Now, she thought. He would make love to her now.
And he might have, if someone hadn’t come knocking on the door.
Kaitlyn bolted upright, then looked at Zack, her eyes wide.
“Zack? Are you awake?”
Kaitlyn’s heart skipped a beat at the sound of her mother’s voice. She stared at Zack, panic-stricken. What was her mother doing here?
“Zack? It’s me, Elena.”
He cleared his throat. “Yeah?”
“Have you seen Kaitlyn? She’s not in her room, and no one’s seen her since this afternoon.”
“If you give me a minute to get dressed, I’ll help you look.”
“Thanks. I’ll wait for you in the library.”
“Right.”
Kaitlyn collapsed on the bed. How could she have been so foolish as to spend the day here? How could she have forgotten that whenever she was home, her mother expected them to dine together.
“Relax, darlin’,” Zack said. He pulled on his pants, then peered out the door. “The coast is clear. You’d better go while the going is good.”
With a nod, she hurried out the door and ran to her room, wondering all the while what she could possibly say to her mother. She had never lied to her parents before, but she needed a good fib now.
In her room, she quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a sweater, ran a brush through her hair, then hurried to the library. Pausing outside the door, she took several deep breaths, pasted a smile on her face, and stepped into the room.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Kaitlyn! Where have you been?”
“I . . . was upstairs. In the ballroom.”
“Whatever were you doing up there?”
Kaitlyn tucked her hands into the pockets of her jeans to keep from fidgeting. “Doing? I . . .” She cleared her throat. “Nothing. I was just . . . you know, just looking at the view. It’s really pretty this time of year.” She bit down on her lower lip to stop the flow of words.
Her mother didn’t say anything, merely sat there, watching her.
“Don’t you believe me?”
“Should I?”
“No.” Kaitlyn’s shoulders sagged. She had never been any good at lying. What had made her think she could get away with it now? “I’ll tell you the truth, but only if you promise not to tell Dad.”
“I can’t promise you that.”
Kaitlyn sank down on the sofa beside her mother. “I was with Zack.”
Elena folded her hands in her lap. “You mean just now?”
“Yes. We didn’t do anything, honest,” she said quickly. “He just woke up a few minutes before you knocked on the door.”
“How long were you in there?”
“All day, except for when I had lunch with you.”
“I see.”
“I . . . I just wanted to be near him.”
“Oh, dear,” Elena said, sighing. “You’ve got it bad, don’t you?”
“I love him, Mom. More than anything.”
Elena smiled wistfully. “Yes, I guess you do.” She took Kaitlyn’s hands in hers. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret later, sweetheart. Don’t hurry into anything. Zack is very handsome. And vampires have an allure that’s hard to resist. But you know that. Just be sure that what you’re feeling for him is real, and not . . . lustful attraction.”
“So, how did you know what you felt for Dad was the real thing and not just infatuation, or some kind of vampire glamour?”
“That’s a good question,” Elena said, smiling. “I wish I had a good answer.”
“What made you love him?”
“I guess it was his goodness, his kindness.” She squeezed Kaitlyn’s hand. “And even though he could read my mind, he never took advantage of it. Well,” she added, grinning, “not often. But the most important thing was, he let me be me. That’s important in a relationship, because you can’t change him, and he shouldn’t try to change you.”
Kaitlyn nodded. Zack knew her better than she knew herself. “You won’t tell Dad where I was?”
“No. But remember this, next time it could be your father knocking on the door.” Elena looked up. “Zack, come in.”
“I see you found her,” he said, striding into the room.
“She told me everything,” Elena said, rising. “In the future, I hope the two of you will be more discreet.”
Zack waited until Elena left the room, then, grinning, he took Kaitlyn in his arms. “Looks like we dodged a bullet that time.”
It surprised Zack to learn that the vampires who dwelled within the Fortress spent their waking hours pretty much like everyone else. They watched satellite TV and DVDs, they read a lot, they danced up in the ballroom, they argued and bickered like most married folks, they played with their kids and made sure they were well educated.
It was all a revelation to Zack. The vampires he knew were a solitary bunch. Occasionally, one or two would band together for a while, but as a rule, the vampires of his acquaintance didn’t share territory or lairs. They didn’t trust each other and pretty much avoided one another whenever possible.
But this was the Carpathian Fortress, and tonight both vampires and mortals had gathered in the game room downstairs to play cards. In order for the games to be fair, the vampires and the humans played at separate tables, since the vampires could read mortal minds. Most of the women played canasta or rummy, while the men, and a few of the women, preferred poker.
Zack glanced at Kaitlyn, who stood behind his chair as he shuffled the deck. Zack rarely played cards. Being able to read human minds made winning all too easy, which took all the fun out of the game. Playing with the vampires was far more challenging. He had met a mortal or two who had what was called a “poker face” but they didn’t hold a candle to the vampires. Kaitlyn’s father was a natural at the game, as was another vampire known as Josef.
Zack played for an hour, scooped up his winnings, took Kaitlyn by the hand, and excused himself from the game. He was keenly aware of Drake’s narrow-eyed gaze following them as they left the room.
“What do you want to do now?” Kaitlyn asked as they climbed the stairs to the main floor.
“Doesn’t matter. I just wanted to be alone with you for a while.”
“Sounds good to me.” She nodded as they passed a couple of young vampires. “But I don’t know where we’ll find a place to be alone at this time of the night.”