Under a Vampire Moon (4 page)

Moving to the bed, Christian quickly brushed aside the robe and flowers and lay down. He stared at the ceiling as he waited for the bag to empty, and pondered whether his life was about to change or not. He suspected Gia was right and Marguerite had found a possible life mate for him. He suspected it was the entertainment coordinator she kept mentioning.

“Genie,” he murmured, pulling the empty bag from his teeth, and then his eyes closed and he fell asleep.

Two

“C
aro?”

“Here!” Carolyn set her brush down on the bathroom counter and walked to the door to her bedroom, pausing when she saw Bethany standing in the hall door in her pink silk robe, her dark hair up in a ponytail. “You aren’t ready.”

“No.” Bethany grimaced. “Would you mind if I didn’t go?”

Carolyn frowned and started across the bedroom. “I thought you were feeling better.”

“I was when I woke up from my nap this afternoon, but now not so much,” she said with a grimace. “I’m thinking it might be better to stay here and just rest tonight. Hopefully, if I do, I’ll be good for tomorrow so we can enjoy the rest of the trip . . . and since Genie will be there tonight to keep you company, I thought it would just be best to rest tonight.” She hesitated and then added, “Well, unless you mind. I mean I know I dragged you here, so if you want me to—”

“No, no,” Carolyn said quickly, though she really would rather Bethany came, but if she wasn’t feeling well . . . she managed a smile and shrugged. “Like you say, Genie will be there. Besides, I want you feeling better for the rest of the trip too.”

Bethany smiled. “I promise I’ll make it up to you. Tomorrow we’ll do something fun, maybe a tour or something, then come back here, party our faces off, pick up a couple of men and rock their world.”

“Considering that every single male here appears to be on his honeymoon, I don’t think that’s likely,” Carolyn said with amusement, moving to the closet to scoop up her shoes. Carrying them to the bed, she sat to put them on, thinking she was actually glad that this was the case. She sincerely doubted she could “rock” anyone’s world, and she also didn’t really want to “party” her “face off.” Last night had been more than enough partying for her.

Carolyn grimaced at the memory. Thanks to those tequila shots Bethany had talked her into, she’d spent the evening trying desperately not to slur her words, first in the lounge and then in the restaurant where Marguerite and Julius had insisted she and Genie join them. Truthfully, they seemed like a nice young couple, but just the fact that they were on their honeymoon had left Carolyn somewhat at a loss and avoiding personal questions. The last thing newlyweds needed to hear was about her divorce.

Mostly, Carolyn sat and listened as Genie and Marguerite chattered away about the band that was coming and various events on the island, while trying to ignore the strangely intense way Julius kept looking at her. There had been nothing sexual in the way the man had eyed her, more like he’d been sizing her up for something. It had been a bit weird and made her uncomfortable. Carolyn had been glad when the meal ended and she’d been able to use the excuse of checking on Bethany to escape.

Of course, after returning to the villa and finding the other woman sound asleep, Carolyn had crawled into her own bed and soon drifted off as well. It had been an early evening, but then she’d had a long day what with the flight and what not. Traveling always wiped Carolyn out.

“Perhaps the guests here are all on their honeymoons, but there are other resorts with restaurants and lounges, you know . . . not to mention some clubs in town as well. Besides, the people who work here aren’t all on honeymoons or even married. That driver who brought us to our villa was a cutie,” Bethany said with a grin as Carolyn finished with her shoes and stood up. “And I think he liked you. He kept calling you pretty lady.”

“Who? Adam?” Carolyn asked, and couldn’t keep the shock out of her voice.

Bethany arched an eyebrow. “You have a problem because he’s not white?”

Carolyn snorted. “No, I have a problem because he’s a baby. Adam has to be at least twenty years younger than me,” she pointed out with a laugh.

Carolyn was sure Bethany was just teasing her, so was a bit shocked when Bethany arched an eyebrow and said, “So? Men do it all the time. Rich, successful men are always dumping their wives for sweet young things.” She shrugged. “You’re a rich divorcée. Why shouldn’t you have a boy toy?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said dryly. “Maybe because the entire time I was with him I’d be resisting the urge to change his diapers and burp him.”

Bethany laughed. “Honey, if Adam dropped his drawers in front of you I’m sure the last thing you’d be thinking about is diapers.”

“Beth, he called us both pretty ladies, and so did the bartender. I suspect the male workers here do it with everyone. It probably gets them bigger tips. And I hate to tell you this, but if your plans to cheer me up include my having a sordid little tryst with a cabana boy, you’re going to be terribly disappointed on this trip.”

“It doesn’t have to be one of the guys who works here, necessarily. What about those band guys who are coming tonight?” Beth asked, moving out of the way as Carolyn grabbed her purse and approached the door. “They’re Italian, right? Well, Italian men are supposed to be stallions.”

“And bands have pretty young groupies chasing them around,” Carolyn pointed out as she crossed the foyer. “They’d hardly be interested in an old broad like me.”

“All right, we’ll find you an adult playmate then.” Beth trailed her to the front door. “But I think you’re making a mistake. Younger men have a lot more stamina than men our age. They hit their sexual peak from eighteen to twenty-five or something like that, while women don’t become sex machines until their forties. In truth, it’s almost like mother nature wants us to play with the young ones.”

Carolyn just shook her head and opened the front door as she sang out, “Good night, Beth.”

“Have fun,” Bethany instructed as Carolyn pulled the door closed.

“H
ave fun,” Carolyn muttered, starting up the walk to the wending mountain road. “Yeah, right.”

Honestly, the longer she was here the more Carolyn regretted coming . . . and it had only been a little more than twenty-four hours. But so far she’d had an uncomfortable meal with Genie and strangers, gone to bed early, gotten up early, and sat on the beach alone with a book . . . mostly in the shade because everyone knew the sun wasn’t good for you. She hadn’t been reading the book, but had basically pretended to, keeping it propped on her chest while she watched the people around her under the cover of her sunglasses.

It had been a depressing exercise, Carolyn thought as she started along the dark lane. Watching all that billing and cooing around her as she sat alone without even Bethany for company. She’d found herself lying there wondering what was wrong with her. She was okay when it came to looks with a nice face, shoulder-length blond hair, and . . . well, all right, she could stand to lose a few pounds, but she was average. Why didn’t she have someone to love her too? Of course, then the heckler, the voice in her head that sounded like her ex-husband, had helpfully listed all her faults. It was a never-ending list and had taken up most of the day.

“Depressing,” Carolyn muttered, moving automatically to the edge of the road as she heard a vehicle approaching from behind. Unfortunately, she moved too far to the side, her heels promptly sank into the grassy verge and nearly sent her splat onto her face. Managing to stay upright by doing a little dance that took her right out of one shoe, Carolyn sighed and bent to pull it out of the dirt. She then cursed under her breath when her purse promptly slid off her shoulder and dropped to the ground.

“Pretty lady, what are you doing walking? You should have called down for a ride. Come, get in, we have room.”

Carolyn froze at that voice and didn’t need to look to see that a vanload of resort guests were getting a lovely view of her behind. It just had to be the case. It was her kind of luck. Sighing, she pulled her shoe free, grabbed up her purse, and slung it back over her shoulder as she straightened and turned to the van to find Adam beaming at her from the driver’s seat. That just figured. With Beth’s words ringing in her ear the last person she wanted to see was the first one she did.

“Don’t they ever let you go home, Adam?” Carolyn asked, managing a smile.

“Two drivers are sick. I am working overtime. Overtime pays well,” he said with a grin. “Come, get in. We will take you down. You can sit in the front with me.”

Carolyn hesitated, but then limped around the van to the passenger-side door with one shoe on and one off. She was running a little late and would get there faster with a ride. Mind you, it was going to be uncomfortable making small talk with Adam while Bethany’s words rang in her head. Good lord, he really didn’t look more than twenty-one or twenty-two.

Shaking that thought away, she opened the door and climbed in, smiling at Adam as she did.

“There, see? It’s all good,” Adam said cheerfully, sending the van moving forward again as soon as she’d settled in the seat and tugged the door closed.

“Yes, thank you.” Carolyn quickly undid her shoe, slipped it back on and did it up only to frown as her heel immediately slipped out again. She stared at it blankly, slow to realize that her foot hadn’t worked itself out of the shoe, but that the sandal strap had actually broken.

“Damn,” she muttered.

“This pretty lady is Caro,” Adam announced to the van at large, and then added, “Caro, this is the band, the NCs. It stands for the Notte
cuginos
. Notte is their last name and they say
cugino
means cousin. I am taking them down to the main building so they can perform.”

Carolyn briefly forgot about her shoe and glanced around with surprise, her eyes skating over the shadowed faces of the five other people behind her. It was hard to see much. The roads weren’t exactly well lit; all she could really make out was that she thought one of them might be a woman. Maybe two, she thought as she noted the long hair on the one in the seat directly behind hers. Although, if that was a woman, she was one hell of a big female.

A snicker came from the smaller one she’d thought was a female and Caro glanced to her curiously.

“Say hello,” Adam ordered cheerfully.

“Hello,” Carolyn murmured even as the riders in the back did as well. At least, most of them did, the one in the back who had moonlight glinting off his bald head remained silent and she eyed him curiously, wondering if he shaved his head as some sort of fashion statement, or was balding and trying to hide it by shaving his head. Really, that sort of thing fooled no one, she thought. Although he seemed to have a nicely shaped head, the sort that took well to the style.

“Caro is a friend of Genie’s,” Adam announced and then glanced to her and asked, “You are sitting with Genie tonight to watch them play?”

“Yes,” she said, smiling as she settled back in her seat. “Genie and a young couple on their honeymoon, Marguerite and Julius.”

Adam nodded, but the sudden tension in the back of the van was actually palpable, and Carolyn recalled that Marguerite and Julius had arranged for the band to come here. She bit her lip, wondering if she should say something to acknowledge that, but didn’t have a clue as to what she should say.

“We are all related to Marguerite and Julius.”

Carolyn turned in her seat again to see that the smaller female had sat forward . . . and she was definitely female. Not that Carolyn could see her any better, but the woman’s voice was a beautiful, husky singsong that could only be female.

“Really?” she asked with a smile. “How are you related?”

“Raffaele, Zanipolo, Santo, and I are all nieces and nephews,” she said, pointing to each dark figure in turn. She then gestured to the second figure with long hair, the possibly very large female, and added, “And Christian here is their so—”

“Their brother,” the one called Raffaele interrupted.

“Julius’s brother,” the woman agreed, and then jabbed Christian in the shoulder and taunted, “Put your hair back in its ponytail,
cugino
. Surely you realize you could be mistaken for a woman like that?”

“What?” the man asked, glancing over his shoulder with what appeared to be confusion, though it was hard to tell in this light.

The woman leaned to whisper something in his ear and then sat back with a laugh as Christian muttered under his breath. He turned to peer toward Carolyn then and she stared back curiously, wishing she could see his face. Like the girl, he had a nice voice, though his was definitely all male.

Growing uncomfortable under the man’s stare, she slid her gaze to the others, noting that every one of them appeared to be peering from him to her and back almost expectantly, their heads in silhouette as they turned forward then back, then forward again.

Finding it all a little too strange, Carolyn started to turn back in her seat again, but paused as the big man in the back rumbled, “Since she named everyone but herself, I’ll do it. The girl is Giacinta.”

“Giacinta,” Carolyn murmured the alien name with interest. She’d never heard it before.

“Everyone calls me Gia,” the woman said absently, her gaze on Christian, and then sounding somewhat awed, she said, “You can’t read her, can you?”