Blood Vow (Black Dagger Legacy #2)(70)

Stepping into the hidden passageway, she pulled an old-fashioned metal cord with a wooden handle on the end … and back the shelves went, moving so seamlessly that the priceless porcelain collection wasn’t disturbed in the slightest.

The space was cramped and dank, but not cold, and there was enough light from the seams of the molding high above that she made her way forward about five feet … to a set of wooden steps that led up the back of a wall.

She was careful as put her slippers on the slatted wood. She didn’t weigh a ton, but she was worried about creaking sounds giving her away. Once on the highest step, she reached up to a slide that was roughly at eye level.

When she moved it aside, she could see out into her father’s study, visualizing the fire across the way, the desk, her father’s figure … and Axe, who was sitting across the desk from her sire.

Yes, she was staring out of the “eyes” of a portrait. Just like in the movies.

Her mother had cut the holes in the painting herself—and her father had nearly fainted. But oh, her mahmen had been able to get away with things like that with him.

She’d been the only one who could.

If Elise was careful not to breathe heavily, and if she concentrated on drowning out the sounds in the ductwork and the soft whistle of a breeze in the rafters, she could hear them speaking.

Her father was just sitting down, which would make sense. Clearly she had become aware of Axe’s presence the instant he’d entered her home.

And by extrapolation, he would soon guess where she was— Sure enough, he frowned and looked across directly at her. His expression was one of almost annoyance, as if he couldn’t figure out why the hell he’d been distracted by a two-hundred-year-old portrait of some old vampire in formal dress.

“Thank you for coming,” her father said as he pulled his cuff links into proper position under the sleeves of his navy blue suit jacket. “I gather that your first evening with my daughter went satisfactorily.”

Cue a quick image of her naked, stretched out in front of Axe’s fire, his mouth and hands— Okay, that needed to stop right now.

Axe glanced at her father. Looked back at the portrait. Refocused. “She came home safely.”

“For that I am most grateful.” Her father smiled, and seemed sincere. “She is my heart. She reminds me so much of her mother. A fiery spirit, a fierce intellect, afraid of so little. That is also why I worry.”

“And why you hired me.”

“Indeed.” Felixe cleared his throat. “On that note, I should like to expand your duties.”

“How so.”

“I will never put her under sehclusion. She would not do well with that. And I am aware that she must leave the house for other reasons than her studies from time to time. Mayhap for a festival or a get-together of females of her station.”

Yeah, right … because she was really looking to go out and have her nails done with a bunch of get-mated-obsessed Barbies?

She’d much rather save the money, keep her toenails to herself, and read through her dissertation paper one more time.

“I should like her to find a suitor.”

Elise frowned. Oh, hell no.

“Do you have one in mind?” Axe asked.

“There are a number of appropriate males whose families are looking for them to settle down. She is of age and then some. It is time, but I am certain if I state that I support the prospect in any way, she shall rebel. So I am in a very difficult situation.”

“What do you want to do about it?”

“I am aware that she left the house last night. I do not know where she went. She did not arrange for you to escort her to school—or you would have sent me your hours as we agreed and you did the evening before.”

“You want me to follow her. Even when she’s not in school.”

“And tell me where she goes. I will pay you, of course.”

Axe shifted in the chair, crossing his legs, ankle on knee. He glanced over to the painting again. Looked back. “I have training. I can’t be with her twenty-four/seven.”

“I had a GPS program installed in her phone. My butler is rather electronically adept. He can monitor where she goes and provide you with coordinates.”

“But again, what if I’m in class.”

“You could investigate where she goes afterward. On your time off.”

“Let me get this straight. You don’t want her under sehclusion, but you want to know where she goes, and if I can’t be there, you want me to pretend to be a P.I. and figure out what she was doing and with who?”

“Yes.” Felixe smiled with relief. “Exactly.”

Damn it, Father, she thought. And of course Axe was going to do it. He’d maintained he needed the job, and more money was always better— Axe got to his feet. “Sorry. That’s not for me.”

“What?” her father said.

What? she thought.

“Look, I’m good with being her bodyguard. But sneaking around behind her back and reporting to you what she does, just so you can use it against her, isn’t my thing. If you’re so concerned with what she’s doing and who she’s seeing, you need to ask her yourself. Your daughter is one of the most up-front people I’ve ever met. She’ll tell you. She’s honest like that, even if it’s a hard discussion.”