Between the Marshal & the Vampire(23)

Maybe, in the course of a month, the vampire might tell them.

Business taken care of, Clay hopped back to camp.

"I'm thinking I might not mind having a pretty lady taking care of me," he quipped upon seeing that Mariel had already prepared coffee.

"You wouldn't mind being tied up and at my mercy?" she asked with an arched brow.

He felt a stirring in his cock that was welcome this time, unlike the previous two times when it had occurred around Vellum. "I'm an open-minded sort of man. I'm willing to try anything."

She laughed and set the pot in the fire. "I'll keep that in mind when some awful chore comes up that needs doing."

"I'll always be your man, Mariel. Don't worry."

The look she turned on him was affectionate, and while he liked that just fine, it wasn't what he ultimately wanted from her. He stood beside the fire, still trussed like a turkey, and raised his bound arms behind his head. "Don't believe me?"

She froze in the act of adjusting the wood. "Are you challenging me?"

He shrugged, but the grin he turned on her was playful. "Depends on if you're a woman who's up for it." When still she hesitated, he added, "Throw me a bone, Mariel. My manhood's taking a hit here."

"Far be it for me to let your manhood suffer," she muttered, but his heart leapt when she rose to her feet and planted her hands on her hips as she studied him with mock seriousness. "Well, you do appear to be a man. Whether you're up for whatever is demanded of you is another matter."

"Only one way to prove it," he said, adopting an innocent look.

"The Devil's words, for sure," she said with a grin, but to his delight, she approached him.

He stood motionless, not wanting to scare her off by being too aggressive. Like all men of the territory, he hunted for his meat, and he knew when to lure and when to stalk. Now was a time for letting Mariel come to him.

"You're rather useless with your hands tied like that," she observed.

"Am I truly useless? Or do you lack imagination?" It was his turn to cock a brow. "Or is it bravery you lack? I thought you intended to become an airship captain? Last I heard, they weren't the shy type."

He stilled when her hand landed flat on his chest, between his nipples. "Still think I'm shy, Marshal?"

He smirked. "That's a touch you'd give a grandfather. Doesn't prove anything."

"I thought we were trying to prove that you're open to anything, not that I'm brave enough to molest you." He watched her bite her bottom lip. It drove him wild. He wanted to be the one catching that succulent flesh between his teeth and tugging gently. He wanted to hear her gasp into his mouth a second before his tongue slid into that wetness.

"Let's prove both," he said, his voice husky.

But she dropped her hand, her expression closing off. "If you think that just because Vellum and I—"

"I wish he hadn't touched you at all," he cut in. "Seeing you with him only made me jealous. It didn't make me think that you'd be easy, Mariel. Not by far. I have nothing but respect for you."

Her posture loosened. He watched her look him over again, assessing. Her gaze felt like the sun's rays as it poured over his shoulders and down his chest, down his abdomen to linger at his hips and the mound that was beginning to grow there.

"It's all so complicated," she murmured.

"I know," he assured her. "And I'm not looking to make it more so. In fact, I'm trying to make things real simple, Mariel. Just you and me."

But she smiled slightly, her gaze unfocused. "Not sure it's going to be as simple as that, Clay."

"Coffee's ready."

Clay's head jerked up. Vellum squatted beside the fire, studying the grounds inside the pot. Behind him, the crate lay open with its lid partially slid aside. The vampire hadn't made a sound as he'd risen. How much had he heard of Clay and Mariel's conversation?

Clay feared too much. The vampire had a vested interested in keeping Mariel infatuated with him. What would happen now that he knew Clay wanted to stop it?

"Drink up while I hunt you some food," Vellum said, his tone casual and friendly. His dark eyes revealed nothing as he added, "Then afterwards, we'll get on with feeding time, Marshal, just like you requested."





6


Clay wasn't the type of man to get lost in his head or talk himself into a state. You couldn't be if you wanted to be an effective Marshal. Too many times you had to simply act or react, with no thought to consequences or regrets. Hopefully, of course, you'd already sussed out the situation and made it as advantageous to you as possible. Meaning, you didn't place yourself in an idiotic position where you had no choice but to hurt someone.

Letting a vampire feed from him, however, wasn't a situation he'd thought out too well. Clay had simply blurted out the demand after he'd grown upset at seeing Vellum and Mariel together. Of course a lot of that impetus had been born of not wanting to see her hurt. Clay would be able to see for himself whether the vampire was lying about what a feeding was like. But some of Clay's impulse had been driven by a need to separate the two.

Jealousy. It wasn't an honorable emotion, but one even the best of men fell victim to now and again.