Blood Lust (12 page)

Before Darby knew it, it was morning and there was the familiar tapping at her door. “Come in, Bernard.”

“Good morning, Miss.” With him entered Mr. Chow and Sammy toting his tennis ball. “Will you be joining us for breakfast?”

“Thank you, yes. I’ll be down in a minute.” She put on her bunny slippers and one of the beautiful sweaters Devon had bought her and headed down the stairs. She found Dominic seated at his usual chair and Devon too, both reading the paper, but no Anton. She did not kiss Devon this morning or stroke his hair as she walked by. Oh, she wanted to, but she wasn’t sure if she should. The ball was now in his court.

He set his paper down and offered the front page, to which she declined. She really was out of her element, refusing to read the paper in the morning. She hadn’t realized until that very moment that she hadn’t once read the paper since she arrived in Connecticut. All her adult life she had taken after her father in the morning ritual of reading the paper. At home, she and Devon always shared the morning paper. He was stunned and actually, she was too. She went to the sideboard, grabbed a muffin and coffee, and sat down without a word to either of them. She figured Dominic could tell that things hadn’t gone as Devon had planned the night before. And that’s when all hell broke loose.

Into the room bounced the most beautiful woman Darby had ever seen. She looked like an angel with flawless, porcelain skin and long ringlets of honey blonde hair that reached past her waist. She wore a gorgeous white negligee that barely covered her. It was long, but so sheer even with its robe, that Darby could see everything, including her moles. Darby wasn’t sure if she should be embarrassed for her or in awe of her.
Who is this woman?
She certainly didn’t have anything to be ashamed of; that was for sure. Both men stood at her presence and Darby was absolutely sure Devon’s eyeballs were going to fall out of his head as he got the full picture of her. Dominic, however, made no eye contact.

When the woman saw Devon at the table she nearly jumped for joy. Darby really hoped she wouldn’t as she didn’t really want to see that. But the woman did anyway. Again, Darby was sure Devon was going to have a stroke.

“Oh, Devon, love. It’s so good to see you!” She wrapped herself around him like a boa constrictor. “Anton said you were here visiting and I just had to see for myself.” And again, she wrapped herself around him tightly, then backed up again and did another little jump.

Love? That’s what Devon calls me at home. Love, did he get that from her? Gross. Oh dear Lord, this is not going to be fun,
Darby thought to herself, but she was careful to block her thoughts.

“It’s good to see you too, Libby,” Devon said.

Libby? The bouncing gorgeous angel woman was Libby. CRAP!
Darby thought.
CRAP, CRAP and Double CRAP!

When the woman finally got done mauling Devon, Dominic said, “Libby, this is Darby O’Rielly, Devon’s guest.”

“Oh, you brought a servant? And you’re letting her eat with us? You always were the sweetest man, love.” Libby moved her place setting to within one half centimeter of Devon’s. Devon, perhaps too overwhelmed by her display of bouncy affection, didn’t answer, but Dominic stepped in with, “No, Libby! Miss Darby lives with Devon.”

“Well, of course she does, that’s what servants do, Dominic.”

“No, Libby, Darby and Devon are a couple,” Dominic said loudly.

“Well, now, that is something. The boy scout is living in sin? Have you become a bad boy, love?” She traced her long, claw-like ruby nails along Devon’s lips, ignoring Darby. “Who would have ever thought the saint would ever be a sinner? How intriguing.”

Dominic said, “So to what do we owe the honor of your presence, Libby?”

“Don’t be so rude, Dominic. I told you. I heard Devon had come and I just had to see him. It’s been so long. I thought we could catch up on old times, maybe have dinner in the city?”

“How does that sound to you, Darby?” Devon said, finally finding his voice.

“Not…” Darby started.

“Oh, Debbie will love it. She can take a sightseeing tour and we can sit and talk at some posh little bistro. Then we’ll go to the nicest restaurant and Darla can pig out on anything she likes, while we talk about old times.”

“It’s Darby, and no, I think I’ll pass. Seems a little too crowded for me.”

“See Devon, Dolly’s fine with it. I’ll go get prettied up and we can head out.” She took one bite of toast, kissed Devon practically on the mouth, but just shy of it, as the red lipstick was stamped there as evidence.

Stunned, Darby stared at Devon in disbelief. He looked at her confused and said, “What?”

“What? You have to ask? You don’t see anything wrong with what just happened?” Dominic looked as though he’d like to disappear. Devon was also embarrassed, but not by Abby.

“Darby, please! Mind yourself!” he hissed at her while shooting a glance toward Dominic. Appalled, Darby got up and started to walk out when Devon said, “I don’t understand. You said you didn’t want to go, does that mean you do want to go?”

“No, Devon, Debbie doesn’t want to go and you shouldn’t either,” she said and walked out.

Devon shook his head. “Who is Debbie?”

Dominic laughed. “For an engineer, son, you really can be quite clueless,” he said as he left the room. Libby came down the stairs decked out like a movie star.

Darby watched from her bench on the other side of the pond as the red car left with Devon and Libby. Darby thought, c
an he really be so stupid?

Chapter 9

She decided they were gone now, no reason to hide, so she headed back to the house. She headed up the stairs to her room to get a change of socks and heard something fall in a room down the hall. She walked down to the closed door and knocked. “Are you okay?”

“Go away, I’m fine.”

“Anton?” She opened the door to find him on the floor next to the bed, the pitcher of water now on the floor soaking his pajamas and t-shirt.

She ran to him, throwing her coat and scarf on the foot of the bed.

“Leave me alone!”

“Don’t be stupid, Anton. Let me help you. What were you thinking? You need only say the word and someone would help you. You’re in a house full of people who love you, you knucklehead.” She took his arm, wrapping it around her neck, and helped him stand up and then sit down on the bed. He could barely do that on his own. “You are soaking wet.” She grabbed the bottom of his t-shirt and pulled it up over his head revealing a massive hairless chest. A tattoo of a Celtic intertwining chain wrapped around his bicep like an armband and a Pegasus with wide spread wings and flaming red eyes adorned the left side of his chest and shoulder.. She tried not to stare and went to the chest of drawers and searched for a t-shirt. Every drawer she opened was full of women’s clothes. “Where is your stuff, Anton?”

“She put it in the bottom of the closet. You don’t need to help me; I’m fine.”

“Boy, you Larsens are stubborn. Now I know where Blake and Devon get it. Was your aunt stubborn?”

“She could be.” Finally, she found a T-shirt and some dry pajama bottoms. She helped him with his shirt. “Can you manage the bottoms?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said rudely so she turned around as he tried, but he hit the nightstand and just about fell again. Darby turned around to find him in his t-shirt and underwear.

“Don’t be so stubborn; if you need help just say so.” She held him as he slid his legs to the edge of the bed, then she slipped his legs into the pajama pants, pulled them up to his thighs, and then helped him stand to pull them up the rest of the way. She helped him sit back down and pulled the covers up. She grabbed the pitcher and glass and took both to the bathroom, rinsing and refilling them. She also grabbed a towel to soak up the water on the floor. She filled a glass of water and handed it to him.

“Are you sure you don’t need something? I don’t know, something with more sustenance? Blood or something? You look awful, Anton.”

“You should get out of here; if she finds you here, there will be hell to pay.”

“Who? Libby? She’s gone with Devon to the city.”

“You let her go with him?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know if I should say; you are married to the woman, after all.”

“Tell me.”

“Only if you tell me your side of the story.”

“What story?”

“When you and Libby hooked up.”

“Why do you want to know? Don’t you just assume it’s all my fault, like Devon does?”

“Actually, no. In the two minutes I met Libby, I was pretty sure it was never you. I mean, come on, she might as well have had sex with Devon right there on the table in front of me calling me Debbie, Dolly, and Darla the entire time and assuming I was Devon’s maid.”

“How very Libby.”

“Yes. It seems everyone sees Libby for who she is except Devon, so I would like to hear your side of the story.”

“But it won’t change Devon’s mind.”

“That’s not the point. I’d like to know for my own sanity.”

“You really love him, don’t you?”

“I really, really do. After meeting Libby though, I wish I didn’t.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think? In his eyes, forty years later, she is completely blameless, gorgeous, and here. I can’t compete with the image he has of her. Only she can ruin that for him. So tell me, what is your relationship with her? I thought you were separated.”

“I wish. She comes and goes as she pleases. She has other men she frequents too.”

“So why? Why do you let her keep coming back?”

“I don’t know. It’s as if when she’s around, I have no control over anything.”

“So you are still having, well, still intimate with her?”

“I think that’s the only reason she comes back. It’s certainly not love, it never was.”

“Never?”

“Well, maybe I thought it was in the beginning. She’s a terrible flirt. She only dated Devon to get into the Larsen house; at least that’s what she told me. He brought her for dinner that first night and whenever Devon was out of view, she was all over me. At the time, I didn’t really mind; she was gorgeous and well, I always felt I had to compete with Devon for everything. It was kind of fun at first when she found me more interesting than him. Stroked my ego, I suppose, but it quickly became manipulative. She pushed for an elopement. She was wonderful in the beginning, but tired of me rather quickly and then she started finding other men to entertain herself with.”

“Why you? Not that you aren’t very handsome in your own right.”

“She wanted to be a pure blood. Married to nobility. She wanted it all, and well, Devon’s mother didn’t marry a pure blood; she married for love, making Blake and Devon not as desirable to Libby. But he was certainly a step in the door. Too bad he was so devastated by her betrayal. He really was better off.”

“So when did your health start declining?”

“I don’t know, about three months ago?”

“What changed? What were you doing before as compared to after it started?”

“I don’t know, nothing. I was living in my apartment in the city, working in the gallery and traveling as usual.”