Page 12 of Marked By Moonlight
My head throbbed, and I closed my eyes, hating that I had enough of a criminal mind to consider eavesdropping on my friends but not the guts to follow through. On the plus side, I’d taken the next step as far as shadow-walking was concerned. So I decided to call it a win.
A minute later, I headed inside, gobbled down a thick square of Madame Picard’s baking chocolate — just to stave off another headache, I swear! — then resumed work in the upper floor of the west wing.
Two hours later, I awarded myself a five-minute break on the back step. I closed my eyes and tilted my face toward the sky, where the sun had finally peeked out through the clouds. The men had long since ended their powwow and were out of sight, though definitely not out of mind.
Footsteps sounded across the lawn, and a shadow fell across my face.
“Got a second?” Bene asked.
I cracked an eye open, raised a hand against the sun, then dropped it again.
“No.”
I closed my eyes, wishing him away while simultaneously hoping he would stay.
He sat beside me and nudged me with his elbow. “I brought you a gift.”
Paper rustled as he pressed something into my hands.
I’d been doing my best to stay bitchy and aloof, but I just didn’t have it in me.
“A gift?” I asked, ninety percent excited, ten percent suspicious.
“Yep, a gift. Go ahead. Open it.”
The “wrapping” was just a paper bag, but hey. It was the thought that counted. I pulled out a small, round object and broke into a smile.
“A snow globe!” I shook it, making fake flakes stir around a line of historic buildings. Then I read the letters beneath. “Brussels.”
“Brussels.” Bene nodded.
I looked at him, and he dipped his chin, confirming that was where they’d been.
My mind filed away that clue to Marius’s whereabouts. Now, if only I could find a snow globe that revealed a dragon’s location in real time.
I shook it again, then closed my eyes and sighed.
Bene cocked his head. “What?”
I considered the wisdom of sharing my emotions, then went ahead, consequences be damned.
“I’m just bemoaning my taste in men. I could have a guy who brings me good humor and gifts instead of one who disappears without a word.”
Bene waggled his eyebrows. “Not too late, you know.”
I laughed. Ah, but itwastoo late. Marius had thoroughly conquered my heart. Too bad I hadn’t conquered his.
“Seriously, what’s stopping us?” Bene persisted.
“Sorry, Bene. Not interested. Sleeping with you would be like sleeping with a brother. It would feel all wrong.”
He leaned in with a lusty, “Believe me, I could make it feel just right.”
I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. I prayed he was, because otherwise…ick. Making the moves on me after only one day without Marius? It just wasn’t right.
I shook my head firmly. “You should have slept with Claudette while you had the chance.”
“I did,” he said bluntly.
