The Merzetti Effect (A Vampire Romance) (10 page)

“Ainsley?”

She blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“You didn’t finish your thought.”

“That’s because I had another one.” Feeling off balance and not liking it one little bit, she went on the offensive. “Is there anything else I should know at this juncture?”

His expression did not change perceptibly, but somehow he was closing up on her. Damn him! He had no right‌—‌

“Ask me whatever you would.”

Huh? “Really?”

He extended his hands, palm up. “Really.”

I’m an open book, the gesture said. But gestures could lie, or speak partial truths. Time to see how much he would tell her.

“Who attacked your house?”

His left eyebrow shot up. “I thought Eli told you that much.”

“He did. Now I want you to tell me.”

“Very well.” He pushed a strand of long hair back from his forehead. “The assault was launched by a vampire, a rogue by the name of Radak Janecek. He knows the nature of my work‌—‌the search for a vaccine to inoculate the vulnerable. Clearly he fears I am getting too close, and chose to make a preemptive strike. Fortunately, he destroyed nothing that can’t be reproduced.”

“So you plan to resume your research?”

“As soon as possible.”

“When your house is repaired?”

“No.” He shook his head. “That will take months. I’ll set up a clinic here immediately.”

Her jaw dropped. “Here? In Montreal?”

“Yes, here.”

“But it can’t be as easy as that. Surely you can’t just literally drop from the sky in your helicopter and open a clinic? What about the local health authority? What about the Quebec government? What about Health Canada?”

He smiled. Not the polite, automatic social smile, not the apologetic one, not the rueful one. A real honest-to-God amused smile. It was, she thought, just the second real smile she’d seen from him. It flashed suddenly and was gone, further proof of its sincerity.

“I’m afraid this particular clinic is going to be an unsanctioned one. It would take far too long to get approval from the proper channels. But you may be certain the clientele won’t betray us.”

“Us?” She took a half-step backward. “You expect me to go back to work, then?”

“Ah, you have concerns about your safety.”

Ainsley lifted her chin. “After the last twenty-four hours, I’d have to be a fool not to have concerns about my safety. And I assure you, Dr. Bowen, I am no fool.”

“Indeed not, Ms. Crawford. Nor am I a fool. We shall have security worthy of a king. The clinic itself will be underground, and therefore there will be no official paper trail to lead my friend Janecek to it. That will buy us some time.”

“Underground, like the cavern in St. Cloud? Or underground, as in illicit?”

He shot her a reproving look. “The latter, although I prefer to think of it as unsanctioned rather than illicit.”

She nodded. “Is that it? You’re going to rely on hiding it?”

“That’s part of the picture, but hardly all of it. We will move it around, alternating locations. And before you ask, no vampire who would patronize our clinic would breathe a word to a rogue. He will not find us quickly, and when he does, we will be prepared.”

“
When
he does? Not
if
he does?”

“As passionate as I am about creating this vaccine, that’s how determined he is to prevent it. He won’t stop until he destroys the research.”

Ainsley felt a cold frisson of fear skitter along her spine. “And you.”

“What about me?”

She shot him a reproving look. “You know what I mean. He can’t rest until he’s eliminated you, too. He knows the research won’t die until you die.”

“I was rather planning on not letting that happen, but yes, that sums up his intentions quite fairly, I should think.”

“But all he needs to do is find out where you’re staying, right? He can launch another military-type attack and take the top floor of this high-rise right out. Probably the entire building, if he wanted.” In her mind, she saw a replay of the Twin Towers collapsing.

“No.” Delano shook his head decisively. “He won’t use the same approach again. Even if he were inclined to, by the time he finds us, he’ll know we’ll have sophisticated anti-aircraft capability in place.”

“Anti-aircraft capability?”

Those heavy eyebrows drew together again in a fierce frown. “He won’t catch us napping again.”

Oh, man, was he for real? Probably. After all, he owned a freaking stealth helicopter. And she hadn’t even known such a thing existed. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “Sitting on an oil well, are we?”

“An oil well?” His eyebrows drew together.

“It’s an expression, Del. An idiom. I was alluding to your seemingly bottomless pockets.”

“Ah.” His frown cleared.

“So, is there no limit to your resources?”

His eyes glinted with humor again. “There’s a limit to everything, Ainsley, but I’m happy to say not even I shall live long enough to exhaust my resources.”

“Shut up!”

He laughed. “Ah, another idiom. I know that one.”

“No, I mean
shut the hell up
! That’s appalling. You’re saying you have more money than you can spend in a century? Centuries? Omigod, that’s obscene.”

Again, he laughed. “When one has a surfeit of time and a sufficiently long look at human behavioral trends, you’d be amazed what the markets will yield. Oh, and yes, I am sitting on an oil well. Or twenty.”

It was her turn to laugh. Dammit, she was supposed to be grilling him, but she couldn’t help herself. “Why does that not surprise me?”

His smile faded. “Not much throws you off stride, I’ve noticed. You’re very … resilient.”

She sobered too. “Resilient, yes. Bulletproof, no. I don’t like this, Delano.” She held up a hand when it looked like he might interrupt. “I don’t have nine lives like you appear to have. Maybe I should go back to St. Cloud, look for more conventional work. Or maybe I could pack up my stuff and go west. Pay scale’s much better in Alberta or British Columbia. Or maybe south of the border, although that would take paperwork…

“That sounds like a very reasonable plan.”

His easy acquiescence was like a blade, slicing into her with no forewarning. He was going to send her on her way just like that, with no protest?

“But not quite yet, I’m afraid,” he continued. “There’s still the matter of your possible infection. Beginning a new job for a new employer in a new city is not where you want to start getting all toothy around a bloody trauma case.”

“Oh, right. That.” She glanced away. “Surely it won’t be much longer.”

“A few weeks, I should think. If you’re not evidencing antibody activity by then, I think we can declare you unscathed from your adventure.”

“Unscathed?” She snorted. “My life has been threatened twice, once by bite and once by bomb. I was whisked away in the night and left to deal with the knowledge that my boss is playing for the skins team when I thought he was playing for the shirts, and now‌—” Her voice broke. Mortified, she turned away.

Damn, damn and damn again. She was going to cry. No, she was already crying. He detected the betraying salt smell of her tears.

“I’m sorry, I’m suddenly not feeling all that resilient.”

He suppressed a groan. Every chivalrous instinct he owned urged him to take her in his arms, offer her the physical comfort she so clearly needed. Except there were other instincts to be considered. Like the call of her blood to his, the all-but-audible surge of it in her veins…

Damn, maybe he should call Eli.

Her head snapped up. “Don’t even suggest it!”

What the hell?
“Pardon me?”

“Don’t you dare offer Eli for me to use as some kind of security blanket.” She dashed tears away with the back of her hand.

By all the saints, she’d done it again! Deduced his thoughts as though she’d plucked them straight from his head. Just like the other time, when he’d gone out to find Webber. He scowled. And drew a shield tight around his thoughts.

“There you go again, thinking you can read my mind. For your information, Nurse Crawford, I was not about to offer Eli’s services, in that or any other respect.” Hearing his own words, Delano could almost credit them. He hoped she would, too. “Believe it or not, there are one or two things I can do for myself without resorting to a proxy.”
Pray God this was one of them.
He took her hand and pulled her toward him. “Now, come here. My shoulder is quite up to the job, I assure you.”

He expected an argument. Wariness. At the very least, he expected to have to reassure her that such intimate contact was perfectly safe. That having fed mere moments ago, he was unlikely to be overcome with lust. But she turned into his arms with a choked sob, making it unnecessary for him to utter yet another lie.

“I’m sorry.” The words were mumbled against his shirt. “I never do this. Really. I’m always the one who holds it together.”

“Hush, Ainsley. I know. Don’t worry about it.”

His arms closed awkwardly around her, and her arms gripped back as though he were a lifeline. Her breath warmed his chest through his shirt, and he felt a fine tremor shudder through her. And oh Jesus God, it was good to feel the touch of another human, let alone the press of a woman’s flesh against his own. How long had it been?

Very quickly, the steady thudding of her heart impinged on his awareness, distracting him from the simple comfort of warm contact. He felt the pumping of her heart as distinctly as his own. At this range, the muted surge and whisper of her blood became a roaring in his ears. To his heightened senses, her body felt like a blazing furnace, even through the layers of clothing they wore, and her heated scent rose to tantalize his nostrils.

He tried to keep a lid on things, reminding himself that she was distraught. She needed his comfort, not his lust. Even now her tears burned him through the fine cotton of his shirt, and sobs wracked her body.

Despite his best efforts, a sensory image of how she would taste‌—‌her lips, her skin, her blood‌—‌flooded his senses…

Jesus, Bowen. Get hold of yourself!

He fixed on her heart sounds, imagining the corresponding functions. Better.

Right atrium contracting. Now, the right ventricle. Back surge as the blood tried to flow back into the right atrium. Both right and left atrioventricular valves closing.

Lub.

Pressure building, blood squeezing out of the right ventricle, through the pulmonary semilunar valve, and into the pulmonary artery. Pulmonary semilunar valve and the aortic semilunar valve closing.

Dub.

Lub, dub. Lub, dub. Lub, dub.

No, no, no. Not good. Tune it out. Think of something else!

He found himself stroking her hair, though he had no conscious memory of lifting his hand to her head. Lord, it was like spun silk, fine and warm and fragrant and straighter even than his own. His fingers itched to pull out the clasp that trapped it in that twist at her nape, but that would never do. Such actions were for lovers. And he would never‌—‌could never‌—‌be that.

For to taste her might be to die.

His blood cooled fractionally.

At the same moment, she pulled back, wiping her eyes. “Oh, God, I’m sorry. That was … embarrassing.”

Delano stepped back. Thank God. Space. Layers of air between them. He could breathe again.

“No, that was merely human, Ainsley. In the last week, you’ve had to absorb more than most people could cope with and still keep their sanity. I think a few tears are allowed.”

She laughed, daubing at her eyes again. “Well, that was more than a few tears, but thank you. I guess everything just sort of caught up with me.”

He nodded. “Exactly so. And if you don’t feel like returning to work under the circumstances, I will understand entirely. Of course, whether you attend the clinics or not, I will see that your salary is deposited.”

Her chin came up. Her violet eyes, washed almost blue from her tears, sparkled with temper.

“My need is great, as you’ve pointed out on numerous occasions, and your pockets are clearly very deep, but I could hardly take your money if I’m not working.”

“Nonsense. You wouldn’t be in this position if you hadn’t answered my advertisement.”

“But‌—”

“But nothing. Had you not answered my ad, you would not have ventured near that alley, and thus you would not have been savaged by Edward Webber. And had you not been bitten, you would not have been under my care, indeed under my roof, when Janecek attacked. In short, you would not be here, in the particular situation in which you find yourself. So, whether you choose to work or not, your salary will continue.”

She inclined her head. “That’s very generous of you, Dr. Bowen, but I insist on earning my pay. But before you rush to canonize me, you should know that I’ll be insisting on something else.”

Something else? His pulse kicked. “And what would that be?”

“Danger pay.” She fixed him with a steely look. “I think twenty-five percent over the basic compensation package ought to do it.”

Danger pay? That was all she wanted? He’d been half afraid she was going to try to extract something much harder for him to give. Money, however, was not a problem. Hell, he could easily afford to pay her ten times the salary she was earning, and he wouldn’t begrudge a penny of it. Unfortunately, he couldn’t risk handing her so much money that her financial pressures evaporated altogether. Her financial need was a major tool in keeping her close. But surely twenty-five percent he could do without jeopardizing the situation. And she was quite right‌—‌danger pay was definitely in order.