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She’d never seen the man before, his dark hair banded in a ponytail, and his soulless dark eyes watching her while she walked to the front porch. Was he worried for her safety? Or afraid she was contemplating running away?
Which she had. But where would she go? Nowhere, and she would be worse off than before.
He turned away from the window as if he’d satisfied his need to control her will. Quashing the irritation she felt, she reached for the doorknob, but the door swung open wide, and a pretty brunette about Fiona’s age, smiled back at her. Startled, she stared at the teen. What was a young person doing at her great aunt’s Halloween bash?
“Hi, you must be Ms. Power’s grandniece, Fiona. I’m Clarissa. Pleased to meet you.” She offered her hand and Fiona stood staring at her costume, the most riveting silk and jeweled, ankle-length Egyptian dress she’d ever seen. “Like it?”
Fiona shifted her gaze to Clarissa’s smiling face. “It’s beautiful. It must have cost a fortune.”
“Garage sale item.”
“Really?” Fiona looked back at the dress. No way could anything that regal have been sold as a cast off.
“Come on in.” Clarissa motioned to the house as if she lived there instead of Fiona.
Yet, when had Fiona ever felt that it was home? Never.
The whole place was decorated in black and white. Black leather couches, black velvet comforter-covered beds, white dressers, side tables and coffee tables. White urns decorated in black cuneiform, others displaying hieroglyphics, and some Chinese symbolism sat on tables.
Even her great aunt had a black and white personality. It was either this way or that. No shades of gray. Woe to the poor soul who attempted to argue with her.
The whole house smelled of cinnamon and vanilla, the fragrance wafting from the candles lit throughout the house.
Fiona tried to slip away unnoticed, like she usually tried to fade away in her great aunt’s house. Clarissa, apparently playing the part of an Egyptian princess or queen, walked in front of her and headed for the living room.
The man Fiona had seen staring out the window caught her eye. He leaned down and spoke to her great aunt sitting on one of the black couches. She nodded, her platinum blond hair braided, hanging down to her waist, her costume, some kind of Viking dress, and her feet were clad in fur-covered boots.
Fiona wouldn’t call her great aunt typical. Far from it. In great shape, she wore spandex shirts and skinny jeans like a teen. No way would she let her hair go white, and she’d had eyeliner tattooed around her eyes to simplify her afternoon makeup routine. Three facelifts, too, to remove the wrinkles, and a couple of eye jobs to remove the bags, she’d mentioned to Fiona to explain how come she looked so young. No wonder she looked like she was fifty when she was closer to eighty years old. Not only that, but she was not an early riser. She was an all-night party girl. Yet, she demanded Fiona stay home most nights, lecturing her that evil men prowled after young women in the evening hours. Fiona attributed her great aunt’s distrust to never having raised any children of her own.
Still, the spry woman wasn’t at all what Fiona had expected. She had been her father’s aunt and wouldn’t have anything to do with them while Fiona’s father went on his drunken binges, so Regina had said. Which was nearly all the time, once he’d lost his insurance job, which was due to his earlier drunken binges.
Fiona’s attention shifted to the man dressed simply in black from his shoes to his turtleneck. Was he playing the part of a cat burglar? Stiff, that’s what he looked like, as if he didn’t really want to participate in the costume dress up bit for Halloween.
“Come in, Fiona,” her Great Aunt Regina said. “Meet your Uncle Tobias.”
Uncle? A streak of panic slithered down Fiona’s spine. What if this man, who appeared to be in his early forties, wanted her to live with him until she graduated from high school? Her great aunt was getting awfully old, even if she didn’t look or act her age.
Fiona closed her gaping mouth.
“He’s not really your uncle, dear. You really ought to learn to hide your feelings better. If he wasn’t so easy to get along with, he might have been wounded by your reaction.”
Another lecture. Fiona swore her great aunt gave her five a day on school nights. More on weekends.
Tobias’s eyes held Fiona’s hostage for a moment, as if challenging her. She couldn’t fathom his role here. Yet, she suspected he wasn’t going to be just a casual acquaintance. Then he turned away, as if he’d become disinterested in her, the conversation, and the party. Which reminded Fiona, where were all the partygoers?
As if on cue, the sound of car engines roaring to life forced her to go to the picture window. Like in a race, nine of the ten cars parked out front peeled down the street. Where had her great aunt’s friends been all this time? Had they sneaked around the back of the house, then dashed for their cars while she was inside?
Weird. That’s the way her great aunt and her friends were, too. Just plain weird.
Clarissa yawned. “I’ve got to go. Are you ready, Tobias?”
The two were dark-haired and eyed, yet neither looked like they were related. Clarissa had delicate, refined features. Tobias was gaunt, his bones raw and masculine.
He turned his head as if he were listening to something outside, and so did her great aunt and Clarissa. Fiona strained to hear whatever they seemed to be listening to, but only heard the blood pounding in her ears.
“It’s been a pleasure as always,” Tobias finally said, leaned down, and kissed Great Aunt Regina’s cheek.
What was worse, her great aunt acted as though the guy had the hots for her the way she nearly swooned. Good grief. He had to be forty years her junior.
