Leopard's Run Page 27

  Timur hoped that was the case. He wanted Evangeline to have a family. He knew it was important to her.

  “Where were her parents in all this?”

  “Her mother is dead. The father is the one who had her living in the swamp. Supposedly, his brother, her uncle Gilbert, knew and helped bring her food and books.”

  She shook her head. “I would have put a knife through my father’s throat before I allowed my child to live alone like that. What a crock.”

  He burst out laughing. “I’m beginning to realize you’re a bloodthirsty little thing.”

  She tilted her chin at him. “I came here for revenge, remember? Someone took apart my parents and I wanted them to pay.”

  Timur couldn’t help but think about the man waiting for him downstairs in a room few knew about. “They’ll pay, Ashe,” he assured.

  She reached up to brush at the lapels of the sports jacket he wore over a T-shirt. “You look very handsome, although I think you’re bound to scare her brothers just a little bit.”

  He hoped not. He hoped he lulled them into a false sense of security. He caught her chin in his fingers. “If I kiss you, am I going to ruin the work of art you created? Your lips look very kissable.”

  “It’s supposed to stay on until I use a makeup remover. I think that highly unlikely, but we should definitely check it out.”

  “I’m all for experiments,” he murmured and lowered his head.

  Her lips were cool and firm, but the moment he touched them with his, the taste, so unique to his woman, burst on his tongue. He had tasted her in his mouth so many times throughout the day, fixating on it, needing more, hungry for just that one flavor—the one that was all Ashe.

  He locked his arm around her back and kissed her as if there was no tomorrow. For him, there might not be. He deepened the kiss, needing to take control of her, to let her know she belonged to him. Everything he demanded, she gave to him willingly. He didn’t have to fight her, she just surrendered to him.

  “I love you.” He whispered the truth. He’d never once told another human being that, because, other than his brother and Gorya, and now Evangeline, he hadn’t felt that kind of deep, overwhelming affection and trust for another human being. The love he had for Ashe was different. All-consuming. He needed her. She completed him in some way.

  Her eyes searched his and then she smiled. “Funny thing, Timur. I don’t even know how you did it in so short a time, but I find myself loving you right back.”

  He wrapped his arm around her and studied her face, waiting for his heart to settle. “I think your lipstick stayed in spite of my best efforts.”

  Her eyebrows shot up. “That was your best effort? I don’t know, Timur. You’re slipping. This afternoon was by far better.”

  “Really? I’ll have to try that again.”

  “Please do.”

  Everything was fun with her. This time he took his time and made an art out of kissing her. The trouble with kissing Ashe was he never wanted to stop. His body went up in flames and he lost his ability to actually breathe—so much so that he stole her air. Kissing Ashe was insidious. He kissed her once and had to kiss her over and over. He craved her taste and the way her lips felt under his. He needed her body melting into his. Kissing Ashe was dangerous.

  This time when he lifted his head, she sagged against him, letting him take her weight. “Do we have to go to this dinner party?” He murmured the question against her forehead.

  Her lashes fluttered, and he kissed both of her eyes because he couldn’t help himself. That was how little control he had when he was with her.

  “You said we did,” Ashe pointed out, but she didn’t say it with conviction.

  He laughed and set her on her feet. “Fyodor asked us as a special favor. Well,” he hedged when he knew the ring of truth wasn’t there for her to hear, “he didn’t exactly ask. He told me I had to be there.” That was the strict truth. “You were optional.” That was also the truth. “But I knew Evangeline might need to have someone on her side there.” Again, that was true. It was all a matter of twisting the truth to suit his needs. He needed Ashe to believe Evangeline needed her presence there. He cleared his throat. “I want you there because these things are a pain in the neck for me.” That was extremely close to the truth.

  Ashe was his woman, and she had more compassion in her little finger than he did in his entire body. Of course, she was going to rally, no matter how exhausted she was. “If I start to fall asleep at the table, just pinch me or something.”

  He grinned at her wickedly. “I’ll make the evening very exciting for you if you like.”

  “Don’t you dare do anything to rouse my leopard, or me, for that matter. I’m going to admit to you, I’m very sore. I don’t know how Evangeline or other women do this. Having sex is becoming painful.”

  “Fucking barbs,” he said under his breath, but he meant it. It wasn’t like they were there all the time. Not on him, anyway. During a heat, he had them and knew his counterpart, Temnyy, had them as well. The more aroused Timur was, the more hormones Ashe had, the more the barbs were triggered.

  Most of the time, their women would barely, if at all, feel pain when they withdrew, but for some reason, Ashe’s wealth of hormones triggered the animal in him every time. All the bath salts in the world weren’t going to help.

  “You know she’s going to rise again soon, don’t you?”

  She nodded and took the hand he held out to her. “I know. It’s all right. I’ll be so hot for you I won’t feel anything but good. You always make it amazing for me.”

  “And then after, you’re so tired you can’t move.”

  She flashed her mischievous grin, the one that made him as hard as a rock. “Gets me out of all the cooking and household chores.”

  He’d been doing both and happily. He found himself smiling at her for no reason other than she was the best thing that had ever happened to him. They walked through the moonlight to the main house, hand in hand again. He had placed his leopards close to the house and also at the outermost positions just in case Evangeline’s family was part of a larger conspiracy. Sadly, he was fairly certain that was the case.

  His human soldiers were patrolling through the middle sections. They were good men, loyal to Fyodor. Fyodor took care of his soldiers, having been one for many years. They made good money and were given all kinds of extra perks. It was the new age of criminal, with health benefits and retirement built in.

  “You have a frown on your face.”

  He forced himself to smile at her, when he wanted to shred Evangeline’s family. One, or more of them, had betrayed her. Ulisse Mancini was hungry for more territory and power. The other crime bosses had cut him off at the knees, but he still found a way around them. He used Emilio Bassini’s international pipeline to move his counterfeit money with Emilio’s weapons. Now, Timur knew, that wasn’t the only thing moved. He trafficked young girls, sending them to Russia, to Lazar. Lazar distributed the girls throughout Europe and sent Ulisse European girls.

  One or more of Evangeline’s family was in Ulisse’s pay. It was the only answer. The one member who had been, for certain, given a tour of the house was her brother Ambroise. That didn’t condemn him entirely. Her father and uncle had been to the house as well.

  “I’m not a dinner party kind of man, Ashe. I never will be.”

  Her fingers tightened in his. “Don’t worry, honey. I’m good at this kind of thing. I just chat about nothing. It works every time. I’ll get you through it.”

  He believed she could get away with chatting about nothing. Her voice was melodic and anyone listening would want to hear more. She was cute, adorable and gorgeous. He kissed her fingers and then pulled open the door to the kitchen. He’d chosen to enter the house that way in order to make certain his security force was standing by. He wanted them at every door. He wanted patrols through the house checking windows. He wanted to know every time a guest visited a restroom exactly how much time it took and
if they deviated from their destination to look into other rooms. After they were seated back at the table, the rooms they’d been in had to be searched for bugs and to ensure nothing had been left open to allow a hit man to get inside.

  He nodded to young Jeremiah, the bane of his life. Of course, Gorya would put him in the kitchen where he could make the least mistakes. With his hand on Ashe’s back, he moved through the large room quickly to get to the dining room. The table was set for eight, Evangeline’s four family members, and Fyodor, Evangeline, Ashe and him. He had made certain to tell Fyodor to put him across from her family.

  Evangeline had done so. He could see the little name tags above each place setting. She’d used the more formal china, the set he knew she never used. His heart contracted. She was making the dinner as nice as she could for her family. She wanted things to work out between them. If it was possible, he wanted to make certain she never knew that one of them had betrayed her.

  They went through the dining room to the great room. Instantly, Temnyy went crazy. He recognized the visitors were leopard, and that meant four males were there when his female was in heat. Tenmyy didn’t like many people, so adding these four to the mix at such a bad time wasn’t the best of ideas.

  Evangeline looked up when they entered and relief immediately came over her face. “Timur. Ashe. I’m so glad you could make it.” She waved them over to be introduced.

  Ambroise Tregre was tall and sinewy. He might have the roped muscles of a shifter, but if he did, they were well hidden. He wore a sports jacket over an emerald tee, tucked into dark jeans. He looked classy. His clothes screamed of money, just the opposite of his brother.

  Christophe Tregre had just returned from a seven-month stay in Borneo with Drake’s friends. He was fit, his muscles moving not so subtly beneath the thin, stretched dark-colored tee he wore with his fitted jeans. He could be considered a good-looking man, although next to his brother’s handsome face, some might call him too rough-looking. His hands showed hard work, where Ambroise’s were soft with perfectly manicured nails.

  In contrast to the two younger men, Evangeline’s father, Beau Tregre, had lines in his face and showed his age. Few leopards could tolerate much alcohol, but the man looked like he had, at some time in his past, drunk a great deal. His hair was grey and he hadn’t bothered to clean up the way his sons had. He wore bibbed overalls that were stained with oils. At least they were clean and didn’t reek of the swamp.

  Her uncle, Gilbert Tregre, was a little shorter than Beau and his face was a road map. His lips were thin, and he avoided Timur’s eyes when they were introduced. Like his brother, he had the signs of an obvious drinker. He looked like a man beaten down by life, or one looking for revenge. Timur couldn’t quite make up his mind.

  They made small talk until they were called into the dining room. Timur was seated straight across from Evangeline’s father and Christophe. Ambroise sat beside his brother with his uncle on his other side. That put Evangeline’s two brothers between their father and uncle. The two older men barely looked at each other.

  Timur was certain they were at odds, so why would both come? Why pretend they weren’t? What had caused the rift between them? When everyone was served and eating, his woman kept up her part, chatting away, laughing softly at Christophe’s replies until Timur wanted to shake her, but she was the one keeping the conversation going.

  He hadn’t expected to feel pure, black jealousy. Tenmyy raged, scraping cruelly at him, wanting the strangers gone. The cat wasn’t alone. Christophe had concentrated completely on Ashe, as if no one else existed. Evangeline’s father mumbled a few replies to his daughter’s questions, but for the most part, neither of the two older men had much to say. Both of them seemed focused on Ashe as well. Timur couldn’t blame them. She was in heat, and they couldn’t fail to scent the pheromones or see the glow on her skin. Their leopards had to be raging.

  “Ambroise? That’s true? You draw?” Ashe asked.

  Timur immediately tuned in on the conversation.

  “He doesn’t just draw,” Christophe declared. “He’s a master at it. Anything he sees he can make beautiful. He sketched this room for me, in fact the entire house. I couldn’t get here when he came to visit you, and he told me he’d make certain I saw every detail. He drew every room and I don’t think there was one detail missing right down to the ornate hat rack in the hall.”

  Timur didn’t look at his brother. He didn’t speak. Evangeline would know immediately if he did. He mentally nudged Ashe, hoping she would say something to continue the conversation.

  “I make mistakes,” Ambroise said, color flushing his skin.

  “What does that drawing get you? I told you to get rid of those pencils of yours and get a real job,” his uncle sneered. “Always prancing around thinking you’re better than us. Next thing you know, you’ll get yourself a sugar mama so you can feed off the money tit just like your sister did.”

  “You’ve had enough to drink, Gilbert,” Beau said. “If you can’t be polite to my children, you’ll have to leave.”

  “Didn’t want to come in the first place,” Gilbert muttered and stood up, his chair crashing over backward. He didn’t bother to right it. “Don’t have a way back home so I’ll wait in the car.”

  Timur glanced at Gorya, who stood in the shadows. Gorya’s nod was imperceptible. He slipped out of the room, tailing after Evangeline’s uncle, who staggered a little. As he stumbled out, he pulled a little flask from his pocket and took a drink.

  “I’m sorry about your uncle, honey,” Beau said. “He’s gotten very resentful, and all he does is drink these days. Drake sent your cousin Axel to Borneo and he stayed there, workin’ with Drake’s friends. Gilbert hasn’t been the same. He’ll sleep it off in the car and feel the fool for making a scene.”

  “It’s all right,” Evangeline said immediately, dismissing the entire incident.

  Timur didn’t dismiss it so easily. He leaned toward Ambroise. “You were telling us about your sketching. Do you sell your work?” He poured genuine interest into his voice. He was interested, just not for the reasons it appeared.

  Ashe beamed at him. Evangeline smiled gratefully. Ambroise squirmed a little and then glanced at his father.

  Christophe wasn’t so shy. “He’s sold several. In fact, he had a showin’ the other night and it was a huge success. You should get somethin’ he’s done and put it in your home, Evangeline. His drawings are beautiful, and eventually they’re going to be worth a fortune. I’ve been tellin’ him to quit his job and sketch full-time.”

  “The sketches of my home aren’t up for sale, are they?” Evangeline asked.

  “No, of course not,” Ambroise said hastily. He stirred cream into his coffee. “You need privacy, and it would be a security risk. Christophe made that very clear to me. The drawings were just for him. There was a discrepancy I couldn’t quite account for, and I like talking things over with Christophe because he …” He trailed off, waving his hand in the air as if that gesture finished his sentence.

  “He what?” Ashe encouraged.

  Ambroise looked more uncomfortable than ever. He squirmed on the chair, his face flushed with embarrassment. “When I bring him a math equation, he doesn’t act like I’m a total lunatic.”

  “Eccentric,” Christophe corrected.

  Timur’s phone vibrated. He pulled it out and glanced at the screen beneath the table. The text was from Gorya. Evidently, Evangeline’s uncle was wandering around outside the house. Timur discreetly texted back to allow the man enough rope to hang himself.

  “What was the discrepancy?” Evangeline persisted.

  Ambroise shrugged and looked once more to his brother, as if the man would bail him out of the awkward conversation.

  “The measurements were off in each of the rooms with the outside of the house. In other words, sister, you either have the thickest walls known to mankind, or you have secret passageways in your home.” Christophe smirked. “You can’t hide much
from a mathematician artist like Ambroise.”

  Evangeline slipped her hand into Fyodor’s and glanced at Timur. He kept his face blank as he chewed the filet mignon the chef had broiled to perfection. He was uncertain how best to handle the situation. Anything he said would tip off Evangeline to the fact that he was going to interrogate her brothers and father and definitely her snake of an uncle, who wasn’t in the least bit drunk.

  “Ambroise, what wonderful gifts you’ve been given,” Ashe said, her eyes soft. Her features showed nothing but appreciation. “I can’t wait to visit the gallery where you’re showing some of your work. Evangeline, we’ll have to go. Maybe you wouldn’t mind showing us around,” she added.

  Ambroise sent her a shy smile. “I’d like that actually. I especially wanted Evangeline to see my sketches of the swamp. Some of them are really good, but others, I’m just missing some little detail. It keeps me up at night thinking about it. Charisse and Armande took me out around their property, and Armande even walked through the swamp with me, but I just can’t get it right.”

  “It?” Evangeline said. “What are you looking for?”

  He frowned and put down his fork. “I draw the trees and brush and even the moss with no problem, but when it comes to the water, it’s never right. Never .” Frustration edged his voice.

  Timur had to believe Ambroise’s irritation was genuine. He didn’t even seem to be tasting the food, which was more than excellent. Beau and Christophe had no trouble eating everything put before them.

  “It’s probably because the water changes all the time,” Evangeline said. “From one moment to the next. Wind, leaves, wildlife, snakes, birds, all of it touches the surface and changes the look. More than once I’ve seen what looks like diamonds glittering on the surface. Other times, that same area gleamed like glass. Another time it was a mirror, reflecting everything around it.”