Forbidden Nights with a Vampire (Love at Stake #7)

He stepped toward her. "You were bored, and you tormented me for the fun of it."

"Don't be silly. It was just a little harmless flirtation."

"It was sheer torture." He advanced another step. "I hated it. Every time you touched me, I wanted to rip your little catsuit off and make you purr."

Her mouth dropped open, then shut suddenly with a snap. Her cheeks flushed. "Then why didn't you? Why did you let a stupid rule stop you? Ian didn't let anything stop him from going after Toni."

He grabbed Vanda by the shoulders so quickly, she gasped. "I would have taken you in a second if I had thought you actually wanted it."

Her cheeks grew a deeper red. "How would you know what I really want?"

He leaned close. "I was on to you from the start. You're a tease. You like to get a man hard, then leave him panting. You enjoyed watching me suffer."

"That's not true. I-I really liked you." She winced as if she'd admitted more than she had wanted to.

He brushed his nose across her cheek and whispered in her ear, "Prove it."

She trembled in his arms. He could feel her breath coming in quick puffs against his skin.

He moved his mouth closer to hers. "Show me."

With a small cry, she turned her head away from him.

Shit. He had been right all along. He'd been nothing but a game to her. He dropped his hands from her shoulders. "Admit it. You flirted with me because you were bored and I was safe. I desperately needed the job, so I was going to follow the rules no matter how much you tortured me."

She pressed a hand to her forehead. "I-I didn't mean..."

"To make me ache for you? Tell me, Vanda, did you ever feel anything? Did you really care about me, or were you just being a cold-blooded bitch?"

With a gasp, she pulled her hand back and slapped him. "Get out!"

He rubbed his jaw and smiled. "I guess you're not too cold-blooded."

She pointed at the door. "Leave!"

He considered taunting her some more. God knew she deserved it after torturing him for five long years. But he noticed her hand was trembling and her eyes glimmered with unshed tears.

Now he felt like a dog. He'd only wanted to turn the tables on her and give her a taste of her own "harmless flirtation." He hadn't meant to hurt her.

He trudged toward the door, where he paused with his hand on the doorknob. "You've always intrigued me, Vanda. From the moment I met you. I could never figure out why a free-spirited woman would confine herself to a harem. What were you hiding from? And why would a rebellious, beautiful woman flirt with the one man she considered safe?"

She folded her arms and gave him a wary look. "So now you want to analyze me, Doctor Phil?"

He smiled slowly. "I want to do a lot of things to you, Vanda. You see, with me, you made one big mistake. I was never safe."

Vanda stood alone in her office, blinking back tears. Dammit, she wouldn't cry. She was tough. But she'd made Phil suffer. She'd never intended to do that. How could a little harmless fun go so wrong?

She circled the desk and collapsed in her chair. He'd seen right through her. He'd known she was bored out of her skull. When she'd first joined the harem in 1948, she'd welcomed the peace and serenity. But over time, boredom had set in, and she'd been desperate for a diversion.

Poor Phil had seemed safe. It was against the rules for him to fraternize with her. He'd made it clear from the start that he would honor the rules.

And she'd tortured him.

She bent her head and rested it on her hands. The coffin tucked away in the shadows of her mind slowly creaked open. Mental pictures floated out.

Mama, who had died in 1935 when Vanda was eighteen.

Frieda, her youngest sister, who died four years later when they fled from the Nazis. Frieda, with her chestnut curls and big blue eyes.

Jozef, her baby brother, who at the age of twelve insisted on joining his father and three older brothers to fight the incoming invasion. Vanda's eyes stung with tears. Jozef with his black curly hair and laughing, blue eyes. He'd marched off to war so proudly. And she never saw him again. A tear rolled down her cheek.

Ian had always reminded her of Jozef. She hadn't meant to become attached to Ian, but he'd slowly started to symbolize all the brothers she had lost. And she'd come so close to losing Ian last December. Ever since the battle at DVN, her nerves had been on edge.

More pictures drifted out of the coffin. Papa and her three other brothers - Bazyli, Krystian, and Stefan. Fuzzy and unclear.

A sob escaped. Oh God, she couldn't remember their faces. Her shoulders shook. How could she forget? After Mama died, she'd taken care of all her brothers and sisters. They'd been her entire life. How could she forget?

She squeezed her eyes shut. No! She wouldn't do this. She didn't need to punish herself just because she felt guilty for tormenting Phil. Mentally, she shoved all the pictures back into the coffin and slammed the lid shut.

She wouldn't let herself think about the past. How she'd lost everyone she loved. Her parents, her brothers, her sister. Even Karl, her first love and leader of the underground resistance.

All gone.

She took a deep, shuddering breath and wiped the tears from her face. She should have never flirted with Phil. He was a mortal with a short life. If she fell for him, she would only lose him, too.

It didn't matter that he intrigued her and excited her. It didn't matter that she wanted his arms around her, comforting her. It didn't matter that she admired his strength and intelligence. Or that she was so tired of being alone.

Screams erupted from the club, jerking her back to reality. What now?

"Vanda!" Terrance flung the door open. "Max the Mega Member just teleported in. He says you're going to die!"

CHAPTER 4

Vanda strode into the club, whip in hand, her eyes adjusting to the dim lighting. Only a handful of customers remained. The others must have teleported away at the first sign of danger. The remaining customers were crowded in a circle, gossiping with hushed voices.

"He's so incredibly strong," a female Vamp whispered to her friend.

"And so handsome," the friend replied.

Vanda snorted. There was no accounting for taste. Her bouncer Hugo was about as wide as he was tall. His massive head sat right on his huge shoulders. She often wondered how he'd ever gotten transformed when he had no visible neck to bite.

"Excuse me." She nudged the two gossiping girls aside.

"Vanda," a deep, gravelly voice spoke behind her.

With a start, she turned to find Hugo. "What? Then who - "

He rested a beefy hand on her shoulder. "I need to talk to you."

"Not now!" She pulled away from him and shoved her way through the crowd. She stopped with a gasp.

Max was flat on his back with Phil sitting on top of him. Phil's fists were planted on the floor on each side of the ex-dancer, and in them he gripped a silver chain that was stretched across Max's chest. The chain not only pinned Max to the floor, but it prevented the Vamp from teleporting away.

Vanda stared at them for several seconds. No wonder the crowd was whispering in amazement. It was practically unheard of for a mortal to be quick enough to catch a vampire and strong enough to hold one down.

On the floor, at her feet, a long dagger gleamed in the dim light. Good Lord. A shudder skittered down her spine. If Max had stabbed her in the heart, she'd be a pile of dust right now. Somehow, Phil had managed to disarm him. Phil had saved her life. And he didn't even look winded.

He glanced up at her and smiled.

Her knees nearly buckled.

The girls behind her sighed.

"What pretty eyes," one of them whispered.

Vanda's grip tightened on the whip, and she stifled an urge to snarl at the girls. But what could she possibly say? Hands off, he's mine? She had no claim to him.

She glanced away, irked with herself for succumbing to jealousy and being so easily flustered by a man's smile and pretty blue eyes. Her frustration flared into anger when she spotted her three dancers watching the scene from behind the bar. Those spineless cowards.

Hugo grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the crowd. "Vanda, I have to talk to you. It's about that mortal."

"I know," she spoke with gritted teeth. "He's incredibly strong and handsome. You want to join the fan club?"

Hugo looked confused. "No. There's something strange about him. He moves too fast."

"Tell me about it. He captured a psycho and protected me from certain death, which is your job, I believe." She glared at the bouncer. "If you're slower than a mortal, maybe I hired the wrong man."

"No, no! I'm going to take care of Max. I just thought I'd better warn you about - "

"What are you planning to do?" Vanda felt a sudden twinge of alarm. She didn't want any more deaths on her conscience.

"I was going to teleport him far away and warn him to leave you alone," Hugo grumbled. "And I thought I might punch him in the gut, if you don't mind."

"Oh. I guess I can live with that." She nudged her way back through the crowd. Everyone moved back when Hugo came through.

Phil was still holding down the struggling Vamp as if he were detaining a small child in time-out. Max didn't seem to be in any pain, since the silver chain was against his clothes. If it had come into contact with his skin, there would have been some nasty, smelly, sizzling flesh.

Phil glanced up at her. "What do you want to do with him?"

"Hugo will take care of him."

On cue, Hugo growled deep in his throat. The crowd jumped back.

Max gasped as Hugo lumbered closer like a huge bear. "No! Let me go. I'll leave Vanda alone, I promise."

"You were told to leave her alone at the coven meeting." Phil glared down at him. "Obviously, you can't be trusted."

"You're in violation of the restraining order." Vanda wrapped her whip around her waist and tied it off. "I believe you owe the court five thousand dollars."

Max spat at her boots. "You bitch! You're the one who owes me money!"

"Enough." Hugo reached down and seized Max around the neck. "I've got him," he told Phil. "You can let go."

As soon as Phil jumped to his feet and lifted the silver chain, Hugo teleported away with Max. Phil stuffed the silver chain into his pants' pocket, and the female Vamps moved in.

"You were amazing." One of the girls pressed close.

"I do declare." Cora Lee wrapped a hand around his arm. "I've never seen such a vigorous, manly display."

"The show is over," Vanda grumbled.

Phil's eyes twinkled with amusement as he leaned over to pick up Max's dagger. "You might want to step back, ladies. This is a dangerous weapon."

With a sigh, the women moved back.

Phil focused on Vanda. "May I talk to you in private?"

"I...suppose." She turned stiffly and led the way to her office. Her nerves tensed at the thought of being alone with him again. But she needed to do this. She needed to apologize for causing him so much pain in the past.

She glanced at him briefly as he strode into the office, then shut the door. "Thank you for protecting us."

"You're welcome." He placed the dagger on her desk. "You might need this."

She stifled a shudder. She didn't need a reminder of how bad things could have been. "At least Max didn't bring that damned snake."

Phil turned to face her. "Snake?"

"A fifteen-foot-long python. Max dances with it. Or he tried to. The snake had other plans." She took a deep breath. Thank God Phil wasn't a Vamp and couldn't hear her heart pounding. There was something about him, and apparently she wasn't the only one feeling it. All of the women were reacting to him. And that was making her feel strangely possessive.

He'd affected her from the start. At nineteen he'd been lean and lanky, but he'd still exuded an earthy sexiness that had appealed to her. Now, at twenty-seven, he'd filled out that lanky form with muscle and an aura of male power. Every nerve ending in her body seemed aware of him, drawn to him, on fire for him.

She had to be out of her mind. Hadn't she endured enough pain in her life? She would apologize and then let him go. She took a deep breath and met his steady gaze.

He stepped toward her. "I need to apologize."

She blinked. He'd stolen the words right out of her mouth. "But - "

He raised a hand to stop her. "I need to say this. I was on the sidewalk, waiting for a cab, when I realized I was a hypocrite. I volunteered to help you handle your anger, but I wasn't handling my own. I was rude - "

"But you had every right to be angry with me. I tormented you. I made you miserable. I shouldn't have treated you like that."

His eyes softened. "I could suffer far worse things than having a beautiful woman come on to me."

The blueness of his eyes made her chest feel tight, like it was hard to breathe. "You're being kind, but I don't deserve it. You were right. I was bored, and you seemed like a safe diversion. I'm really sorry."

"I'm sorry, too. I was coming back inside the club to apologize when Max appeared."

She recalled her bouncer's strange warning. "I heard you reacted very quickly."

"I've been working for MacKay S & I a long time, so I've learned a few tricks." He touched his pocket. "Like carrying a silver chain with me. It's the only way to keep a vampire from escaping." He tilted his head. "Do you have any kind of security?"