Vampire - Deep Midnight Part 18

Harry's was busy, as always. Jam-packed.

People waited for tables, stood by the bar, huddled in the doorway.

Just within the door, Jordan hesitated. There was nowhere to sit, nowhere to go. She contemplated slipping back out and waiting outside, forgoing her drink, but the night was turning fairly raw. She hadn't wanted to stay in her room, but she didn't particularly want to stand outside shivering, either.

Even as she stood feeling a little lost and forlorn, she saw one of the doormen hurrying her way. She smiled, a.s.suming he was bearing down on her to take her coat Then she realized he was rushing to greet someone who had just come in behind her.

"Signore, welcome back."

She felt a hand on her shoulder. She started; as she turned, she saw that it was Ragnor, and that he was greeting the doorman. "Buona sera! The lady and I were hoping to have a drink," Ragnor said.

Though he was speaking pleasantly to the doorman, Jordan saw that he was watching a couple at the far end of the bar. The couple rose, leaving an empty s.p.a.ce.

"Come, come!" the doorman said.

Jordan looked around, ready to refuse if there were people who had come in ahead of them.

"Come, come," the doorman insisted, ushering them along the bar. "Tables for the others are almost ready."

A moment later, he had taken their coats, and she was seated on a bar stool. The bartender was instantly before them. She decided on a good old Southern Jack and Seven.

Ragnor ordered Dewars on the rocks.

She swirled the swizzle stick in her drink, then turned to find that he was watching her.

"How did you do that?" she asked him.

"Do what?"

"Clear out the bar."

He shrugged. "People left; others are ready for dinner."

"Conveniently so."

"I know the doorman and the bartender, but don't worry, I respect a queue. There just happened to be an opening here. What did you think I might have done? Sleight of hand?

Mind-controlling darts?"

He appeared amused. She felt a little ridiculous, and therefore, angry. And defensive.

"Were you following me?" she asked curtly. He had been so close behind her.

His answer took a moment. She felt the a.s.sessment of his gaze. "You've got quite a bit of ego wrapped up in such a small package."

She felt her cheeks burn. "I was a.s.suming you meant to tell me again to leave Venice."

She stared ahead at the bar, turning her swizzle stick once again. She was aware that he kept watching her, also aware that her black c.o.c.ktail dress was form-hugging and close to risque. She was also aware that he was well dressed, his clothing was handsomely tailored.

He had great hands, she noted as she had before. One rested against his drink, powerful there, the fingers long and tapered. He'd make it in a barbarian movie, just as he wore Armani with a smooth and cultivated flair.

"Are you leaving Venice?" he asked. He sat facing her on his stool. She felt the brush of his knees.

"Eventually."

"But you won't get on a plane and go right now."

"No."

She thought he would argue. He shrugged.

"Maybe it's best."

"That I stay? How kind of you."

"How's the Danieli?" he asked, his tone casual.

"Fine. Have you stayed there?"

"Yes, but not in a while. I wonder if it's changed. Maybe I'll walk you back and see."

"You could have coffee or drinks in the lobby anytime," she told him.

A slight smile curved his lips. "You won't allow me to walk you home?"

"I'm meeting my cousin and his wife here."

"And Anna Maria, Raphael and Lynn, so it appears," Ragnor said.

From where he sat, facing her, he could see the door. She swirled around and saw that Jared and Cindy had arrived and that they were accompanied by the others.

Raphael's bright eyes widened as he saw Jordan. "Darling!"

He made a typically dramatic stride through the milling c.o.c.ktail crowd to reach her. He kissed her on both cheeks, took her hands, and guided her down from the stool to turn her around before him as he admired her dress. "Simply scrumptious!" he said. "Delizioso!

Ragnor, wouldn't you say?"

"I'm afraid so," Ragnor murmured. He rose from his bar stool as well, stretching out an arm as Anna Maria approached them, her smile broad. Lynn followed, delighted, and a round of double-cheeked kissing went around as everyone greeted everyone. Cindy seemed pleased to welcome Ragnor; only Jared appeared to be a little stiff. He spoke politely, and made no protest when Anna Maria suggested that Ragnor must join them for dinner. Jared seemed leery of the stranger among them, and curious-even suspicious- when his eyes met Jordan's.

She shrugged, trying to a.s.sure her cousin that she hadn't invited or encouraged the man to join them.

The doorman came, telling them that their table was ready. Jordan found Ragnor's hand on her back, guiding her through the crowd into one of the dining rooms. With his fingers against her naked back, she had to admit, again, that he had an effect on her. Like fire. An uncomfortable effect. At the bar, she had felt the urge to lean in against him, to feel the fabric of his suit against her cheek, to breathe in the clean, intoxicating scent of his shaven cheeks. Now, as she had last night, watching the dancers, she felt an intoxicating sensuality in proximity. Lynn would say that she wanted to jump his bones. She wouldn't be quite so crude-or honest But her mind strayed during the simple act of walking from bar to table.

His hands were unbelievably masculine. She wondered what it would be like to feel them moving along her arms.

And other places.

She wondered if his chest was as broad and compelling when naked.

She wondered what it would feel like if she were naked too, rubbing against the length of him. And if his chest was bare, his hips would be bare, and then she found herself wondering if he was powerful and lithe and large throughout...

He pulled out a chair for her at the table. She sat. Her face was lobster tinted, she was certain. From head to toe she felt a crimson flush. She wasn't even breathing normally.

Maybe he would sit somewhere else, other than beside her!

He didn't. He took the chair at her left. Lynn was already seated at her right A waiter set her half-finished drink in front of her. She reached for it, taking a long swallow. Menus appeared and Lynn reached over, pointing at items, telling her what she thought was especially good. She responded, nodding, saving something, she wasn't sure exactly what Jared and Anna Maria were discussing a number of the people Jared had booked for her ball the following night; the seating had already been planned, there were several hundred guests coming, but it seemed that Anna Maria wanted to know more about those coming, so as to put people with similar interests together.

"So-where were you off to today?" Cindy suddenly asked Jordan.

"I went to have coffee with Tiff."

"Isn't the palazzo marvelous?" Raphael asked her.

"Yes, very nice."

"The marble in the foyer is supposed to have been salvaged from the ruins of a Roman palace," Anna Maria told her.

"You had coffee all day?" Jared asked. The question sounded a little grating to Jordan, and she wasn't pleased to realize that now everyone at the table was looking at her, as if they all waited for an answer.

"I had coffee, I shopped, I wandered," she said.

"I thought you might come by the shop," Lynn said.

"I knew you all would be very busy," Jordan told her.

"Tiff is something, eh?" Raphael said.

"In actuality, a very highly paid prost.i.tute," Jared said.

"Jared!" Cindy remonstrated.

"Well! She marries old rich men for their money. Isn't that kind of the same thing?"

Jared queried.

"What about old and middle-aged men who discard their wives of thirty years or so to go after shapely young things?" Jordan said in defense of her friend. "I like her."

"What do you think about Mrs. Tiffany Henley, Ragnor?" Cindy asked.

Ragnor arched a brow. "I suppose we all have our priorities. She is blunt, beyond a doubt."

Lynn giggled. "She has much more to say about you," she told him.

"She is fine; a bit much sometimes, but polite," Ragnor said with a shrug. "I don't know her very well."

"I saw you with her this afternoon," Jordan said.

His eyes suddenly turned full force on her.

"Oh? And where did you see me from?"

"A ca.n.a.l."

"What were you doing in the ca.n.a.l?" Cindy asked with a frown.

"I wasn't in the ca.n.a.l. I was in a gondola." "You took a gondola ride all by yourself?" Jared said.

Again, she felt that he was asking questions like a disapproving parent.

"Are gondolas supposed to be dangerous?" she asked lightly.

"A gondola should be shared with a lover," Raphael said.

"Actually, I wound up on the gondola because of you," Jordan told Jared, wishing that she weren't so aware of Ragnor's eyes, always seeming to be on her.

"Me!"

"Um. I thought that I was following you home last night-but of course, it wasn't you. It was another man dressed in a dottore costume."

"Definitely a man?" Ragnor asked.

"Well, I a.s.sume."

"What does that have to do with you taking a gondola ride today because of me?" Jared asked, baffled.

"I thought I saw the man again. I followed him."

"You followed a stranger in a dottore costume?" Anna Maria queried.

"That was an idiotic thing to do," Jared said harshly.

"Everyone is in costume, Jared," Jordan said coolly. "And people follow people in costumes all day, snapping pictures."

"How did this man in the costume lead to the gondola?" Anna Maria asked quickly, trying to ease the tension.

"I saw a friend. And he gave me a ride home."

"Wait, wait, wait. What friend do you have who is a gondolier?" Jared demanded.

"Jared, you have lots of friends I don't know, and I have friends you don't know."

"In Venice?" he queried.

"Yes. In Venice."

"So.. .what was Tiff up to? "Raphael asked Ragnor. He might just as well have said, "Hey, how about that game?"