Fateful 2-Fractured (25 page)

Today Ethan was expected to arrive on
a late flight. The sun hadn’t set yet and she was on the couch with
Merrick and Cedric, while Richard had stretched out on the
loveseat. They were watching
Arsenic and
Old Lace
. She loved the black and white classic, but
the men complained that they couldn’t figure out how a story about
two old ladies who murder lonely men to put them out of their
misery was supposed to be funny.

“Why are you laughing? There’s a dead body
in the window seat,” Cedric asked, appalled.

Danielle couldn’t answer because she was
laughing so hard. But she wasn’t laughing at the movie; it was
their reaction to it that was killing her.

She stood to go to the bathroom, and was
completely surprised when all of the men shot from their seats just
as she did. Oh, yes, she’d forgotten about that. She felt a spark
of mischief ignite within her when she realized she could play with
this, and dropped back into her seat.

The vampires stared at her, and when she
didn’t stand again, they reseated themselves.

She stood up another time, and watched in
amazement as they followed just as before.

With a look of confusion on his face, Cedric
asked, “Is there anything you need, Danielle? I’d be happy to get
it for you.”

“Thanks, but I just need the bathroom. I’ll
be back in a minute.” She figured she’d better go, so they didn’t
get too suspicious—yet.

When she returned, they all rose to their
feet, then sat down as she did. “Oh, I forgot…” she said and
launched from the sofa.

The men followed, and she had to bite her
lip to keep from laughing. “Oh, never mind. I don’t need it,” she
muttered and dropped back to the cushion.

Up again, then the men.

Down again, and they looked at her with
realization dawning on their expressions. She leaned to stand
again, but was then held down by both Cedric and Merrick.

“You’re toying with our good manners,”
Merrick accused with a broad grin.

Danielle laughed out loud.

“We’ll have no more of that, Mrs. Deveroux.
If you keep it up, we just may have to sit on you,” Richard
threatened, though it lost its sting with his giant smile.

“Sorry. I’ll be good. I just couldn’t
resist. Too funny.”

Unexpectedly, they heard the backdoor squeak
as someone entered the home.

Richard lunged to his feet, groping for
something at his hip. But frowned when he found nothing, and
Danielle realized that he’d been looking for a sword. Apparently
the man had carried one long enough that it was natural instinct
for him to reach for it when threatened.

“We don’t carry those anymore, Richard,”
teased Merrick.

“I know that! Was that Ethan?” Richard
whispered.

“I don’t think the plane could have landed
five hours early. It has to be someone else.”

Footsteps echoed from the wooden floors as
this person approached.

“Who’s there?” Cedric called.

“It’s just me,” a man replied.

It sounded like Ethan to her and she moved
toward the hallway to see.

Merrick caught her arm. “It can’t be Ethan.
It’s too early. This must be an imposter,” Merrick murmured.

The sound of heals against the floor drew
closer.

Her guards, it seemed, panicked as they
shoved her into the cushions and then pretty much piled on top of
her.

The footfalls entered the living room and
someone asked, “Where’s Danielle?”

It
was
Ethan.

“I’m here,” she called from underneath
someone’s chest, she didn’t know who, but he was heavy. The sound
came out muffled.

“Get off my wife!”

She felt the weight leave her as the prince
complained, “You’re five hours early! Why didn’t you call? There’s
certain protocol in place for bloody reason!”

“I was able to catch an earlier flight, and
my phone died. Plus, I wanted to surprise her.” Ethan responded
simply as he made for her. “Are you all right? Did they crush
you?’

“I’m fine.” She threw herself into his arms.
“I missed you.”

She felt his lips move into a smile against
her cheek as his arms held her to him and her feet left the floor.
“I missed you too.”

Leaning back to catch his gaze she wondered
if it would still make her ill. A flurry of vertigo blew over her
senses but she wasn’t slammed with nausea and smiled, figuring it
was because she’d just drunk a cup of chamomile tea. While his eyes
still made her dizzy, the early pregnancy nausea was fading, and it
was slightly more tolerable. Ethan said nothing else as he kissed
her and turned to carry her to their bedroom.

Danielle opened her eyes and peered over
Ethan’s shoulder as the guards watched him leave with her. They
looked kind of lost, and she began to feel slightly guilty for it,
like she was abandoning them.

“Thanks for everything, men. I’m retiring
early tonight.”

“Will you be finishing the film with us?”
Merrick asked.

“You guys can, I’ve seen it before,” she
replied as Ethan began to nuzzle her neck and tickled a laugh out
of her.

“What were you watching?” Ethan asked as he
entered the hallway, and the guards left her view.

She shuddered. “
Arsenic and Old Lace
.”

Ethan laughed. “And how were they liking
that?”

“They found it disturbing.”

“But it seems they were enjoying it
anyway.”

“I think they were. You wouldn’t believe
what I’ve been making them watch.” She then told him about all of
the films they’d seen, and he laughed again.

“Sounds like you’ve had a good time.”

“It’s been a little rough with Richard, he’s
really bossy.”

He’d entered their room and was lowering her
onto the bed. “You butted heads, I take it?”

“Yes.” She flushed, knowing she had to tell
him about the plane ride. “And lips, but only twice.”

“He kissed you? Twice?” She wasn’t surprised
at the angry tone in his voice at this news, the possessive side of
him made her wonder if she should have told him. But this wasn’t
the kind of thing she could keep from him.

“Just to hide me from the vampire on the
plane. It was brief, well, no it wasn’t brief, but…”

“What else? Did he hurt you? Did he make you
cry?” There was that muscle tick in his cheek again.

She hadn’t meant to tell him about the
crying part, but since he’d asked, she couldn’t lie about that
either. “He tends to bellow.”

“A common trait of your average medieval
prince, I suppose.”

Danielle studied his expression and sensed
that there was some of the jealousy he feels around Max resurfacing
in regards to Richard. “You seem more like a prince to me, he’s a
barbarian,” she said hoping to soothe him.

“I was never a prince, and never would have
been. I may have become an earl, but never a prince. And right now,
I’m a toad.”

He is jealous of the
prince.
“You’re all frogs to me, but you’re
my
Frog Prince, and always will
be.”

Ethan exhaled. It was a long exasperated
one. “And you’re certain that you’re all right? Do I need to check
for bruises?”

Her eyes widened at that. There was just
that one bruise, but it wasn’t really Richard’s fault. He hadn’t
meant to take her arm so firmly when she tripped over Cedric’s feet
and he caught her.

Frowning, Ethan tugged off her cardigan and
cursed under his breath at the black and blue mark on her upper
arm.

“Now don’t freak out. I fell.”

Narrowed blue eyes caught onto hers. “This
is not consistent with a fall, Danielle. Someone grabbed your
arm.”

“To stop me from falling, yes. It was an
accident.” She may have been frustrated with the prince, but she
didn’t want him in trouble for this.

“How did this happen?”

“I stepped backwards and stumbled over
Cedric’s feet, Richard caught me by the arm.”

“This is what I get for leaving my fragile
wife with three medieval stooges.”

“I wouldn’t call them stooges ... and,
Cedric isn’t even old enough to be considered medieval…”

He studied her face for a moment longer, and
again she felt the enchanting influence of his vampire gaze.
Danielle made a mental note: Drink Chamomile tea before making eye
contact with Vampire Ethan because it really helped.

His head tilted. “Somehow you’ve bonded with
them.”

“I guess I have,” she said slowly, and found
that even she was surprised by this.

“I don’t like how this makes me feel.”

“You’re jealous.”

She could see that he hated it when she
pointed that out. Then his expression rearranged. “We don’t have
time for this. I need you. I’ve missed you so much,” he said as he
began kissing her face, and neck, and shoulders.

“Oh, no!” She then realized how little time
they had together before night fell. “The sun!”

“Yes, it will be setting in about an hour,
and I’ll have to leave you for the night.”

“No. I-I don’t want to sleep alone
again!”

Ethan ignored that and began tugging off his
clothes.

“Let’s try sleeping together. I watched late
movies with them, well after dark.”

That got his attention. “They weren’t
supposed to do that.”

“Nothing happened…. They were good about
avoiding eye contact and they never sat next to me on the
loveseat.”

“I’m cursed at night and so are they; you
shouldn’t have taken that risk.”

She didn’t really know what to say to
that.

“We can’t be separated like this again.
Never again! For heaven’s sake, you were kissed by another
man!”

“What about you? Did you kiss Gillian?”

“We kept the hunting brief to prevent her
from being recognized, and fearing they still posed a threat even
if you had been turned, we remained inside most of the time. In
that case there was no need to put on an act.”

“Is that your answer?” she asked because
from that bit of lame info she couldn’t tell if he’d kissed her.
“So did you kiss her or not?”

“No.”

Great, now she really felt guilty.

That storm brewed in his blue eyes again,
but he curled his body around hers as if he meant to prove that she
belonged to him alone.

“We didn’t make out, Ethan. I was trying to
shove him away the whole time,” she said, hoping to calm the upset
lining his face.

“Does he kiss better than me?”

She looked into his eyes, and smiled as that
familiar, slightly uncomfortable, and mesmerizing sensation swept
over her. “You’re forgetting about this eye thing we have going. No
one can top that.” She closed her eyes and slid her nose over his
cheek, drawing in his scent. “Mmmm, and that. I can’t get enough of
that. No one can match what you do to me. No one kisses me like you
do, and no one is better at it than you. Not that I’ve tested it….
Am I forgiven?”

“Of course.”

The anger softened from his mouth and his
sapphire gaze dropped to her lips. “Show me, darling. Show me what
I’ve been missing out on for far too long.”

Chapter 16

Who’s Staring?

Danielle had talked Ethan into staying in
their bed until long after the sun had set and his heart had
stopped beating for the night. But the next morning she awoke to an
empty bed. It seemed he stayed until she’d fallen asleep and then
slipped away. She didn’t like that. She didn’t want to be separated
from her husband at bedtime, sleeping in different bedrooms. It
just wasn’t right.

Waking up alone hadn’t put her in the best
mood, and she decided she needed to hit something. Again,
frustration was fueling her need for studied violence. She dressed
in her workout clothing, brushed her hair back into a ponytail,
gathered her heavy metal music, and made for the garden. It was
getting cold out as fall began to set in, but she planned on moving
enough to not notice.

The three guards still lingered, but
they wouldn’t be as close as they had been before. Danielle
secretly missed the silly banter that went on amongst them, and
thought maybe they
were
a
little like the three stooges. As well as making her cry, they’d
made her laugh quite a bit. However, she was extremely happy to be
able to get out of the house. With Ethan home, she’d be able to
enjoy a few more freedoms. If she was believed to be here now then
she could go outside, right?

As she approached the door, Merrick captured
her arm.

“Ow! That’s where the bruise is. Do you
mind?”

“Oops, sorry about that.” He released her
promptly.

She reached for the handle again, and
Merrick stepped in front of it.

“Um, I’m just going out to exercise.”

“Did you ask Ethan if you could do that
outside?”

“Ethan’s not around to ask,” she replied
angrily. “I’m not a child; I don’t need his permission for
everything.”

“Let her go, Merrick. She’s supposed to be
pretending that she’s immortal, remember? I think she’d still be
doing her training if she were,” Richard said.

“Hmm, I see your point. Sorry, Danielle, old
habits are hard to break.” He chucked her chin like she was his
little sister.

Danielle smiled. “I understand,” she said as
she went out into the chilled morning.

She’d only been allowed to look at their
yard from inside, until now. Moving across the grass she decided
she could see why it reminded Ethan of England. It was formal with
shrub topiaries surrounding it. These weren’t the amazing animals
Beon liked to sculpt, these were simple balls and twists, but they
still provided an English-style effect.

The northern side was teaming with
rosebushes but they’d lost their pretty blooms for the season.
Irish moss carpeted the ground below, which still had little white
flowers sprinkled over it because it was a hardier plant. An herb
garden lay at the south side of the yard, but most of it had gone
to seed and she knew frost would soon destroy what was left. A
neglected and dying vegetable garden stood next to a fountain. She
frowned realizing that Ethan had probably planned on enjoying the
fresh produce himself. However, now he couldn’t do that.