The Sorceress Screams (25 page)

If Maximo had
had his assistant watching the apartment all night and had sent Ali Mac at
sunrise, then maybe he
didn’t
plan to
kill me. That meant he was going to expect something from me. But what could be
worth the hassle of being marked as the betrayer of your entire race?

I certainly
didn’t know what it would be. And that worried me.

****

My phone rang
shortly after dusk. It was a welcome change from Ali Mac’s regular sighs and the
punctuated scuffing of Nell’s sandals downstairs as she paced the floor. I
checked the caller ID. Maximo was calling.

“Hi,” I said.

“
Hola
.
Rebecca.”

Oh
.
That sensual voice
.
My cheeks
warmed.

“You’re well?”

I nodded even
though he wouldn’t see it. “Yes, nothing happened all day except a little spat
between my employee and yours.”

“Oh?” There
was definite interest in his lifted pitch.

“Not my place
to explain,” I said, backtracking on the topic.

I’d fibbed
slightly. One thing of note had happened today. Dr. Yates had begun treatment
on Desmond’s guests. Not something I ought to tell Maximo, at least not over
the phone, or without him prompting me.

“Should I have
a word with my employee?” he asked.

I chuckled.
“Not unless I’m willing to have a word with mine. And I’m not.”

“This sounds …
intriguing. But I didn’t call to hear of Ali Mac’s performance. I would like to
invite you for dinner. Will you come to my home?”

“You’re not
going to kill me, are you?” I winced as soon as the words left my lips.

There was an
uncomfortable silence in which I wished I could see his face. Was he struggling
with how to lie? Or was he miffed that I’d asked at all?

“I’m not … going
to hurt you. Rebecca.” His resonant voice was a curious mixture of assurance,
sensuality, and cool irritation. It must have been in the slight pause he’d
placed after the second word and his usual stop before he spoke my given name.
“I’d have thought sending you my best daytime guard would have proven that.”

“You can’t
blame me for worrying after last night.”

“I can blame
myself for not making it clear what I want from you.”

I shivered
from the promise of wicked things in his sexy voice.

Maximo
returned us to the topic at hand. “You’ll come?”

Because there
was still the little matter of my mother’s ring, I couldn’t refuse.
“Yeah.”

“Excellent.
I’ll instruct Ali Mac to bring you from your apartment.”

An unspoken request for me to dress nicely?

“Okay,” I
said.

“Take your
time. Rebecca.”

My teeth
clenched at the
proof
he wanted me to
get dolled up. Maximo disconnected the call before I could respond. Ali Mac’s
phone rang a moment later.

“Yeah?”
Ali Mac’s attention switched
to me, and then away.
“Got it.”

The werewolf
checked the time on the phone. We had little over an hour before the shop
closed. He must be hungry because he hadn’t accepted any of the food I’d
offered him. He’d remained by the back wall, leaned slightly against it with
his eyes tracking over everything outside.
Exactly as he did
now.

My phone rang
again. I lifted it with the intention of grumbling at Maximo for the whole
“take your time” bit. It wasn’t Maximo. Desmond was calling.

I greeted him
brusquely.

Likewise he
got right to the point. “The coalition meeting is set for Monday at nine.”

“Nine at night?”

“No.
Nine in the morning.”

I stifled a
grumble because Monday was my day off. I liked to sleep in on my days off.
“Fine.”

“Jacqueline
and
Veronika
are almost clean. Dr—”

I made a noise
to interrupt him because I didn’t want him giving out the doctor’s name where
Maximo or any of his agents could hear it.

“What?”
Desmond asked. “Is someone listening in?”

“Maybe.”

“Ah.” The
single syllable was sour. “The doctor says they’ll need a few more and then
they’ll be clear to go home.” His vague, professional words implied the women
needed a few more
plasmapheresis
treatments before
they’d be clear of the blood bond’s antibodies. “Jacqueline wants to see you
before then. Can you get to Flagstaff tomorrow? I can drive you if you need.
I’m taking them to the airport after. I think Jacqueline would like it if you
came with us.”

I didn’t think
I’d had that much of an impact on the Dark witch, but I couldn’t say that to
Desmond. He wouldn’t know one way or the other.

“I’m supposed
to go to Maximo’s Independence Day picnic,” I said.

Desmond was
silent for an uncomfortable interval. “I am as well. I can get you back in
time.”

There were any
number of arguments I could make to get out of it, but Desmond’s insistence
suggested
he
had something he needed
to discuss before Monday. I relented with a small sigh. “Yeah, okay. You buy
the coffee.”

“I’ll be by at
ten. Call me if you change your mind about the safe house.”

“I won’t.” I
disconnected before he could finish the irritated huff he’d begun.

My outfit had
better be to Maximo’s liking or I’d walk home early. The shiny reptile print,
black and white skirt paired with
an orange
chiffon
and lace, single-shoulder tank top was one of my better options. I’d even worn
my girly,
mary-jane
pumps over the fence-net thigh
highs instead of my usual Docs. He could take a flying leap off Olympus if he
had a problem with my look today.

Javier met me
at the house’s entrance while Ali Mac pulled his pick-up around the cul-de-sac
that formed Maximo’s driveway. Javier’s neutral expression told me nothing of
what was to come or if he found my outfit acceptable.
Nor had
Ali Mac’s.
The werewolf had barely looked at me when I’d emerged from
the apartment and found him seated on the cement porch out front.

Javier
gestured for me to follow him. We crossed through the formal living room that
was rarely used. We exited through the double wooden doors on the other side of
the house. Javier strode across the wide porch to the lit stone walkway beyond.
I bounced down the stone steps fast on his heels so I wouldn’t be left behind.

We passed a
wrought iron bench flanked by large potted plants and then ducked beneath a
wooden arch covered with a vine-like plant I didn’t recognize. Splashes of
water against water filtered into my ears a moment before I caught the delicate
strains of a Spanish guitar playing softly over speakers. There was a pool or a
hot tub, and someone was in it.

Javier guided
me through a curving garden filled with rose bushes, flowering trees, thick
grass of both the short and long persuasion, and even trees that might bear
fruit in the autumn. Slipping beneath yet another arched doorway, we emerged
onto a black ceramic-tiled surface with blue and white accents that surrounded
a meandering pool.

Maximo’s
figure glided beneath the clear water from one end to the other. He made smooth
motions I’d only seen from Olympic athletes. As he passed the middle point, the
large center tile beneath the water became visible. The tile had been painted
with a blue and white design of a lion above and below three wavy lines—perhaps
some sort of family crest.

He drew his
head above the crystalline water, facing the opposite direction.

Before he
could turn to make the trip back, Javier called out. “She has arrived,
First
.”

“Excellent.”
Maximo whipped the water from his hair, sending a spray of droplets across the
surface. “See her to the family room, offer her refreshment, and tell her I’ll
be with her shortly.”

“Uh, s-sir … I’m
sorry. I thought you’d said to bring her to you when she arrived?”

Maximo pivoted
in the water. Only his shoulders crested above the surface. His sable eyebrows
lifted when he spotted me.

Not a particularly positive reaction
. Had it been for my outfit or for his employee’s failure?

“
It’s
fine, Javier. Thank you.” He nodded his head for his
man. Maximo’s lips spread into an amiable smile.
“
Hola
.
Rebecca.”

“Hi,” I said.

“You’ve
arrived a bit earlier than I anticipated.”

I didn’t
apologize because it wasn’t my fault he thought women needed longer than
forty-five minutes to get home, change, and travel the short distance to his
house.

Maximo ducked
beneath the surface, long arms gracefully spreading in front of him in a
breaststroke across the pool. I noted the stone steps on this end a moment
before his head popped up again. He repeated his action of whipping the water
out of his hair and then rose until the water was at stomach level.

Droplets made
lazy zigzags down his olive sienna skin while others got tangled in the coating
of fine sable hair over his chest and upper abs. My mouth went a little dry
upon seeing all those defined muscles. He was a beautiful man. There was no
doubt about that. He’d been in excellent shape when he’d died.

He lifted
himself onto the first stair. Beneath the upper abs
were
the equally toned lower abs—this much I’d expected to see. What I hadn’t
expected was that Maximo de Sole swam in the buff.

My face burned
even as he strode up onto the ceramic tile ledge without a hint of
embarrassment. And why would he be embarrassed? Though he wasn’t terribly well endowed,
he most certainly wasn’t small.

My mind
provided a mock-up for what he’d look like when arousal took hold. It was a
nice visual—the kind women would drop dollar bills by the hundreds to see.

I stumbled
backwards when he started for me, fearful he’d decided we were no longer going
slowly.

A mischievous
smile formed on his face. “Rebecca,” he said in his sensual way. “My towel is
just behind you.”

“Oh.”

A brighter
flush rode high in my cheeks because I’d thought the worst. I whirled around.
Sure enough, stretched over one of the teak lounge chairs was a fluffy white
towel. I snatched it up and handed it behind me without turning.

His cool
fingers curled over mine atop the towel. A spark of heat slid down my arm. He
was so close, without a scrap of clothing over his wonderful body. It would be
so easy to touch him.

And I wanted
to.

I couldn’t lie
to myself and say it was because of my mother’s ring. I liked how he made me
feel—like I was wholly worth the effort and hassle he had to put in to have me.

“What spat did
our employees have at your shop?”

The question
on a topic other than his nudity gave me something to focus on. I needed it as otherwise
desire had threatened to take over my ability to properly reason.

I cleared the
cotton out of my mouth with a discreet cough. “Like I said, it’s not for me to
say. Ask Ali Mac.”

“I will,”
Maximo said. “He was otherwise a good guard?”

“Yes, even
though I knocked him on his ass a few times when he arrived.”

His tone
sharpened. “What did he do?”

I made the
mistake of turning. He had the towel pressed to his right arm, blotting away
the moisture there. The rest of him was still tantalizingly nude. I lost my
breath.

This time my
cough wasn’t discreet. “He didn’t do anything. He didn’t say why he was there.
I assumed he’d been sent to kill me.”

“Rebecca.”
This time Maximo’s voice had slowed in disappointment. “I didn’t and don’t want
to hurt you.”

He reached his
free arm out and brushed the hair away from my face. My body reacted instantly
at the now familiar gesture. He must have heard my pulse spike because his
attention dropped to my lips. Maximo rolled onto the balls of his feet toward
me, wavering at the apex of the movement before drawing back.

“Go inside,”
he said. “You know the way to the family room?”

“Which one is
the family room?”

Maximo’s voice
went hoarse. “Go to my office instead.”

I hesitated
because I was a little miffed at his imperial tone.

“
Dios
,” Maximo said. “Go before I pull
you into the pool with me.”

His
white-knuckled grip on the towel confirmed he was struggling. I eased backwards
as if he were a wild animal that would attack if spooked. And who was to say he
wasn’t?