Chapter 5
Daniel awoke well before dawn and stretched, amazed that the fractious woman had let him sleep at all. He could barely believe he’d been freed from his five hundred year nightmare only to be enslaved. And how she’d figured it out so quickly was beyond him. He’d been so careful, straining as long and as hard as he could not to immediately jump to do her wishes. The moment she was certain it was true that he was somehow forced to do whatever she said, she’d gone from beautiful and confused, perhaps still a little frightened, to a domineering shrew.
Though he had to admit to himself he still found her beautiful, even as he was scrubbing out the refrigerator and disposing of anything that might be “expired.” His eyes still hurt from straining to see the tiny print on all those bottles and jars. So much food. His stomach growled, making him swing his legs over the side of the bed to get something to eat.
As his bare feet hit the plush carpet, he smiled and savored the sensation. He was free. He could see and hear and taste and feel again. It might not be ideal, being enslaved as he was, but he was free of the painting.
How many years he’d longed for death, wondering if the world might end with him still trapped motionless in that canvas. Long, slow centuries had gone by, but to his eyes, the world didn’t seem close to ending. He could regain a life somehow. As soon as he got out from under the clutches of this new witch.
It seemed impossible she could be related to the first one. It was probably just his bad luck. As he rummaged through the sparkling clean refrigerator and took out more of the delicious sliced meats, he wondered if it was the first witch who’d made this happen. A failsafe of sorts if he ever managed to free himself.
He frowned, stuffing slices in his mouth, enjoying the smoky taste. Perhaps she was a victim of the curse as well. It wasn’t as if she’d known right away. She’d had to test her theory. And had she ever tested it. Besides making him touch his nose, she’d had him twirl in a circle and do deep knee bends before setting him to work cleaning her kitchen.
His face burned with humiliation, but at least she hadn’t lorded it over him or gloated too much. After she gave him an explicit list of things to do, she’d shown him where he could sleep when he was done, then had curtly told him not to leave the property and locked herself in her own room.
There was no bread to be had, but he finished the meat and drank a long swig of almond milk, surprised that almonds gave milk, but not disgusted by the flavor. He supposed he should be grateful the lovely despot hadn’t left him with a list of things to do this morning, but it was probably only a matter of time until she woke up.
He poked around the luxurious abode for a while, coming across a stash of wine bottles. He didn’t recognize the vintage of any of them, but why should he? Any wine he had exported back in his day would be long gone.
Thinking of wine made him think of his old ship. How he’d loved her. A gift from his father’s employer when he came of age so he could go do something with his life. He tried to summon memories of that grand estate. He’d grown up there, running through the halls with his childhood friend, but he could only remember the darkness at the end. After Daniel’s father, gatekeeper and trusted confidant of the old marquess, passed on, Daniel had turned restless. Wanted adventure. Wanted away from the gatehouse that held memories of the upright and dutiful man Daniel could never live up to.
Wanting to honor his faithful employee’s memory, the old marquess had given Daniel the ship. With the help of some of his great-uncles in Italy, he was able to start a wine export company. The old marquess loved a good bottle, or two or three, and with his recommendations to all his friends, Daniel’s little business became quite lucrative. Until the old marquess passed away and Hugh had become the new marquess.
He smiled ruefully, recalling all their wild antics before Hugh had to put on the mantle of responsibility. A mantle that was far too heavy and had eventually weighed him down. Daniel was older by a few years, and shouldn’t have encouraged him to go astray. But he wasn’t old by any means and also loved the thrill of adventure. It turned out there were so many ways to make money when one had a fine ship. Ways that might have ended up with Daniel hanging from a noose, but with the Marquess of Altonshire to back him, he had felt invincible. And they had grown very, very rich.
It was all so long ago now. Such a waste of two lives. Had the witch been lying when she taunted him, right before she cursed him to a near eternity of hell? Had Hugh also suffered the same fate? If so, it meant his painting might still be out there somewhere. Daniel had found a way out. Perhaps he could still save Hugh and they could live the life they were meant to, all those years ago.
He shook off the old memories. His first priority was to get away from the tyrannical woman who had somehow come to own his painting. But if he had to be enslaved, it could definitely be far worse than in this luxurious home by the sea. Thinking of some of the tawdry establishments he’d hung in over the years gave him an uncontrollable desire to be outside and breathe fresh air. She’d told him he couldn’t leave the property, but how was he to know where the boundaries were? He was always one to stretch boundaries, and decided to go outside.
Dressed in a pair of the stiff, dark blue trousers and a thin, stretchy shirt, he put on his own boots and went outside. He hated the constricting feel of the pants, but knew enough about what the people of this day wore to know he’d be sorely out of place in his sixteenth century clothes. And after being stuck in them for all those years, he wouldn’t mind burning the damn things to ash. The only reason he didn’t wear the shoes that belonged to the mystery man who was supposedly betrothed to his jailer was because they were too small and ridiculous on top of it. They looked like women’s shoes.
He strolled down the vast lawn to a row of shrubbery, thinking this was probably the property line. The view was breathtaking. Far below him was a rocky beach, the crashing waves looking menacing in the pre-dawn light. The sound lulled him, making him feel at home. At least he was near the ocean. But what a vast, angry ocean it was. He had a feeling Annabel wasn’t in Europe.
He concentrated on sorting all the people who’d passed by his painting over the years, barely glancing at him with dull eyes. Jade’s accent was one he heard often. Straightforward, often loud, and so fast he sometimes had trouble making out what the people said. Not that he’d cared much. It wasn’t as if he could speak back to them. Wanting to erase the memories of all the years he’d wasted silently screaming for help, he found a break in the hedge.
A narrow, sandy path led down to the beach and when he looked to the left he could see a pier off in the distance. To the right were craggy cliffs leading upward to a scattering of pines. It was beautiful and wild and he longed to explore, but he couldn’t set his feet past the hedge. It seemed he’d found the boundary.
A slight tremor of anger washed over him, but it was cleansed by a stiff ocean breeze. He wasn’t completely free, but he was no longer immobile or silent. He let out a whoop to prove it and ran back to the veranda where that glorious pool was. He would swim until his arms and legs gave out. What a wonderful feeling it would be to crash into the crystal clear, soothingly warm water.
He stripped off the too-tight clothes and dove in, swimming underwater until he bumped his head on the far side. Taking another huge breath he swam straight to the deep end again, bursting out of the water with a laugh. No, this wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to him at all. If he had to be enslaved by an overbearing harpy, at least she didn’t live in a hovel. And she was truly beautiful. Thinking about the painted-on clothes she wore when he first encountered her made him push himself harder through the water. So much of her golden, smooth skin showed that he hadn’t known where to look. It might be worse that she was so attractive, it might make him lose his chance at escape if he got caught up in wanting her. He laughed, breathing in a mouthful of water.
Spluttering and spitting, he rested his hand on the side of the pool, trying to put thoughts of her out of his mind. But he already wanted her. How could he not, when she was so divine? The second he’d seen her gaping at him in his canvas, he’d wanted to reach for her.
Her face was so delicate he wanted to frame it with his hands. Her hair so shiny and soft looking he wanted to free it from the tie she had it in and run his fingers through it. And all that golden skin. He wanted to kiss every inch. The sensation was so overwhelming that he was actually finally able to break out. Was that all it took after all those years? A sudden bout of uncontrollable lust? He’d certainly never felt any such thing for any of the countless people who’d looked at him before.
And he couldn’t afford to feel it now. He didn’t mean to remain a slave for much longer. He’d be compliant until she became careless with her commands. The moment he could escape, he would. He felt a smile curling his lips. In the meantime it wouldn’t be so bad. He’d seen the way she looked at him. Her thoughts couldn’t be far off from his own. Perhaps ...
He pushed off the side to swim more laps and purge those kinds of thoughts. It would be enjoyable but too dangerous. He couldn’t become ensnared. He wanted his life back wholly, no longer bound to any woman.
When he surfaced at the other end, he stared at a pair of feet in shiny leather shoes with ridiculous ties, much like the ones he’d disdained. The man who wore them had on tan trousers and an open jacket with one of the stretchy shirts on underneath. And a furious glare.
“Who in hell are you?” he demanded by way of greeting.
How rude. Daniel smiled and hoisted himself out of the pool and looked him up and down. The man made choking noises and flapped around until he found a towel, tossing it at Daniel.
“Good God, cover yourself! Who in the hell are you?” he asked again, louder.
Daniel took his time lazily wrapping the fluffy piece of cloth around his hips and smiled. It had been a long time since he’d had any excitement.
“You must be the betrothed,” he said. “Though Jade never told me your name.”
The man turned the color of a dark merlot. “Betrothed? Damn right I am. Now I’ll only ask one more time. Who are you?”
Daniel was having too much fun to answer right away. He did mean to answer, he just wanted to watch the uncouth man squirm for another moment. Before he could, the man hauled back his arm. Daniel stepped to the side, neatly ducking the flying fist and sending the man into the pool under the force of his own momentum.
“My name is Daniel Kincaid,” he said when the man surfaced with a howl of anger.
***
Jade woke to the sound of her alarm and rolled over to stop the terrible noise. She always woke up before her alarm, she only kept it set as a failsafe. It showed the amount of stress a man popping out of a painting could cause. It was a miracle she’d fallen asleep at all.
After emailing her assistant to cancel her meeting and her facial appointment for that day, she stomped to the home gym attached to her bedroom and racked up extra heavy weights. When in doubt, work it out. That had always gotten her through hard times before. Still, she doubted a surge of endorphins was going to make this particular problem go away.
She figured Daniel was still asleep, especially after the long list of chores she’d given him to do the night before. And she felt confident if he woke up while she was working out, he wouldn’t be able to go anywhere. She’d been extremely specific that he wasn’t to set foot off the property.
She did a set of squats and felt the urge to peek in on him, guilt gnawing at her for treating him like a scullery maid. She ought to at least make him breakfast since he surely wouldn’t know how to work any of the appliances.
“Argh,” she grunted, loading up even heavier weights and starting a new set of squats. “None of this is your fault. Why should you feel guilty?”
If he was under the wrong assumption that she was his true love, she had to make him despise her. As soon as she was certain he wouldn’t come mooning back and messing up her life anytime in the future, she’d release him from his bonds. Right now though, she wasn’t supposed to let him out of her sight, which was why she’d cancelled her appointments. She was sorry to lose the facial, wanting to look as glowing and healthy as possible for her speech that night.
As she did some backward lunges, she wondered if Seda had meant to literally not let him out of her sight. Did she need to go check on him right now? Did she want to check on him right now? Maybe get a glimpse of that handsome face?
She grunted again, letting her dumbbells clunk to the floor, something she never did. She wished she could lose herself in the sweaty physicality she loved so much from vigorous exercise, but she could not clear her mind at all.
“Well, it’s not like this is normal,” she told herself as she got down on the floor for hip thrusts. “It’s completely out of your control.”
She dragged over a seventy pound disc and rested it on her pelvis. She hated when things were out of her control. At least she could make her backside conform to the way she wanted.
Hopefully when Seda got back she’d have some solid answers about what to do with the ancient rogue in her guest bedroom. She oofed out a giggle at thinking of him as a rogue, but it suited him. He had that air about him, all scruffy and dangerous, yet still chivalrous. It had been pretty sexy how he’d assured her she had nothing to fear even as he wrapped her in his powerful arms. Ah, those arms. Talk about toned.
Enough. God, what was wrong with her? She never had these kinds of thoughts. Rogues weren’t sexy. Men with careers and good connections were. She did hip thrusts until her mind finally went completely blank and her butt was as tight as a walnut. An agonizingly painful walnut.
Groaning, she shoved the weight away and stretched to work out the cramp. Stupid. Now she was being careless with her health. Maybe she could try flat-out commanding Daniel not to love her and send him on his way. It was worth a try to get her equilibrium back. She wasn’t used to everything being so out of her control and did not like it one bit.
She meant to scramble some eggs and Canadian bacon and hoped the sizzling and good breakfast smells would wake Daniel so she wouldn’t have to see what, if anything, he slept in. Not that she was worried it might be cute and give her one of those awful heart twinges. Or enticing enough to make her need to do a whole new workout.
Instead of getting a nice meal after all her hard work, she heard shouts coming from the veranda. And something that sounded disturbingly like a chair crashing into all her lovely potted plants. Oh, dear. What could be wrong now?
Hurrying downstairs as fast as her aching muscles would allow, she saw it was actually worse than it sounded. Several of her palms lay in piles of their own dirt and broken pots, two chairs were askew while another was halfway down the lawn. Daniel was naked again, with a towel slung low around his hips, dangerously close to flapping off completely. He had a soaking wet Reynolds in a chokehold as Reynolds bellowed obscenities at him.
When Daniel saw her, he beamed and released Reynolds, shoving him a safe distance away.
“I was just teaching this boorish chap some manners,” he said.
Reynolds leaned over and charged, but instead of getting tackled to the cement, Daniel rolled his eyes and stepped out of the way, sending Reynolds into the last remaining chaise lounge. It skidded several feet, stopping precariously before falling into the pool.
“What is going on here?” she asked. “Reynolds, what are you doing here? And quit trying to hit him, it’s not going to work. He’s like a ninja.”
Reynolds unclenched his fists and gave her an indignant look. “What am I doing here?” He pointed at a trail of colorful flowers, ribbon, and tissue strewn near the steps. “I came before work to bring you that. To make up for last night’s squabble. Now who is he?”
What was left of the bouquet dissolved all the annoyance she’d felt at Reynolds. He’d come to apologize. And encountered an extremely good looking, naked man in her pool at the crack of dawn. Thankfully she already had an airtight cover story in place.
“Calm down. This is my cousin.” She looked hard at Daniel. “Which I’m sure he would have told you if you hadn’t exploded with jealousy.”
She felt kind of good that he’d exploded with jealousy but wouldn’t admit it if her life depended on it. The fact that Reynolds had never shown enough interest in her family to know she was lying soured her happiness for a moment, but at least it worked in her favor.
“Cousin?” he asked suspiciously. Then shrugged. “Well, no harm done.” He reached out to shake Daniel’s hand, shrugging again when Daniel ignored it.
Jade bit her tongue to keep from pointing out all the broken chairs and pottery. Better to let it go and keep the fragile peace.
“Why don’t we go inside and eat something? I was about to make eggs.”
Daniel’s eyes brightened with interest and he headed for the steps. She slapped her hand on his chest to stop him.
“Not you, pal. You can clean up this mess. I need to speak to Reynolds about tonight.”
He looked down at her hand resting on his stone hard chest and then seared her with a glance that should have turned her to cinders. Her cheeks heated up and she knew if she didn’t remove her hand she might start stroking him. What was wrong with her? Her fiancé was standing right there, fuming. And yet, her hand remained, slowly getting warmer and warmer.
“Never mind breakfast, Jade,” Reynolds said with a huff. “For what it’s worth, there’s your apology for the misunderstanding last night.” He pointed at the flower pile again and pursed his lips distastefully.
She still couldn’t lower her hand. It was starting to become alarming, really.
“Well at least come in and let’s figure out tonight. Are you driving or do you want to meet me there? If you need me to have the dry cleaner send your suit to the office—”
“What are you talking about?” Reynolds ask, making her stomach turn over.
“You’re going to the gala with me after all, aren’t you?” she asked, hated mouse voice coming out.
She finally managed to slide her hand away from Daniel’s chest. The warmth was gone and she felt cold all over from disappointment. Daniel caught her eye again and she saw pity in his.
Reynolds looked at her as if they didn’t speak the same language. “I thought we went over this last night. No, I can’t go to the gala.” He shook his head.
“But—”
“I’ll go with you,” Daniel interrupted before she could start pleading. She wasn’t grateful. Especially not when Reynolds’ shoulders dropped with clear relief. So much for jealousy.
“Great. I’m sure your cousin here will have a fantastic time. Works out perfectly for everyone.” He edged his way past Daniel, clapping him on the shoulder as he went. “Have fun.” He strode away, waving jauntily without looking back as he disappeared around the side of the house.
“That man is a dick,” Daniel said, pulling a t-shirt on.
Even as tears welled in her eyes, she burst out laughing at that. “How do you know such words when you’re from so long ago? Shouldn’t you say he’s a — a scoundrel or something?”
“I spent years in a cheap tourist gallery with cheap tourists from all parts of the world always passing through. I can speak many languages. And that man goes beyond being a scoundrel. That man is most certainly a dick.”
She wiped her eyes and looked around at the carnage. And at Daniel still not wearing any pants. At that point she hardly cared about propriety. Daniel in a t-shirt and towel was actually improving her mood.
She curled her fingers into her palm, trying to erase the feeling of her hand somehow trapped against his chest. As she continued to stare at him, she longed to slide her hand under his shirt and rest it there again, over his heart. To feel if it was beating as fast as hers was right now.
“What shall I wear to this gala tonight?” he asked, breaking her trance.
She blinked rapidly and blew out the breath she’d been holding. “Don’t worry about it. You don’t have to go.”
“I haven’t been able to dance or have a conversation in hundreds of years. I would enjoy it.”
She knew he’d look amazing in a suit. And she didn’t want to show up alone and have to make excuses for Reynolds. Taking a visiting family member as her plus one was the perfect way to keep from looking pathetic.
“Okay, I’ll arrange a suit for you. You’ll rip all the seams on any of Reynolds’.” She ignored his smug look at that, pinching the inside of her elbow to keep a smile off her face and forcing a scowl instead. “Now, clean up this mess.”
As she was halfway up the steps he called, “Then will you make me some breakfast?”
She didn’t turn around so he wouldn’t see her involuntary smile. “Yes, fine, whatever.”