Night's Honor (Elder Races #7)(11)

She didn’t know the names of the various kinds of foliage, but she could see how everything had been designed to keep the eye flowing from one area to another, like the composition in a painting. Other, smaller buildings were tucked discreetly off to the sides. In her tired mind, details melted into a whirl of jumbled impressions as she followed instructions and drove carefully along the immaculate asphalt drive to the parking lot at the side.

Even as her car rolled to a stop, a man walked out of the house toward her. He was dressed casually in a polo shirt, jeans and dark shoes. While a sprinkle of gray lightened the temples of his short blond hair and his lean, tanned face bore lines at the corners of eyes and mouth, he moved with athletic grace, power and assurance.

She climbed out of the car and turned to face him as he drew closer. As he offered a large, broad hand, she took it, and strong, careful fingers closed briefly over hers.

“Good evening, Ms. Graham. I’m Raoul.”

Xavier had said that Raoul was head of his security. While he wore no visible sign of weaponry, she realized that she looked into the smiling gaze of another dangerous man. “Call me Tess.”

“Sounds good, Tess.” He gestured to her car. “Now, please put your hands on the roof of your car and spread your legs.”

“What?” Her tired mind ground to a halt, and she gaped at him.

He looked polite and entirely relentless. “I’ll need to pat you down. It’s nothing personal, of course. It’s just routine.”

“No problem,” she muttered. “I think.”

Was this okay? What kind of person needed to conduct body searches and car searches, just because you drove onto their property? It wasn’t like Xavier was the president, or even the Nightkind King. But then, what kind of person needed to have a head of security in the first place?

Reluctantly, she turned, put her hands on the roof of the car and widened her stance. While she scowled at him, Raoul patted her down. Despite her discomfort, she couldn’t find fault with anything he did. While the search was thorough, his touch was quite impersonal, and he never crossed the boundary into anything inappropriate.

When he was finished, he stepped back. “Thank you.”

Relieved that it was over, she straightened away from the car. “Sure.”

“May I have your car keys?”

Caught off guard again, she stared, and her hands clenched into fists. Why on earth would he want her keys? She said between her teeth, “This doesn’t feel good. I don’t know any of you, and that car is my freedom.”

“I understand this might cause you some initial discomfort,” he said calmly. “But I don’t know you either. Chances are, you’re exactly who you say you are, and you don’t have bombs, drugs or weapons hidden anywhere inside your vehicle. But I’m not in the business of taking chances, Tess. Think of it like airport security. You have to go through the process to get on the plane. Here, you have two choices. We can search your car and verify that you’re safe to have in close proximity to Xavier and ten other people who live here, or you can leave.”

While he said it with an easygoing smile, she had no doubt he meant it. Her jaw clenched, but she couldn’t find fault with anything he had said, and she didn’t have the money to go anywhere else. Slowly she pulled out her keys and held them out to him, watching his expression closely. “And this is all still routine, is it?”

He didn’t appear discomfited by her scrutiny, as he tilted his head in acknowledgment, took the keys and placed them on the hood of her car. “After Diego has had a look, your keys will be returned to you, and we can get you unpacked. For now, please follow me. How was your drive?”

If he wanted small talk, she would oblige. Looking at her car one last time, she fell into step beside him and tried to get her muscles to unclench. “It was good, thanks. The last part, especially along the coast, was gorgeous.”

“That stretch of road is one of my favorites in all of the world,” Raoul said.

She gave him a quick glance. His accent was indefinable, but something in the way he spoke lent weight to his words, as if he had seen many beautiful sites from all over, which, if he had been working for Xavier del Torro for any length of time, he probably had.

As they entered the main house through the side door, he asked, “Have you eaten dinner yet?”

Hunger had turned into a sharp, unrelenting spike that drove through her abdomen, but her stomach was also tied into knots. She said cautiously, “No, I haven’t.”

Raoul gave her a smile. While their initial encounter had turned her into a mass of nerves, he appeared entirely at ease. “I am to give you a quick tour, and we’ll take your things to your room. Then you will be speaking with Xavier again. When he’s done with you, you can take the rest of the evening to get settled. Jordan will make up a supper tray that can be brought to your room later. We had roast chicken for supper, and there were plenty of leftovers, unless you’re a vegetarian?”

So the tour was their chance to search her car. At least they would get it over with quickly enough and feed her supper. She told him, “Roast chicken sounds great, thanks.”

“Good. I’ll let Jordan know.” He led the way through the house with a purposeful stride. “The main house here has almost twelve thousand square feet. There are also four other buildings—including a garage, a guesthouse, a gym with a pool, a steam room and a dry sauna, and the house where most of Xavier’s attendants live.”