Her Dangerous Desires [Notorious Nephilim 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Carolyn Rosewood Page A

of this, but she didn’t know how to fix it. Paige hadn’t exactly fallen head over heels with every man she’d slept with, but she wasn’t in the habit of having one-night stands, or two-week flings for that matter. Apparently she didn’t know how to handle either one as well as she’d thought she could.
    As they rounded the last turn of the trail before it wound its way back to the resort, Paige stopped Antares to stare at a bush of bloodred roses growing along the path. They reminded her of the black rose she’d found in her suite. Could it have come from this bush?
    “That’s quite a color, eh?” Gregory beamed as though he had personally crossbred the plants to produce such a deep red.
    “Yes. They’re such early bloomers, too.”
    “Everything seems to be blooming early this year.”
    She had to ask them. It would bother her if she didn’t, and she couldn’t very well avoid her suite for the rest of her stay. “Okay. Which one of you put one of these roses in my suite this morning? I never heard you or saw you. That’s a cool trick. Can both of you do that?”
    Gregory frowned in confusion. The hair on the back of Paige’s neck prickled as she glanced at Demetrius, who wore a similarly dumbfounded expression. Neither one had any idea what she was talking about. The reins nearly slipped from her hands. She dug her thighs into the horse’s side as if to draw strength from him.
    “What are you talking about?” Demetrius stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. She had no choice now. She’d have to tell them what had happened.
    “After I showered and got dressed, I was checking my clothes in the mirror by the door to my suite. I felt cold air, like I’d left a window open, so I went to check. When I came back into the sitting room one of those roses was on the table under the mirror. And there were no open windows.”
    Should she tell them about the laugh? No way. After hearing this story, they’d probably avoid her for the remainder of her vacation. They exchanged a glance that Paige couldn’t interpret.
    “Are you sure it was one of these?” asked Gregory.
    “Well, no…not really. At the time I thought it was black, to be honest, but now that I’m looking at them, it might have been this color. I don’t know.”
    “What did you do with it?” asked Demetrius.
    “I put it in a glass of water and left.”
    “Let’s go and see it.”
    When they returned to the resort, Paige tried to think of a way to distract them from returning to her suite, but her thoughts were a jumbled mess. This was ridiculous. She’d been fascinated by the occult her entire life, but no experience she’d ever had had affected her this way. She didn’t like being afraid of strange phenomena. It wasn’t in her nature.
    As they passed through the lobby, her eye was drawn to Lilith’s picture as the laughter flitted through her mind again. This time, Lilith’s smile seemed to be mocking her. Screw this. She wasn’t about to let a picture or a damn rose freak her out. She led the way toward the bank of elevators, determined to get a grip on her emotions for the rest of the day.
     
    * * * *
     
    Gregory wished he still had the ability to communicate telepathically. He and Demetrius would need to talk about this as soon as possible. Right after Paige had mentioned the black rose, his palms had begun to sweat. He’d known that her musing out loud about summoning Lilith had been a very bad idea. The carefree attitude Paige had exhibited this morning had turned anxious and quiet as soon as she’d spotted the rose bush.
    There was little Gregory could do about that. If his theory was correct, that wouldn’t be the only odd thing Paige would experience during her stay here. They’d seen it happen before. Damning Lilith to the deepest pits of hell wouldn’t even work—they’d probably send her back.
    Lilith had left the rose in Paige’s suite. He’d bet his left nut on that. The demon hadn’t completely left