Chapter 15

Return of the Frog

The week continued just like that. Well, Richard only made her cry two more times; otherwise they took very good care of her. They did the shopping or purchased takeout, never delivery.

She did notice that when the sun shifted its position in the sky, the vampires also shifted a bit further away from her. Of course they were around constantly, but if they were in the family room with her at night, they never sat on the same sofa as she did.

To keep herself occupied, in the mornings she did her usual workouts in the living room, blasting her hard music through the house. During the day she painted in the art studio that had been set up for her right next to the office, and in the afternoon she watched TV with her vampire bodyguards. She snickered to herself at how many girly movies she’d managed to make them watch: Princess Diaries, Ever After, and The Princess Bride. She gave in a little by letting them watch Tomb Raider, but that was still all about girl power. She reveled in her secret torture of these three tough guys.

While Danielle remained frustrated with the many restrictions put upon her, she was also grateful for all of the time and effort they’d put into guarding her, and she made certain she shared those words of gratitude often. She felt well protected, and it seemed that nothing had ever happened. And she hoped that the plan had worked and that the others thought she’d been turned along with Ethan.

Today Ethan was expected to arrive on a late flight. The sun hadn’t set yet and she was on the couch with Merrick and Cedric, while Richard had stretched out on the loveseat. They were watching Arsenic and Old Lace. She loved the black and white classic, but the men complained that they couldn’t figure out how a story about two old ladies who murder lonely men to put them out of their misery was supposed to be funny.

“Why are you laughing? There’s a dead body in the window seat,” Cedric asked, appalled.

Danielle couldn’t answer because she was laughing so hard. But she wasn’t laughing at the movie; it was their reaction to it that was killing her.

She stood to go to the bathroom, and was completely surprised when all of the men shot from their seats just as she did. Oh, yes, she’d forgotten about that. She felt a spark of mischief ignite within her when she realized she could play with this, and dropped back into her seat.

The vampires stared at her, and when she didn’t stand again, they reseated themselves.

She stood up another time, and watched in amazement as they followed just as before.

With a look of confusion on his face, Cedric asked, “Is there anything you need, Danielle? I’d be happy to get it for you.”

“Thanks, but I just need the bathroom. I’ll be back in a minute.” She figured she’d better go, so they didn’t get too suspicious—yet.

When she returned, they all rose to their feet, then sat down as she did. “Oh, I forgot…” she said and launched from the sofa.

The men followed, and she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. “Oh, never mind. I don’t need it,” she muttered and dropped back to the cushion.

Up again, then the men.

Down again, and they looked at her with realization dawning on their expressions. She leaned to stand again, but was then held down by both Cedric and Merrick.

“You’re toying with our good manners,” Merrick accused with a broad grin.

Danielle laughed out loud.

“We’ll have no more of that, Mrs. Deveroux. If you keep it up, we just may have to sit on you,” Richard threatened, though it lost its sting with his giant smile.

“Sorry. I’ll be good. I just couldn’t resist. Too funny.”

Unexpectedly, they heard the backdoor squeak as someone entered the home.

Richard lunged to his feet, groping for something at his hip. But frowned when he found nothing, and Danielle realized that he’d been looking for a sword. Apparently the man had carried one long enough that it was natural instinct for him to reach for it when threatened.

“We don’t carry those anymore, Richard,” teased Merrick.

“I know that! Was that Ethan?” Richard whispered.

“I don’t think the plane could have landed five hours early. It has to be someone else.”

Footsteps echoed from the wooden floors as this person approached.

“Who’s there?” Cedric called.

“It’s just me,” a man replied.

It sounded like Ethan to her and she moved toward the hallway to see.

Merrick caught her arm. “It can’t be Ethan. It’s too early. This must be an imposter,” Merrick murmured.

The sound of heals against the floor drew closer.

Her guards, it seemed, panicked as they shoved her into the cushions and then pretty much piled on top of her.

The footfalls entered the living room and someone asked, “Where’s Danielle?”

It was Ethan.

“I’m here,” she called from underneath someone’s chest, she didn’t know who, but he was heavy. The sound came out muffled.

“Get off my wife!”

She felt the weight leave her as the prince complained, “You’re five hours early! Why didn’t you call? There’s certain protocol in place for bloody reason!”

“I was able to catch an earlier flight, and my phone died. Plus, I wanted to surprise her.” Ethan responded simply as he made for her. “Are you all right? Did they crush you?’

“I’m fine.” She threw herself into his arms. “I missed you.”

She felt his lips move into a smile against her cheek as his arms held her to him and her feet left the floor. “I missed you too.”

Leaning back to catch his gaze she wondered if it would still make her ill. A flurry of vertigo blew over her senses but she wasn’t slammed with nausea and smiled, figuring it was because she’d just drunk a cup of chamomile tea. While his eyes still made her dizzy, the early pregnancy nausea was fading, and it was slightly more tolerable. Ethan said nothing else as he kissed her and turned to carry her to their bedroom.

Danielle opened her eyes and peered over Ethan’s shoulder as the guards watched him leave with her. They looked kind of lost, and she began to feel slightly guilty for it, like she was abandoning them.

“Thanks for everything, men. I’m retiring early tonight.”

“Will you be finishing the film with us?” Merrick asked.

“You guys can, I’ve seen it before,” she replied as Ethan began to nuzzle her neck and tickled a laugh out of her.

“What were you watching?” Ethan asked as he entered the hallway, and the guards left her view.

She shuddered. “Arsenic and Old Lace.”

Ethan laughed. “And how were they liking that?”

“They found it disturbing.”

“But it seems they were enjoying it anyway.”

“I think they were. You wouldn’t believe what I’ve been making them watch.” She then told him about all of the films they’d seen, and he laughed again.

“Sounds like you’ve had a good time.”

“It’s been a little rough with Richard, he’s really bossy.”

He’d entered their room and was lowering her onto the bed. “You butted heads, I take it?”

“Yes.” She flushed, knowing she had to tell him about the plane ride. “And lips, but only twice.”

“He kissed you? Twice?” She wasn’t surprised at the angry tone in his voice at this news, the possessive side of him made her wonder if she should have told him. But this wasn’t the kind of thing she could keep from him.

“Just to hide me from the vampire on the plane. It was brief, well, no it wasn’t brief, but…”

“What else? Did he hurt you? Did he make you cry?” There was that muscle tick in his cheek again.

She hadn’t meant to tell him about the crying part, but since he’d asked, she couldn’t lie about that either. “He tends to bellow.”

“A common trait of your average medieval prince, I suppose.”

Danielle studied his expression and sensed that there was some of the jealousy he feels around Max resurfacing in regards to Richard. “You seem more like a prince to me, he’s a barbarian,” she said hoping to soothe him.

“I was never a prince, and never would have been. I may have become an earl, but never a prince. And right now, I’m a toad.”

He is jealous of the prince. “You’re all frogs to me, but you’re my Frog Prince, and always will be.”

Ethan exhaled. It was a long exasperated one. “And you’re certain that you’re all right? Do I need to check for bruises?”

Her eyes widened at that. There was just that one bruise, but it wasn’t really Richard’s fault. He hadn’t meant to take her arm so firmly when she tripped over Cedric’s feet and he caught her.

Frowning, Ethan tugged off her cardigan and cursed under his breath at the black and blue mark on her upper arm.

“Now don’t freak out. I fell.”

Narrowed blue eyes caught onto hers. “This is not consistent with a fall, Danielle. Someone grabbed your arm.”

“To stop me from falling, yes. It was an accident.” She may have been frustrated with the prince, but she didn’t want him in trouble for this.

“How did this happen?”

“I stepped backwards and stumbled over Cedric’s feet, Richard caught me by the arm.”

“This is what I get for leaving my fragile wife with three medieval stooges.”

“I wouldn’t call them stooges ... and, Cedric isn’t even old enough to be considered medieval…”

He studied her face for a moment longer, and again she felt the enchanting influence of his vampire gaze. Danielle made a mental note: Drink Chamomile tea before making eye contact with Vampire Ethan because it really helped.

His head tilted. “Somehow you’ve bonded with them.”

“I guess I have,” she said slowly, and found that even she was surprised by this.

“I don’t like how this makes me feel.”

“You’re jealous.”

She could see that he hated it when she pointed that out. Then his expression rearranged. “We don’t have time for this. I need you. I’ve missed you so much,” he said as he began kissing her face, and neck, and shoulders.

“Oh, no!” She then realized how little time they had together before night fell. “The sun!”

“Yes, it will be setting in about an hour, and I’ll have to leave you for the night.”

“No. I-I don’t want to sleep alone again!”

Ethan ignored that and began tugging off his clothes.

“Let’s try sleeping together. I watched late movies with them, well after dark.”

That got his attention. “They weren’t supposed to do that.”

“Nothing happened…. They were good about avoiding eye contact and they never sat next to me on the loveseat.”

“I’m cursed at night and so are they; you shouldn’t have taken that risk.”

She didn’t really know what to say to that.

“We can’t be separated like this again. Never again! For heaven’s sake, you were kissed by another man!”

“What about you? Did you kiss Gillian?”

“We kept the hunting brief to prevent her from being recognized, and fearing they still posed a threat even if you had been turned, we remained inside most of the time. In that case there was no need to put on an act.”

“Is that your answer?” she asked because from that bit of lame info she couldn’t tell if he’d kissed her. “So did you kiss her or not?”

“No.”

Great, now she really felt guilty.

That storm brewed in his blue eyes again, but he curled his body around hers as if he meant to prove that she belonged to him alone.

“We didn’t make out, Ethan. I was trying to shove him away the whole time,” she said, hoping to calm the upset lining his face.

“Does he kiss better than me?”

She looked into his eyes, and smiled as that familiar, slightly uncomfortable, and mesmerizing sensation swept over her. “You’re forgetting about this eye thing we have going. No one can top that.” She closed her eyes and slid her nose over his cheek, drawing in his scent. “Mmmm, and that. I can’t get enough of that. No one can match what you do to me. No one kisses me like you do, and no one is better at it than you. Not that I’ve tested it…. Am I forgiven?”

“Of course.”

The anger softened from his mouth and his sapphire gaze dropped to her lips. “Show me, darling. Show me what I’ve been missing out on for far too long.”