Duncan closed his eyes briefly, as if the thought of that bothered him even more. He pulled her gently into his arms. “Are you all right, Emmaline? Really?”
She put her arms around his waist and held on, relishing the feel of his big body surrounding her, feeling safe and secure again. She nodded against his shoulder. “I wasn’t hurt. Baldwin saved me.”
“I’m glad,” he murmured, his hand rubbing up and down her spine in a comforting rhythm.
Emma could have stayed there all night, but Duncan touched his lips to her hair and said, “Pack enough for several days. It’s not safe for you here until we find out who was behind this.”
She nodded and stepped back reluctantly. “I won’t take long,” she said without looking at him.
He put a finger under her chin and lifted her face. “Take as long as you want,” he said seriously, then gave her a sly look. “Are you sure you don’t want help with that drawer?”
Emma chuckled weakly. “No, I can handle it.”
“Then I’ll be downstairs. I have to talk to Miguel. Let me know when you’re ready and we’ll help with the bags.”
Duncan was controlled fury as he strode down the front steps of Emma’s house and over to the SUV where Miguel waited with the dead man. Of course, the human wasn’t dead yet, but he would be. As soon as he told them everything he knew.
“Sire,” Miguel said formally as Duncan approached.
“Did Ari check in?”
“Yes, my lord. He just arrived at the house. Baldwin woke up when they carried him inside. He’s not happy, but he’s well.”
“Good.” Duncan glanced through the back window at the unconscious human. “If he’d wanted to kill her, he had the chance.”
Miguel nodded. “Maybe he was only supposed to scare her. Or maybe he had a message that he never got to deliver because Baldwin was there.”
“If there’s a message, we’ll know it,” Duncan said darkly.
“If they know she’s working with us, my lord., they’ll come after her.”
Duncan’s rage soared and he fought to keep it from showing, but Miguel was aware of it anyway. He could tell from the watchful look on his lieutenant’s face, the careful formality. The idea of anyone laying hands on Emma made him want to rip out the throats of every human in Victor’s files, whether or not they’d had a hand in Lacey’s death. None of them were innocent, as far as he was concerned.
He forced himself to think calmly, something he found increasingly difficult when it came to Emma Duquet. But he couldn’t afford to run around killing humans, whatever the reason. That was the very opposite of why he was in this corrupt city in the first place. Not that the men responsible for Lacey’s death would be permitted to live. Oh, no. They were all going to die. Maybe not tonight, maybe not even soon. But eventually. And he would make sure they knew it, too. Every one of them would live the last few months of his life looking over his shoulder, waiting for death to find him.
The thought pleased him and he smiled slightly. “Have someone set up a secure room at the house for the prisoner for when we get there,” he said gesturing at the truck. “Somewhere far from where Emma will be sleeping. The basement. Comfort isn’t important. And brief the daylight guards, as well. I don’t want a bungled rescue drawing in the human police, and I don’t want him killed under our noses, either.”
“Yes, my lord.”
They both turned when Emma appeared in her doorway, lugging a suitcase and carrying a garment bag over one shoulder.
“Emma,” Duncan said impatiently. “Let us help with that.”
She pushed the suitcase in his direction. “You take that and I’ll—”
He lifted the suitcase and whipped the garment bag from her shoulder, handing them both to Miguel.
“Okaaay,” she drawled. “What do I do about this door?”
Duncan frowned, then studied the doorframe. “The lock is broken, but the frame is sound. I don’t suppose you have a hammer and nails . . .” His voice trailed off as Emma disappeared back inside her house. “Of course, you do,” he amended.
She reappeared with the requested items and a smug grin.
“Nobody likes a know-it-all,” he teased as she strolled past him.
“Oh, I don’t know it all,” she replied breezily. “I’m just prepared for it all.”
Duncan laughed and picked up a hammer for the first time in more years than he could count.
Emma sat inside the warm SUV and watched as Duncan nailed her front door shut. It wasn’t every day she saw a man in a tuxedo wielding a hammer. Of course, it wasn’t every day some wacko tried to assault her in her home. Except that maybe the guy hadn’t been a wacko. In a weird way, it would be reassuring if Lacey’s killers had sent someone after her. It would mean she was on the right track.
She frowned. But, if that was the case, why didn’t he kill her outright? He could have. Maybe he’d planned something else entirely for her. Duncan and his vamps hadn’t let her see all the details of what had gone on at Victor’s so-called parties—they were protecting her, which was infuriating in its own way—but she had a good sense from what they had let her see, and the things she’d overheard. It broke her heart to think of Lacey involved in all of that, and she shuddered for herself, thankful that Baldwin had been there tonight.
Duncan dropped the tools on the floor of the front seat, then joined Emma in the back. Miguel was driving since Ari had taken the smaller SUV with Baldwin in it. “We’ll get a locksmith out here as soon as possible,” Duncan said, as he closed the door. “I’ll have one of my people meet him here.”
“What if it’s not until morning?” she asked. “I can—”
“I have human guards for daytime, Emma. They can handle it.”
“My car’s around the block,” she said, raising her voice to include Miguel, so he’d know they had to stop. “Left here, then the next right,” she added, then said to Duncan, “I have to go to work tomorrow, er, I mean this morning. I have meetings, besides—” She stopped herself, thinking it would probably be better if Duncan didn’t know about her plans to continue tracking down the women from Victor’s parties during the day tomorrow.
“Besides what?”Duncan asked, eyeing her curiously.
“I can’t afford to lose my job,” she said lamely. She blushed with the lie, but hoped he would assume she was embarrassed because of her implied money shortage. Besides, it really wasn’t a lie. She couldn’t afford to lose her job.
Duncan looked at her, his expression carefully blank, and she knew he sensed something was off. He couldn’t know precisely what she was lying about, but she was pretty sure he knew she wasn’t telling him the whole truth either.
When they reached her car, Emma started to jump out, but Duncan put a hand on her arm to delay her. “I’ll ride with Emma, Miguel.”
Up front, Miguel’s head snapped up and he twisted around to give Duncan a sharp look.
“You can drive behind us,” Duncan said. “It’s not that far.”
Miguel stared at Duncan for a heavy moment and then he nodded. “Yes, Sire,” he said, the respectful words tight with anger.
Emma glanced at Duncan, hoping she wasn’t going to get stuck between two angry vampires, but Duncan’s expression was as calm and controlled as ever. He held Miguel’s stare until the other vampire looked away, then he turned that cool gaze on her and gestured to the door. “If you would, Emma,” he said.
Emma scrabbled for the door handle, shoved the door open and stepped out into the cold air. It should have been bracing after the warmth of the SUV, but she shivered, and exhaustion rolled over her like a thick blanket. God, she was tired. How long had it been since she’d slept? And she had to go to work in a few short hours, had to make it look as if she was moving on from Lacey’s death, doing her job, maybe finding a smaller place to live. But certainly not spending her nights wide awake and searching for the killer, who might very well have an office in the next building, or even just down the hall.
Duncan’s hand came over hers, slipping the keys from her numb fingers. “Get in the car. I’ll drive.”
“I can—”
“Of course, you can. But I’ll drive anyway.”
“Bossy,” she muttered, stomping around to the passenger seat. “Phoebe said you’d be bossy.”
“Yes, well—” He slid behind the wheel and started the car. “Phoebe isn’t exactly a pushover herself.”
Emma turned the heat on its highest setting, and Duncan immediately adjusted the vents in her direction.
“Is her husband a vampire, too?”
“No. Most vampire matings are with humans. Sharing blood is intensely sexual. I’ve seen one or two ménage à trois that worked, two vampires and one human, but that’s rare.”
Emma felt her own blood heat as she pictured Duncan’s mouth on her neck, his upper body naked, gleaming with sweat the way he’d been in the gym earlier. She reached out and turned the heat down, unzipping her jacket.
Duncan glanced at her. “Too warm?”
“Yeah, I think—” She coughed slightly. “This heater starts slow, but once it gets going, it’s a bit much.”
Duncan’s sinful mouth curved slightly, but he never took his eyes off the road.
What she wouldn’t give to see him rattled, to break that ever-present cool of his. Just once. She didn’t want anything awful to happen. She just wanted to shake him up a little and see what tumbled out. She had a passing thought, wondering if he was in control in bed the way he was everywhere else. And then her eyes went wide, shocked at her own thoughts. Obviously, she’d been working too hard for too long. All work and no play apparently made Emma a very horny girl. She swallowed a laugh, biting the inside of her cheek so the all-seeing Duncan wouldn’t notice.