Page 74 of The Assassin and the Libertine
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This short story was originally published in a holiday-themed charity anthology some years ago. The events take place after the end of the first book, but before the epilogue that leads to Charlotte’s book.
CHAPTER ONE
DAPHNE
December 22, 1765
Château de Maintenon
“Duchesse,you are absolutely forbidden to leave until I am done with you.”
The languid words slid out from beneath a tangled pile of bed linens and pillows in the darkness.
I arched a brow. Even though the room was black as pitch, I knew he would be able to see my haughty expression. “You think you can command me to do as you wish, Monsieur?”
I’d managed to get half-dressed—in the dark withnolady’s maid, I might add—before waking him, or so I thought.
I heard the grin in his voice when he uttered the short word. “Yes.”
Before I could blink, I was naked again, wrapped up in iron-strong arms and the rumpled sheets from our evening of lovemaking. That was what it was like being engaged to a vampire—it made one glad to be on the right side of all that supernatural strength and speed.And hunger.
“You thought to sneak out of here while I slept, didn’t you?” Étienne murmured, sowing kisses along the curve of my ear. “How many times must I tell you? There’s no sneaking around me. I willalwayshear you.Andsee you.Andsmell you.” He punctuated his last words with a deep inhale at the crook of my neck that ended in a satisfied little growl.
I sighed. “Well, you were sleeping like the dead?—"
“Iamdead,” he chuckled.
“—and I have too much to do today,” I finished, ignoring his quip. “I don’t know what time it is, but I’m certain it’s late. Or early. The point is, I cannot lounge around in bed with you all day. I have a Christmas Eve party to finish planning and a summons from The Order that I cannot ignore.”
“You’ve only been here a few hours,” Étienne said.
“Ha!”
“The sun isn’t even up yet,” he drawled. “You haveagesof time before you have to leave,” he pleaded, pressing his finely sculpted body against mine.
I laughed. “I arrived here at midnight. I’m certain it’s long past sunrise.”
“Perhaps you are right…” Cool fingers caressed my skin, sending shivers dancing along my body. “Perhaps I am deliberately misleading you to get what I want.”
“That’s no way to talk to your future wife,” I retorted, a bit breathlessly.
“That’sexactlyhow I should talk to my future wife,” Étienne said lazily as his hands firmly grasped my bottom. I squealed and rolled away from him—if we kept up this playful banter, it would be another several sweat-soaked hours before I’d be able to drag myself away from his embrace.
Étienne sighed dramatically. “If you must, you must. Though you know I’ve also been summoned by The Order. Why don’t we go together? We could make an evening of it—a midnight strollthrough theJardin du Roi,a stop at that late nightpâtisseriefor something sweet for you and then aromanticassignation with a cabal of dangerous men who will probably charge me with crimes against humanity and the crown and then assign you to kill me again. What do you think, pet?”
“We’ve already been through that,pet. Besides, I told you that they’ve changed their tune. Now, instead of systematically eliminating those poor souls suffering from the blood plague, they’ve agreed to try and help the vampires integrate with the remaining uninfected in France. And as the vampire emissary to the king, you’re their most important ally for the cause. I wouldn’t let a little thing like attempted murder get in the way of such a promising future.”
Étienne chuckled again. “Well, I suppose if you put it like that…I wouldn’t want to disappoint the most powerful duchesse of thetonne.”
“Powerful?Quelle romance!Is that all you think of me?” I teased, lacing up my stays. Instantly, he was behind me, tugging at the ribbons again.
“Powerful, elegant, striking, quick?—"
“All things that could be said of a horse.”
“Only the mostexceptionalhorse.”
