Under a Vampire Moon (25 page)

“Hmm.” He eyed her silently, and then said, “Hang on to the wheel for a minute.” When she reached out to place a hand on it, he immediately turned to dig through his shelf again, coming up with another chocolate bar. “Take this anyway, just in case. It’s a long way to Fond Doux.”

“Thank you,” Carolyn murmured. She slipped the chocolate bar into her bag and settled on her seat once more as he took the wheel. “Fond Doux is the cocoa plantation, right?”

Jack nodded, but he was looking ahead again and his eyes narrowed. “Yeah, band boy definitely isn’t a morning person.”

Carolyn glanced back to the dock. Christian was now pacing, arms crossed and a scowl on his face as he watched them approach. She didn’t comment, but simply watched Christian curiously as Jack eased back on the throttle. The moment he steered the boat up to the landing, the crew burst into action, grabbing lines of rope and leaping off to fasten the boat in place.

“Stay put,” Jack ordered when Carolyn started to slip off her seat to join the other passengers lining up to disembark. “Shaky as you are you’re likely to take a dip in the drink if someone bumps you as you’re getting off.”

Carolyn grimaced, but settled back in her seat. Mostly because she knew he was right. She wasn’t happy doing it though. Now that they’d docked, she wanted off . . . and it had absolutely nothing to do with a sudden eagerness to talk to Christian, she assured herself. After all, he was gay. Right?

“Okay,” Jack said finally, and then immediately caught her arm when she leaped off her stool and nearly overbalanced and fell on her face. Frowning, he said firmly, “You should have eaten that chocolate bar. And I think you should be tested for hypoglycemia when you get back to Canada.”

“Hypoglycemia?” she asked with surprise.

He nodded. “I have an aunt with it and you’re acting like she does when her blood sugar’s low.” He led her across the boat. “It’s not something to be messed with.”

They’d reached the side of the boat, and Carolyn gasped in surprise when Jack suddenly caught her by the waist to lift her over the foot-wide gap between boat and landing. Christian was immediately there, clasping her waist above Jack’s hands, his thumbs just below her breasts as he tried to take her, but Jack didn’t let go and she dangled briefly over the water between the two men as he said, “She keeps going pale, gets the shakes, and gets a bit disoriented. I think her blood sugar’s low. Keep an eye on her and make sure she eats the chocolate bar in her bag.”

The scowl on Christian’s face eased somewhat, replaced by concern as he peered sharply at Carolyn.

“I skipped breakfast,” she muttered with embarrassment, wishing they’d put her down. She didn’t particularly want to take a dip in the drink and was very aware that it was right beneath her.

Christian eyed her for a moment, his gaze sliding over her face, and then he glanced to Jack, his voice grudging as he said, “Thanks for looking out for her.”

“Don’t thank me,” Jack laughed, finally releasing her. “I enjoyed it. I’m just glad she has a friend to look out for her on land. I’d be disappointed if she fell ill and wasn’t on the return journey.”

Carolyn felt her face heat up and wasn’t sure if it was Jack’s teasing or the fact that the sides of Christian’s thumbs were rubbing against the bottom of her breasts as he eased her to the dock. She stepped away from him as soon as her feet hit the wood, and then sighed as she swayed and Christian immediately took her arm.

“Hang on.” Jack moved back to the helm. She wasn’t surprised when he returned with another chocolate bar. Holding it out, he said, “A spare. Make sure you have one as soon as you’re in the bus. And eat a big meal at the plantation.”

“You’re going to run out of chocolate at this rate,” Carolyn said as she leaned forward to take the offering. Christian’s hands were immediately at her hips to keep her from overbalancing and plunging into the water and Carolyn felt herself flush again.

Jack grinned at her embarrassed expression, and shook his head. “Nah. I’ll buy another box of them while you’re gone. Then I’ll give you flowers, chocolate, and drinks on the way back and we’ll really be going steady.”

Carolyn flushed again and muttered, “Thank you,” then straightened and glanced around with surprise when something like a growl came from Christian.

“The buses are waiting for us,” he said grimly, urging her away, his hands still at her hips.

“Have fun, wench,” Jack said cheerfully and Carolyn managed a smile and wave over her shoulder before Christian dropped his hold on her waist to take her arm instead and began to move so fast she had to watch where she was going or risk falling on her face. Not that she probably would have, he was holding her arm too tightly for that. Painfully tightly, actually, she noted with a frown. Before she could ask him to ease up, she did stumble. Christian didn’t even miss a beat, but scooped her up in his arms and continued quickly to the buses.

Twelve

“I
can walk,” Carolyn muttered with embarrassment as they were waved past the first and second full minibuses to the third one.

“Not fast enough,” he said shortly.

Carolyn scowled, but held her tongue as he carried her onto the bus. She wished she’d insisted though when she saw the curious stares they were garnering. He carried her to the only empty bench seat in the very back on the right and settled on it with her in his lap.

“Er . . .” Carolyn murmured, at a bit of a loss. Everyone was staring and . . . well, she was in his lap, for heaven’s sake. It was bad enough he’d carried her on, but he could have set her on the seat. Instead, he was holding her in his lap as if she were an injured child . . . or a lover, she thought as his scent enveloped her now that they weren’t moving. He smelled like the jungle on a rainy day, a slightly musky scent that made her forget people were staring. It also made her suddenly aware of the heat of his chest pressing along her side and his hard lap beneath her.

Biting her lip, Carolyn raised her head, her eyes widening when she met his gaze and found herself staring into eyes more silver than black. Silver. Not gray. She’d never seen anything so beautiful . . . or impossible.

“Your eyes,” she whispered with confusion as they began to move closer, almost as if his head were lowering to hers, she thought with bemusement.

Christian stilled at once, and then shifted her to sit on the bench seat beside him. Oddly enough, while it was what she’d wanted moments ago, she now felt a pang of disappointment.

“Eat your chocolate,” he growled.

“But your eyes,” she said, shifting on the seat to try to see them again.

“Colored contacts,” he said grimly. “Eat your chocolate.”

Carolyn frowned at how snappy he was being, but settled back in her seat to unwrap her chocolate bar. The damned wrapper must have been sealed with Krazy Glue. She couldn’t seem to get the thing open, but gasped with surprise when Christian cursed and snatched it from her fumbling fingers. His face was grim, his jaw clenched as he impatiently opened it for her.

“There. Eat,” he snarled, pushing it back at her. When she didn’t take it right away, his gaze shifted to her face and he frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“That’s what I’m wondering,” she said wearily. “You’re snapping at me like I stole your favorite toy.”

Christian glanced away, then sighed, peered back, and offered an apologetic half-smile. “Sorry. I’m not a morning person.”

Carolyn relaxed a little and took the chocolate bar, mumbling, “Jack said that was probably the case when you were scowling at us from the dock. Or maybe I said it,” she added with a frown. It was hard to recall just then. One of them had said it.

“Eat your chocolate,” Christian said, every word carefully enunciated. “Your hands are shaking so bad I’m surprised you can hold it.”

Carolyn shifted her attention to her hands, noting absently that they were indeed shaking. She was also all sweaty again, and her heart was racing as if she’d been running. On top of that, it was growing hard to think. When Christian suddenly caught the hand holding the chocolate bar and pulled it toward his face, she thought he was going to take a bite himself, but instead he turned her hand and pressed his nose to the inside of her wrist. Carolyn just gaped as he inhaled deeply, and then he cursed and quickly urged the hand toward her until the chocolate touched her lips.

“Eat,” Christian growled.

“What’s wrong with my perfume?” she asked with a frown.

“What?” he asked, the confused one now.

“You sniffed me and cursed,” she explained. “What’s wrong with—” Carolyn’s words died as he urged the chocolate into her open mouth. It seemed she would eat or he would shove it down her throat. Scowling at him around the bar, she took a bite, relieved when he let go.

“There’s nothing wrong with your perfume,” Christian said grimly as she chewed. He stood up, muttering, “It’s your blood that’s the problem.”

Carolyn stared after him with amazement as she chewed. He was walking slowly up the aisle, his gaze moving over the people on the bus as he went. She had swallowed and taken a second bite when he suddenly paused and turned to an older couple on the right. She didn’t see his lips move, but suddenly the woman held up a bottle of orange liquid to him. Christian took it and immediately headed back to her, moving much more swiftly.

“Here.”

She stared blankly at the bottle of orange juice when he opened it and held it out. “How did you—”

“Drink,” he insisted quietly. “It will get the sugar into your system faster than the chocolate and you need it,
cara
. Your blood sugar is bottoming out.”

Carolyn blinked. His anger appeared to be gone now, concern and caring in its place.

“Drink,” he repeated, pressing the bottle to her lips.

She took over holding it and opened her mouth to allow the liquid to pour in. It was cool and sweet and she drank it quickly. The moment she lowered the empty bottle, Christian took it back, recapped it, and set it on the seat between them. He then gestured to the chocolate bar, and watched silently as she continued to eat it. He just sat there staring at her as if she were a child and he needed to be sure she ate the bar and didn’t shove it down the side of her seat or something.

“Stop staring at me,” she muttered. “You’re as bad as Captain Jack.”

That made his mouth twist with displeasure and annoyance creep back to replace some of the concern on his face. His voice was tart when he said, “You appear to have made a friend in Captain Jack. He was all over you on the boat.”

Carolyn raised her eyebrows at his testy voice and eyed him silently as she popped the last bite of chocolate into her mouth. If she didn’t know he was gay, she’d have said he was jealous of the man. But he
was
gay, so there was no reason for this reaction. Unless . . .

U
ncomfortable under her narrowing gaze, Christian took the chocolate wrapper from her, balled it up, and glanced around, wondering if there was a garbage container at the front of the bus. His gaze found the woman standing beside the driver. She’d been droning on for a couple of minutes about the highlights of Soufriere and its history. He hadn’t caught a word of it.

“You’re jealous.”

That accusation from Carolyn made him glance to her sharply with surprise. It was true. Jealousy had been eating at him like acid since he’d seen her laughing and chatting with the boat captain. But it had positively devoured him when the man had put his arm around Carolyn as she’d placed a necklace of flowers around his neck. He’d wanted to wring his neck, and he probably would have had he been on the boat. She was his life mate. No man should touch her.

Christian’s reaction had been just as visceral when the man had lifted Carolyn off the boat. He couldn’t move quickly enough to get her out of his hands, and when the fellow had resisted his taking her and held on, he’d seen red. Christian had been about to slip into his thoughts when the fellow had said that bit about her blood sugar. Christian had forced himself to relax then, but it had been a struggle. The captain was entirely too comfortable touching his woman.

And Carolyn hadn’t protested it either, he thought grimly. But then she had no idea yet that she was his. She thought he was gay, which was why he was surprised that she recognized he was jealous.

“It’s okay.” She patted his hand now. “I understand. He is a hottie. All those tan, rippling muscles and the piratey hair.”

Christian ground his teeth together and considered wringing her neck instead of Captain Jack’s. How dare she think the man a hottie? And what was she doing noticing his rippling muscles? She was his, dammit, whether she knew it or not.

“Not my type,” she continued. “I mean, he seems nice enough and all, and probably loads of fun, but there was just no spark for some reason.”

While Carolyn was now frowning, apparently perplexed as to why that would be the case, Christian felt himself relax and even begin to grin at these words. She wasn’t attracted to Captain Jack, rippling muscles and piratey hair or not. Ha!

Heaving a sigh, she said more cheerfully, “The good news is, he was only flirting with me because Genie told him to make sure I had a good time, so who knows, you may yet be in luck. He could be gay too.” She looked dubious even as she said it, but then added encouragingly, “Or maybe bisexual at least.”