Surrender (THE DRAGONFLY CHRONICLES) (14 page)

“Bloody hell,” Jackson swore and grabbed Kailin’s hand. He glanced at the drapes behind the buffet table but they hung straight and un-charred, although speckled and stained.

“You!” Samantha screamed and blew her nose into Henry Dallinton’s offered handkerchief. She stomped her foot and pointed a soggy gloved finger directly at Kailin. Along the refreshment table men dabbed and women wailed and sniffled. Every guest near the tables was drenched with chilled Champagne.

“Good God,” Kailin whispered.

Several servants inspected the three empty Champagne fountains cautiously as if they might spontaneously refill and explode in their faces. Kailin blinked and stared only at Jackson, pleading and embarrassment in her eyes. “At least it wasn’t fire,” she murmured.

The frozen mask of shock on his face cracked into a warm smile as he gazed at her.

“You did this!” Samantha screamed while Henry and Ian tried to comfort the uncontrollable woman. The curls around her face hung like wet noodles and the front of her gown lay stained against her.

“You!” She yanked her wet glove off and flung it toward Kailin. “You did this!”

“Again,” Kailin sighed on a whisper and Jackson couldn’t hold back any longer.

Laughter broke from him and he shook his head. “Dr. McGivens,” he called to Ian. “You throw one hell of a party.” He bowed slightly to the irate woman. “Good evening to you, Miss McGivens. If I were you, I’d be thankful that your gown wasn’t fashioned with peacock feathers.”

Kailin wasn’t moving. She just stared numbly at him, a wide-eyed expression to match the rest of the room. Jackson tugged slightly to prod her along. “Come along, Mrs. Pierce,” Jackson said. “I believe the party will be wrapping up soon.” The footman held open the front door, an anxious, bewildered stare following them to their open-air carriage.

First Jackson helped his sister up into the hired coach and wrapped blankets around her legs until she bade him to quit.

“Was that…did Kailin do that?” Cassy asked.

“Now Cassy, that’s how rumors start,” he chided softly.

“How…?”

He kissed her cheek. “If she did, I’d say you have a very powerful friend.”

Silence ensued while his sister studied his face. He made certain to keep it casual, full of humor even though his heart clenched. His sweet sister was devoid of friends except for the widowed Mrs. Pierce who was paid to watch after her. It wasn’t the first time he wondered if it had been a mistake to bring her here to Egypt when her illness progressed. Egypt was the land of magic like nowhere else on the globe. If he was going to save her, she needed to be close. Yet she also needed a friend. One who wouldn’t pity or demean her for her differences.

“Aye, brother.” She giggled. “Powerful indeed. Did you see the look on Samantha McGivens’ face?”

“Goodnight, Cassy.” He chuckled. He planted the seed. Perhaps even if Kailin hated him when this was all finished, she’d still honor his sister’s friendship. He would add it to his list of ardent hopes.

Cassy leaned out the window and waved to Kailin. “Thank you, Kailin. That was the most fun I’ve had—ever.”

Jackson watched Kailin. She smiled back cautiously. “We will visit when we return.” She waved and the landau rattled off.

Jackson helped Kailin up into the gig he’d hired even though she could have easily done so herself. But she let him. She must be in shock. She’d publically displayed her abilities to a room full of powerful tongue-waggers. Would people believe Samantha that Kailin had been the one responsible? Kailin sat frozen beside him.

“That should give them something to talk about,” he commented as he clucked to the horse.

Kailin sighed and a small chuckle escaped her, higher pitched than usual, as if hysteria picked at her resilience. She laughed two more chuckles and fell backwards in the well-worn leather seat, her hand against her chest. He grinned as they trotted through the near empty streets toward the hotel.

Jackson helped Kailin down and handed the reins off to Avil who apparently doubled as stable boy for the hotel. Jackson tossed him a half crown to return the vehicle. Avil bowed low and backed away like Jackson was a bloody pharaoh.

He turned to Kailin. Her face was a mask of blank beauty. She hadn’t said a word after the brief fit of humor. She took his offered arm and he escorted her across the vacant lobby. No doubt the elite were all still at the McGivens’, dabbing and conjecturing. Hopefully they had more Champagne or it would be a very dull evening.

Jackson led Kailin up the steps to the third floor. She still hadn’t said anything. He stopped her before she could enter her room. Her gaze had fallen to the tips of her silk slippers.

“Kailin?” She didn’t look up. Jackson crooked his finger under her chin and slowly lifted. His stomach clenched, face tightened, breath choked. Tears, hot and glistening, sat in deep blue eyes. They shone like small, dark pools of pain, embarrassment, regret. He didn’t ask, didn’t really need to know anything more than that she hurt. “
Atsila
,” he whispered and pulled her forward. And she actually stepped into him, into his offered comfort.

Jackson encircled her slender frame in a hug, firm but gentle. She pressed her forehead into his chest, burying her face against him. His chest compressed as he detected the slight tremble in her shoulders. She sobbed silently and he felt as if he bled. His hand stroked down her curls, down her back. Again and again he followed the path, gently trying to rub away the hurt. He should try to say something, something comforting.

“She deserved it, you know.” Kailin’s shoulders trembled harder and he pinched his lips tight.
Bloody hell
. “It could have been worse. You could have burnt the whole place down around them.” A sob escaped her.
Damn.
He was failing. He sighed long and wrapped both arms around her, offering his warmth and strength instead of his idiotic, inadequate words. He couldn’t seem to get anything right around her. He frowned.

“It was my fault anyway.” Her shoulders stilled and she sniffed. “I let go of you.” Kailin nodded against him. Anger was better than tears. He’d take the blame over her pain any day. “I’d promised to stay attached to you and then I let go.” He grazed her head with his chin as he nodded. “I was definitely to blame.”

She sniffed again and pulled back slightly. Wet lashes spiked out from watery eyes. “You did promise.”

“I should be horse whipped.”

A smile quirked along her soft lips. He stared at them, wondering once again just what they would taste like, how they would feel against his.

“It’s a good thing I can’t do anything to you,” she murmured.

“Hmm…agreed.” He ran his thumb along her cheek, smudging out a tear trail. “With the way you blush, I’d have fared much worse than the peacock feathers by now.”

Kailin glanced down. The lighting in the corridor was dim, but he could tell that he’d brought on another blush. He leaned closer. “If I keep saying things to make you burn,
Atsila
, you won’t be able to let go of me. Perhaps that’s my strategy.”

She glanced up. Her face tilted so close to his, only inches apart. Was he taking advantage of her vulnerability? Hell yes. He squelched the pang of gentlemanly ethics. Jackson lowered slowly, giving her time to return to her chilly senses. Instead her eyes fluttered shut and Jackson closed the gap. Soft, warm, yielding, her lips tasted as perfect as he’d imagined. He gently tilted her head to feel more of her, deepening the kiss. His pulse shot off into a race as his blood ignited to lava. He pulled Kailin into him, wrapping himself around her slender form.

A soft murmur rose from her, like a moan. The noise thrummed through him. Her small hand came up between them.

“We’re…” She nearly panted. “In the hall.”

Jackson’s gaze raked the empty corridor. She was right of course. Some twit like Henry Dallinton or his condemning mother was liable to walk through any moment. Kailin produced a key from her reticule. He grabbed it, thrusting and turning the lock. The door swung and he rushed her through. The darkness embraced them at once and he closed the door, pulling her back where she belonged, in his arms. She didn’t fight him at all. His hands caught her face, warm, tipped toward him. He lowered gently, again waiting for the trap to slam down. Her lips pressed against his and her fingers grabbed at the back of his hair.

Energy pumped through Jackson and he let out a groan as the floodgates slammed open.
Must stop soon
! Too much longer and he’d ruin everything. Too much more and he wouldn’t be able to pull away. And he must pull away. She’d hate him all the more later if he didn’t.

A wild screech tore through the room. Jackson twisted, flattening Kailin to the wall, his body shielding her. The balcony doors stood open and Kailin’s great owl swooped into the room, its black silhouette huge inside.

“Tuto!” Kailin yelled as the bird screeched again and hurtled toward her bed. Kailin shoved Jackson away and slid out from behind him to stand on her own. In a second the three lamps in the room sparked into flame.

Jackson’s gaze flew around the compartment, hunting the shadows with his trusty Remington drawn. Even if he couldn’t see it, there was a threat. The owl’s talons shredded the ornate spread over the mattress, tearing back the bedding. Kailin gasped.

“Stand back!” Jackson yelled, but Kailin ran around to the foot of the bed where Tuto flapped wild wings and pounced onto a writhing serpent.

“No, Tuto! It’ll strike you!” she screamed and with a flick of her hand, Tuto lurched backwards, hurled by Kailin’s immense powers, but the serpent twisted in his talons, its head lunging for purchase. Kailin’s fingers flicked together like a pair of scissors. The snake’s head broke from its long body to thump on the floor.

Tuto dropped the still squirming body and landed on the bed, blinking. If an owl could look rattled, her pet certainly did. “Good God, are you hurt?” Kailin ran to her friend, her hands gentle as she smoothed his feathers. The flames in the lamps grew in their glass containers around the room, obliterating the shadows. Jackson approached the twisting serpent on the rug, a stain of bright blood spreading from its severed body and head.

He kicked it and looked at Kailin. “An asp. In your bed.”

“Like the one that killed Cleopatra,” she remarked and turned to kiss Tuto’s feathered head.

Jackson strode to the open doors of the balcony and leaned over the rail. A trellis of climbing jasmine stood beside the balcony. Jackson’s lips tightened. Hell, she’d slept out here last night with a ladder for anyone to climb right up next to her. His gaze raked the interior garden but no one moved in the shadows. The asp was possibly planted hours ago. By whom?

He turned to the room where Kailin continued to inspect Tuto. Jackson strode inside and yanked back the rest of the bedding but no more assassins lay in wait. He shook his head as his heart raced. “One bite would have killed you. It’s deadly.”

“How did it get in here?” she asked as she straightened each of Tuto’s broad wings, tenderly rotating them. The bird shook its feathered crown but allowed her inspection.

“Someone put it there.”

Kailin’s gaze pierced him. “Someone wants me dead?”

“The bed was made. I don’t know of asps that climb trellises on their own to snuggle under sheets.”

Tuto hopped to the end of the bed. Jackson stood to the side so the bird could spread its wings. It swooped low in the small room and shot out of the open balcony doors.

“Who wants me dead?” Kailin sat back on her heels in the middle of the rumpled sheets. “I thought the kidnappers needed me alive to get the orb.”

Jackson nodded. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Another party?” He stared at her. “Maybe someone who doesn’t want you to find the orb.”

“Dr. Moghadam called me Cleopatra. He wanted to go with me to find the orb.”

“Moghadam,” Jackson mulled over. He’d check into the doctor immediately.

“I thought he might know my father well,” she continued.

Jackson raised one eyebrow and tried to focus on Kailin’s serious features instead of the way her bare legs peeked from her gown when she shifted to her hip. “Why did you think that? Did he mention Anthony by name?”

Kailin shook her head, her eyes narrowing slightly. “Because of the Cleopatra reference he made to me.”

Jackson knew he should be catching on but hadn’t a clue how that bridged. He waited.

Kailin released a long breath. “My father calls me Cleo after Queen Cleopatra. Ever since he found me.” Kailin pinned him with a sharp look. Her head tilted so that her curls cascaded down one shoulder. “And it is very…disconcerting that you don’t know that, Mr. Black. Since you are my father’s assistant and he has spoken so often of me to you.”

Jackson stood rooted by the bed, his eyes relaxed even though his mind turned over this new information. He could lie, should lie, but it froze on his tongue. He watched Kailin’s demeanor freeze in increments, as if ice slowly replaced her warm blood. Just minutes ago, their shared laughter, then her tears, then the kiss had dissolved barriers. Then one ridiculous detail that he hadn’t investigated re-erected the wall.

Her eyes sparked with crystalline glass as her chin solidified, pursing her soft lips into a thin line. Her back straightened so that she seemed to grow inches in her position amongst the pillows, pillows that right now could have had her hair spread across them instead.
Bloody hell!
What had he gotten himself into?

“Who exactly are you, Mr. Black?” she said the words so cold they nearly puffed out white in the room as if she were outside on a winter morning.

He opened his mouth but slammed it shut when Kailin slapped a hand over her upper arm. She gasped. Jackson dove for her, his hands grabbing for the unseen threat. Another asp? A different poisonous creature? Had it already bitten? Was he too late? The thought pounded hard in his temples and he engulfed her in a hug, rolling her to the side in a billowing of satin and petticoats. He grabbed her arm. Perhaps he could suck the venom out.