Stakes & Stilettos - Michelle Rowen [119]
But then Thierry kissed me again and it felt very real.
A tear slipped down my cheek and that felt pretty real, too.
“How did you know?” I whispered against his lips. “How did you know I was lying?”
“I just knew.” His lips curled to the side. “Now are you going to tell me who has you afraid, or do you want to continue to keep this terrible secret from me?”
I bit my bottom lip and let out a long, shuddery breath. “It’s Gideon Chase.”
I’d never seen shock on Thierry’s face before. It didn’t really suit him. “But… Gideon is dead.”
I shook my head. “Empty casket. He’s horribly burned, but he’s not dead.”
And then, as quietly as I could, I told Thierry everything and with every word I spoke I felt the horrible weight that pressed against my chest lift little by little. I told him about Gideon’s plan for me to sire him, and of his threats if I didn’t. I told him that Gideon was the one who’d killed Stacy. And finally how Gideon had forced me to break up with him.
His expression grew more grave and serious with everything I said, and there was a fierce look of determination on his face by the end when he met my gaze.
“And yes,” I said. “The Red Devil obviously isn’t the real one. Hindsight is twenty-twenty and all that.”
“I will refrain from saying I told you so.”
“I’d appreciate it.” I let out a long sigh of relief. “I’m so glad you know. Now we can fix this together.”
He didn’t say anything to that.
“Thierry?” I prompted. “How are we going to fix this?”
“That is a very good question,” he said. “Gideon Chase is a formidable hunter, and one who has never shown any mercy. Now he’s desperate to be cured even if it means becoming the very thing he’s hunted his entire life. There is no easy answer to this.”
“But we’ll figure something out, right?”
He stroked the hair off my forehead and tucked it behind my left ear. “Yes, we will. But until then we need for him to believe that I know nothing. It’s safer if we play along with his little games.”
“So what do we do?”
“I’ll be leaving on the next plane to France, and you can sort all of this out here by yourself. Please let me know how it all turns out.”
I gaped at him. “Please tell me this is another attempt at that humor thing you’ve been trying lately.”
He frowned. “I’m not very good at it, am I?”
I shook my head. “I love you even without the knock-knock jokes. Seriously.”
His expression softened. “This is good to know.”
“Gideon is convinced I was successful at breaking up with you.”
“Then he must continue to think that. As far as anyone will know, we’re no longer together.”
“Everyone? Even George?”
His dark eyebrows rose. “Especially George. If George knows, the world knows.”
“Good point.” I twisted my hand into the silky material of Thierry’s black shirt. “So we’ll stay away from each other until this is over.”
He nodded slowly. “That would be best.”
“Then you probably should be leaving now.”
“I should.” He kissed me again deeply and it nearly took my breath away. “I’m very glad you have the gold chain. Much safer that way, isn’t it?”
“This doesn’t feel very safe to me,” I breathed against his mouth.
He picked me up in his arms. “George is working until 6:00 a.m. at the club. That, I believe, gives us four hours until he returns.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck. “For a master vampire, you’re very good at math. But… but we need to figure out what we’re going to do about Gideon. And how can we make everybody believe that we’re not together? Obviously I’m a really bad liar if you figured it out.”
“We’ll find a way. But not tonight. Or, at least, not in the next four hours.”
“But—”
“Do you love me?” he asked very seriously.
“Yes.” My eyes filled with tears again. “I love you so much.”
“Then that’s all that matters. You haven’t known me that long, Sarah. You don’t know how I can be when there