“I’m sorry.” Charlotte sighed. “I wish I could remember more about Rogozin’s men.”
“It’s a blessing that you don’t.” Dorian’s chest ignited again, imagining her as a girl younger than Sasha, fighting off those monsters. “For now, let’s consider scenario one: your uncle is nothing more than a lowlife human, working with a crew of other lowlife humans to turn a fast buck, no supernaturals involved.”
Charlotte nodded and stirred the pot, then brought the wooden spoon to her lips, sampling the chili. Dorian tried not to recall the feel of her soft, hot tongue licking up and down his shaft in the guest house the night of the fund raiser, but it was no use. Everything about her turned him on, inside and out.
Forcing himself back to the urgent topic at hand, he said, “Under the lowlife human scenario… I’m assuming you don’t have enough evidence of their former crimes to bring to the authorities? See if we might take your uncle out of the equation legally?”
“Not without implicating myself. I can’t go to jail, Dorian. That would mean leaving Sasha. Rudy knows I’d never risk it—it’s probably why he hasn’t already killed me.”
“So he knows your weakness.”
“If by weakness you mean the one person in my life I’d willingly sell mysoulto protect, then yes. She’s my weakness.”
“Loving someone isn’t a character flaw, Charlotte. I simply meant…” Dorian sighed. “Rudy knows exactly how to get to you. By threatening the one you love—explicitly or otherwise—he can keep you in a constant state of fear and obedience. As a royal vampire, I know the dynamic all too well.”
Charlotte covered the pot and turned it down to simmer, then grabbed her glass of wine. “The difference is—I’m not a powerful immortal being. I’m a weak human. And even if I had the physical strength to stand up to him, I don’t have the courage.”
Dorian frowned and reached up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. The contact made her heart skip—a soft beat that sang to him, drawing him closer. He couldn’t help it. As long as they were in the same room together, he couldn’tnottouch her—no matter how badly he needed to keep his distance.
“You’re the most courageous woman I’ve ever met, Charlotte. I won’t have you doubting it. Not in my presence.”
Her cheeks darkened, a shy smile touching her lips. “Is that an order, highness?”
“Indeed.” He returned her smile, sliding his thumb across her lips, recalling how she’d done it to him in the dining room. The sweetness of her blood made his mouth water, and he leaned in closer, desperate for another taste…
“Cheese!” she said suddenly, pulling out of his grasp. “We need cheese.”
She darted for the refrigerator, and Dorian grabbed his wine, tipping back a healthy swig.
Bloody hell, the whole situation was growing more impossible by the second.
“So,” she said, dodging his gaze as she grated a block of white cheddar into a large ceramic bowl, “any other ideas?”
Several, including but not limited to blurring you up to my bedroom and tying you to the bed, devouring you with kisses, and fucking you until you forget everything about your life but the feel of my punishing cock sliding between your thighs…
“Dorian?” she said, and he blinked, taking another sip of wine.
“Right. What if we temporarily relocate you and Sasha to one of my properties in London, then let the robbery play out, at which time I’ll have the thieves arrested onsite?”
“And then what? My sister and I live out the rest of our lives as fugitives? Rudy has connections, Dorian. Even if you had him arrested—hell, even if you took him out—the moment we set foot back in the States, we’d be dead. And that’s assuming his guys didn’t track us down overseas first.”
“Fair point. All right, I could relocate my most valuable pieces to Tribeca. If they break in here, they’ll only find a fraction of the estate, and perhaps they’ll give up, moving on to something more lucrative.”
“No good.” Charlotte set the bowl of cheese on the table in the nook, then rummaged the cupboards for dishes and utensils. “Other than the Hermes and LaPorte painting, which I didn’t mention because of the connection to my father’s murder, they already know what’s here. If it’s gone when they make their move, they’ll know I warned you.”
Dorian bit back a curse. Ofcoursethey knew what was here. Dorian had been sleeping with a spy.
He reached for the bottle of wine, dumping the rest into his glass, the whole situation crashing down on him anew.What a fucking mess.
“For fuck’s sake, Charlotte. You really took me for a fool.”
Wisely, she didn’t deny it.
“I’ll spend the rest of my life regretting that I betrayed you,” she said softly, staring at the plate in her hands. “I’ve said and done a lot of fucked up things, hurt a lot of people… But you, Dorian Redthorne—you’re my one.”
“One what?”
Glancing up from the plate, she shrugged and said plainly, “I let you get away. Regrets don’t get much bigger than that.”
