"So?"
"It means that there is a chance of my being able to bind you both."
I shook my head. "No way, no vampire marks. Been there, done that, didn't like it."
"There were no marks on either of you in December," Jean-Claude said. "I think it will work without any now."
"Why are the two of you dressed like that?"
Richard looked embarrassed. "It was all I brought. I thought we were going to be sharing the bed last night."
I motioned at the shorts. "Those would not have helped us stay chaste, Richard."
Heat crept up his face. "I know; sorry."
"Tell me there is no lingerie in your suitcase, Ma petite."
"I never said there wasn't." Ronnie had talked me into an outfit just in case I gave in to Richard. She was willing for me to bed him before the wedding if it would knock Jean-Claude out of the running.
"Who'd you buy it for?" Richard asked quietly.
"You, but don't distract me. Why the nice jammies?"
"Richard and I have made an attempt or two on our own to call the power. It does not work with only the two of us. His dislike of me has rendered it useless."
"Is this true, Richard?"
He nodded. "Jean-Claude says we need our third; we need you."
"What's with the clothes?"
"Lust and anger were what drew the power the first time, Ma petite. We have our anger. We are missing our lust."
"Wait just a damn minute." I stared from one to the other of them. "Are you saying we become a mйnage а trois?"
"No," Richard said. He stood up. He walked towards me in his little shorts, flashing the room. "No sex, I promise you that. Even for this, I wouldn't have agreed to sharing you with him."
I ran my fingertips down the silk of his shorts, lightly, almost like I was afraid. "Then why the costumes?"
"We're running out of time, Anita. If this is going to work, it's got to work fast." He gripped my arms, his hands warm on my skin. "You said you'd help me with a plan. This is the plan."
I drew away from him slowly and turned to Jean-Claude. "And what do you get out of it?"
"Your happiness. No wolf will challenge Richard if we are a true triumvirate."
"My happiness, right." I studied his calm, lovely face, and had an idea. "You tasted Jason, didn't you? You tasted the power that he sucked off of Richard, didn't you? Didn't you, you son of a bitch?" I walked towards him as I talked, fighting an urge to hit him when I got there.
"What of it, Ma petite?"
I stood right in front of him, throwing the words into his face. "What do you gain from all this? And don't give me crap about my happiness. I've known you too long."
His face was at its mildest, its most disarming. "I would gain enough power that no master vampire, short of the council itself, would dare challenge me."
"I knew it. I knew it. You don't do anything without a dozen ulterior motives."
"I benefit in exactly the same way Monsier Zeeman benefits. We would both secure our power bases."
"Fine, what do I get out of it?"
"Why, Monsieur Zeeman's safety."
"Anita," Richard said softly. He touched my shoulder.
I whirled to face him. My angry words died at the look on his face. So serious, so solemn.
He gripped my shoulders, one hand cupping the side of my face. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to."
"Do you understand what he's suggesting, Richard? We would never be free of him." I touched his hand where he held my face. "Don't tie us to him like this, Richard. Once he gets a piece of you, he never lets go."
"If you really believed he was evil, you would have killed him a long time ago and been free of him."
If I didn't do this, and Richard died tonight, would I be able to live with it? I leaned into him, pressing my face against his chest, breathing in his scent. No. If he died and I could have saved him, I'd never be rid of the guilt.
Jean-Claude came to stand near us. "It may have been one of those freakish accidents that cannot be duplicated under controlled conditions, Ma petite. Magic is often like that."
I turned my face and looked at him, cheek still pressed to Richard's bare chest, his arms wrapped around my back. "No vampire marks on either of us, right?"
"I promise. The only thing I would ask is that none of us back away. We need a true idea of how much power we can call. If it is not much, then it is moot, but if it is as I believe, then it will solve a great many problems."
"You manipulative bastard."
"Is that a yes?" he asked.
"Yes," I said.
Richard hugged me. I let his arms hold me, comfort me, but it was Jean-Claude's eyes I met. There was a look on his face that was hard to describe. The devil must look like that after you've signed on the dotted line and given away your soul. Pleased, eager, and a little hungry.
25
"You and Monsieur Zeeman have a nice visit. I will take my turn in the bathroom, then join you."
Just hearing him say it out loud made me want to refuse. But I didn't. "Are you sure this isn't just your elaborate way of forming us into a mйnage а trois?"
"Would I be so devious?"
"Yeah."
He laughed, and the sound shivered over my skin like an ice cube dropped down my spine.
"I will leave you two alone." He brushed past us into the bathroom.
I stalked after him and caught the door before it could close. He looked at me through the opening. "Yes, Ma petite?"
"There better be something under that robe besides skin."
He smiled wide enough to show just a hint of fang. "Would I be so crude, Ma petite?"
"I don't know."
He nodded and closed the door.
I took a deep breath and turned to face the other man in my life. Richard's clothes lay folded on my suitcase. He moved towards me. The shorts were slit high enough that I could see almost a clear line from foot to waist.
If we were truly alone, I would have gone to him. What should have been romantic was suddenly chokingly awkward. I was very aware of the sounds of running water from the bathroom. Jean-Claude planned to join us. Sweet Jesus.
Richard still looked scrumptious with his hair falling across one eye. He had stopped moving closer. He finally shook his head. "Why is this suddenly so awkward?"
"I think the biggest reason is in the bathroom getting ready to join us."
He laughed and shook his head again. "It doesn't usually take us this long to be in each other's arms."
"No," I said. At this rate, we were going to be staring at each other like high school kids at a dance when Jean-Claude came back out.
"Meet me halfway," I said.
Richard smiled. "Always." He walked to meet me. The muscles in his stomach rippled as he moved.
I was suddenly sorry that I was wearing jeans and a polo shirt. I wanted him to see me in the lingerie I'd bought. I wanted his hands to run over the silk and my body underneath.
Richard and I stopped inches away from each other, neither one touching. I could smell his aftershave faintly. I was close enough to feel the warmth of his body. I wanted to run my hands over his bare chest. I wanted to run my hands down the front of those silk shorts. The thought was so real I crossed my arms to keep my hands busy.
Richard leaned over me. He ran his lips over my eyebrows, kissed my eyelids ever so gently. He reached my mouth, and I rose on tiptoe to meet him. He slid his arms around me.