The Kiss (7 page)

He smiled lazily and Eva only just contained her irritation. He
was very good looking but a bit too friendly for her tastes. She knew he’d
already made his move on a bunch of the female staff, Lily included and Eva
wasn’t eager to be number whatever.

“You need to find more interesting things to fill your time
with,” he said smoothly, eyes on her breasts. “You’re either cleaning or busy
drawing.”

“Well the guests will be here soon,” Eva said. It annoyed her for
some reason that he’d noticed her sketching—more than the fact that he couldn’t
seem to look her in the eyes.
Hello I’m up here
. Sketching was a private
activity, like being watched in the bath.

“Or we could—” he began but he was interrupted from a commotion
outside. “What the hell?”

“What is it?” Eva asked.

“Looks like you’ll be busy enough soon, the guests are here.”

“At last.” Eva whispered, more relieved at that point not to have
to fight off Ryan’s advances than anything else.
See this is why you’re
single, good looking men annoy you.

She joined him at the window and peered through the glass. The
lights dotted around the outside showed a large group of people making their
way up the lane. Eva wondered where their cars were.

“Did they drive?”

Ryan shrugged. “Dunno, maybe they parked somewhere else?”

Eva eyed the group and shook her head. “Well they didn’t walk,
not in those outfits.”
Another oddity to add to your list.

Dressed in evening wear, the women in flowing dresses, the men in
trousers and shirts, the guests looked incredible. It was freezing out though
and Eva shivered in sympathy with the women, although they didn’t look chilly
by any means. They were laughing and smiling, their arms round one another.

“They look pretty amazing, don’t they?” Ryan asked and Eva
suspected he was already eyeing up his chances with some of the females.

“There’s something missing,” she said slowly.
What’s gone,
what am I not seeing?

Before she could think on it, Grace strode into the foyer
followed by what looked like all the other staff.

“Take your places please,” she said.

A sense of anticipation filled the air and Eva could see lots of
excited smoothing of skirts and patting of hair. Clearly she wasn’t the only
one who had started to get bored. Was she the only one questioning the odd
set-up?

They lined up along the foyer wall just like they’d been
instructed. Eva couldn’t help but notice Ryan sidle up to a flushed faced Lily
and wink. She resisted rolling her eyes though barely.

Damn the ribbon’s still askew.

The door opened, pulling Eva from her perusal of the Christmas
tree, and the group spilled into the foyer. Eva was struck first by the
chill—it was colder than she thought—and then by them. She noticed immediately
not just how beautiful they were but how familiar they looked.

Where have I seen them
before?
Eva couldn’t
remember but she knew that she certainly had. They looked so familiar…

The women were dressed in silks and satins, a sea of bright reds
and shining pinks. The men were in blacks and grey’s, all looking like male
models. Eva’s long neglected heart stirred slightly and she couldn’t help but
appreciate the sight of them. It looked like Ryan would have some competition
and she smiled slightly at the thought.

 Two of the women were laughing as they delicately stomped ice
off their heels and with their arms wrapped around each other the feeling of
familiarity swept over Eva again. She wondered if, like Lily had suggested,
they were celebrities. It was not a world Eva had any interest in, but perhaps
she’d seen them on a magazine cover somewhere?

One of the men was busy rubbing his hands along his companion’s
muscled arms in an unmistakably sensual gesture and Eva looked away politely.
Her gaze swept the group, taking in one fantastic face at a time. She counted
eleven of all.
Wasn’t there meant to be twelve?

She shrugged and eyed the group again. It was like a line up of
the most amazing muscles, the plumpest breasts, the most flaring hips and the
shapeliest legs. Damn if the women couldn’t give her a run for her money in the
hourglass department.
They must be celebrities or something. They’re all so
beautiful.

Eva couldn’t help but appreciate the sight in front of her and
her heart raced a little bit faster.

It raced and then it stopped.

Chapter
Ten

It might have been the thunderous boom that awoke Adam from his
fitful sleep, or it might have been the dreams. The noise of both echoed around
his cavernous room and he jolted from his bed.

“Damn it to hell…”

Sweat dripped from his body and it took him a moment to catch his
breath. His mind remained filled with the images that had haunted his dreams
and he shook himself, trying both to dispel and understand them. Fields of
blue, expanses of black and grey and nothing, a constant nothingness.
What
does it mean?

He looked around his quarters but could see nothing amiss. The
same furniture as always, the same shadows cast by the flickering firelight.
Everything’s
fine, just nightmares.
Adam took a deep breath and lay back down. The
moment his body made contact with the bed the pain in Adam’s shoulder erupted
with shocking force. His stomach lurched and he barely contained a groan. For
one awful moment he thought the pain was enough to make him cast up his
accounts.
What the hell has she done to me?

Gritting his teeth he hurried from the bed, over to the mirror
hanging above the fireplace, and pulled his shirt off. He didn’t know what he
expected to see, a welt, a bruise, something red raw and angry? Whatever he’d
expected it wasn’t there. Adam could see nothing beyond a very faint outline,
almost like the shape of a blade.

Feel it brand you
. Granny Hildegarde’s words came to him
and Adam shuddered. Had she cast some sort of spell that would curse him
forever, would the mark on his shoulder pain him for years to come? Would the
nightmares haunt him always?

He needed a drink, God, did he need a drink and for a moment at
least he was tempted. The brandy bottles glinted in the firelight and Adam
imagined easing the pain in his shoulder as well as the pain in his heart with
the amber liquid.
Just one glass.

Slowly he made his way over to the cabinet and filled the
crystal, rolling it around his hand, watching the liquid catch the fire. God it
smelled good, he’d never wanted anything as badly as he did now. Even the pain
in his shoulder receded, as if agreeing that he should indeed drink down the
fiery liquid.

And then what, Adam, more of the same? More Evie’s?
His
mind filled with the image of the girl as she sobbed and clutched at him for
help. How could he ever be irresponsible enough to let something like that
happen?
No, he couldn’t, he wouldn’t ever again.
Time to grow up.

The clock above the cabinet gave a piercing clang and Adam jolted
when he realized it was midnight, he’d barely slept.

The thunder boomed again, joining with the cacophony from the
clock and Adam’s shoulder re-exploded with pain. The delicate crystal fell from
his fingers before shattering on the floor.

“Grace…” her name left his lips before he even thought it and he
fell to his knees amid the crystal and the amber liquid.

The pain raced and Adam had to clench his fists to hold it in,
his stomach rolled and this time there was no stopping the heaves that overtook
him. On his hands and knees Adam vomited everything inside him, desisting only
when there was nothing left to come out.

He groaned and took hold of the bed frame, pulling himself up.
The pain continued to lick at him, along his skin, along his bones and even as
he roared Adam thought it should have felt hot. But it didn’t, he was cold, so
cold.

“Stop,” he whispered, but no one heard, no one answered.
Just
like Evie.

The pain pulsed again and a feeling unlike any he’d ever known
filled his entire body. It was like being submerged in freezing cold water from
the inside and flames from the out. He fell to his knees straight into the
crystal and the brandy and the contents of his own stomach.

 “Damn you, woman,” he roared as the glass bit into his palms.

The thunder boomed again, the striking of the clock ceased and
Adam’s eyes filled with images that shouldn’t have been there. Images, he
realized with horror, from the dreams.

She’s cursed me, she’s cursed…

Trees, snow, frozen fields, great expanses of blue and then black
and then grey, never ending grey.

Adam closed his eyes and opened them again, the pain continuing
to scream through him. Images flickered and changed. Fire, trees, the shattered
crystal, the shadowed moon… and then nothing.

Nothing but the darkness. 

Chapter
Eleven

He walked through the group and they parted for him without so
much of a murmur. Eva felt her jaw drop and her mouth was suddenly and
shockingly dry. He was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen—the most
beautiful of all of them and that was saying something. Tall, with a sculptured
face, dark hair and a distinct air of broodiness Eva felt her skin prickle with
lust… and something else. A feeling of familiarity swept over her again.
Where
have I seen him before?

“Welcome back,” Grace said.

He turned toward her and smiled with obvious warmth. “It’s good
to be back, Grace, and to see you again.”

His voice was deep and rich. Eva exhaled shakily as he took Grace
into his arms for a hug.

“Your room is ready,” Grace said smiling broadly, her hands on
his arms. 

Eva eyed the couple with interest.
They know one another…
well.
But not romantically, they looked, more than anything, like good
friends meeting up again.

Smile still teasing his lips he turned to appraise the room and
everyone in it. His piercing eyes assessed everything and Eva barely contained
a whimper. They were like brandy, hooded and watchful. His body, clearly
muscular in his dark sweater and charcoal trousers, moved with a leonine grace.

Not one to fall at any man’s feet Eva was shocked to feel her
nipples tightening beneath her shirt and a familiar ache pulse between her
legs. She looked down and was immensely relieved that she’d worn a padded bra,
there would be no nippleage on show today. 

See this is what happens when you rely on the pocket rocket
for so long. You start mooning over statues and fall at the feet of the first
good looking man you see.

“Everything looks the same as always,” he said, pulling Eva from
her frantic thoughts. “Nothing changes does it?”

“No,” Grace replied. “Nothing does.”

There was a pause, filled with meaning Eva doesn’t understand.
All the guests fell quiet; the cheery looks and hum of excitement no more.

Eva looked from one to the other and then back to him. He shook
himself slightly and smiled once more. “And my personal maid? Have you chosen
one for me, Grace?” he asked, dispelling the strange tension.

Personal maid?
It was like he’d flicked a switch, every
single female staff member perked up. They all seemed to straighten and thrust
their chests forwards. Eva noticed Lily flicking her long blonde hair behind
her and sending him a come-hither kind of smile. Eva had a sudden and intense
desire to throttle her with those golden locks.

“I thought perhaps you would like to choose for yourself?” Grace
replied.

Their manner towards each other was odd but Eva couldn’t put her
finger on why it seemed off. It was almost like there was a secret sort of
amusement between them, a friendliness to their manners which suggested
something…

The hottest man Eva had ever laid eyes upon smiled a slow,
sensual smile that raised goose bumps over her arms and probably everyone
else’s. Eva could feel the tension in the room and it was obvious that every
female staff member was hoping to be chosen.

Serving him his food, turning down his bed sheets… hardly a
chore, Eva. You want to be chosen yourself, admit it!

She looked along the line, noticing again how pretty everyone
was, how Grace had picked everyone well. Against the curves and golden hair of
the others Eva knew she had little chance and she wished she’d had a bit more
time to tone up.

She smoothed her skirt over her hips, resisting the urge to pull
it a little lower over her ample hips and bit down on her lower lip. Her brain
flickered from thought to thought at the speed of light.
Why did I tie my
hair in a no nonsense plait? Why didn’t I put just a little make-up on? Why, oh
why do I have to look such a state on the one day I meet my fantasy man made
real?
The questions filled her but Eva knew it was pointless to repine. She
was what she was and nothing, bar another month in the gym, a damn good pair of
strighteners and a pot of foundation was changing that.

His eyes swept along the line, one at a time, assessing,
considering. Eva fidgeted uncomfortably, wondering what he could possibly be
thinking. It was like being back in school waiting to be picked for a team, she
was never picked first and the same feelings of inadequacy were just as strong
now.

Lily flicked her hair again, Fay smoothed her shirt over her tiny
breasts, and a girl Eva thought was called Jennifer licked her ruby red lips.
He did not smile, he didn’t make any sign of approval he just looked at them...
and then he looked at Eva.

A curl freed itself from her braid and fell across her face. Eva
lifted a hand to brush it away and then opened her mouth to speak. What she
planned to say she didn’t know, but nothing came out anyway. Maybe something
along the lines of,
Excuse the wild hair, sorry about the huge breasts, yes the
curves are all mine?
She took a deep breath and tried to get a hold of
herself.