Call Her Mine (29 page)

He was quiet and she
sensed he was embarrassed. “I think we should get some sleep. We have a busy
day ahead of us.”

She frowned. She was
tired, but…she wanted to show Christian
her
world. She didn’t want to
sleep. Looking at the clock she noticed it was getting late. He was probably
right. “Okay.”

They went into her room
and she pulled back the covers. Christian studied her from the door. “Aren’t
you coming to bed?”

“I did not know if that
was what you wanted,” he said quietly.

“Since when do you ask?”
He winced and she felt guilty. That was a little below the belt she supposed.
Sighing, she patted the bed. “Come on, I don’t want to sleep alone. I’ve gotten
used to you.”

He hesitantly smiled.
The lights shut off and Christian removed his clothing. He climbed between the
covers and pulled her close, pressing a kiss on her shoulder. She reached for
his hand and patted his fingers. They lay silently in the dark for a while and
she wasn’t sure if he had fallen asleep or not.

“Christian?”

“Yes, Delilah.”

“Yesterday in the
woods…” His grip on her tightened. “You didn’t hurt me. I just…”

“I know,” he whispered.
“I have much to make up for. You do not need to explain. I am quite aware of my
short comings.”

The unfavorable way he
spoke of himself made her heart sting. She wanted him to understand she was
beginning to care for him. But there was still a lot to come to terms with.
Being in her home, in her bed, did not make things any easier.

Seeing her old life made
everything so much more complicated. She wanted to go home and leave all this
confusion behind, but she didn’t know where home was anymore.

* * * *

Christian awoke in an
empty bed in an unfamiliar room. He sensed Delilah close and breathed in her
presence, finding unprecedented comfort in her nearness.

“This afternoon would be
fine,” she said softly from the other room.

He frowned. He didn’t
sense anyone else in the apartment. Standing, he found his pants and pulled
them on. When he entered the main room of the home she was sitting on a chair
in the kitchen with the phone to her ear. She held a pen in her hand and
doodled on a pad of paper. When she saw him she smiled.

“Yes, I will be there at
four. And, again, I am so sorry for the inconvenience.”

He frowned again as he
heard a male voice coming from the receiver pressed to her ear. Who was she
talking to?

“All right. I’ll see you
then.” She sighed and hung up the phone. “That was one of my customers. He said
he could meet us at four. I feel bad. He wanted a lot of work and would have
paid me a lot of money to do it.”

Yet another thing that
was his fault. Christian remained silent.

She stood and her
appearance took his breath away. She wore a black and white narrow striped
dress that brushed the tops of her knees and exposed her shoulders. The waist
was synched with a wide, patent leather red belt that matched the color she had
painted on her lips. Her eyes were also done up with coal and on her feet she
wore shiny red shoes with tall heals. She looked…stunning.

“I need to talk to my
landlord. He’s kind of an asshole. Do you think you could come with me?”

His brow pulled tight.
Why would she assume she would be going alone? “Of course.”

She took a deep breath
and turned to the phone then back to him. Her hair was twisted in various
directions and pinned so that a cute bump formed in the front. She appeared
frazzled.

“Today’s going to be
hard.”

“What needs to be done?”

Her head lowered as she
picked up the notepad she’d been scribbling on. “I need to move all of my
equipment into storage. We’ll have to get boxes at the store. I need to contact
the gas company and arrange to have my utilities shut off and…” Her voice drifted
away.

“Delilah, you do not
have to do all of this today. We could come back.”

She pressed her red lips
together and shook her head tightly. “I don’t want to do that. You said I
couldn’t be here. It isn’t safe for our kind. It hurts too much, all this back
and forth. I just want to figure out where I’m going and get there. Can we…I
don’t have a lot of money. Could you spot me some so that I can at least get a
storage unit until I decide what to do with all my stuff?”

Her cheeks blushed as
though the question embarrassed her. “I will give you whatever you need. Your
things here can come with us if you like.”

Her gaze lifted to his
and he tried not to wince at the sheen of tears in her eyes. “Really?”

“Of course. Delilah, I
do not expect you to abandon all of your possessions.”

“I thought…”

“Electronics have no
purpose on the farm. Your clothing will not be used either, aside from some
personal items, but if there are belongings that bring you comfort, by all
means, bring them.”

Or stay with them,
he wanted to say, but
was too selfish to give her that option.

He hated forcing her to
leave the world she was comfortable in and drag her to a place she hated. Since
her episode in the woods he had been second-guessing the entire purpose of
their journey. Perhaps he was wrong in making her stay with him. Perhaps he
should offer her the choice.

“Why do you look like
that?”

“Pardon?” He glanced
back at her, wondering if he missed something.

“You just got the
saddest expression on your face.”

He shook his head. “It is
nothing. I was just thinking.”

She blinked at him and
the silence thickened around them. The moment grew awkward and she finally
said, “Well, we better get moving if you want to keep your schedule.”

She brushed past him and
he gently grabbed her arm, stilling her progress. She gazed up at him
expectantly. His thumb traced over the spattering of dandelion seeds tattooed
on her arm permanently suspended in time as they blew off of the flower.

“We do not have a
schedule, Delilah. Take as long as you need.”

She blinked several
times, the whites of her eyes turning a shade pinker. “Thank you,” she rasped.

He released his hold and
she walked into the other room.

* * * *

Delilah had said they
needed to put the money in the bank so that there was a paper trail for tax
purposes. She had a business sense about her so Christian did not interfere
with her method of thinking. He handed her the money as she parked her car in
the lot of the small commercial establishment.

She dug in her bag for a
bank slip and a pen then stared at the stack of bills in his hand, jerking her
gaze to the windows and back at him. “Holy crap! How much is there, Christian?”

“It is ten thousand
dollars. I was not sure if you would have other expenses.”

She quickly pressed his
hand lower. “You’ve been walking around with ten grand? Are you crazy?”

“You said you needed
money.”

“A couple hundred.
Jeeze! You can’t carry all that.”

“That is why we are at
the bank. You can put it into your account.”

“They’re gonna think I
robbed someone.”

“Why?”

She shook her head.
“Never mind.”

Her hand shook as she
filled out the slip. They entered the establishment, which smelled clean with
the fragrance of paper. Delilah was antsy and fidgeted as they made their way
to the teller.

The female at the
counter counted the money quickly and printed out a receipt. There seemed an
awful lot of devices and such required for storing English money. On the farm
they simply kept their money in the pantries and gave the extra to the bishop
to store.

“I’m hungry,” Delilah
said as they climbed back into the car. English vehicles were small and stuffy.
They rolled down the windows and drove to an eatery with large yellow arches
over the sign. “I’m gonna get a salad and a shake. What do you want?”

“Should we not leave the
car?”

“No. It’s a drive
through. You order from the window. They have sandwiches, nuggets, salads, pick
your poison.”

“What is a shake?”

“A milkshake. It’s
blended ice cream.”

“It is a drink?”

“Yeah. You want one?”

“Yes.”

“And what about food?”
she asked.

“I will have a
sandwich.”

She drove through a
narrow path and talked to a box. It sounded as though the voice spoke back in a
different language, but Delilah had no problem communicating with the squawking
voice. They drove to a window and passed money from the car to a mortal wearing
a silly hat and looking quite miserable.

“Where do we eat? Are
there tables?” he asked as they waited at the next window.

A delicious smelling bag
was handed to Delilah. She passed it to him. It was warm and heavy on his lap.
His mouth watered. She then handed him two cold, waxy cups and pulled away.

She parked in a spot
next to a line of other cars. “We eat here. The tables inside are gross.”

She wrenched the paper
sack from his lap and dug out a paper wrapped parcel. “Here,” she said, handing
it to him and retrieving a container filled with salad for herself.

He watched as she
dressed her salad and tore open a clear wrapper with an odd shaped fork.

“Are you going to eat?”
She tilted her chin toward the hot parcel he held.

Christian unwrapped the
paper and found a greasy sandwich. It looked like a patty of beef. Sauces and
orange cheese seeped from the sides. It smelled wonderful. He sniffed and took
a bite. Flavor burst in his mouth. “It is good,” he mumbled as he chewed.

“I’m lovin’ it,”
Delilah sung.

They ate in the cramped
car in silence. She plugged the cups with two fat straws and handed him his
‘shake’. The veins behind his eyes pulsed as he tried to suck the thick shake
through the straw. It was work, but the sweet, chilled cream that filled his
mouth when it finally made its slow chug up the straw was well worth it.

Delilah closed the lid
of her salad and sighed. “I feel better now. Did you have enough?”

His stomach was full,
but he could eat ten more of those delightful little sandwiches. At least he
still had his shake. “It was very good. Thank you.”

She adjusted the
gearshift and backed out of the lot. There was so much traffic in the city. He
found it loud and overwhelming. Some buildings were so tall he had to arch his
neck in order to find the blue sky. He was beginning to miss his home, but did
not want to rush Delilah.

Several minutes later
they pulled into an unmarked building that looked like a home, but had a sign
on the front that said Ralph McLeay. She shut off the engine of the car and
sighed. He sensed she was not pleased to be there.

“What is this place?” he
asked.

“This is my dickhead
landlord’s. You’ll come in with me, right?”

He liked that she wanted
him there to support her. “Of course. Why do you not like this man?”

“I just don’t. He gives
me the creeps. Talks down to me like I’m an idiot and once he made some
suggestion about making my rent that I wasn’t real sure about, but I think he
was offering to let me pay in
other ways,
if you know what I mean.”

He frowned. “Other
ways?”

“Yeah, you know, like I
scratch his back he scratches mine…”

Understanding dawned and
Christian’s jaw clenched. “He asked you for marital favors?”

“Well, I wouldn’t call
it that. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been doing any favors to his wife.
Although…he is gross. I may have been lending her a hand and saving her a nasty
chore—
if
I had said yes.”

This Mr. McLeay had made
his mate uncomfortable with his unacceptable suggestions. Christian decided in
that moment he did not like this man, but he would not harm him so long as he
did not witness any such inappropriate comments. However, if Christian did
detect the slightest disrespect to Delilah from this mortal, he was quite
certain he would kill the man. “Let us go visit Mr. McLeay.”

She was again shaking
when she climbed out of the car. Christian didn’t like seeing her so
intimidated and he knew that was what it was. She was afraid. His protective
instincts kicked in as they walked to the building’s entrance.

Delilah opened the door
without ringing a bell or knocking. The establishment was clean, but reeked of
cigar smoke. His nose crinkled at the distasteful smell.

They stepped through
clear glass doors and came upon a woman at a desk. She appeared to be about
thirty years old with red hair and wire rimmed glasses. Her mouth opened as she
looked up at him.