Between the Marshal & the Vampire(17)

"Trousers!" she laughed. "I almost think I want to be one just for the trousers. My friends and customers would drop dead if they saw me in trousers."

"You'd look good in them," Clay went on, his eyes darkening. "They'd show off some mighty fine legs, I'm sure."

Instead of blushing or looking away as she might have done before she'd joined the train in Willowtown, Mariel boldly met his gaze.

"Guess you'll just have to wonder about that," she said.

"Will I?" he said. "Only guess?"

"Marshal, you're being rather forward, don't you think?"

His smile made her heart flip. "You telling me to back off, ma'am?"

Fortunately, Vellum appeared, sparing her from answering. The black-clad male emerged from the shadows just outside the ring of firelight as though he'd been standing there all along. Maybe he had been.

He held up a pair of wild hares. "Will this suffice?"

"That's the best you can do, vampire?" Clay said with a shake of the head. "Expected someone like you to come back with a full steer."

"Now that I know you require an excess of meat, I'll adjust my hunting accordingly," Vellum replied, staring at him.

Clay said nothing in return, just continued poking at the fire. Mariel noticed Vellum's lips twitch before the vampire tossed the dead rabbits beside the Marshal.

Clay expertly gutted and prepared the hares and soon he and Mariel were enjoying the meat while Vellum stood guard, watching the desert.

"What are you looking for?" Mariel asked him as she finished eating and sucked the last juice from her fingers. "Do you think there are more of Beaufort's men out there?"

"I dispatched them all," he said without turning.

"Then what are you—"

"He's afraid of the Empire Marshals," Clay cut in. "By now the news of the train attack will have reached the nearby towns. The Marshals will know you and I are no longer with the other passengers and that Darrell is dead. They'll think some of Beaufort's men took us with them and they'll have begun a search." Still watching Vellum, Clay added, "You afraid, vampire?"

"Of the Marshals?" Vellum's eyes caught the fire as he looked back. "Of you? The answer is no in either case. I know how to handle them and I know how to handle you."

It didn't sound like a threat to Mariel, but strangely, like a promise. Even Clay didn't bluster with a defense of his ego. He merely mumbled to himself and glared into the flames as though willing them to flare up and consume Vellum.

Undercurrents moved through the air between the two males but she couldn't decipher them and knew it was a waste of time trying. Men, she'd learned, even if one was a vampire, didn't often think straight when butting heads. She'd let them flare their feathers at each other all they want, so long as they didn't outright attack each other.

"Are you finished eating?" Vellum asked them.

Mariel's heart began to pound. "Do you need to feed now?"

The curving of his lips sent memories tumbling through her head: his lips against her breast, his hand between her legs, the powerful heat of him, driving into her again and again, filling and alleviating her ache.

"Yes, Mariel," he said softly, "it's time I drank from you."

Desire coursed through her so thickly she nearly moaned. She knew her pupils must be blown with her lust.

"No, you'll drink from me," Clay insisted, rising to his feet.

"Why not leave the decision to her, Marshal?" Vellum's dark gaze enveloped Mariel, until nothing in the world existed except for him. Was it his thrall? She couldn't tell. All she did know was that she would die if he forsake her. "Will you allow me to drink from you, Mariel? Or should I partake of the Marshal?"

She told herself she wanted to spare Clay from having Vellum drink from him; the Marshal wouldn't be able to handle it. But the truth was her skin had begun to tingle. A warm heat pooled low in her body. Anticipation of Vellum's mouth at her throat had turned her body into a lightning rod, waiting to be struck by his power. She needed it.

"You'll drink from me," she said as firmly as she could. Her voice, to her embarrassment, carried with it a tremor of excitement that made Vellum smile.

"Mariel—"

She held up her hand to stop Clay's protest. "I'm a grown woman, Clay. You said yourself that I'm strong enough to be an airship captain. You think a captain would quail from this?"

"I think an airship captain would be smart enough not to be here in the first place," he said in a strange voice, but she couldn't be bothered to check his reaction. Her world had narrowed to Vellum.

"Open your blouse for me, Mariel."

The softly spoken command worked on her and Clay both. The Marshal stood frozen, as though shocked. She was the opposite, wanting to swoon backwards. With trembling fingers, she reached up and opened another button on her blouse so she could tuck the collar beneath the fabric, baring not only the side of her throat but her naked collarbones.

"You will stand quietly and not interfere," Vellum said to Clay, pinning with him a dark look. "Whatever I do to her will not hurt her."

"I know," Clay said, his voice taut with an unnamable emotion. "You drank from her on the train."