Under a Vampire Moon (Argeneau #16)

Carolyn stirred from sleep with a deep moan, her body already arching to press her back into something warm, lifting her breasts into something else warm as passion roused her. Gasping as pleasure swept from her breast and out to every part of her body, she opened her eyes and peered down at the hand toying with her nipple.

"Christian?" she said uncertainly.

He chuckled by her ear, nipping at it gently. "Who else would it be?"

Before she could answer, he'd released her nipple to slide his hand down between her legs and Carolyn pressed herself back against him with a gasp. Feeling the hardness pressing against her bottom, she instinctively reached back to find him. But Christian gave off touching her to catch her hand before she could.

"No touching or I'll tie you to the bed," he growled.

Carolyn gave a breathless laugh that ended on a gasp when his hand then slid between her legs again.

"But I want to touch you," she moaned, reaching behind her again. The moment she did, Christian stopped caressing her to catch her hand. He turned her onto her back, and then shifted over her, his mouth smothering her complaint as he forced her hand up above her head. When she felt something soft slide around her wrist and pull tight, Carolyn broke their kiss to glance up with surprise.

A silk scarf was affixed to the bedpost and now attached to her wrist.

Carolyn turned back to peer at him with amazement, but his attention was on her other hand as he raised it and wound another scarf around it as well. Lowering his head, he peered at her and asked, "All right?"

She stared at him blankly and then whispered uncertainly, "I don't know."

"Say the word and I'll stop," Christian promised and then shifted down her body, his lips trailing over her skin, skating to first one spot and then another, stopping to nibble here and suckle there as he went.

Carolyn bit her lip, her hands instinctively grabbing at the ties binding her as he made a meal of her, nibbling her collarbone, licking his way down between her breasts and then laving the undersides of each before suckling at her nipples. Carolyn gasped, torn between uncertainty and pleasure and Christian continued down, skipping over the leather dress gathered around her waist to find and follow her hip bone, making her writhe as something between tickling and pleasure trickled through her.

"Oh," she gasped as his lips trailed their way farther down. She raised her head and watched, wide-eyed, as he began to duck between her legs.

"Oh... er... Ohhhh!" Carolyn cried, tugging hard on her ties and arching on the bed as pleasure shot through her like a bullet, hitting seemingly every nerve in her body. Carolyn wasn't aware of trying to close her thighs, but felt Christian press and hold them back. She wasn't aware of much after that except for the building pressure.

It was a rough sea pounding against the shore of her brain in wave after crashing wave, stirring up mud so that she couldn't think of anything but what she was experiencing.

It left her panting and unable to catch her breath, and then he rose up, caught her hips in his hands to raise her off the bed and thrust himself into her. Carolyn tugged frantically at the ties, screaming as he pushed her over the edge to where the deep dark water closed over her head.

Carolyn opened her eyes to a cool room lit only by the light coming from the bathroom through the half-closed door. She knew where she was at once and lay still for a minute, enjoying the heat of Christian's chest at her back and his arm around her until the need to relieve herself forced her to slip out from under his arm and ease off the bed. She paused then and peered down at him, marveling at his beauty. Strong, handsome, his trouble-free face looking so damned heartbreakingly young in the dim light.

Biting her lip, Carolyn turned and tiptoed to the bathroom.

She slipped inside, closed the door, and then turned confronted by her own reflection in the bathroom mirror.

It brought her up short, her need to pee forgotten as she stared at herself. She still wore Gia's leather dress, though it was more of a wide leather belt around her waist at the moment, revealing breasts that weren't as perky as they had been at Christian's age, and thighs she swore she could see cellulite on.

But the true horror was from the neck up. Her hair was a disheveled mess around a face that looked horrid in the stark light. Her mascara had left dark bruises below each eye, her foundation was caked in some places, and missing in others where it had been rubbed off, and her lipstick was half eaten off and half smudged onto the skin around her lips. She looked... like an old tramp, she judged harshly.

"What are you doing here?" Carolyn whispered to her reflection and watched as her eyes glazed with a fine sheen of tears until her vision blurred. Sucking in a shaky breath, she moved to the sink, turned on the taps, grabbed a washcloth, dampened it and began to scrub viciously at her face until her skin burned with the effort. Then she tossed the cloth aside and turned off the taps before risking another look at herself. She hadn't miraculously washed away the years. She just looked old and blotchy now to her jaundiced eye.

Carolyn turned away and began to tug at Gia's dress, pulling the cups back up into place and the skirt back down. Once she had it covering her as decently as it would, she paused to catch her breath and glanced warily to the door, listening for sounds from the other room.

When silence met her ear, she sucked in a breath and moved silently to open the door.

Christian still lay asleep where she'd left him, but Carolyn didn't count on that continuing for long. This was the first time she'd actually been awake before him. Each of the five times she'd woken up before this, she'd been stirred to consciousness by sweet words and gentle caresses as he took her again and again to such extremes of pleasure she fainted at the end. They hadn't spoken other than gasps and moans after the first time she'd woken when he'd tied her up, and they'd hardly talked then. She had no idea what he wanted from her, or what this was all about, and she was afraid to find out.

Carolyn slipped from the bathroom and crossed on tiptoes to the hall door. She listened briefly, but when she didn't hear anything, eased the door open, cast one last glance at Christian when he murmured sleepily on the bed, then slid out and hurried along the hall and down the stairs as if all the hounds of hell were on her heels. She didn't bother about shoes or anything else, but headed straight out the front door and burst into a run that didn't slow until she'd hit the turnaround and started down the road toward her own villa. She eased back to a jog then, but continued forward, slipping around the side to the terrace and the French doors to her room.

Her eyes landed on the bathroom door as she slipped inside her room, and Carolyn crossed to it at a quick clip.

She stepped inside, pushing the door closed behind her as she hurried forward. By the time she reached the toilet, she was clutching her stomach and simply dropped to her knees and began to vomit as Bethany called out and knocked at her bedroom door.

Christian rolled onto his side in bed and reached for Carolyn, then opened his eyes with a frown when he didn't immediately find her. He stared blankly at the empty space beside him, and then sat up, his eyes swinging around the room. Spotting the cracked-open bathroom door, he got up and moved to it, but when he pushed the door open, the room was empty. There was evidence she'd been there though, he noted, spotting the makeup-stained washcloth on the floor.

A bad feeling crawling up his back, he crossed the bedroom to hurry out into the hall. But he could see at a glance that the living room was empty, and the silence that settled around him the moment he stopped walking told him that no one else was stirring.

Cursing, he hurried back into his room to drag on his jeans and a fresh T-shirt, and then rushed back out to race down the stairs and out the front door. The moment his feet hit the hot stone walk Christian realized he'd forgotten shoes, but he didn't go back for them. He had to see Carolyn, talk to her. He should have made sure to talk to her before this, he berated himself. But every time he'd woken to find her warm soft body beside his in bed, his hunger for her had roared back to life and talking had been the last thing on his mind. It was definitely at the forefront of his thoughts now, however. And it was accompanied by a clutching panic.

"She hasn't run," Christian assured himself as he cut along the terrace and made his way quickly down the mountainside. "She just went home to change or something and didn't want to wake me."

The reassurance sounded hollow to his ears, and Christian's panic clawed its way up his throat as he made the jump to the road cut into the mountainside. He shouldn't have done it, and Christian knew it. It was midday by his guess. If anyone had seen him... But he didn't care. He had to get to Carolyn. That was the only thing his mind could concentrate on as he hurried up the walk to her villa and rang the bell.

He heard the bell sound inside and the patter of footsteps and felt himself relax. She was here. They would talk. It would be all right, he thought before the door opened to reveal one of the resort maids, a bundle of used sheets in her arms.

"Yes?" she asked politely.

Christian almost pushed past her into the villa, but restrained himself, and said, "I need to speak to Carolyn."

"The ladies who rent this villa are out," she said politely and started to close the door, but he caught it before it closed. "Where is she?"

The maid turned back with surprise. "I don't know. On a tour maybe."

"But she hasn't checked out?" Christian asked grimly.

"No, they are still staying here," she said, beginning to eye him warily. "They are just out right now, I think."

"Right," Christian murmured, forcing himself to relax.

"Thank you."

He released the door and turned to walk back up the path. Carolyn was still at the resort. She just wasn't in at the moment. And neither was Bethany. They'd probably gone down to lunch or something. She hadn't run... yet.

He would go shower, change his clothes and then find her.

"Are you sure you don't want to head back to the resort?"

Bethany asked with concern. "You look terribly pale."

"No, I'm good," Carolyn said at once, but it was a complete and utter lie. She felt like hell. Her headache from the night before had returned, along with the queasiness and shakes that had plagued her the day before on the boat and the night before that in bed. But then she supposed she'd done it to herself by having only coffee at breakfast before they'd boarded the bus for the shopping tour, and then merely picking disinterestedly at her lunch. What she really wanted was to return to the villa and crawl into bed. However, Christian would be able to find her there.

If he was looking for her, Carolyn thought unhappily.

She wasn't sure what would be worse, his not looking for her at all, or his looking and finding her. The idea of having to face him after all they'd done last night... or really, what he'd done to her, she thought with a frown. He hadn't let her touch him at all after that first time on the terrace, but had either tied her up or pinned her down, holding her hands by her head as he thrust himself into her.

But he'd untied her after each round. She'd woken to find herself in his arms and untied each time. Thank God, Carolyn thought, or that last time she'd woken she wouldn't have been able to slip away. Even as she had that thought, some part of her brain was laughing at her. The part that knew that Carolyn really wished she hadn't woken up first at all, but was still there with him. She would have been happy never to wake first and leave his bed.

"Well, if you're sure," Bethany said. "Let's go look at those shops over there. That dress in the one shop window would look nice on you. You could buy it just in case you get lucky and have a date."

Bethany headed toward the shop, but her words had made Carolyn halt abruptly as horror crept over her. The innocent comment about " 'in case you get lucky" had whipped at her like a lash. She'd already gotten lucky, luckier than she'd ever imagined. But it was the part about getting a date that was causing her horror. It reminded her that she already had a date. Tonight. With Jack. The guy she'd intended to have an affair with.

Carolyn moaned. The very idea of that now left her feeling nauseous again.

She didn't know what was going on between her and Christian.

Part of her wanted to crawl right back to his bed, but another part was standing back and gasping in horror at the very fact that she'd slept with someone so much younger than herself even the once. Well, six times, she corrected herself, and then wondered if it counted as one or six times if it was all in the same night.

Carolyn shook her head at the ridiculous worry. That didn't matter, what did was that while she didn't know what to do about Christian, she knew damned well she wasn't ready to plunge from his bed to Jack's.

"Carolyn, come on," Bethany said, sounding exasperated and then raised her eyebrows when Carolyn's phone began to ring from the depths of her purse.

"You go ahead. It's probably the office," Carolyn said, digging through her purse. "I'll catch up."

Bethany nodded and headed into the first store as Carolyn found her phone. She hit the button to answer and pressed it to her ear, sighing, "Hello?"

"Caro?"

"Jack?" Carolyn gasped with amazement, her eyes widening with a sort of horror. It was as if thinking of him had called forth his voice.

"Yeah," he grinned. "Genie gave me your cell number when I told her we had a date tonight and I couldn't reach you at the villa. She said you're out shopping with that Bethany who rushed off the boat yesterday morning?"

"I-Yes," she breathed, her eyes automatically moving to the store her friend had disappeared into.

"Well, don't miss the shuttle. I'd have to head my boat up there to fetch you back for our date."

Carolyn gave a nervous laugh and closed her eyes, trying to figure out how to handle this. It wasn't exactly something she often dealt with. Okay, so she'd never handled anything like this before. What was she supposed to say? Gee, Jack, that's really sweet, but Christian screwed me silly last night and I'd feel kind of uncomfortable going out with you now.

"Uh-oh, the tourists are back. I have to get off, but-"

"The tourists?" she interrupted. "You're on a cruise now?"

"Soufriere again," he answered. "It's not nearly as much fun without you by the way."

Carolyn winced. "If you're on the boat, how did you get my number from Genie?"

Jack chuckled. "A little thing called a cell phone."

"Of course," Carolyn murmured, feeling stupid, but then she probably was stupid at the moment. Low blood sugar, she recalled. She had all the other symptoms again:

the disorientation, clumsiness, and, apparently, decreased intelligence.

"I really have to go, beautiful. I just wanted to make sure you knew what time to expect me. I'll pick you up at your villa at six," he announced, and then rang off with a cheery, "Have fun shopping," before she could say anything.

Carolyn pulled the phone from her ear and stared at it blankly. She then checked her recent calls, but his showed up as an unknown caller. She couldn't call him back to cancel, she realized, dismay creeping over her.

"What do you mean she was gone when you woke up?"

Marguerite trailed Christian into the kitchen as he went to the fridge.

"Just what I said," he snapped, retrieving a bag of blood. "I woke up and she was gone. "

"Well, did you go after her?" Marguerite asked with concern as he slapped the bag to his fangs.

"He's been down to the villa at least a dozen times that I know of and I've only been up the last two hours," Gia answered quietly, drawing Marguerite's attention. "But she's been out all day. Her things are still there though."

"Then she hasn't run," Marguerite said with relief and turned back to Christian.

"What did she say when you talked to her?"

He grimaced around the bag in his mouth and it was his father who answered. Eyes narrowed on his face, Julius growled, "He didn't talk to her."

"What?" she gasped and turned piercing eyes on Christian herself. He just stood there and let her ruffle her way through his thoughts and memories, too weary to care until she cried, "You idiot!"

Startled, Christian stared at her over the bag.

"I'm sorry. I love you and you're not an idiot," she said at once, and then paced a couple of steps away before whirling back to add, "But you are an idiot."

Christian just blinked at her. He wasn't an idiot, but he was? Nice. Thanks, Mom, he thought.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, moving back to pat his shoulder.

"I meant that not talking to her was idiotic. Christian, this is too important to mess up like this. You could lose her. You need to-"

"I know," he interrupted, tearing the now empty bag from his fangs. "I should have talked to her. And I meant to. It just..." He grimaced. "It got away from me. I wasn't expecting it to be so..."

"I tried to warn you," Julius said solemnly. "When lifemates get together it's like an atom bomb going off in both body and brain. You become a blithering idiot."

"Yeah," Christian turned to the fridge for another bag.

"I'll talk to her tonight. I'm heading back down to her villa after I finish feeding. She has to return sometime."

"When did you last check?" Marguerite asked, moving to the dining room window to peer down at the villa below.

"Four o'clock," he answered, retrieving a second bag of blood and pushing the door closed. "Then I fell asleep for a couple of hours."

"Two hours ago," Marguerite murmured. "She must have returned between then and now."

Christian stiffened. "She's there?"

"She's leaving," Marguerite said, and as he hurried to her side, added, "With that captain person."

"That lecherous bastard?" Julius barked with outrage, following on Christian's heels.

"He isn't a lech," Marguerite said quietly as Christian watched the couple getting into a resort van on the road below.

"Ha! If you think that, you weren't reading his thoughts last night every time he looked at Carolyn," Julius muttered, scowling.

"His thoughts were a lot less X-rated than our son's," Marguerite pointed out.

"Yes, but he's supposed to have thoughts like that," Julius argued at once, and then scowled. "Why the hell aren't you more upset? Our son's lifemate is stepping out with another man."

"He's an honorable man and won't force himself on her," Marguerite said with a shrug, and then added, "And after last night with Christian... Carolyn won't find any of his advances... stirring. This may be a good thing."

"A good thing?" Julius asked doubtfully.

"Captain Jack's kisses will be like water next to the finest champagne in comparison to Christian's.

It will be good for her to find that out."

Christian stiffened, his fingers tightening around the blood bag at the very thought of Captain Jack kissing Carolyn.

"Water slakes a thirst," Julius growled.

"Then we shall have to hope she isn't thirsty after last night," Marguerite said firmly and glanced around with concern when the bag in Christian's hand burst under pressure, splashing blood everywhere.

"Was it my imagination or did your friend seem... er..."

"Angry?" Carolyn suggested wryly when Jack hesitated.

She wasn't surprised by the question, just that he'd waited so long to ask it. They'd chatted idly about his day cruise and her shopping trip on the drive here to the quaint little restaurant he'd chosen, and then through drinks and the first part of dinner before he'd finally asked the question about Bethany.

"Yes, angry," he admitted with a smile. "I'm not used to women hating me on sight."

"It wasn't you. She was mad at me for not telling her about you sooner," Carolyn assured him, and thought that was something of an understatement. Bethany had been furious that she hadn't told her about Jack's flirting and their date. Seeing the way Jack's eyebrows had risen, Carolyn muttered, "I was a bit tipsy when I got back from the boat."

"A bit," he agreed. "But it was my fault. I was a little pushy with the punch. In my defense," he added quickly, "I had no intention of taking advantage, I just wanted you to relax and enjoy yourself."

"You weren't forcing them on me," Carolyn said, absolving him of guilt and then continued, "Anyway, when she saw the shape I was in, she immediately insisted I lie down, so I didn't get to tell her then."

"And after you had lain down?" Jack asked.

Carolyn forced a smile. She hadn't actually lain down, but she was fine with his assuming that, so simply said, "Then I was out with Christian and his family. And you," she added wryly, recalling her discomfort when he'd shown up at the table.

"And then?" Jack asked.

Carolyn just shrugged helplessly, feeling her face flush as she recalled what she'd been doing with Christian after leaving the lounge last night. Ducking her head, she picked up her water glass to avoid meeting his gaze.

"So when did you tell her about me?" he asked after a moment.

Carolyn sighed and admitted, "About an hour before you arrived."

When he didn't respond at first, she glanced reluctantly up to see him peering at her, eyes narrowed speculatively.

Still, she wasn't prepared for him to ask her, "So what happened with band boy after he dragged you out of the lounge?"

Carolyn stared at him, feeling the blood rush from her face and then flood back, and blurted out, "He told me he wasn't gay."

Jack sank back in his seat, disappointment sliding across his face. "Right. So his jealousy was over you after all."

"I don't know," she muttered, dropping her eyes again.

"Yes, you do," he said with a laugh. "If he could have keelhauled me before we left Soufriere yesterday, he would have."

When Carolyn remained silent, he asked, "You said his cousin told you he was gay?"

"Gia," she admitted uncomfortably.

"Why?"

"Does it matter?" she asked, suddenly impatient. "He's too young for me."

"And that right there tells me exactly what I didn't want to hear," he said on a sigh. When her eyes widened in surprise, he smiled wryly. "Sweetheart, you've fallen for the guy and the only thing holding you back is his age. My guess is the cousin knew it would be a problem for you and told you he was gay so you'd get to know him and not run."

"What makes you think I'd have run?" Carolyn asked with amazement. While she had, she didn't like the idea that others could see that so easily.

"Caro, I'm the guy who got you drunk just so you'd relax and get to know me," he said with a laugh. "Woman, you have runner written all over you."

When she sagged unhappily, he said, "It doesn't take much more than a moment in your company to know you're a good, kind-hearted woman who doesn't have a lot of experience and got burned gaining the little experience you do have. Now you run rather than risk getting burned again..."

"But I don't want to like Christian."

She snapped her mouth closed when she heard how whiney she sounded.

Sighing, she took a deep breath. "I'd rather like someone like you. And I do," she added quickly.

Jack's lips twitched, and then he said with amusement, "You do realize that most women wouldn't think me a much better choice than band boy, right? I mean, I dumped my life and responsibilities in Canada to grow my hair out and loaf around on a boat in the Caribbean.

My life is made up of sun, fun, punch and a never ending parade of women."

Carolyn blinked. "A parade?"

He burst out laughing at her surprise. "I don't seem the playboy type to you?"

"Well... It's just-I mean... well, you're nice," she pointed out helplessly.

"You expected playboys would be jerks?" he asked with amusement.

"My husband was," she muttered.

"Ah," Jack said and nodded. "Burned."

Carolyn grimaced and peered at him solemnly. "So why the interest in me?"

His eyebrows rose in surprise.

"I mean, you make me sound like a mouse, skittering madly away. Why would you or any man be interested in-"

"Your skittishness is part of your charm. The fact that you will likely run makes you a challenge," Jack said quietly. "Cats like the chase." When her mouth dropped open, he smiled and shrugged. "There's no sense of conquest with women who throw themselves at you."

"So Christian is just interested in me because I'm a conquest?" she asked with dismay. If so, he'd conquested last night and she'd probably left just before he gave her the boot, she thought and then realized that Jack was shaking his head.

"Oh no," he said when he had her full attention. "Band boy is no cat, cats don't look at women the way he looks at you, or drag them away with the barely contained emotion that was seething in him when he pulled you off the dance floor. He's in it to win it for the long haul. He wants you all... body and soul. I'd stake my life on that one," he assured her solemnly.

"But he's-"

"Too young," Jack finished dryly and then shrugged.

"Good. Then I'm still in the game. Now finish your dinner and we'll order dessert."

Carolyn grimaced at her half empty plate. She wasn't hungry, but began to eat anyway. She'd nearly fallen down the stairs of the shuttle on returning to the resort this afternoon, and would have had the driver not spotted her swaying at the top of the stairs and caught her just as she started to drop. Carolyn wasn't skipping another meal ever until she had this blood sugar thing checked out.

Oddly enough, by the time they finished eating, Carolyn and Jack were chatting as if the whole Christian subject hadn't come up. She was rather impressed with how he managed that, actually.

Afterward, they walked along the harbor, discussing places they both knew in Toronto, and places she'd been to here in St. Lucia as well as places he thought she should see. They then stopped for a drink before heading back. By the time they returned to the resort it was nearly eleven thirty. She expected him to just drop her off and go, but he walked her to one of the resort vans, announcing that he'd see her to her door.