My Reluctant Warden by Kallysten Page B

but I’d never get in their bed if the occasion presented itself. Not without a few dates and clear mutual attraction. Just like I would never have had sex with Mr. Ward on that balcony in reality. Or at least not mere minutes after we’d met.
    In moments, we reached his room. It was a bedroom, not a suite like mine. The bed was unmade, and he set me down right on it, pausing only to slip the ruby slippers off my feet. He then drew the sheet and blanket on top of me, walked around the bed and climbed in on the other side—on top of the covers. The bed was large enough that there was room for a third person to lay down comfortably between us without any elbows touching.
    I turned my head on the pillow. I could move a little more easily now. And breathing wasn’t so difficult. I watched him for a few seconds. His arms were folded behind his head, and he was staring straight up at the ceiling. I didn’t know what to say or even do.
    “Can you breathe better?” he asked in a cool, almost careless voice.
    My throat felt dry. I swallowed hard before I answered.
    “Yes. Does that mean I can leave now?”
    “You can try. My guess is, you won’t get far. She said sleep, didn’t she? Take a nap. When you wake up, you’ll be free to go.”
    A laugh burst out of me; it sounded dry, brittle—and a little hysterical.
    “Nap?” I sat up, and the covers fell into my lap. “You think I’ll be able to fall asleep? When I’m in some strange man’s room and he’s a …”
    I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t say the word vampire. I’d have felt absolutely ridiculous if I had.
    And my fear would have ratcheted up, too.
    “You think I want to be here?” he shot back. “I just got out of bed. I have more pressing things to do than just lie here.”
    “Yeah? Like what? Breaking into someone else’s apartment?”
    He sat up as well, turning a thunderous expression toward me. For a few seconds we glared at each other. And I tried very, very hard not to let myself fall into his gaze again.
    Finally, he hissed, “I should compel you to sleep. That way I wouldn’t have to hear you complain anymore.”
    “Why don’t you?” I shot back. “If I’m that much of a burden, why did you even bother saving me?”
    “Because whether I want you here or not,” he snapped, “you’re still my guest. As for compelling you, out in the hallway you were scared I’d force myself on you. How is compelling you any different?”
    I opened my mouth. And closed it again without a word. After a second or two, he lay back down against the pillows. I remained sitting a little longer, my eyes running over the room. I’d have expected it to be furnished as decadently as the rest of the house, but instead it was rather plain.
    The walls were painted a deep teal that made the room feel smaller, more intimate, although it was scaled perfectly to fit the oversized bed. There was no art on the walls. A window was covered with dark drapes. Two identical closed doors faced each other on opposite walls, and nothing indicated what they might open to.
    The clean lines of the wooden headboard and matching dresser felt a lot more modern than the carved furniture in my room or in the rest of the mansion. It was odd, like doing a puzzle and finding one piece whose color and shape didn’t fit anywhere with the rest. I wondered what it meant, but I didn’t ask anything. I knew he wouldn’t answer.
    I finally lay down again and pulled the covers back up. My fingers clutched the edge of the sheet, and I looked straight up at the ceiling. Maybe it would have been easier to find sleep if the light, as muted as it was, had been turned off, but I wasn’t going to ask. This was uncomfortable enough; I didn’t want to be in the dark with Mr. Ward.
    He wasn’t moving. He wasn’t even breathing. I could almost have forgotten he was there, right in the same bed I was.
    Almost, but not quite. He had a presence, some sort of… I don’t know. An aura, I guess. It was