The Broken Ornament Read online

  “Sure, boss. I’ll be right there. I’ll get a few things, just in case your companion doesn’t like what I get. It will give him a few things to choose from.”

  “Right. Just get here as soon as possible and plan for a trip to the mall.”

  “Uh… Yes, sir.”

  Hunter smiled at the confused tone of his driver’s voice. He would wonder all the way here and that would get him here all the sooner because he would want to see what companion could get Hunter to go to a mall.

  He stared at Cherie as she stood looking out over the ocean and knew that he would live in a mall if that would give him the right to call her his.

  With a sigh, he faced the fact that he would have to try to control her just to see if he could erase her mind. He couldn’t make her do something she wouldn’t do without a fight. He had to make her do something that was against her personal rules like steal something or—he smiled wickedly—kiss a man she’d just met.

  Chapter Nine

  Cherie stood staring out the window at the ocean below. She’d always wanted to see the Atlantic. While the big lakes looked like inland oceans, it just wasn’t the same. She hoped she would get a chance to swim in it before she left. She wanted to know what the saltwater felt like against her skin. Would it feel gritty or would it feel like fresh water?

  The sun, well above the line of the horizon now, shone down onto the sand. Waves rushed over the shore, as children ran screaming playfully from the water. Pain knifed through her when she thought of Nikki and how she would have loved swimming in the ocean.

  Hunter walked up beside her, his arm brushing against hers. Shivers ran up her spine at the contact. She looked up at him, watching as he looked out over the ocean.

  Kiss me.

  Cherie blinked as she looked at his full lips. They were extremely kissable, but she just didn’t kiss men she’d just met.

  Kiss me, Cherie. You know you want to.

  God help her, she did want to kiss him, but why was she hearing his voice in her head telling her to do so?

  You’re hearing my voice because you want to kiss me so badly.

  No. I don’t. I don’t kiss men I have just met,she told the part of her imagination that kept prodding her.

  At that moment, Hunter turned to stare down at her. There was something about his eyes that she found so compelling that she barely noticed that his face kept growing closer to hers.

  Her mind warned her, back up! But her body just wouldn’t obey. She stood watching as he grew closer and closer, unable to make herself move away from him.

  Why? Why couldn’t she bring herself to step back? Her mind kept screaming at her to move her feet, but her slippers seemed glued to the floor.

  She’d never believed it when she read about the electric shock, the fireworks behind eyelids when a woman kissed a man in almost all of the romance novels she read. Sure, it was a lovely concept, but she had never experienced it, and Cherie had certainly kissed her share of men. However, when Hunter pressed his lips against hers, she saw them. She felt it the moment Hunter kissed her.

  She refused to close her eyes. She watched him as his eyes closed and he groaned. What was it about this man that made it so impossible to stop him from kissing her? Cherie’s eyes opened wider when her lips parted, seemingly of their own volition.

  As soon as her mouth opened, Hunter took advantage, thrusting his tongue past her teeth to tangle with her own before charting a course over her teeth as though counting each and every one.

  Shivers slid along her spine and warmth settled in her middle. Even though her mind still protested, she didn’t fight him when he pulled her tight against him, molding her body to his. She could feel every hard inch of him and, she thought with no small degree of clarity, some parts were harder than others. Still, though she feared the worst, that she was in the hotel room of the man who had actually kidnapped her and planned to assault her, she couldn’t force herself to push him away.

  Finally closing her eyes, she gave in to the kiss, hoping this was nothing more than a dream. If this really was happening, she prayed that he would stop before she helped him take advantage of her.

  Nothing could compare to the feel of his warm, experienced lips sliding against hers. This was no clumsy kiss of a boy suffering from heightened hormones. No. This was the kiss of a man who knew exactly what he was doing. Of its own volition, her body relaxed even more against him. She reached up, her arms sliding around his neck, drawing him closer to deepen the kiss.

  Whatever the reason for her body’s betrayal, she could never live with herself if she allowed this kiss to go any further than the press of his body against hers. She whimpered when his hand slipped beneath her t-shirt and he cupped her lace-covered breast.

  Tears slid down her face as she realized this was real and he wasn’t about to stop this thing happening between them. If anything, his erection that he held pressed so tightly against her grew larger by the moment.

  Slowly, Hunter withdrew his hand from under her shirt, slid his hands up her arms to her shoulders and raised his head. Stepping back, he looked down into her eyes.

  “Don’t cry, little one.” He bent to press a kiss against her forehead. “I won’t hurt you. This was just an experiment.”

  “An experiment?” She stepped back, pulling from his grasp. “What do you mean, this was just an experiment?” What was he, some kind of sadist or something? Did he want to see her in pain? If so, she’d rather he just slapped her so she could kick him in the crotch and leave.

  “I needed to see if I could control you.”

  “What?” What in the world was he talking about? She looked up at him and tried to catch her breath.

  “I’m a vampire. I can control you. I could make you take off every stitch of clothing you wear, even if you didn’t want to.” He stared down at her as though waiting for something. “I made you kiss me, even though your mind kept screaming at you to stop.”

  “You son of a bitch!” The loud crack of her hand hitting his cheek was loud and she smiled at the sound. He deserved more than that, if what he said was true.

  Cherie didn’t stop to think about how what he said was impossible. She was too glad to have something other than herself to blame her actions on. Sure she’d been a bit too free with her favors when she was younger and probably shouldn’t have had sex with two boys in high school, but she’d learned her lesson. She had also learned that having sex with a man didn’t mean that he loved her. It only meant that he wanted in her pants.

  It had been a long, hard road she’d traveled, but these days, she was a relatively well-adjusted adult who didn’t need to prove anything to anyone and she damn sure didn’t need to make love with a man in an effort to get him to like her.

  “How dare you!” Cherie swiped the back of her hand over her mouth and glared at him. “A woman’s kiss is a favor. It’s something she gives to a man, or woman, she cares about, even loves. It’s not something that you can take, just because you have the strength, either mental or physical, to take it from her.”

  Cherie tugged her shirt down into place and turned to the door. “I’m out of here. I don’t give a damn if I freeze to death outside. I’d rather die than have you take what is mine to give by force.” She headed for the door.

  He followed her. Cherie felt him more than saw him fall into step behind her. “I don’t want you to follow me.”

  Too bad. As I said, this is an experiment.

  A strange languor slid over her as she came to a stop, her hand halfway to the doorknob. “Stop trying to control me.” She gritted her teeth. “I swear to God, if you force me to kiss you again, I’m going to kick your balls up into your throat when you release me.”

  Cherie didn’t know why the thought of him being a vampire didn’t startle her. Maybe it was the fact that the psychic had said her lover would be one, or perhaps because she’d always believed that all legends on Earth came from a grain of truth. Whatever it was, she didn’t find it surpri
sing or as unbelievable as she probably should.

  You will forget everything that has transpired in the last few minutes. I have not kissed you and you are not angry with me any longer.

  “Ha! Don’t kid yourself, buster. I’m pissed and I don’t plan to forget a damn thing. Now let me go.”

  “You don’t understand,” he said with a sigh. “It was a test to see if we were compatible. My people cannot mate with a woman they can control if they can wipe her memories.” He grinned at her. “I can’t wipe your memories which means—”

  “That you can’t control me without my knowledge.” She returned his grin. “And if you try that crap again, I will unman you.”

  Chapter Ten

  Hunter knew Cherie meant business. He didn’t need to see her flashing eyes or combative stance. She didn’t even have to tell him she was pissed. He could read it in her mind. “I didn’t mean to anger you.” He hadn’t meant to raise her ire either, but how else would he find out if he could control her, or erase her memory unless he tried? She wasn’t about to volunteer the information.

  “I will not force you to kiss me again.” If things went the way he hoped they would go, he wouldn’t need to.

  “Good.” She reached for the door, obviously misunderstanding his intentions. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I would like to get as far away from you as humanly possible.” She gave him her sweetest, drop-dead look.

  He couldn’t let her leave—at least not until he found out if he could erase her memories and definitely not until he’d dressed her for the weather and found her lodging. As his mother was always wont to say, A gentleman never allows a lady refuse aid. See to it that the woman in question is provided for, whether she wants it or not. Reaching out with his mind, he took control of Cherie’s motor functions and stopped her from turning the knob.

  Her body trembled as she fought him. It was obvious that at first she didn’t know what was wrong. After a while, though, realization dawned.

  “As I said, Cherie, I will not force you to kiss me again. However, I will reserve the right to compel you when you would put yourself in danger.”

  She wasn’t facing him so he could only assume she scowled as she replied, “I don’t see how anything I do is any of your business. Besides,” she added rather caustically, “how is leaving your hotel room putting myself in danger?”

  Did the woman have no sense? He lifted a brow and gave her a once over. “I’m sure that the fact that you have no coat and no shoes, to speak of, can qualify as putting yourself in danger if you leave this hotel. You’ll freeze to death, woman!”

  “And that affects you, how?”

  “You’re my mate, damn it!”

  She looked nonplussed at his declaration. Hell, he hadn’t even meant to make it. The last thing he wanted was to scare her off, but not telling her why he thought he had the right to hold her here was also frightening her. For Hunter, it was a lose-lose situation.

  For a moment, Cherie stopped trying to break his mental hold on her and looked at him. “What makes you think I’m your mate?” She pulled her hand away from the doorknob and crossed her arms. “Just because that psychic or whatever she was said I was here for a vampire, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s you.”

  “I think it does.”

  “Why?” She stared at him through narrowed eyes and tapped her foot. “Perhaps you should enlighten me.”

  “Because I’m not only a vampire like she said. I can’t wipe your memory which, apparently, is another sign for a woman like you from another world.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because that’s the way it was with my friend, Gregori, and his wife, Kaylee.”

  Cherie stumbled at his words. “What did you say?”

  Hunter reached out and pulled her into his arms to keep her from falling. “Are you okay?”

  “I don’t know.” Tears streamed down her face as her gaze darted around the room. “Could it be true?” She shook her head. “No. It’s not possible. How many alternate realities could there be?” Cherie looked at him her expression full of hope. “Kaylee was my sister’s name. It can’t possibly be her.”

  Hunter took the opportunity to hold her close, though he was certain his next words would break her heart. “As much as I would love to tell you that I think it is so, I do not think it is possible.”

  “Oh.” She swiped at her cheeks. “I didn’t think so.”

  “Kaylee looks nothing like you.” He paused to access her coloring. “Though, her hair is of a similar shade.” He released her stepped back. Crossing his arms, he cupped his chin and continued, “But she looks nothing like you and her eyes aren’t even close to being the same as yours. “Kaylee’s eyes are a deep, chocolate brown where yours are such a vivid violet, I think of the flowers my mother grew along the side of the manor where I spent most of my formative years.”

  Cherie grasped his arm, her eyes wide and filled with fresh tears. “You have to take me to see her. She has to be my sister, she just has to be.” Her hand slid down his arm to his hand. “I’ll do anything, be anything you want, if you’ll just take me to see her.”

  She pulled him toward the door. “I’ll even let you compel me to kiss you, to do anything.”She gave him a look that left nothing to his imagination. She was telling him she would sleep with him if he would only take her to meet Kaylee.

  The odds of the two women being sisters was slim. Yet Hunter was tempted. Just a bit.

  “I cannot allow you to do that.”

  “What do you mean you can’t allow me to do that?” She stared at him for a moment, obviously weighing her options. “You have no say in what I do. You have no right to tell me what I can and can’t do.” She stood up straight, her back rigid. “I’ll do what I damned well please.”

  “I’m sure you will, little one, but I cannot, in good conscience, allow you to offer yourself to me for such a price. Taking you to meet my friend Gregori and his wife is no great hardship. I do not wish to sully it with such a bargain.”

  Besides, if the woman turned out not to be her sister, she couldn’t accuse him of using this as a ruse to get her to sleep with him.

  Hunter smiled inwardly. Sleep with him she would, but not today. Today, they would leave this place in search of a woman who should not exist—but, if what Arty said was true, the woman to whom he was quickly losing his heart fell into the same impossible category.

  As she smiled up at him through her tears, Hunter told himself that lovely curving of her lips was payment enough. It was as though she had stars in her eyes for him just because he agreed to introduce him to his best friend and his wife. The act was certainly no hardship and wasn’t worthy of such adoration. His chest ached at the thought that theirs was a precarious relationship. His chest ached as he stared at the one woman who had the power to make him feel again and he gave a mental shake of his head. Holy hell, he had it bad.

  Chapter Eleven

  Cherie stared up at Hunter and wondered if she could love someone like him. Surely there were reasons that a woman shouldn’t love a man who professed to be a vampire. Was the man insane or had she really fallen down the proverbial rabbit hole and found herself in another world where the impossible happened?

  She thought back on the events before she went to bed the night before. She had gotten angry at the fates, at God, at the entire world because she had been left so utterly alone. She threw the ornament up against the wall and it had smashed its glass into hundreds of tiny shards.

  The little soldier inside seemed so mocking before she’d thrown it. Then, after she picked it up off the floor, his expression had seemed smug as though he knew something she hadn’t.

  What was she thinking?Goodness knew that she wanted to believe she was in somestrange and wonderful, alternate universe where her sister and Nikki were still alive. Under normal circumstances, Cherie would have laughed at the thought and dismissed Hunter’s claims before running as fast and far as she could away from the man.

/>   Still, she didn’t think it was too much to ask for a holiday miracle—just this once—especially after all she’d been through.

  “Will you take me to see this Kaylee and, if so, when?”

  “Today.After we’ve gotten you some proper shoes and a coat. You can’t run around in your slippers indefinitely.”

  “Okay,” she agreed reluctantly. He did have a point after all, even if sometimes she suspected that it was on top of his head. She pressed her lips together and tried not to smile when he laughed aloud. It was a strange and wonderful kind of man who could laugh at himself in such a way.

  Four hours later, Cherie was exhausted and antsy to get on the road. She looked at the bags they carried though the mall on the way to the food court and shook her head. “You said shoes and a coat. You never said anything about having an entourage in the department store picking out one of almost everything in my size.”

  “Don’t be silly, he admonished as he stopped at a table and set the packages down. “I didn’t buy one of everything in your size. Some of the things came in colors that were downright horrendous.”

  Pulling out his phone, Hunter tapped the screen a few times before pressing it against his ear. “We’re at the food court on the west side and we are going to need help carrying the things out.” He nodded and looked around. “Yes. After that, we’ll head up to Washington. They should be waiting for us. I’m sure Arty has called them by now.”

  Cherie set her burden on the table alongside the bags he’d set down. It seemed as though they’d been shopping for longer than they really had been, if the bags on the table were any indication. It probably didn’t hurt that the man had enlisted the help of every female in the damned store.

  Apparently, Hunter had finished his phone conversation while she’d been distracted. He sat down and smiled at the three pretty women at the next table.

  “Hello, ladies.” His smile actually transformed his face from the expression of authority that he seemed to always wear, to one of smug appreciation.