Dane (16 page)

She‟d wandered off the path and he took her elbow, redirecting her.

“Careful there. You‟re on shaky ground.”

“Oh, I‟m sorry!” she said, turning contrite eyes on him. “I didn‟t mean to make you uncomfortable. I simply—“

“You misunderstand,” he said, gesturing to a nearby pile of rubble.

“Bastian warned me that some of the tuff foundations there are particularly unstable.•

“Tuff?” She gazed about them.

“Some sort of porous rock left behind by ancient lava flow. The Romans used it as a building material in the old days because it was easily formed into bricks. But time and the elements have eroded it and rendered it weak. There was a cave-in just yesterday over at the Servian Wall.” He paused, smiling in self-deprecation. “As you hear, my eldest brother will soon have me transformed into an encyclopedia of antiquities.”

“I was glad to meet your brothers,” she told him, latching on to the new conversational direction with a relieved fervor. “For I‟m determined to secure them as clients in my business.”

“Then I wish you luck and patience.”

“Securing them would raise my standing with the Council. And your brothers would certainly curry favor with them as well were they to decide to wed.”

“My brothers don‟t care about marriage or about winning the Council‟s favor. Eva, about your offer—“

She rushed into further speech, cutting him off. “The arrangement I suggested—I meant only during Moonful. Once a month. Take some time to consider the matter before you answer.”

She waved at someone beyond him. “Well, here come Lena and Mimi. I‟ve given you the address of the gala. You‟ll be there?”

“Yes, but—“ He reached out to her, but she sidestepped and gave him a false smile. “Excellent. Then I‟ll see you there at nine this evening.”And without looking his way again, she scurried off.

Damn. Dane stood there, watching her warmly greet her girls. She was a natural mother. Since he must wed, he would gladly take her to wife but for two things—she was not human and she could not bear his children. Not if she‟d had the Sickness as she claimed. She was right to seek a human husband, for this would lend her the most security in this world. And the Council would never sanction a marriage between her and an Else male, and most certainly not with a satyr like himself, who was expected to breed. Still, he could continue on as her lover. And would.

Up ahead, Eva greeted a blond woman, who‟d apparently been minding the girls. The woman glanced his way and then whispered something to Eva. They were discussing him.

Bastian walked up behind him, handing him the end of a tape.

“Here, Sevin‟s gone off to his salon, so you are left to help me measure this wall.” His mind still on Eva, Dane did as Bastian asked and they stretched out the tape along one edge of a crumbling foundation.

“What‟s going on with her? And you?” Bastian inquired as he jotted a figure in his notebook.

They moved to another side of the foundation and measured again before Dane replied. “Two nights ago in the grove, there was a woman.”

Bastian wrote another notation. “A woman?” he echoed, sounding distracted.

“I mean aside from the nereids.”

Bastian looked up, his attention caught. “A stranger?”

Dane nodded. “And I felt something with her.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I felt something with a woman. For the first time in my life.”

“Go on,” Bastian said, sounding intrigued now, as they moved to a third edge of the wall and ran the tape along it.

“It happened shortly after Dante had taken control. I suddenly emerged from stasis and she was just there. With me. Standing calmly in my arms. And I was hard, dying for her. Before I could act on it, Dante returned and I was forced out again. The next thing I knew I awoke in the temple that morning with you and Sevin nearby. And she was nowhere to be seen.”

“Why didn‟t you mention this before?”

“I thought I‟d dreamt her.” It had seemed likely, for he‟d had plenty of imaginings and nightmares after his abduction. He‟d been hysterical and fearful for a while, unable to tell dream from reality. Deemed a security risk, Council authorities had taken him back to ElseWorld and remanded him to the custody of physicians, who‟d used their torturous medical devices on him to effect a “cure.”He might still be in their dubious care had the Special Ops forces not come calling and determined he was Tracker material. Their training program had been rigorous, but it had given structure to a young life that had been ripped apart. He‟d learned to survive.

“Who was this woman, and how did she get on your land? You‟d bespelled the perimeter of the grove. I felt it that night. If she intruded, she must‟ve been of ElseWorld blood.”They moved to the fourth side, measuring for the last time.

“I know who she is.”Dane dropped the tape to the far edge and stepped on it with his boot to secure it in place. “Evangeline Delacorte.”

“The matchmaker?” Bastian‟s brows rose and his eyes found her where she and her group were examining the Septimius Arch at the far end of the ruins. While the two women were both daintily picking their way, the children were making a lively game of hopping from one stone to another without touching the ground. “Quite the coincidence.”

“Exactly,” said Dane. “She said she‟d been hunting olives in the grove that night.”

“Olives, at night?” Bastian echoed, shaking his head dubiously.

“And when you went to her townhouse yesterday? I sensed you were with someone.”

Damn, having brothers around again was definitely taking some getting used to. Dane shot him a look. “I had her.”

Bastian‟s gaze whipped to him. “You? Not Dante?”As if to put a point on things, his measuring tape retracted with a snap as he finished his notations.

“Both of us. I was there with Dante all the while, or for most of it. I faded in and out. I was there at the finish; I remember that much for a fact.” The corners of his lips curved in a half smile.

“Gods, has that ever hap—“

“Never. And I‟m only telling you for the bearing it may have on this whole mystery. Because I think she could be the key to locating Luc. I don‟t recall where he and I were held captive, but if anyone has that memory aside from our abductors, it must be Dante.”

“I had the same thought at the altar after you first mentioned him,”

Bastian admitted.

“I doubt he‟ll give anything up just for the asking,” said Dane.

“But what if she asks?”

The two of them glanced toward Eva and her entourage. She was tending to one of the girls who appeared to have fallen and scraped a knee.

“I‟m not telling her about him. She‟ll run screaming,” said Dane.

“Maybe she doesn‟t have to know. Maybe she could be bespelled long enough that she might serve as a sort of medium, allowing us to question him, to unlock whatever secrets he guards.”

“She suggested a liaison,” Dane admitted.

“Then I strongly suggest that you agree.”

“Before I forget, I brought you the cream I promised,” Alexa Patrizzi said when Eva left Dane to join her among the ruins.

Eva took the squat jar from her friend, perplexed.

“For your little Lena‟s scar,” said Alexa.

Overhearing, Lena put two fingertips over the small slash near the left corner of her mouth, looking embarrassed that her defect had been noticed.

“It‟s from an old family recipe,” Alexa went on. “And just look at my mother sometime if you want proof that it works. Nary a freckle, scar, or a wrinkle can be seen on her face. It‟s sure to help your girl.”Alexa didn‟t notice Lena‟s discomfiture, for she was too busy glancing over at Dane and his brothers. Any minute now she would ask about them.

“Thank you,” Eva said simply, and pocketed the jar away without examining it, so as not to embarrass Lena further. She hadn‟t asked for the cream, but Alexa was sometimes overly concerned with outward appearances.

“You‟re free to explore, but not too far,” Eva called to the girls, sensing their desire to roam. “Just keep where I can see you and you can see me.”

As the children dashed off to play, the two women linked arms to mill through the excavations together. They‟d met two months ago at a gathering for young ladies arranged by one of the society matrons, and they‟d formed an instant friendship. Back in ElseWorld, her maman had required much of her attention, and Odette had guarded her too fiercely at times. As a consequence, Eva hadn‟t had many friends in her life, and now she was learning how wonderful it was to form such a tie.

She‟d justified the friendship to Odette by saying that alliances with humans were a necessary part of the marital brokering profession.

The making of inroads into the upper crust of society bought her access to events where her clients could mingle with highborn eligible partners.

However, Eva and the girls must still guard their tongues with regard to certain subjects when they were in Alexa‟s company. There were some secrets that could not be entrusted to humans, even those one counted among one‟s friends.

“Thank you for watching the girls for me,” said Eva.

“Certainly. But do tell me—what were you doing with the infamous Satyr lords?”Alexa glanced behind them to indicate Bastian and Dane, who seemed to be measuring something with a tape.

“Infamous?”

“Handsome, then. Tall, dark, and brawny. Need I continue?”

Eva studied Dane‟s broad back, which was turned her way, remembering the feel of it under her hands as she‟d held him yesterday in her study. Remembering how his crisp hair had felt threading through her fingers. How his kiss had warmed her breast. How strong and capable his body had felt against her smaller one.

When she‟d seen him again just now, a sweet yearning had pierced her. Had she just made a fool of herself with him? Did he think she was trying to cling? She sighed inwardly. She cherished the memory of their passionate interlude and could not be sorry for what she‟d proposed to him just now.

He was the only ElseWorld mal e who had guessed the truth of her despite the powders she took. It must mean something. That the liaison she‟d suggested would be right between them. Still, there was also the puzzle of why he seemed to have forgotten what he knew of her blood yet again. It was all very perplexing, and she longed to discuss the matter with Alexa and to garner her opinion. But of course, that was impossible.

“Well? Is it a secret?”Alexa prompted. “I‟ve seen the one wearing glasses before, and the other one who left the tent earlier. Bastian and Sevin?”

Eva nodded, unsurprised that Alexa had noticed them before now.

Tall, broad shouldered, and exuding masculine confidence, they were difficult to miss. “They‟re brothers.”

“I know that. But who‟s the new one?”

“A third brother, Dane.”

Alexa took another peek at the men working at a distance behind them. “Goodness. They do grow them large in that family.”

Eva smiled to herself. Her friend had no idea. The two women fell in step again, wandering through the Arch of Septimius Severus.

“Come on, I saw you speaking with them,” Alexa prodded. “What are they like?”

She shrugged. “Intelligent, wealthy, handsome.”

Alexa‟s eyes widened with feminine interest. “How terrible that sounds!”she said, and they shared a grin. “How do you know them?”

“Through friends,” Eva hedged. “Dane wishes to wed soon, and I‟m helping him with introductions into society.”

“He has told you he wants to marry?”Alexa said in surprise. Her gaze swung to him and she eyed him speculatively.

“He‟s not for you,” Eva hastened to add.

“Spoilsport.” Alexa sighed. “My mother wouldn‟t allow it anyway.

Unfortunately, I‟m already engaged in all but the final asking to Signor Fitzgerald. But I can still look, can‟t I?”

They shared a smile. “No harm in looking,” Eva agreed.

Alexa stole another glance at Bastian and Dane. “Can you imagine a wedding night with one of them? I‟d be frightened out of my wits!” She leaned in, whispering, “I‟ve heard they sport a second member in their trousers.”

“No!” Eva tried to appear convincingly shocked. And she was—shocked that Alexa knew!

Alexa let out a peal of laughter. “It‟s true, I tell you. And I‟ve also heard they know well what to do with both of them.”

“That‟s absurd.”

“Well, of course it is. But what if there were something to it? Just imagine,” said Alexa.

“Where did you come by this oh-so-accurate information?”

“Like everything else, it‟s a rumor started by the unearthing of artifacts here in the forum. I was told by a reliable source that there‟s a particular statue of a satyr enjoying a Bacchanalia in one of the temples.

It holds a wine goblet, has furred haunches, a tail, and its male”—she leaned close again—“parts are high and at the ready for entertainment.”She fanned herself.

Both appalled and amused at once, Eva sputtered with laughter.

“Artistic license I imagine. You‟ll be pleased to know that Dane has promised to attend the Pretender Gala tonight. So you may judge him for yourself. I predict you‟ll find him quite tame.”

Alexa pouted prettily. “I hope not!”

Eva giggled again, enjoying her ribald sense of humor. Most women in Rome seemed to have one, but the wealthy ones usually kept it hidden.

When she wed into their ranks eventually, Eva vowed she would not be so stiff. After all, Alexa wasn‟t, and she was the issue of one of the most affluent, esteemed families in all of Rome!

And she had a very eligible brother. One who was rich, highborn, and human. A gentleman who satisfied all of Eva‟s maman‟s requirements. Marriage to him would provide safety for those in her household. It was a bonus that he was the brother of her dearest friend.