face with sloppy kisses.
 

Dan set the table aside, allowing me to have a reunion with my dog. My dog. He wasn’t my dog, though, was he? I pushed that thought aside and rubbed my hands over Charlie, making sure he was okay. He was wiggling like a worm on speed, his tail beating against the chaise.
 

Between the laughter and the tears, I was talking to him, silly things that you say to your pet. “Good boy, who’s a good boy? You are, that’s who. Oh, you’re such a darling, Charlie. Are you okay? Are you sure you’re okay?”
 

For a little while, I was going to pretend that I didn’t have to call Charlie’s owner.
 

I hadn’t seen Charlie for days, but he didn’t look the worse for wear. Being at the castle agreed with him. He looked as if he’d gained weight. His eyes were bright and he was smiling at me. Had he visited with his girlfriend, the lab?
 

When he plopped down on the floor beside the chaise, I turned to Dan.
 

“I need my phone back,” I said.
 

Dan pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to me, still warm. He had to stop doing things like that.

Too many of my waking moments were filled with thoughts of Dan: how he looked when I'd last seen him, how he smelled, his charming lopsided smile, his neck – and I had had a thing for a man's neck long before becoming a vampire.
 

There was just something about a glimpse of a man's neck when he unbuttoned his shirt. I wanted to press a kiss there, right at the base, maybe lick his skin. I would feel his heartbeat escalate as I pressed my warm lips against his heated flesh.

See? I was doing it again.

I didn't feel the same way about Mike and I certainly hadn't felt the same way about Maddock. What he did to me was chemically induced.

No, I was getting positively goofy about Dan.

“Are you going to call Charlie’s owner?” he asked.
 

“Among other things,” I said. “I need to call the rental car company.”
 

“It’s all been taken care of,” he said.
 

Once in awhile, I like being cosseted. I like being the little woman and allowing a guy to take care of me. It isn’t that often, though, because I’m an adult and responsible for myself. I wasn’t sure what I was feeling now. Part of me didn’t want to have to deal with the rental car company, but I couldn’t forget that Dan had swooped in and taken over my apartment and my life.
 

It was a toss up, frankly. I reserved the right to get miffed later, when I felt strong and more like super woman. Besides, my libido was warring with feminism and feminism wasn’t faring too well at the moment.
 

“Do you get sick often?” I asked.
 

He stared at me. “Not really.”
 

“Are you whiny when you are?”
 

“I don’t think so.”
 

I’d bet that Dan did the “go to ground” thing when he got sick. Just leave him alone and everything would be fine. Don’t bustle around him. Don’t coo to him. Don’t, whatever you do, play mommy. I bet his own mommy didn’t play mommy.
 

“Why do you ask?”
 

“No reason,” I said. In other words, I couldn’t cosset him in return.

I took a deep breath. “About the gun thing. I want one.”
 

I’d had a few days to think about it. I knew Maddock was coming for me. A gun wasn’t a weapon to be used against him, but he couldn’t come after me in the daylight. Ergo, he would have to hire someone to do it for him, someone mortal.
 

I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

Dan’s eyes narrowed and his face did that stone effigy thing.
 

“I could loan you a gun, but only after I gave you some training.”

I was all for training. I knew which end to point, but that was about it.
 

“And you’ve got a gun range here,” I said.
 

He nodded.
 

“Do you have a beauty shop, too?”
 

He smiled. “We have a hairdresser. It’s normally easy to get an appointment.”
 

Holy cow, just how big was the castle? I should start thinking of it like a small city instead of just a fortress.
 

“Do you want to do it now?”
 

“No time like the present,” I said, standing.
 

“Are you sure you’re up for it?”
 

“I’m not going to use my leg for kickboxing, but it will get me there.”

He only nodded.
 

I settled Charlie into my room and followed Dan.

C
HAPTER
S
IXTEEN

Down into the dungeon, m’lady

Dan led me through the castle, down a warren of corridors that were more utilitarian than the public rooms. Yet even here, there were touches of wealth. The hallways were wide so that three or four people could walk abreast and laid with a deep crimson carpet so plush my sneakers sank into it. Wainscoting covered half the wall from about my waist down to the floor. An almost Celtic looking wallpaper in shades of green covered the rest of the wall. Here and there were brass sconces and I couldn't help but wonder if they also contained intercoms and cameras. Sprinkler heads dotted the ceiling along with small square grills.
 

I stopped in the middle of the hall, looking up at one of the grills.
 

"Are you prepared for anything bad?" I asked. “Is that just an air-conditioning duct, or something more sinister?"

"Like what?”
 

I glanced at him. “Like for poison gas. I think you're prepared for a siege, aren’t you?"

"Yes. But I wouldn't use poison gas. Maybe something to put someone to sleep, long enough to gain control over them."

"Do you have a jail here at Arthur's Folly?"

"There is a place to restrain intruders," he said, surprising me by smiling. He was evidently proud of the fortifications. Maybe the moat by the front door would flood, too, and not remain a flower bedecked entrenchment.
 

“Tell me about the disappearing humans.”
 

He stopped in front of a door with a lock, one of those you keyed in a number.
 

“The combination is 51475,” he said. “In case you want to come and practice.”
 

“The humans, Dan.”
 

I wasn’t going to be put off this time.
 

The gun range turned out to be modeled after a bowling alley, except that the floors were painted green. There weren’t any pins at the end of the four lanes, only a pulley system, each lane holding an outline of a human torso.
 

I would have felt a little more comfortable if someone had drawn fangs on one of the outlines. I’ve had this discussion with people before, especially with female friends. If I ever got a gun, would I use it? Could I use it? Could I actually aim a firearm at another human being and pull the trigger?

Maybe the answer would have been different last year or even a few months ago. Maybe I wouldn’t have been able to aim and shoot. Now? Not a problem, especially if it were Maddock in the sight.

I’ve known what it was to feel physically powerless and I hope to God never to experience that frightening vulnerability again. So, if I had to shoot someone in order to protect myself, I would, in a heartbeat and without a thought.
 

Dan still wasn’t talking. I leaned against the wall, folded my arms, and tried not to get irritated. I wasn’t sure what would happen if I focused my anger. Maybe I should practice that, more than shooting a gun.
 

“Dan.”
 

He was opening a glass case filled with ear protection. After selecting two sets of earphones, he bent and opened another case, this one double locked.
 

“I’m not going to stop asking,” I said. “You can’t put me off.”
 

He glanced at me once, put the earphones down on the ledge in front of me and mimicked my pose, leaning his back against the cases, arms folded.
 

I wish he wasn’t that much taller than me. I tilted my chin up, put on my most pugnacious expression, and was prepared to be just as stubborn as he was being.
 

“What about the missing humans?”
 

He stared down at the end of the lane, at one of the targets. I wondered if he was visualizing Niccolo Maddock standing there. I did.
 

“My sister disappeared.”
 

This was the first time he said anything about a sister. I licked my lips, wishing I wasn’t suddenly dry-mouthed and feeling inept. I didn’t know what to say. Something had to come out of my mouth, though.
 

“Did she hang around vampires?”
 

No, maybe I shouldn’t have said that. Dan flicked his eyes toward me. I’d thought Eagle Lady’s eyes were those of a predator. She was a pussy cat compared to Dan Travis, pissed.
 

“I didn’t think so,” he said. “She hadn’t before I left the States, but Nancy pretty much did what Nancy wanted.”
 

“So you came home to find her missing? What made you suspect the vampires? Maddock, especially?”
 

“She was seen with him.”
 

I swear, Maddock was a walking Viagra commercial. By the way, what is it with the bathtubs in those erectile dysfunction commercials? Why twin bathtubs, side by side? I could see one big bathtub with both the male and the female in it, but the way they were portrayed now, just holding hands? Nope, that didn’t make any sense. Back to Maddock. He had a mistress, who must not be all that happy with his straying, but she was human, so she really didn’t get a choice.