Total pages in book: 172
Estimated words: 155984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Blaise nodded his understanding. “Sevastyan wouldn’t just leave you, though. Where is he? I can’t imagine that with your leopard rising he’d just go work at his cousin’s house.”
She made an exasperated sound. “I didn’t want him where anyone could see him. That would just scare her off. In any case, you know how he is about his cousin. Mitya’s house is right next door. It isn’t like the time between houses isn’t minutes.”
Not one word she said was a lie. She’d practiced what she would say when the question of Sevastyan came up. She knew it would. They all knew it would. She’d implied Sevastyan was at Mitya’s, she hadn’t said he was.
“I don’t like any client knowing where you live,” Blaise reiterated. “Let alone one we haven’t checked out thoroughly.”
“She won’t know this is my home,” Flambé pointed out. “I’ll meet briefly with her. The rest of the extraction team will have the children with them and they’ll take her to join them at the safe house, where we can decide what to do after I’ve talked with her.”
Blaise nodded. Flambé hadn’t stepped off the verandah. She was tucked back in the security of the alcove, which couldn’t be seen from any of the trees or rolling hills. Sevastyan and his team of security guards had made certain, looking from every angle, making absolutely sure that no one could get a shot at her if that was the intention. Blaise had left the alcove several times to lean out over the railing, shading his eyes in spite of his sunglasses to peer down the road.
“Why are you so nervous?” Flambé asked curiously. “This isn’t that different than any other time.”
“I don’t know. It just feels off to me.”
Flambé tried not to feel hopeful. Or elated. Maybe they were all wrong about Blaise after all. She didn’t want him to be working against her. She felt real affection for him. He might not be what she wanted in a life partner, but she felt close to him.
“You realize I don’t have any family at all, Blaise. No siblings, no cousins. No one. You’re the closest thing to family I have.” She meant it. There was an ache in her voice. She couldn’t help it. Blaise heard it and he turned around to face her, his back to the railing.
“What’s wrong, Flambé?”
“I don’t know. Nothing. Everything. I don’t think you’re happy and I want you to be. Why don’t you date anymore? You used to go out all the time.”
He hesitated. Like Flambé, he was well aware leopards could hear lies. “I want a life partner, not a one-night stand. I got damn tired of those.”
“Can I ask you a personal question? It’s really personal,” she warned.
He shrugged, looking wary, but he nodded. His gaze on her face was very focused, indicating his leopard was close.
“Are your nerve endings in your body close to the surface?”
He frowned. “I don’t know what you mean exactly.”
“In some strawberry leopards”—Flambé chose her words carefully—“nerve endings are very close to the surface. It can cause real pain if touched the wrong way. It can also develop into a need for sex all the time. I just wondered if that happened to you.”
Those eyes didn’t blink. Didn’t leave hers. He shook his head slowly. “Do you have that problem?”
She had been afraid if she asked, he would retaliate. It was natural that he would. Male strawberry leopards seemed to have a healthy sex drive, like most shifters, but they didn’t seem to suffer the genetic affliction some of the women did.
“Are you a hemophiliac?”
He shook his head, frowning now, worry creeping into his eyes. “Flambé, what the hell? Are you? Your father never said a word.”
“My mother hemorrhaged in childbirth, Blaise. It was genetic, so yes, I am. I take iron, of course, but I need more than that if I’m going to stay alive. They have a few newer things to try than they did in my mother’s time.”
Blaise shoved his hand through his hair in agitation. “I wish your father had told me. You shouldn’t have been working with all the equipment, Flambé. Too many accidents can happen. One slip of a pruning knife and you’ve got a dangerous cut.”
“I try to take precautions.”
“But you didn’t tell anyone. You should have at least told me.” He swung around, his fingers biting deep into the wooden beams of the railing. “I didn’t understand your father. He put you out of the house, left you on your own and then never once reined you in when you needed it. Hell. You could have died.”
There was real caring in his voice. Again, she didn’t want to believe he had anything to do with betrayal.
“I can’t live my entire life shut up in my room, Blaise.”
“No, but you could be more careful,” he said. “A hell of a lot more careful. What did you mean about nerve endings and needing sex all the time?”