Longing for You, стр. 48

Alexis was so on edge just now. There hadn’t been a more dangeroustime for them in a hundred years. The whole paranormal world was shaken fromits slumber and it seemed there was danger everywhere.

When Katie told her about Daisy MacDougall and the fact that herbite from Victorija hadn’t healed, she knew sooner or later the Dred clan woulddescend upon them, looking for her. She had never kept something from Byronbefore, but Katie persuaded her to let Daisy be the one to tell.

She only agreed if Daisy told Byron in the next few days. Her lovefor Katie was making her fearful.

“Duca? Is everything all right?” Bhal said.

Alexis pushed her phone back in her pocket quickly. “What? Yes.”

Bhal nodded and returned to her post on the side of the diningroom door. If one of her vampires was caught looking at their phone, they’d bepeeling potatoes in the kitchen for two months straight. Alexis looked up tosee if her vampires posted at the end of the corridor noticed. Luckily, theywere all concentrating elsewhere.

The constant worry she had felt over the past week was paralyzing.Every morning she left Katie to work, she had the gut-wrenching worry that shemight not see her again. This was why she never wanted to be in love with ahuman again.

She resumed pacing. It was so hard not to be at Katie’s side allthe time.

“Duca?”

Alexis was instantly pulled from her tortured thoughts by Byron’svoice. She turned around and saw Byron had exited the dining room and waslooking at her quizzically. So were Bhal and all her vampires.

She couldn’t believe she hadn’t been aware of Byron leaving theroom—with her enhanced hearing she was always ready and waiting when Byron wasleaving an engagement. Instead she’d been lost in her mind.

Alexis decided to carry on as normal and simply apologize. “Myapologies, Principe. Are we leaving now?”

Byron looked at her through narrowed eyes. “Yes, I want to go tothe office now, Duca.”

“Of course, Principe.”

Alexis took point and led them out to the waiting cars outside.Once Byron was safely inside her car, Alexis looked at the time again. WasKatie back home safely by now?

Being distracted was unforgivable. Her worry for Katie wascompromising her duty. She had to get a handle on this paralyzing fear oflosing her lover.

* * *

Amelia loved her new design room. In the basement of her shop, shehad an office design room that looked out onto the workshop. There were twodesign tables, one for her and one for Daisy when she was working downstairswith her.

She looked up from her desk and through the glass windows, watchedher all-female cutting and sewing team busily working hard. Amelia knew how itfelt to be the only woman working in a tailoring workshop. It was still a man’sworld, except in this little corner of Savile Row.

Giving all these women the chance to work in a safe, upliftingenvironment was special, and as the demand for women’s tailoring grew, so wouldthe opportunities for the women leaving design school.

It was a big undertaking running her own business for the firsttime, but Amelia also had the comfort of knowing that she had her Uncle Jauntyfor support in the shop next door, if she needed him.

Amelia pulled her attention back to her design and smiled as sherealized she’d drawn Byron as her model. She touched her finger to Byron’sface, represented in the drawing, and as she did the voices of the ancestorsgot louder. The background noise had been quiet since they returned from theNew Forest, so this was a surprise. She tried to discern and differentiate thewords, but they were too muffled.

The sound of the room door opening made Amelia look up. It wasDaisy.

“Hey, how are things upstairs?’ Amelia asked.

“Fine. I just finished an appointment. Can I have a word withyou?”

“Is there something wrong?”

In the week since they had been back, Amelia had noticed thatDaisy had been quieter than normal. She was a larger-than-life character andgenerally lived loud, and so it was apparent something must be on her mind.

“I wondered if I could come and see you and Byron, talk to youabout something.”

This was strange.

“Of course. It’s Saturday tomorrow. How about you come over in theafternoon. I can show you the work we’ve done to the house and have a cup oftea and a chat.”

“I’d like that.”

Daisy closed her eyes quickly and swayed, grabbing the edge of thedesk for support.

Amelia got up quickly and put her arm around Daisy. As she did thevoices of her ancestors got exponentially louder, but more garbled. “Are youokay?”

“Yeah, I’m just tired. I’ll be okay,” Daisy said.

“You’ve been working too hard recently. You looked after thisplace all by yourself when I was away. Why don’t you take the afternoon off? Gohome and rest. I’ll take care of everything here.”

“Are you sure?” Daisy said.

“Yes. On you go and relax. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Amelia.”

Once Daisy had gone, she sat down at her desk and rubbed herforehead. The noise of the ancestors was driving her crazy. Why had they gottenlouder when she touched Daisy?

She picked up her pencil and tried to get back to the design shewas working on. As time passed, the voices quietened down a lot, until theywere hardly audible.

What would Daisy want to see them about? It was all very strange.

When she looked back to her design pad she had doodled the head ofa woman and a circle with a geometric daisy wheel symbol underneath.

Strange.

* * *

Katie walked down the stairs just as Byron and her entourage camethrough the front door. Her heart skipped when she saw Alexis. Alexis lookedup, and Katie smiled at her, but Alexis didn’t smile back. She looked worried.

Uh-oh.

She waited at the bottom of the stairs until Byron walked away toher office, and Alexis and Bhal had given their orders to the assembledvampires and warriors. As they dispersed, she skipped over to Alexis.

“Hi, Alex. I missed you.” She grasped at her hand and felt Alexisstiff as a board.

“Did you go shopping?”

“Yes, I was back ages ago,” Katie said.

Alexis nodded and gulped hard.