Under a Vampire Moon (14 page)

“Oh,” she sighed with feigned disappointment. “Well, scratch the sexy image of you shirtless and sweaty with a hard hat on.”

Christian’s eyes widened incredulously. Was she flirting? That had sounded flirty. On the other hand she thought he was gay, so probably felt safe flirting with him now. This was definitely going to be a challenge, he decided.

“So which do you prefer?” Carolyn asked as she picked up her wine for another sip.

“Construction or music you mean?” he asked and when she nodded, he considered the question briefly. “Music.”

“Then why not give up your day job and pursue music full time?”

“Because none of us is interested in fame and fortune, and the way things are, we can play our music without worrying about either.”

“I thought every musician wanted to be famous,” Carolyn said with surprise.

Christian shrugged. “Perhaps they do. I don’t know. I’m sure there are some who aren’t interested in it, and just want to do what they love. Perhaps they want their music to gain acclaim, but I doubt anyone wants the kind of fame that plagues performers now. We certainly don’t.” It would make life very difficult to have their faces splashed everywhere. Perhaps not right away, but that kind of fame would make it hard to be anonymous and hide what they were since they didn’t age.

“Okay, but what about fortune?” she asked.

“All of us already have fortunes, or are well on the way to it,” he said with disinterest. For some reason that made Carolyn still.

“You do?” she asked with obvious surprise.

Christian nodded and took another bite of his wrap, wondering what had caused the odd expression now on her face. He wasn’t even sure what the look was, a sort of stunned one, but with something else, something akin to, but not quite, longing. Finally, he asked, “What?”

Carolyn shook her head and smiled crookedly. “Nothing. You’re just enough to make a gal wish you were fifteen years older and straight.”

“After my money, huh?” he teased, not believing it for a moment. He didn’t yet know how she’d gotten it, but she had money. Her clothes and the few pieces of jewelry she wore said as much, not to mention the fact that she was staying in a villa. Genie might be a friend, but he didn’t think she could get Carolyn and her friend a reduction on the price of the villa they were in, and he knew they didn’t come cheap. He’d made arrangements to switch the billing for their villa to him before they’d gone down to the bar to perform and the price had raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah, that’s me. The gold-digging divorcée, looking for her next victim.”

Christian eyed her silently. There was something in her tone of voice that sounded almost like bitterness. It raised questions in him, but questions he couldn’t ask without touching too close to her marriage.

“Julius is your older brother, right?” Carolyn asked suddenly.

Christian hesitated. He didn’t want to lie to her, but she wouldn’t believe him if he claimed Julius Notte as his father. Finally he said, “Julius is older than me.”

“And the construction company, it’s the family business?” she asked.

He nodded.

“So, what about your parents? Are they retired?” Carolyn sipped her wine.

“My parents are presently on an extended vacation,” he said carefully. It wasn’t a lie, a honeymoon could be considered a vacation . . . couldn’t it?

“Any other siblings besides Julius?” she asked.

“Three half brothers and a half sister, through my mother.” A smile curved his lips as he thought about the relatives he’d just recently become acquainted with.

“Wow, a big family then,” she said enviously. “What are their ages? I’m guessing Julius is the oldest if he runs the company. How many years are there between you?”

Christian silently cursed. There was no way to answer without lying through his teeth, so he did the only thing he could think to do and stuffed his mouth with food while he scrambled to come up with a way to deflect the question.

“Hey, you two,” Gia said brightly, suddenly appearing at the table.

“Gia, hi.” Carolyn smiled at his cousin as she joined them.

Christian merely grunted and continued to chew, but knew Gia had just saved his bacon. He also had no doubt his mother had sent the woman down to keep an eye on things in case he needed help. Christian just wondered how long and where exactly she’d been skulking around. He hadn’t seen her approach.

“You couldn’t sleep either?” Carolyn pushed away her half-eaten sandwich.

“Jet lag is a bitch,” Gia said wryly. “Makes me glad I don’t have to travel much.”

“Yeah, Christian was telling me you guys only play locally,” Carolyn said. “Do you work for the family company too?”

“No, I’m a hunter,” Gia answered and Christian froze.

When Gia’s expression froze as well, he realized she’d recognized the slip, but before either of them could react, Carolyn said, “A corporate headhunter?”

Christian relaxed as Gia quickly nodded. “Yes, a corporate head hunter.”

“Really?” Carolyn smiled. “I use those all the time. Do you work only in Europe or do you do work in Canada and the U.S. too?”

“Mostly Europe,” Gia murmured.

“That’s a shame. I haven’t been too happy with the company we usually hire. If you worked in the U.S. and Canada I’d have hired your firm next time.” She laughed and added, “I already know you can be persuasive at getting someone to take on a job they may not be eager to do.”

Gia and Carolyn chuckled and Christian forced a smile, knowing Carolyn was talking about Gia’s persuading her to be his supposed beard.

“Well,” Carolyn said, glancing at her wristwatch. “It’s good you showed up. You can keep Christian company. I need to get back to the villa and get some sleep.”

Christian quickly swallowed his food and stood. “We’ll walk back with you.”

“Don’t be silly. Stay, finish your— Oh.” She peered blankly as he grabbed up the last of his sandwich and stuffed it in his mouth.

“I guess he’s done,” Gia said with amusement.

“I guess,” Carolyn said dryly, watching him chew and swallow the mammoth mouthful he’d taken.

“Don’t forget your purse,” Christian said quietly as Carolyn started to turn away from the table.

She came to an abrupt halt and turned back to snatch it up. “That would have been good. Especially since that’s what I came down for in the first place.”

Christian followed the women out of the restaurant. He listened idly to their happy chatter all the way to the vans, and then opened the door and saw them in. He then closed the door and climbed into the front passenger seat, leaving them alone together on the first bench seat. It was better that way. Less tempting. He was determined to see her back to her villa without kissing or touching her.

The moment the van stopped, he was out and opening the door for her.

“Thank you.” Carolyn took his offered hand to disembark. When he released her, she turned toward the stone path to her villa, saying, “Good night.”

“Good night,” Christian said quietly as he closed the door. He watched her walk away as he got back into the van. The moment she slipped inside, the driver pulled away and Christian forced himself to relax back in his seat.

“Are you going to try to sleep again?” Gia asked as they walked from the van to their own villa moments later.

Christian grimaced. “I slept all afternoon. I’m not likely to sleep now. It’s why I was awake to see her leave for the lounge earlier.”

Gia nodded. “Your parents saw you leave. Marguerite called and asked me to keep an eye on the two of you and make sure you didn’t need help.”

“She has such faith in my abilities,” he said wryly, opening the door for Gia.

Gia chuckled as she entered the villa. “She was only worried because you can’t control or wipe Carolyn’s mind and she feared she might ask something that you would have difficulty answering honestly . . . as she did,” she pointed out dryly.

“Yeah.” Christian followed her inside. “Thanks for intervening.”

“Hey, you’re my favorite cousin,” she said lightly, bumping his arm with her shoulder, and then added with a grin, “Well, one of them.”

“Right,” he said with a laugh.

“So what are you going to do?” she asked, as she closed the door.

“Wait for dawn and then find her tomorrow morning, spend the day with her, and earn her trust.”

“Out in sunlight?” she asked with concern. “And when will you sleep?”

“I’ll sleep tomorrow night. By then I ought to conk right out. And I don’t see any alternative to going out in daylight. Between the shows at night and her mortal hours, it’s the only way to spend more than a couple of hours a day with her. I need to gain her trust.”

Gia nodded solemnly. “Well, you may as well come hang with us then. Maybe you can get Zanipolo to shut up about Carolyn’s thinking he must be the gay one. He’s questioned why she would think that ever since returning. He’s now determined to cut his hair and grow a beard to look more manly.”

Christian chuckled and followed her from the foyer.

Seven

A
squeal and a laugh made Carolyn glance to the right, the sunglasses she wore hiding the fact that she was watching a young couple romp on the shoreline. A young redhead was apparently reluctant to enter the water and a dark-haired young man had grabbed her around the waist from behind, lifting her off her feet. Definitely honeymooners, Carolyn decided as she watched the young man carry the laughing woman into the sea.

So young, so happy, so in love, she thought sadly, just watching them made her want to weep. She didn’t think she’d ever been all of those things. Oh, she’d been young once, and happy on occasion, but not happy like they were, and while she’d thought she was in love with Robert, it turned out the man she’d loved hadn’t even existed. Her in-love stage had been very short and mostly self-conscious as she struggled to please a man who could never be pleased.

Grimacing at the unhappy memories, she raised her book again and pretended to read, but instead continued to glance around under the cover her sunglasses offered.

Carolyn had awakened that morning to the sounds of retching coming from Beth’s room. Bethany was still sick, definitely some sort of bug and not food poisoning, which was a worry with her diabetes. When Beth joined her in the kitchen some moments later, Carolyn had suggested seeing if there was a doctor on the island, but Beth had refused. She just needed more sleep, she’d insisted. Carolyn should go have breakfast with Genie and then hit the beach. She’d join her later.

As if that was likely, Carolyn thought on a sigh. It seemed she was destined to spend the next two weeks alone, surrounded by happy honeymooners, whose very joy was a counterpoint to her own situation. That or hang out with her gay buddy Christian. The thought was unkind, she told herself as soon as it slipped into her mind. Christian seemed like a nice guy. Besides, without him to keep her company at least part of the time, she might very well be moved to do herself harm.

Seriously, all these loving couples made her feel . . . Well, frankly, she felt damaged. A freak. She kept looking around wondering why she didn’t have someone to love her. Why Robert hadn’t loved her. What was wrong with her? It was disheartening, being surrounded by all the couples who were young. There were some older couples, and even one or two women she thought she might be better looking than. Yet they all had these happy, smiling, loving partners while she was alone . . . as usual. But then Carolyn had felt alone most of her life. She’d been a latchkey kid with a mother who she knew loved her dearly, but who, because of circumstances, had spent most of her time working, and then . . . Well, she’d just never felt like she belonged anywhere or had a real family.

Carolyn grimaced at her own selfish thoughts. She’d been very lucky to have her mother. She’d at least known she was loved. Some kids didn’t even have that. She forced her gaze back to her book again, trying to find where she’d left off, then stiffened with surprise as someone dropped onto the sand beside her lounger.

“Morning.”

Carolyn recognized Christian’s voice before she actually turned her head to look at him. He had a deep, sexy voice, very distinctive and hard to forget. She smiled at him, her relief at no longer being alone adding warmth to it.

“Morning,” she said and frowned as she noted the rings under his eyes. “Did you get any sleep at all?”

“Not much. I drifted off at dawn.” When concern pulled at her face, he shrugged. “It just means I’ll sleep great tonight.”

Carolyn smiled wryly. “As it happens, so should I. I woke up at dawn.”

“Ah, that explains it,” he murmured and she quirked an eyebrow.

“Explains what?”

“Why you look tired too,” he said quickly. “What woke you?”

“Beth. She got up to get a drink and dropped a glass in the kitchen. By the time I sent her to bed and cleaned it up, I was wide awake. I tried to go back to sleep, but gave up after lying there for an hour.”

Christian nodded. “How’s she doing?”

“I think it’s the flu and she should see a doctor, but she insists that so long as she takes in lots of fluids and sleeps, she’ll be fine,” Carolyn said, her eyebrows rising as she glanced over his black jeans and T-shirt. “That’s not exactly beachwear.”