Part 1 (1/2)
GYPSY NIGHTS.
by Mandy M. Roth.
To Shane, for all that you do to help me do what I love. Thank you.
Chapter 1.
Gitana divided the mint rhizomes out carefully on the countertop. She glanced at the parent plant and bent down to take in a deep breath. The scent of peppermint never got old. She concentrated on cutting the runners into the sizes needed to replant them. She was just about to make another snip when the bell, which signaled that a customer was in the shop, dinged. Dusting her hands off, she gave them a quick swipe across her smock before reaching up to adjust her falling hair.
Hours had been dedicated to trying to unlock the secrets of keeping her unruly hair up, but after twenty-nine years, it was still a mystery. It was hard to fight the gift that Mother Nature had given her, wavy dark brown locks that seemed to grow faster than a weed. She shrugged and gave up.
Oh, well, you can't flaunt what you don't have.
Leaving the greenhouse, she headed into her tiny herb shop. It provided her with enough income to pay her bills and she enjoyed it. ”Be right with you,” she called out, hurrying to hang her smock on a hook and adjust her hair--again.
”Take your time,” a deep male voice said, rolling over her, through her, before finally settling in the apex of her thighs.
Gitana glanced up, and drew a deep breath in, ceasing to fidget with her smock. Every now and then she'd get a health conscious hot guy who wanted to jump on the homeopathic bandwagon, but never had she had a man as stunning as this one walk in before.
The tall stranger stood smiling at her just inside the doorway. His onyx hair hung in loose curls over his shoulders and blended in with his black leather jacket.
He slid a pair of leather gloves off his pale hands. His long fingers seemed to caress the sh.e.l.l they'd been enclosed in. Whoever he was, he'd managed to turn the simple task of removing a glove into an erotic moment. She'd never wished to be a pair of Italian gloves before in her life, but now she did. The thought of having his long fingers sheathed inside of her was almost too much.
”Umm, h.e.l.lo...is there anything I can do to you...I mean for you? Can I help you?” Gitana rolled her eyes slightly, embarra.s.sed by her slip of the tongue. A slow devilish smile crept onto his handsome face and she reddened.
Great, blush a little more, why don't you.
He took a step toward her. ”Oui, I was told that you were the woman to see if I wanted to start my own herb garden.” His voice was laced with a heavy French accent.
She gave him a sideways glance. He didn't look like the gardening type. No, he looked more like the millionaire international playboy type. Jet setting and yachts came to mind when looking at him--not herb gardens. But, if he really wanted one, she'd help. ”Sure, what size garden do you have in mind...?” She didn't have a name to address him by, so she let her question just fade away.
”Je m'appelle,” he said, stopping quick and shaking his head slightly. ”Pardon, I did not mean to be rude. My name is Sebastian Rolle. I purchased the house across the way.” He pointed out toward the woods. ”I am thinking of having several gardens put in.”
Yep, just as she thought, he wasn't the gardening type. He probably already had a crew of twenty men waiting for him to tell them where to dig. ”You can have your landscaper call me. I'd be happy to help him out with what he needs.”
His brow furrowed. ”Je ne comprends pas--I do not understand. I have no landscaper. I will be handling all of this on my own.”
She let out a tiny laugh and covered her mouth, hoping that he wouldn't notice. Much to her dismay, he did. ”Do you find that amusing, Madame...?”
”Gitana,” she said, walking out from behind her counter and extending her hand to him. ”Sorry, no...I don't find it funny. It's just that you don't strike me as the type who'd want to get dirty.”
”Getting dirty is one of my many specialties.” He slid his cool hand over hers and cupped it gently. For having had gloves on, Sebastian's hands were like ice. She knew just the place to warm them, but refrained from commenting on it. Pulling away slowly, she noticed that she'd left dirt on his hand. She waited for him to try to find a place on his designer s.h.i.+rt to wipe it, but he just glanced down and smiled.
”Looks like I am well on my way to being an avid gardener.”
Impressive, indeed, perhaps she'd underestimated him. Sebastian's shoes alone were worth more than her entire wardrobe and yet here he was in her tiny shop, wanting her a.s.sistance. The best part of it all was that he was her new neighbor. ”You bought the old McGregor estate?”
Sebastian nodded. ”Oui, it needs quite a bit of work, but what can I say? I fell in love with it.” He brushed his hair back and exposed the most beautiful pair of navy blue eyes she'd ever seen. He winked at her and made her jump. A nervous laugh escaped her. ”Would you mind if I use your restroom? They will not have my water on for some time yet. I attempted to find other accommodations for the night, but it seems that this quaint little town has none.”
”Sure, umm, you'll have to use the one in my house. The one here in the shop has been acting up for weeks now. I've been meaning to call someone, but with spring just around the corner I've been too busy.”
Chapter 2.
”You are sure that I am not putting you out?” Sebastian asked as Gitana poured him a cup of tea. A piece of her chestnut-colored hair fell forward and covered one of her large brown eyes. He had to fight the urge to reach up and brush it out of the way. From the moment he'd seen those chocolate-colored eyes that were the doorway to her soul, he'd wanted to touch her and to know what it would be like to be buried deep within her while she called out his name. The very idea of filling her eyes with l.u.s.t, with pa.s.sion, shocked his senses, and left him s.h.i.+fting awkwardly to hide his erection.
He'd been surprised when she'd not only invited him in to use her restroom, but had also insisted that he stay for some tea and a bite to eat. It was clear that Gitana had no idea what he was, or she would have never bothered offering him food. Sebastian was old enough now that he could hide some of the oddities that normally betrayed his kind.
It was easy for vampires to lose their humanity if they didn't work to maintain control. His eyes would be the first thing to give him away if he didn't control them. They had a tendency to swirl with vibrant shades of navy and black whenever his emotions ran too high or too deep. The next, and generally most recognizable, trait was his teeth. He'd mastered the art of hiding his fangs when he smiled and talked, long ago. Kissing was a different situation. He'd spent centuries trying to work the kinks out, but every now and then he still drew blood. He thought of his lips on Gitana's, how tempting hers were, calling out to him, but the last thing he wanted to do was to hurt her. He'd spent too long searching for her to allow anything happen to her.
It'd taken Sebastian almost thirty years to find Gitana, but here she was. She was even more beautiful than her mother was. He hadn't even thought that possible. Her mother, even in her final moments, looked like a gift from the G.o.ddess herself. He'd come across her mother, Tawni, during the war between the Roma (Gypsies) and the demons. Christians had long mistaken the Roma as being at one with the demons. They'd tired of this misconception and decided to banish a few well-known demons to another realm. Their power was great and they succeeded, but they also managed to bring the wrath of the entire demon community down on them. All walks of demon life attacked them and in such numbers that few tribes survived.
Sebastian cringed when he thought of the heinous acts his own kind had committed during the height of the war. Word had spread of a tiny group of healers who had come to help the victims of the war. He'd been unable to stop the others from going once they heard that the healers were Romas, so he'd followed in the shadows and did his best to save as many innocent lives as he could.
The war between good and evil had been a b.l.o.o.d.y one. It still claimed victims although not in the same numbers it once did.
He could still remember how scared Tawni was when he found her pregnant and hiding in the woods. She kept calling out the word mullo and covering her face. Sebastian had been alive long enough to know that mullo meant demon in her native tongue, and that the young girl was right, that's exactly what had attacked her tribe.
Tawni went on and on about how she was pregnant with the chosen one, and that was why she and her people were attacked. He tried to tell her that it was a random act of violence, but the more he thought about it, the less random it seemed. The vampires had been ordered to seek out the Gypsies in the area and destroy them. When a master vampire ordered his people to do something, they did it without question, at least all but Sebastian did.
He carried the very pregnant Tawni to the nearest group of human soldiers and left her near their base. He'd thought that would be enough. He'd a.s.sumed that the young woman would seek help, but he was wrong. When he returned the next night, he found her bitten and on the verge of death. The mullos had returned and found her alone. She used what magic she had left to fight them off, but she was unable to hold them all back. Sebastian tried to pick her up and carry her all the way into the Roma base, but Tawni wouldn't allow him to touch her until he promised to make sure that her child was safe. Reluctantly, he agreed.
”You will be the one for her. It has been foreseen,” she said, and with that Tawni, the tiny Roma woman, died in his arms. The actions that followed would haunt him until the end of his days. In the height of his glory as a blood drinker he would have taken great pleasure in mutilating a human, but that had changed. Sebastian had softened over the years, and forcing Tawni's child into the world was bittersweet for him. He'd aided in saving the tiny baby's life, but had been unable to save her mother. Sebastian took the baby and returned her to the survivors of the brutal attack. That night he'd been plagued by visions of Tawni and by her final words to him. The next night he tried to find the Roma tribe that he'd left the baby with, but they had vanished. He'd spent the next thirty years trying to find the child again.
Now, as Sebastian watched Gitana prepare a sandwich for him, he had a hard time believing that she was the same child he'd seen so many years ago. Gone was the tiny, purplish, screaming bundle he'd carried, wrapped tightly in his coat for miles in the pouring rain. He could still remember how loud the thunder was that night, and how severe the storm was that followed. He'd feared that the tiny baby girl would not make it, but she did. Now, Gitana was a creature of such beauty that he thought for a moment that his heart had actually started to beat. Of course, that was ridiculous, he hadn't fed today and it wouldn't beat again until he took the blood of the living into him.
”Would you like some mayonnaise?” Gitana asked, glancing at him and then the sandwich.
Sebastian wasn't sure how to respond to that because he wasn't entirely sure what that was. He could eat human food, but it did little in the way of sustaining him, so he tended to avoid it. Gitana wrinkled her nose up and gave him a very adorable look.
”It's okay to tell me what you do and don't like. I won't hold it against you when I help you with your herb garden.”
”Very well then, no, I will pa.s.s on the may-o-nnaise. Thank you, though.”
She took time to cut his sandwich and arrange it on the plate, just so. It had been ages since someone had done that for him--over a hundred years. He sighed and thought of Tawni's last words. Could Gitana really be the life mate he'd been searching for?