Stone Romance (Stone Passion #2) (29 page)

Stepping back, she brushed the soft skin beneath her eyes, stemming whatever tears threatened to fall. This time when she smiled, it was firmer even as the feelings behind it were vacillating between longing for more and being joyful in the moment. “
You should
call Armand, maybe Ferris is staying at the castle with Melanie.”

“You’ll get to talk to her, love,” he assured her, making her smile with gratitude. She trusted Rhys; he would make sure they took the time to call home before Ferris flew off to Florida.

Rhys ran his hand along her shoulder, taking her hand in his and holding it as he picked up the phone and dialed a new number. Holding her eyes, he grinned mischievously
and waggled his eyebrows
, “
I’m going to tell Armand that I’m going to be
giving up my nights for you.”

She swatted at his arm, shaking her head, “You can’t do that to him, Rhys; it’ll give the poor man a heart attack.”

“Sweetheart,” he murmured, giving her hand a squeeze. “Gargoyles can’t have heart attacks; that’s the beauty of the plan. I’m four thousand miles away, the most he can do is
yell
and get riled up and riling up Armand is one of my many joys in life.”

“I am starting to feel sorry for your oldest brother,” she grinned.

He smiled but didn’t say anything more as the phone was answered. His eyes grew impossibly large and his lips parted on a sharp inhalation of air. The hand holding hers slackened and suddenly he was clutching the phone with both hands, turning his back away from the
noise of the busy airport
, away from Jenna. He croaked out a meager, “Vaughn?”

Jenna gasped, putting her hand on Rhys’s back as she struggled to remember how to breathe, knowing what it meant if Vaughn was alive. Melanie…. Omari told them the only way for Vaughn to return to them was if Melanie had… She couldn’t even think the word because it too much. Her heart thumped painfully in her chest and her fingers curled into Rhys’s back as recriminations and self-loathing threatened to tear her apart. If it truly was Vaughn who answered the phone, then that meant her sister was... dead.

Oh, God; she couldn’t breathe; she’d been living in a fantasy, fucking a gargoyle, imagining a future with a gargoyle, and her sister was gone. She was gone and Jenna hadn’t been there…. Her knees gave out and she crumbled to the ground, desperately trying to get oxygen into her rebelling lungs.

Rhys’s arms were around her and he was rocking her, murmuring that it was all right; that everything was all right. Pain lanced through her body at his words; how could he say everything was all right when everything was wrong? “Jenna,” he
said,
his voice urgent. Pushing her hair out of the way, he framed her face with his hands and tilted her head back, concern burnishing his voice. “Jenna, look at me. Melanie is alive; she’s alive
,
Jenna.”

Through a rushing of noise, she heard his words; willing them to be true. Blinking, she looked at him, at the joy that infused his face. Blinking again, she saw that the phone was dangling by the cord, abandoned by Rhys as he offered comfort to her. Slowly, she returned her gaze back and was nearly blinded by the radiant elation brightening his eyes, his smile; his entire face. “But Vaughn….”

His grin widened as he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her straight up and spun around with her, “He’s
back, Jenna. Somehow, Melanie got him back for us.”

Trying to climb out of the blackest despair that had nearly
buried
her, she could only stare
at him
as his words slowly worked their way through her shocked brain. A ton of adrenaline and despair had been dumped into her bloodstream and she was having difficulties wading through the venom to the radiance that was Rhys. Dumbly, she asked, “Vaughn is back?”

“Yes!” he laughed, spinning
in a few
more exuberant circles, drawing the attention of the other people standing around.

“But…” Jenna glanced at the dangling phone again as if the inanimate object would be able to offer some explanation, some clue. Her gaze returned to Rhys, his sparkling brown eyes even more brilliant now that his brother was back earlier than expected. If Melanie was able to get them back without the item that
required
Rhys and Jenna
to go
on this magical adventure, what the hell was Jenna doing in Athens, just a few days away meeting Rhys’s mother, meeting Medusa?
“How?”

“I don’t know,” he laughed, kissing her quickly and doing a mad jig, all while holding her in his arms.

“Is he still on the phone?” she asked, her eyes darting to the phone once again, her thoughts jumbled and turbulent. How could Vaughn be back? They hadn’t even made it to Medusa’s island yet….

A slight flush colored his cheeks as he followed the direction of her eyes. Carefully setting her down, keeping one hand on her arm, he picked the phone back up and spoke into the receiver, “Sorry about that, Vaughn; it’s just so wonderful to hear your voice.”

Selfishly, she had wanted to be the one who was able to help Melanie get Vaughn back and once again she
had
failed her sister. The hopes of finally being able to pay back a small fraction of everything that Melanie had given up were crumbling to dust and even as her heart raced in her chest, and as grateful as she was that Melanie was safe and happy, she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of disappointment.

She had justified the trip, leaving Ferris behind, because she was doing it for Melanie; now what was she going to do to make things even between them? Shaking, she watched Rhys as he
talked,
the animation in his features so much more apparent, something that she hadn’t realized was missing until she saw its return. Was she just a distraction for him? Was he going to want to return home now that there was no longer a reason to keep going?

No, he’d probably want to visit his mother… but he didn’t need her to do that. He could put her on a plane and have her heading back across the Atlantic while he continued on the boat to his mother’s island. Her whole purpose in going was to convince his mother that they were a couple…

Which had been a
n outlandish
idea even when it had been laid out; she just hadn’t wanted to think about it too much because she had wanted to go. She had wanted to spend the time with Rhys, away from the monotony her life had become. She had wanted him to see her as she used to be, who she was beneat
h the grudge of everyday living and she had jumped at any excuse to be with him without questioning it. The
ruse worked so well she had almost convinced herself that she was getting back to normal. Until she heard Vaughn was back and her first thought was to assume Melanie had died.

Why was Rhys even bothering with an emotional basket case like her? Did he just want an easy lay? Had he seen how desperate she had been for adult interaction, the physical relationship between a man and a woman, and decided to take pity on her?

No, that just wasn’t Rhys; he was a good man and she doubted he had a mean bone in his body. He was mischievous, yes, but not cruel. Still, it was hard not to entertain such thoughts; Rhys was everything a woman could want in a man so why would he choose her? When he could have any woman he wanted why would he want a woman who was just getting re-acquainted with her emotions, who had a young child, a woman who had been emotionally
barren for so long? For a while, he had made her forget her doubts and insecurities but with the spike of emotions crashing through her veins, the worries were back with a vengeance.

Rhys glanced at her and chuckled and she wished she could hear what Vaughn was saying. “You could say that; there’s just something about these Jacob girls, though, isn’t there?”

This time when he looked at her it was with heat in his eyes and she blushed, which was ridiculous; she let the man tie her to his bed and do wickedly wonderful things to her. But she was still recovering from the catastrophic emotional overload and she discovered that despite the thoughts rampaging within, outside sounds were haz
y and
muted, her vision was a little cloudy and she was somewhat unsteady on her feet.

Once again, Rhys’s arm was around her, holding her tight against his body, gently stroking his hand along her arm as he held her upright and reminded her to breathe. The soaring highs and the bottomless despairs wreaked havoc on a person and Jenna momentarily flirted with the notion that perhaps numbness was a preferable state of mind; at least it was consistent. But after spending so many years feeling nothing she knew that life was meant to be embraced and experienced; she just wasn’t sure her body was going to be able to handle it.

Pressing her hand over her still racing heart, she leaned further into Rhys, borrowing his strength until she got her emotions back under control. She was about to put her other hand on Rhys’s arm when she realized it was still trembling. Hiding the offending hand behind her back, she concentrated on listening to Rhys’s side of the conversation. Unfortunately, it sounded like he was speaking gibberish.

With a smile, he took the trembling hand and pressed a kiss to the fingers before he lowered it, never letting go as he continued to talk with Vaughn. Wow; she could scarcely believe that Vaughn was back. It meant that her entire adventure had been for nothing and once again she failed in being able to do anything for her sister. Once again, Melanie somehow managed to save
herself
and the man she loved.

When Rhys hung up the phone, she opened her mouth to tell him that he could take her to the airport and she could fly home if he wanted to visit with his mother on his own. But then he took her hands in his and beamed down at her and she couldn’t say a word. Struck speechless by the life that vibrated from every inch of his hard body, she could only stare as he danced her around the room, somehow missing the people that were standing around or rushing about.

“Since there is no urgency to return, how do you feel about exploring some of the islands before we visit Mother?” he asked, grinning like a happy fool.

She stared up at him and blinked a few times, trying to reconnect her brain to the reality of Rhys and not the neuroses that were wreaking havoc in her head. “What about Ferris?”

He kissed her loudly on the cheeks as he beamed, “She is having a blast at the castle; she has everyone wrapped around her little finger and Nod loves having someone his size to chat with.”

“Nod?” she just couldn’t wrap her head around anything no matter how hard she tried.

Chuckling, wrapping his arms around her and waltzing some more, he said, “Nod is the little sprite that
discovered
Melanie and Ferris adores him. They have extended tea parties and discuss all of the important aspects of the universe.”

“Like the best place to find enchanted frogs?” she asked, the reminder of Ferris bringing a little bit of clarity to her system. “Or which one would make a better pet – a dragon or a puppy?”

“Exactly,” he agreed. His enthusiasm was infectious, and with the surfeit of emotions Jenna felt a little drunk, which was weird because she hadn’t had anything to drink. “And dragons are definitely the better pet; much easier to potty train.”

“But they’re so big,” she countered. “I imagine the food bill would be enormous.”

“Simple – get a pocket dragon,” he kissed her nose, her forehead her cheeks. Pressing his hips against her, nudging her with his erection, she knew the excitement of learning about his brother was making him horny. Not that he needed an excuse; he was a lusty gargoyle and could get an erection watching a glass of ice water sweat on a hot day. How did he manage to sound so normal when his cock was straining against the seam of his pants? “Actually, they’re about the size of a cat but still… pet dragon.”

“But they can’t be as cuddly as a puppy.” Unlike Rhys, she was having difficulties speaking. Especially when he trailed heated kisses along her neck, making her skin heat up and her nipples harden. Without her knowing quite how he managed, he danced them into a small closet, closing the door with a quiet snick. She wondered how many people watched as he deftly maneuvered them through the room and understood what the closed door meant
..
“What are you doing?”

“I need you,” he breathed, attacking the zipper on her pants and pushing the material down her thighs. Cupping her between her thighs he groaned, “You’re not ready.”

Of course she wasn’t ready! Her brain was still dealing with the overload of conflicting emotions; she was…. Ooh, whatever he was doing to her felt really nice. Tilting her head back, ignoring any protests her mind was attempting to make, she gave him access to her throat as he summoned a response from her all-too eager and willing body. “Rhys, we shouldn’t do this here.”

“Why not?”
He yanked at the front of his pants, easing his erection from the confining material and wrapping his fist around the thick length. Slowly running his hand up and down his cock, he closed the distance between their bodies and pressed the cock against the bare skin of her stomach. She hadn’t even realized he had unbuttoned her shirt. “You’re mine, Jenna. Tell me you don’t want this and I’ll stop. It’ll kill me but I’ll stop.”

“I didn’t say I don’t want this,” she panted as he ran his tongue along the vein in her throat, raising the temperature in the small room by a thousand degrees. Bending his head, he captured a nipple between his lips and drew upon it, making her realize that she needed this, too; this connection. She pressed her hands against his chest to settle her shaking limbs and he wrapped his hand around both wrists, lifting her arms above her head and pressing even closer to her body, invading her senses.