He clenched his fists tightly, then released them. Rule number one. Strictly business. It was a good thing she was engaged. It served as a constant reminder that he couldn’t get involved with her. He couldn’t afford to care.
She opened her eyes and shook her head. “I’m not catching anything. But then . . . ” She bit her lip.
“What?”
She blushed. “It could be that I’m too . . . aware of your scent and not able to smell past it.”
“Oh.” He winced. “I guess we vampires all smell pretty much the same.”
“Not . . . really.”
“I don’t stink quite as bad as the others?” When she shook her head, he scoffed. “Well, that makes me feel special.”
Her mouth twitched. “You don’t stink. But it is getting hard to ignore you.”
What the hell did that mean? He glanced at his watch. “If I leave for three minutes, will that be enough?”
She nodded. “I think so.”
“I hate leaving you alone here. How about one minute?”
“Two.”
“Deal.” He noted the time and teleported back to the bat cave. Halfway through a bottle of blood, he stopped with a jerk. What if Jia was hungry? Or thirsty?
He grabbed a sack and teleported to Zoltan’s kitchen. After taking a few bottles of water from the fridge, he stole some breakfast bars from the pantry. A can of mixed nuts. A bag of chips. And a container of instant noodles.
“Russell?” Howard charged into the kitchen. “What—” His eyes narrowed as Russell emerged from the pantry. “What are you doing with human food?”
“Later.” Russell heard Howard yelling just before he teleported back to the bat cave, where he deposited the food he’d stolen from Zoltan’s pantry. He checked his watch. Five seconds to go. He selected a breakfast bar and bottle of water, then returned to Jia’s side.
“Oh, thank you.” She smiled at him, and his heart squeezed. She dropped the bar into a pocket and opened the water for a long drink.
“Did you smell anything?”
“No.” She twisted the top back on. “Let’s keep working.”
Russell took her to ten more camps, leaving her alone at each site for a minute so she could sniff without any interference from him. Still no luck. With dawn approaching in an hour, she was yawning and visibly having trouble staying awake.
“I think we should call it a night,” Russell told her. “I’ll take you home and pick you up tomorrow night after sunset.”
“What?” Her eyes widened. “You can’t take me back to Tiger Town.”
“It’s your home. You’ll be more comfortable there.”
“No!” She shook her head. “I can’t go back. They—they might lock me up. Or hide me somewhere you can’t find me.”
“I can always find you.”
“And what if Rajiv orders my guards to fight you? I don’t want you having to fight other were-tigers.”
He stiffened. “I wouldn’t hurt any of your kind.”
She touched his arm. “I know that, but I’m not sure Rajiv does. He . . . he doesn’t trust you right now. He might have Jin Long teleport me across the world.”
Russell winced. That was a possibility. He could lose several nights tracking her down instead of Han.
“Besides,” Jia continued, “you told me you wouldn’t take me back.”
“No, I didn’t—”
“You implied it. When I was hugging the tree.”
He scoffed. “If I don’t take you home, Rajiv will have every right to be furious. A princess like you shouldn’t be cooped up alone with a vampire.”
“Don’t call me princess. And it doesn’t matter if I’m alone with you. I know you’re not going to bite me.”
“Your reputation would still be ruined.” When she rolled her eyes, he groaned in frustration. “You’ll be trapped in the bat cave all day with nothing to do. I won’t be able to teleport you anywhere. I’ll be in my death-sleep.”
She shrugged. “I’m just as tired as you are, after working all night. I’ll get some sleep, too.”
His eyes narrowed. “There’s only one bed.”
“I have a bedroll with me. I’ll make do.”
He gave her an exasperated look. “You can’t sleep in the same cave with me. Your family will want to kill me.”
“No, they won’t. It’s not like we’re going to do anything. Remember rule number one? This is strictly a business relationship.”
“Do you expect your fiancé to believe that?”
She waved a dismissive hand. “No one will believe we’ve done anything. You’ll be in your death-sleep all day.”
For some reason the idea that he was completely harmless ticked him off. “You can’t shack up with a man when you’re engaged!”
She lifted her chin. “I can with a dead man.”
He stepped closer. “There’s a huge flaw in your thinking.”
“I think not.”
“I think so. The sun won’t rise for another fifty minutes.” He pulled her close and whispered in her ear, “I’m not dead yet.”
Chapter Nine
A shudder skittered down Jia’s spine, and she pushed Russell away before he could notice his effect on her. “You said you wouldn’t take me back. You’re a man of honor, so I know you’ll keep your word.”
He snorted. “Another flaw in your thinking.” His gaze raked over her with a bold look. “Are you sure you want to be alone with me?”
She swallowed hard. He was purposely trying to unnerve her. Did the rascal think he could frighten her enough that she would beg to go home?
Never. Even though he was a bloodsucker who could overpower her in a second, she would not give in to fear. Her face grew warm as she recalled how he’d kissed her forehead once again. Whether it had been merely sympathy for her tragic past or the possibility that he might actually care about her, she wasn’t sure, but she felt positive that he would never harm her. “I trust you. Now take me to . . . our hideout.”
He watched her intently, his eyes taking on an odd gleam. “Fine. Let’s do it.” He pulled her back into his arms and teleported.
When they arrived, he released her abruptly, then lit a few oil lamps. He levitated up to hook his crossbow and quiver on a clawlike root in the ceiling. “You might regret your decision. There will be no privacy for you.”
She glanced toward the far end of the cave where the bathtub was located. No chamber pot in sight. Thank goodness she’d relieved herself in the forest ten minutes earlier while he’d been checking out a camp. She could wait till he was in his death-sleep before doing it again. “I suppose you wash your face and hands in the river?”
“Actually I use this.” He showed her a bucket of water positioned beneath an ice chest spigot. “I pack chunks of a Himalayan glacier in the chest to keep my food supply cold. I use the melted ice for washing my face and brushing my teeth.”
“Oh.” No wonder she’d picked up that scent on him earlier. She noted the plastic bin sitting atop a nearby wooden crate. Small containers of soap and shampoo were neatly arranged in the bin, along with a tin cup holding his toothbrush. He was rather neat and tidy for a guy who lived in a cave.
As he emptied his pockets onto the table, she noticed that the knuckles on his left hand were coated with dried blood. It must have happened when he’d tried to pry her loose from the tree trunk. “You’re injured.”
He glanced at his hand. “No big deal. It’ll heal during my death-sleep.”
“It was my fault—”
“Don’t worry about it.” He showed her the sat phone. “Do you know how to use this? You should call your cousin to let him know you’re all right.”
“I will.”
He glanced up at the hole in the ceiling. “You’ll probably have poor reception in here, but I’ll fix that tomorrow night. Be sure to call during the day. If you call while J.L. is awake, he could use your voice as a beacon and come here to take you away.”
“I understand.” She removed the knives from her boots. “Since you’re warning me, that must mean you’re okay with me staying here.”