Ravensong (6 page)

She told him the exit and returned to
staring out the window. Staring at Joshua was too
unsettling.

“
How long will he be
gone?”

Elena drew a considering
breath. “Another four and a half months. He’s studying plastic
surgery right now.”

“
He left you for six
months.” Joshua couldn’t hide the tone of derision in his
voice.

“
He’s on sabbatical,”
corrected Elena.

Joshua slowed as he came to
her exit and again gave her a piercing glance. His eyes seemed to
swallow the darkness. “If you were mine, I wouldn’t have left -
sabbatical or not.”

His abrupt admission surprised them
both and silence reigned in the car for a few minutes. Finally
Joshua was forced to break it to ask for further
directions.

“
Take the third left and
then the first right,” she answered, refusing to look at him
again.

“
Have you gone out to see
him?”

Elena shook her head. “No,
since he left I’ve been interviewing for this job and now working.
There hasn’t been any time, but he wants me to come out with his
daughters in a week.”

“
You don’t sound too
excited.”

Elena laughed. “We don’t
get along very well. They think I’m gold digging.”

“
How old are
they?”

For a moment, Elena
hesitated to answer him. This conversation was getting a little too
personal. Yet on second thought, the question was probably asked
just to keep things from getting tense again. “Eighteen and
twenty-one.”

Elena caught Joshua’s frown
from the corner of her eye, but he didn’t say anything. Even so she
felt a surprising need to explain herself.

“
John is a little older
than I am.”

“
I would imagine,” he said
simply.

Elena chewed on her lip.
Why did his remark bother her so much? “First building on the
right,” she said abruptly.

He pulled in front of the
apartment complex and turned off the ignition. Before she could
stop him, he’d stepped out of the jeep and rounded the back to her
side. As he opened the door, she descended to the sidewalk,
refusing to look at him.

“
Thanks for the ride...”
she began.

“
No way, lady. I always
walk a woman to her door.”

She looked up, shaking her
head urgently. “No, that isn’t necessary. It’s late
enough.”

He merely smiled his
crooked smile and motioned her forward. She hesitated in protest a
moment more, but he didn’t budge. Drawing an irritated breath, she
moved quickly away and through the front gate. It opened onto a
densely foliaged courtyard and Elena could almost read Joshua’s
thoughts. Too many places for someone to hide and attack an
unsuspecting woman.

As she approached the door of her
townhouse, the curtains on the unit perpendicular to hers fell back
into place. She glanced at Joshua and saw him staring in that
direction.

“
Mrs. Haversaw,” Elena
offered. “She keeps a very close eye on me.”

Joshua met her gaze. “At
two-thirty in the morning?”

“
As long as my porch light
is out, Mrs. Haversaw keeps watch.” She placed the key in the lock
and turned the knob, reaching inside and switching on the light.
“Well, thank you for the escort.”

He looked down and cuffed
the toe of his boot against the walkway. “Look, Elena, I didn’t
mean to pry earlier. I hope I didn’t offend you.”

“
No offense,” she said
quickly and turned to her door. “Good night.” She didn’t trust
herself to stand out here in the quiet pre-dawn with Joshua
Ravensong for very long, but as she regarded the dark interior of
the townhouse, she hesitated.

Memories crowded in on her
- memories of a darkened room on a late night and the feel of a
man’s hand over her mouth, his body holding her pinned to the
floor. A motion in the darkness made her jump before she realized
it was merely Savanna.

Her reaction was enough for
Joshua however and he was quickly at her side. “What’s
wrong?”

“
Nothing,” she said,
turning to him and trying to force a smile. It came out strained,
her voice trembling with the effort.

Joshua looked in at the
forbidding darkness and then back into her frightened, dilated
eyes. “I could...” He stopped.

“
How ‘bout a cup of coffee
for the road?” she said, suddenly knowing she couldn’t enter the
townhouse alone.

“
That would be great,” he
said, smiling carelessly. “It’ll keep me from falling
asleep.”

She nodded and forced
herself to cross the threshold, turning on every light as she came
to it. “Make yourself at home,” she said, motioning toward the
couch. “I’ll only be a moment.”

She hurried up the stairs to the two
bedrooms, searching through each one to make sure everything was as
it should be. Savanna followed her, mewing indignantly. Finally
Elena bent and picked her up, hugging her close as she descended
the stairs again.

She went into the kitchen and poured
instant coffee into one mug and placed a tea bag in the other, then
put both of them in the microwave. As it heated, she opened a can
of cat food for Savanna, trying hard not to think about the man
waiting for her in the other room.

He was wandering around the
room, staring at her knick-knacks when she returned with the
steaming cups. “Here you go,” she said, carefully handing him the
coffee and then wrapping both of her hands around her tea and
taking a seat on the couch. The warmth of the tea helped to stop
her nervous trembling, but Joshua’s strong presence helped even
more.

He took a seat close beside her and
sipped at his coffee. She studied his profile a little more closely
this time. If anyone could have perfect features, Joshua was the
man.

“
It must be hard to keep up
a long distance relationship,” she said impulsively.

He looked at her in
surprise. “You ought to be able to tell me that,” he answered with
another crooked smile that sent a shiver up Elena’s spine. Then he
laughed and sipped at his coffee again. “Anyway, I’m not very good
at relationships as it is.”

Elena licked her lips
slowly, tasting the fragrant herbs of the tea. “Didn’t it go well
in L.A.?”

Joshua drew a deep breath
and fixed his eyes on Elena. “Megan and I decided to end
it.”

“
I’m sorry,” said Elena
quickly, although she wasn’t exactly being truthful. Savanna jumped
on the couch beside her and Joshua’s attention was
diverted.

“
Who’s this?” he asked,
reaching out to stroke the cat’s black fur.

“
Savanna.”

“
Hello, Savanna,” he said
and then studied Elena out of the corner of his eyes. “Are you in
love with John, Elena?”

She blinked at his
question. “Why would you ask that?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know.
It’s just that I looked around a little, while you were getting the
coffee. There’s no evidence that there’s a man in your life except
the ring on your finger - no photos, no wedding paraphernalia,
nothing.”

“
We haven’t set the date
for the wedding yet.”

He narrowed his eyes. “We
or you?”

Elena placed her mug on the
coffee table and drew her knees up against her chest. “Since we’re
getting so personal, why did you and Megan end your
relationship?”

He also set his coffee on
the table and shifted, resting one arm over the back of the couch.
“The truth?” he asked and she nodded. “I’ve met a woman I can’t get
out of my mind. I think of her every waking moment and she’s
recently begun to invade my dreams.”

Elena felt her body tense,
but she couldn’t break his stare.

“
When I went down to L.A.,
my interest didn’t end, it only increased and I thought it wasn’t
fair to be with Megan when I only wanted to be with this other
woman.” His eyes narrowed even further. “Now answer my question.
Are you in love with John?”

“
What does it matter? Why
does someone have to be in love to get married?”

“
I don’t know, but it
usually helps. Take it from one with a failed experience in his
background. Marriage isn’t easy.”

“
Maybe because everyone is
so hung up on falling in love. They get caught up in the passion of
it and forget the real reason two people marry - for companionship
and security, to stop the horrid, shallow game of
dating.”

Joshua tilted his head
speculatively. “So is that why you’re marrying a man old enough to
be your father - to avoid passion?”

Elena felt her face heat at
his sultry words. “I don’t know. I guess I just want a companion,
someone to come home to at night, someone to wake up with in the
morning, someone I feel safe being around.”

“
And no love, no
excitement? Safety is fine, but to build a life of it isn’t really
living.”

Elena dropped her eyes.
“Maybe I don’t want a rock star’s life.”

“
Maybe not, but maybe you
need a little of it.” He reached out slowly and brushed a strand of
hair away, allowing his fingertips to trail over her cheekbone and
down toward her chin.

Elena swallowed
convulsively and closed her eyes, but although her mind screamed at
her to pull away, she couldn’t, she just couldn’t.

He lifted her chin with his fingers
and her eyes opened, fixing on his. Ever so slowly he leaned
forward and brushed his lips against hers. Elena shuddered and
closed her eyes again, but the parting of her lips was more than an
invitation for Joshua.

He brushed his mouth
against her lips once more. It wasn’t really a kiss, but it was
enough.

“
I’d better go,” he said
against her mouth.

“
No,” she said
suddenly, her eyes fluttering open. “I mean...” As she tried to
compose herself, Joshua watched her in surprise. “I mean it’s so
late.” She glanced at the clock and back again. “Already three.
Before you get home, you’ll almost have to turn around again, and I
need a ride anyway. My car’s still at
Avalanche
,
remember?”

He nodded slowly.

“
You can stay in the spare
room. It’ll only take me a moment to make up the bed.”

“
Thanks for the offer, but
I don’t mind sleeping on the couch.”

“
It’s no trouble
really.”

He drew a deep breath and
exhaled slowly, studying her face. “I think I’d better sleep on the
couch, Elena,” he said carefully. “If you need me, you’ve only just
to call and I’ll hear you. I’m a light sleeper.”

She nodded and forced a
smile. “Let me get some bedding.”

“
A pillow and a blanket is
all I need.”

She nodded again and rose off the
couch, moving swiftly to the closet beneath the stairs. As she
handed the bedding to him, he deliberately touched her hand with
his own. She blinked in surprise and backed up.

“
Good night,” she said,
retreating toward the stairs with Savanna on her heels.

“
Good night, Elena,” he
answered.

1CHAPTER 3

Elena woke the next morning, her mind
still numb from lack of sleep. She rolled out of bed on autopilot
and stumbled into the hallway, grabbing a clean towel from the
linen closet as she went. While she waited for the water to heat in
the shower, she dozed, her mind already focusing hazily on the
presentation she had to make this morning.

The warmth of the shower did little to
wake her. She turned off the water, squeezed it from her long hair
and dried with the towel, then wrapped the towel around her head
and moved to the mirror. Hurriedly she applied her makeup and
combed out her hair. It hung in a tumble of curls far down her
back, damp from the shower. Still more asleep than awake, she
wandered naked back to her room and slipped into her underclothes,
wrapping her silk robe around herself.

A cup of coffee was what she needed,
she decided as she left her room and headed for the stairs. She
rarely drank coffee, but this morning was an exception. With only
three hours of sleep under her belt, and that troubled at best with
thoughts of Joshua Ravensong...

Elena halted on the stairs and sucked
in her breath. In her sleepy confusion, she’d forgotten all about
the man who now slept on her couch - and what a man to
forget.

He was naked to the waist, his bronze
skin highlighting every taut muscle in his chest and arms. He’d
unbound the front of his hair from the braid he usually wore and it
lay about his broad shoulders in a shimmering curtain of black
ebony. A ray of sun had fallen across his high cheekbones causing
the two earrings in his left ear to sparkle incandescently. He’d
pushed the blanket down around his waist during sleep and Savanna
had made herself a warm nest in it, lying half across his flat,
muscled abdomen.

Slowly Elena exhaled. How had she
forgotten him when she’d done nothing but dream of his lips
brushing against hers all night?