Read Online Everlasting Enchantment by Kathryne Kennedy - Free Book Online Page B

rid of me, don’t you?”
    “Nothing would give me greater pleasure.” Selena turned toward her jumble of clothes.
    Gareth went into the washroom, poured water from a cobalt-blue pitcher into a matching porcelain bowl, and washed the blood from his chest and throat. He had only a small hole in his neck from Selena’s bite.
    “She’s gone completely barmy over you,” whispered Millicent from the doorway, apparently having followed him.
    Gareth shrugged. He would not admit that Selena’s lovesick behavior startled him as much as it did Millicent. He reached for a dry cloth and turned toward the girl, drying his skin with slow, rhythmic movements. Her amber eyes roamed the contours of his chest as if hypnotized.
    “I suppose you’re used to it. Women throwing themselves at you.”
    He took a step toward her and felt the air crackle between them. “There’s only one woman I need. I’m hoping I’ve finally found her.”
    She narrowed her eyes and he felt her body snap rigid with icy cold. “Fortunately, I don’t need anyone. Except that bloodsucker, at the moment. And I don’t trust her.”
    Gareth tossed the cloth over a brass bar. “Have you ever trusted anyone?”
    “No. It’s how I’ve managed to survive.”
    “Well, my lady, it appears you have no other choice but to trust Selena, if you wish to free your Nell. But what will you do when she demands the relic in payment and you cannot remove it from your wrist?”
    Millicent smoothed back her shiny black hair and purred. “I’ll think of something.”
    She turned and joined Selena in the parlor and Gareth followed, glancing around with regret. A room worthy of the finest brothel in London, with myriad soft surfaces to cushion the backsides of the most passionate of lovers. He had so hoped to seduce the relic-holder here.
    He pulled on his surcoat and tunic while both women watched him in silence. He shook the hair out of his face and buckled on his sword belt, his hand automatically patting his empty scabbard. He felt more naked without his sword than he had without his tunics. When he looked up at the women, they both released a sigh, although with entirely different inflections. Gareth smiled.
    Apparently, Selena had already rung for the guard, for the stone door began to groan. She didn’t remove her eyes from Gareth as she said, “There should be only one guard, since it’s been less than an hour.”
    Millicent shifted to panther and before Gareth could move, she lunged through the opening in the door. A loud thud followed a muffled oath of surprise. Gareth entered the landing and took the sword of the unconscious guard, hefting the blade to get a feel for its balance, checking to make sure some silver laced the blade.
    Selena joined them and shot Millicent a look of amusement. “You lack finesse, my dear.”
    She answered with a twitch of her whiskers and an angry flick of her tail.
    Gareth dragged the guard into the room and pulled the statue on the outside wall, watching the door grind to a close with satisfaction. Then he crossed the landing and peered down the stairway, seeking hidden guards within the shadows. Selena brushed her body against his as she took the lead, the black beads of her dress winking at him from the glow of the fairylights that lined the walls. She’d left her torn pelerine in the room and her white shoulders gleamed. Gareth had to admit she was truly a lovely woman. His neck ached with the thought.
    Millicent brushed by him, almost making him stumble, putting her furry self between him and the other woman.
    Selena’s course took them down stairways again, but this time they appeared little used, and Gareth sheathed his sword and took a fairylight from one of the sconces to light his way when he realized they’d become scarce. His night vision wasn’t as strong as the shape-shifters’.
    His sense of direction told him they’d turned a circle, and as the walls grew slimy and then dripped with moisture, he realized