Read The Vampire Queen's Servant for Free Online Page B

okay?"
    Martin, the security guard,
spoke from the reception desk. Jacob nodded. "She drifted off. I'm going
to make sure she gets home." Trying to sound casual, as if it were nothing
unusual. He'd worked it out that Martin had accepted him as Max's replacement
for the evening, but he knew this could easily stretch the boundaries if he
acted as if anything were amiss. "Max warned me sometimes she nods off
like this. Late hour and all. Think she's on some of those designer mood drugs
for anxiety."
    "She's an odd one, she is.
Rich folk." The guard shook his head.
    "Her limo's here. Can you
go out and ask him to come right to the door?"
    Martin immediately rose.
"Sure. Be right back."
    As the guard left through the
glass doors, Jacob felt his charge rouse.
    "Put me down."
    Glancing down, he saw she was
looking at him like an irritable cat who'd found herself in the jaws of a
drooling Labrador.
    "You fainted, my
lady."
    A self-mocking smile touched her
lips. "Just like a Victorian heroine. Put me down, Jacob."
    He let her feet drop to the
floor but kept his hands at her waist, supporting her as she swayed. "I'm
not living up to the formidable image I'm sure Thomas described," she
commented.
    "He said you were harmless
as a kitten." He recalled vividly the way she'd shoved him to his knees
earlier with barely the pressure of two fingers. Responding to her arch look,
he added, "I'm sure your past is littered with men foolish enough to
underestimate you, my lady. I won't be one of them."
    He still saw the traces of red
in her eyes like the banked fires of Hell. "It seems I should learn not to
make the same mistake about you," she said. "Only time will tell, for
both of us. Your hose… where did you learn to wear them?"
    It was an odd question for the
moment, but he responded automatically. "I used to work the Faire circuit,
my lady. As a jouster and sword fighter. Sometimes a juggler and a fool. I've
been in the circus as well."
    "That's where you picked up
your courtly mannerisms." She blinked at him, and he nodded.
    "Yes, my lady."
    "You're a drifter, then.
Did Thomas explain this isn't a job for a vagabond?"
    It riled him, perhaps because he
couldn't deny it, but he managed an even tone. "I've never left a person
who needed me by their side. Or at their back."
Except my own brother
.
He shoved that 'thought and everything that went with it away. "I won't
fail you in that regard, my lady."
    The lights of the limo passed
over her as it turned into the covered entranceway. Instinctively he shifted
before the glaring light could strike her sensitive eyes.
    "I'm walking you to the car
at least."
    "Not taking me all the way
home? You still owe me my manicure."
    He stopped. "That's what
I'd like to do," he said, barely daring to hope. "If you would allow
it."
    "Are you up to the
challenge? For what it could mean? There will be consequences, whether I end up
accepting or rejecting you."
    Her green eyes were suddenly
quite sharp and focused on his. In their depths, he saw the very real threat,
but beyond that he saw a wealth of possibilities. Things that made her warning
similar to a tree falling across the mouth of a waterfall. The water of his
desire would simply rush under and over to fling itself over the edge in order
to experience the euphoria of the descent.
    Over the months of training,
Thomas had forced him to thoroughly analyze all the paths his life had taken to
be absolutely sure he wanted to embark upon this one. Jacob had come to the
conclusion all those paths had converged to lead him to Thomas's door. But now
he wondered if Thomas suspected her illness. Had he hoped Jacob would lose his
heart to her so quickly that when the truth was known he would be willing to
lock his destiny with hers, no matter the consequences? Or had Thomas known
Jacob had lost his heart to her long ago?
    She was gazing at him. He
realized they'd been standing there looking at one another for several minutes.
"Perhaps I'm rushing you?" she