Fateful 2-Fractured (16 page)

Submitting to his request, Danielle dropped
her head onto Ethan’s shoulder as he lowered her feet and spun her
onto the dance floor.

They swayed to the music and then visited
with their guests until the clouds became pink and gilded with the
glow of sunset.

And with so many vampires present, it was
time for the party to end. Ethan promptly said his goodbyes, swept
Danielle into his arms, and made for the front door of their new
home.

“Ethan, I was mid-sentence into a
conversation with my aunt.”

“I’m sure she understands…” he said, a
little too seductively

Danielle’s cheeks grew hot at that.

“Are we starting the honeymoon now?” she
asked as he glided over the threshold, and kicked the door
shut.

While he then bounded up the stairs to their
master suite, she watched over his shoulder as a large vampire set
the security system to arm after he then turned the lock and
left.

“Did you plan on waiting, Danielle? Because
I honestly think I’ve waited long enough.”

“But, everyone is still here.”

“They’ll be gone soon enough. You know my
‘relatives’ need to leave now, though I’m certain many will remain
within the forest. Just in case.”

“Are we safe?” She kind of didn’t feel
safe.

“With a security system on the house, and
numerous knights and Highlanders surrounding us, I think we’re
quite safe.”

Oh
, she
mused, that big one must have been one of the Scots.

As he ascended the last few steps, Ethan’s
eyes smoldered like the glowing remains of a blue fire, and she
couldn’t find breath to say another word as he silently set her
down in their bedroom. Keeping his gaze locked with hers, he led
her, while he walked backward to the vanity. He moved behind her
and turned her so she was facing the mirror. Then, almost
reverently, he began removing her tiara, and veil, and then the
scores of hairpins holding her style in place. Which took a while….
“My word, they put a lot of pins in your hair,” he complained as he
slid another one free and dropped it into the growing pile on her
vanity.

As he worked, and her hair dropped curl by
curl around her shoulders, she observed herself with him in the
mirror hung above her vanity. She liked what she saw there: the joy
on his face, the peace on her own. It was right. It looked as right
as it felt.

When he finally finished, she turned to him,
shoved his jacket off his shoulders, and began working his tie
loose. “Just wait till you start undoing the buttons on this
dress,” she teased, knowing there were many little pearl buttons
running the length of her bodice. It had taken a long time getting
into it, so she wondered how long it was going to take him to get
her out of it.

Ethan grinned like a fallen angel. “I’m not
easily intimidated by sixteen tiny buttons.” However, when he began
the task, his golden brows drew together and he cursed Jean
Claude.

With his eyes fixed over her shoulder into
the glass, he fought with the fastenings of her gown as she
released the buttons on his shirt and then pushed the fabric over
his thick shoulders, then biceps, then over his roped forearms and
finally off his hands when he paused in his task. Danielle
remembered seeing his naked chest the night of the ball, but to
actually be able to touch the contours of his sculpted torso was
pure heaven, and even better than she’d imagined.

“You’re beautiful, Danielle.”

“I was thinking the same thing about you,”
she murmured in reply as her fingers traveled the ridges of his
form.

Catching her chin with one finger, Ethan
whispered, “I’ve fantasized about seeing you like this for far too
long.” Ethan purred the words as her clothing slid down the length
of her body and pooled at her feet. The remainder of his attire
joined hers on the floor. And when the last scrap of lace she’d
been wearing landed on the pile, Ethan smiled and trailed a finger
along her necklace, but left it on.

Danielle swallowed, trying not to show how
bashful she was feeling at the moment. She certainly didn’t have
the guts to turn around again and see them naked together. So she
ignored the fact that there was a mirror behind her, however, Ethan
didn’t. She blushed profusely when she notice his gaze glide
hungrily past her shoulder.

“You have?” she asked, nearly
breathless.

“Haven’t you?” he asked, meeting her gaze
again. His hand slid across the exposed flesh that he’d just spied
in the mirror, and then he began to pepper her face and neck with
soft kisses.

“Well, yes,” she confessed with a shaky
voice as his palms moved along her arms. “Many times.”

“Let’s make this dream a reality, my darling
wife. Let’s make a memory to add to our forgotten past.”

Her stomach twisted deliciously when he
called her his wife again, and she fixed her gaze on his. That
Ethan she knew before this life was there, as always.... But he
didn’t let her reply because he then attacked her mouth with a
blazing kiss that was all tongue and moving lips. As his mouth
moved over hers, his hands landed on her hips as he lifted her from
the pile of fabric of her dress, and then began backing her toward
the bed.

As her head swam with the passion of it, she
remembered her relatives and worried that they were still within
hearing range. Isolation wasn’t something they’d been allowed for
so long, she was almost afraid to relax. “Are you sure we’re
alone?” she managed to sneak in when they paused to take a
breath.

“
I’m certain many of the guards are
still here, but they will give us privacy, and Beon told me that he
planned to send the family back to their hotel.” He reached down to
tug the sheets aside, and then lowered her onto the bed, following
to cover her with his warmth.

Ethan pushed up onto his elbows so she could
breathe and then proceeded to kiss her, touch her, and love her as
she’d wanted him to for many long months.

She returned his heated ministrations with
matching ardor as she clung to him, and got to know him in a way
that she never had before. He took his time about it, ever the
patient man. And it was hard to see how he could be so patient in
this, when her heart was racing, and her head was nearly spinning.
Danielle became much more than smitten with Ethan. She was lost in
him.

With careful hands he caressed and with
velvet lips he kissed her to the point he’d stoked her passion so
fiercely she didn’t comprehend the purpose behind it until much
later. Until after…. Only then did she understand that he’d
conjured up so much need and want within her that any fear of
discomfort was forgotten. And she realized that if they hadn’t
waited she couldn’t have had the regency-romance-type of lovemaking
she’d always wanted. It might not have been as magical and as
soul-touching either.

She also grew to understand that, for him,
this had never been simply about consummation, but showing her how
much he truly cherished her. He’d loved her with more than his
body, more than his heart, more than even his soul. With every well
placed stroke of his fingers and every gentle brush of his mouth
over her flesh he’d proven it. He’d managed to caress undeniable
proof of his love and devotion into her heart.

Ethan Deveroux fulfilled her secret
fantasies in ways she’d never imagined possible and deep gratitude
swept over her soul. To say she was overwhelmed was an
understatement. The tenderness of it, the deep, unquenchable
emotion of it seized around her heart and wrenched tears from her
eyes.

Why am I crying
now?
Danielle asked herself as she lay curled in the
cradle of Ethan’s arms with her head resting on his chest, her
fingers still tracing the ridges of his muscles. She watched them
react to her touch, listened as his breathing returned to a normal
ebb and flow, as his racing heart settled, and then answered her
own question….
Because it was so
beautiful, and he was so gentle, and thoughtful, and loving.
She took a breath, noting how it trembled.

He tugged her up higher on his chest, gently
cradled her jaw, and aligned his gaze with hers. Her necklace
draped down from her neck to his chest. Danielle knew he was trying
to read her and probably wondered where the tears were coming from.
Visibly he tracked a droplet as is tumbled over the edge of her
cheek before catching it with his thumb. “How do you feel?” he
asked, with a flicker of worry in his eyes.

“I’m fine.”

“Just
fine
?” Ethan blinked like maybe he was slightly
offended.

Understanding that might have been due to
some male pride, she said, “I mean I’m perfect. Thanks for...”

An eyebrow arched. “For?” he prompted.

“Um, that thing you
did—
those
things you
did.”

A slow proud grin stretched his lips as he
tangled his fingers into her hair, and took her captive with
another scorching kiss. When he released her, they snuggled for a
long while and then Ethan spoke again, “We need to get ready to
leave now. Our guards should be ready to escort us to our honeymoon
suite.”

“Where are we going?”

“Back to Paris.”

“I liked Paris.”

“I knew you would.”

* * * * *

In Paris they stayed at the Le Meurice Hotel
again. But this time was immensely different from her bridal shower
and bachelorette party. Ethan led the way into their suite pulling
their luggage behind him. “Wow, this is nice,” she said, wondering
how much it cost.

Danielle left her carry-on next to her
suitcase and explored the rest of it. It was three rooms divided by
ornate archways and beams that had been draped with rich, pastel
fabrics. Each room was lit with a crystal chandelier in the center.
The first had a sofa, a table, a desk and a large entertainment
center. Her fingers explored the textured white fabric of the
comforter on the bed as she made her way to the elegant bathroom at
the end of it all. And the smell of fresh flowers surrounded her as
Ethan came up behind her. Turning she saw he held a vase filled
with roses and peonies. “For you,” he said.

Smiling, she took them, but before she could
thank him, he pressed a candy against her lips from the box of
chocolates he held in his other hand. She caught the morsel between
her teeth and chewed. A mixture of rich chocolate and creamy
caramel melted against her tongue. Of course he’d know what she
liked best. “Thank you,” she said, moving to set the flowers on the
table in front of the sofa.

He gathered two more candies, dropped the
box next to the flowers and curled one arm around her waist. “Shall
we explore the city?”

“Yes,” she said, eating the next chocolate
he offered and went with him, secretly wondering if they shouldn’t
just stay ... where guards couldn’t follow them.

Ethan showed her how romantic that city can
be, the side of Paris that she hadn’t seen with the ladies, and she
was glad he’d dragged her out. She’d heard about the reputation the
French city held, and after spending two weeks with her new husband
there, she would have to agree. Even while being followed
constantly by a troop of men.

“Can we go dancing? Please?” Danielle asked
after a day of shopping at a Paris flea market.

He eyed the guard standing closest, tugged
her to the left to make sure they remained out of hearing range,
which was easy to do because the sun hadn’t set yet, and whispered,
“If we ask, I’m certain they’ll halt us.”

“But it’s our honeymoon…”

“Exactly. It’s easier to gain forgiveness
than it is permission.”

“Are you suggesting we sneak away?”

“No. I’m saying we just go, let them follow,
and if they stop us, well, then they stop us.”

They stuffed their purchases into the trunk
of their rental car and then acted like they were just going on a
walk of the city just before the sunset. Danielle’s fingers
tightened around Ethan’s as she hoped they’d get away with this
before the sun finally sank below the horizon and the guards forced
them to return to the hotel. When they got to the club and dashed
inside, the guards didn’t have time to stop them and because of
that it seemed like they decided to allow it for now.

With modern music pounding, and colored
lights sweeping, Ethan drew her into his hold with a hand settling
at her waist. He grinned mischievously, using his body to sweep her
into a waltz.

Danielle pinched her brows together. A
waltz? Then as she listened to the melody, she realized that it
was, indeed, a waltz, and laughed. “Aren’t we supposed to be
undulating like everyone else in this club?” She passed her eyes
around the dance floor, watching as other couples twisted
suggestively at each other, and remembered how he’d danced that
first time, way back when, at The Ministry of Sound. “I know you
can do it.”

Ethan tugged her closer and buried his face
into her neck, brushed his mouth up to her ear, and then he
whispered, “Does this help?”

It helped to raise goose bumps on her flesh.
“I liked watching you dance. Come on, let me see that again.”

His smile heated as he released her, and did
just that.

Her gaze shifted from the piercing quality
of his blue eyes, from the handsome line of his straight nose, from
the poetic twist of his full lips, until it settled onto his solid
shoulders, which shifted under his tight t-shirt as he moved. When
they’d first danced, he’d been wearing a sweater which hid what he
displayed tonight. Muscles rippled and bunched, then relaxed under
the thin cotton. The overall effect was more alluring than even his
provocative moves.

Continuing through several more songs, she
realized she didn’t want the evening to ever end. Then she felt
someone curve strong fingers around her upper arm, and tug her away
from Ethan.