Somewhere nearby something creaked. Alarmed, Juliette glanced about. Tristan sat on a porch swing, his face blank. Without speaking he rose and tentatively moved toward her and down the stairs. He reached out and laid his fingers on her shoulder, but pulled back as she flinched involuntarily at his touch.
“May I sit next to you?” he whispered.
Juliette froze, her eyes wide and unblinking. At once she wanted little more than to have her friend near, but he was one of them, a man who could hurt her. Slowly Tristan backed away, and panic filled her heart. Her hand darted out and grabbed at his, closing around air.
“Do you want me to stay?”
Another tear fell. Juliette nodded, still not speaking. Desire for the safety he had given won over her fear of him.
Tristan lowered himself beside her and raised his palms. “In all my years on this earth, I’ve never wanted to kill someone. Right now I want to wrap these around his neck. What he did to you, and let that buddy of his do.... I’m so sorry you went through that.”
A car pulled into the driveway. Juliette gasped and started scrambling up the stairs backward. Tristan grasped the hem of her pajamas. Desperate to escape from the driver, she yanked her leg.
“It’s Sunil, Juliette, not Nate.” Tristan let go of her pants and raced up beside her, pulling her struggling body into his arms, her fists pounding against him. “Please, Mon Amie, listen. My brother just got home. You’re safe. I promise, you’re safe.”
The calmness and gentleness in his tone, despite his firm hold, broke through to her. Juliette raised her eyes to meet his. The man who had protected her the best he knew how gazed down at her, and a memory became clear to her, of a night months ago, when he’d first learned about her home life, and the safety he offered her. A sob escaped her lips. Though she tried biting them together, she could not stop. Her face crumpled and her knees gave way again.
Almost by instinct, Tristan tightened his hold with one arm and lifted her limp body with the other. He sat on the swing and held her in his lap. In her fear she felt so small.
Juliette hunched forward and pressed her face against his chest and cried her tired heart out until she choked and coughed. Several deep breaths steadied her.
“He’s not coming here,” Tristan told her, his hand cupping her bruised cheek. “Emma and Sunil have been out watching both of them. Will and Ash are patrolling the property. Gabby should have been in the living room. Wasn’t she there when you came down?”
Juliette drowsily shook her head, starting to find comfort in his warm embrace. A coconut scent radiated from his body, intoxicating her. She breathed deeply.
“She must have gone upstairs them. Nate knows where this house is, and he threatened me before about you and me talking. So he’ll probably come here at some point, but we’re all leaving in the morning. Even if I hadn’t found you, he’d likely come over anyway. We’re going to get you away from this place, keep you safe. Okay?”
Where they were heading mattered little to Juliette. Soon some distance would be between her and her nightmare. For at least a short time she’d be out of his reach. She nodded slowly, relieved.
“Let’s put you back to bed,” Tristan softly said. “Can you walk up?”
Walk.... Her raw feet throbbed. Exhausted, Juliette shook her head once. Tristan picked her up, and Juliette closed her eyes. Somehow he avoided any hard steps, and before she was aware they’d gone inside, her back was against the soft bed and a crisp sheet tucked under her chin. Tristan carefully brushed her hair off her face, and the last thing she remembered before sleep overtook her was the loving touch of his lips on her forehead.
10. Ojai
The lemon-yellow building, advertised as a penthouse of sorts, was almost as big as the manor, and was all theirs for the duration of their stay. Juliette's bright blue eyes opened wide as she stared up at the villa. Tristan unlocked the glass and wrought iron door. Someone’s arm behind her guided her, followed by the rest of the family, into the circular foyer.
"Oh my…" Her words echoed slightly down the wall.
"Well, spread out and get used to the place." Behind Gabrielle the latch clicked and she locked the handle.
Hands firmly clasped, Juliette and Tristan turned to the right and strolled down a hallway to two large bedrooms. King-size beds waited for tired bodies, and private bathrooms overlooked the sky-blue pool. Aside from their lime green and pale lemon themes, the rooms were identical. "Let's go the other way." Juliette pulled him out of the yellow one.
Back down the hall toward the foyer, they turned slightly right into a comfortable family room with dark oak beams on the ceiling, and furniture and drapers in various golds and wine colors. A chaise lounge had been set in front of the fireplace, and Juliette thought she'd spend plenty of time reading in that chair.
The connected living room was in shades of gold and cream, an elegant space with a formal dining table. Four iron chandeliers hung from the carved wood ceiling beams.
Tristan’s hand left hers. Casually, he draped an arm around her shoulders and led her to the largest kitchen she'd ever seen, connected to another smaller dining area, which had a table and chairs just outside. "Who'd need three places to eat lunch?" he lightly asked. Juliette shrugged in response to the rhetorical question.
"Five fireplaces on this floor alone," Juliette murmured as a cool breeze swirled through an open window. She turned toward the staircase. On the steps up, they passed William and Ash.
"Where's Jareth?" Juliette asked them.
"Being emo by the pool." William continued down.
Juliette led the way past a massage room and into a master suite with blue upholstered furniture and a bathroom with a television mounted to the wall. "This is a man's place, right? He can watch football while doing his business."
Quietly, Tristan laughed. Ahead of her he walked down the hall to the other master bedroom, one decorated in soft red. That bathroom also had a television. "So what do women turn on in here?" he teased.
"Gone With the Wind?" She smiled and went to the window. The view of the mountains’ many greens meeting a pale blue sky seemed to be a painting.
"A dozen." Tristan’s voice came softly, close to her ear.
"Hmm?"
"Twelve fireplaces in this place."
"Wow." The warmth of his breath so near distracted her from his words.
“Juliette...” Staring down, Tristan shoved his hands in his pockets and rubbed the toe of his black loafer into the floor.
“Yes, Tristan?” A heat flushed over Juliette, her head leaning to the side. The childlike nervousness in his posture made her heart beat harder. “Did I do something wrong?”
“God, no.” Tristan swallowed hard. “Juliette, I’ve missed you. Distance from you hurt more than I thought anything could. Not until you were gone did I realize the light you brought to my life, and how important you’d become. Worse, every day I feared for your safety.”
Hesitation slowed Juliette’s steps toward him. “I’m so sorry, Tristan, but I had to stop seeing you. Nathaniel already thought something was...something was going on between us. I was afraid he’d hurt you.” With barely a foot separating them, Juliette gazed into his eyes and whispered, “Every day, I missed you too. Being kept from you....”
Tristan raised a hand to Juliette’s face and cupped her chin, lightly stroking her cheek with his thumb. His head slowly leaned forward, his eyelids dropping, as Juliette’s lips parted.
Louder than necessary, Gabrielle walked in, startling them. She gave Tristan a pointed look, but spoke to the woman before him. "Juliette, how would you like this suite? I'll take the blue. Jareth wants the apartment over the garage. Emma and Sunil want the yellow room, and Ash asked for the green. We’ll play some musical rooms when Tristan, Sunil, and William, get back from their trip."
A lump formed in Juliette’s throat. "What trip?"
"Tristan can tell you.” Arms crossed, Gabrielle narrowed her eyes at Tristan. “The chef arr
ived a few minutes ago and we'll eat an early meal in an hour. The others are already in the family room. We need to go over the agenda for the next few days over dinner." Gabrielle headed back downstairs without waiting for a response.
A cold sweat broke out on Juliette’s brow and she wrung her hands. "Tristan, this is all happening too fast. Too fast! I can't handle this. Don't go! Please don't leave!"
"It's okay, Mon Amie. Everything will be all right." He tried to comfort her with a hug, but she shrunk away from him and retreated to the far side of the room, pressing her palms to her face.
"Twenty-four hours ago I was at Nathaniel's and things were as they always were, and then he… he…and now I'm here, and you'll be leaving, and I'm confused and scared!"
"Juliette, he can't hurt you again. No one will, as long as I’m breathing."
Desperate for protection, she ran to him and flung her arms around his neck. "Wh-where are you going?"
Tristan splayed his fingers on her back and breathed in her scent. “You always smell like vanilla. Now, don't tell anyone I'm telling you the details. We're looking for some old friends of ours. We believe they're in Canada. Ash doesn't have a passport. So we're going to sneak him in."
"Is that all?" She lifted her chin. "Why not get him one? Can’t this wait?"
"Well, he was born in England, and he’s lived in the US over twenty years now. He, um, wasn't brought here...legally...by his parents. Please blindly trust me on this."
"Oh, okay. I can understand why you didn’t want to tell me. I won’t hold his immigrant status against him. The intolerance is foolish. You’ve never given me any reason to think you’d lie." She flashed him a smile. "Should we go downstairs?"
Tristan strode through the archway, an arm around her waist. Juliette drew her fingers over his spine and pulled him closer, grateful for the safety he had given her.
* * *
Tristan lowered his fork to take another bite of cognac shrimp. "I haven't had food this good since I was still in Paris."
"You're from France?" The wine glass, halfway to Juliette’s mouth, waited, suspended in midair.
Emma laughed. "His accent should give that away."
A flush colored Juliette’s cheeks. "I never thought about it. So many accents around here. I always wanted to learn something as romantic as French."
After a sip of Prosecco, Tristan, staring intently into her eyes, raised her hand to his lips. Leaning his head close to her, he spoke softly and slowly in barely more than a whisper. "L'amour fait les plus grandes douceurs et les plus sensibles infortunes de la vie. En sa beauté gît ma mort et ma vie.”
For a moment Juliette held her breath, not wanting to break their gaze. "What was that? What did you say?"
Across the table William whistled. "Wow," he quietly said to Ash, who merely raised his eyebrows. Emma smiled at Sunil. Next to them Gabrielle diverted her attention from the scene, instead glancing over at Jareth who was doing his best to ignore them.
Juliette scanned the faces around her. "You all understood and you’re not going to tell me, are you?"
The hand holding her loosened its grip. Tristan smiled and gave her a quick wink. "Unless the chef will serve us some raw steaks, I'll make lunch tomorrow."
"I think Juliette would want something cooked," William reminded him, "though my body is craving a thick, myoglobin-dripping piece of meat. I'm pretty run-down right now."
"Raw steak. Not rare, but completely uncooked?" Juliette cringed.
A knife scraped against Ash’s plate. "Oh it's good. Try a bite sometime."
"I'll take a pass. Vampire food isn't appealing to me."
A silence fell in the room when Jareth pushed his chair from the table and stormed outside.
The remains of her meal still on her plate, Juliette’s stood and moved toward the hallway. "Excuse me, I'll be back in a minute."
As the bathroom door closed, Gabrielle dropped her fork. "What was that? You’re so fortunate she doesn't speak French."
"I don't know what came over me." He looked down at his hands like a child in trouble. “The time apart didn’t lessen my feelings for her as much as I thought. I do mean everything I say to her.”
Gabrielle shook her head and drummed her fingers on the table. "You, Tristan, you are the one who said she needs a friend right now. You're also the one who's been moping for months about wanting someone to love, but you’ve refused to enter any sort of relationship with anyone who isn't one of us. You're leading her on, Tristan. She's been through hell, and you think this is appropriate? If you're not considering the possibility of something above friendship, if she’d want more, then you need to nip the flirtation before you hurt her. Make up your mind and stop whatever game you’re playing."
For once in his life, William kept a straight face. "Hey, Bud, if you anything that hurts her, you'll answer to me. You're getting emotionally wrapped up, but be careful. Don’t make her pay for you."
"It's a bad idea." Jareth slunk through doorway, speaking for the first time since the meal started. "She shouldn't be here at all. We should have just dropped her off somewhere."
“You think abandoning her is a decent idea? Can you can tell her that?" Anger built up inside of Tristan.
"Tell me what?" The bathroom door had opened so silently they hadn’t realized she’d returned.
Tristan and William stared at Jareth. Their newest family member turned away and scowled. "We weren't talking about you."
"An old family friend," William lied.
"Oh."
Their dinner forgotten, Gabrielle stood for their attention. "We need to discuss some planning and timeframes and such for a moment."
Jareth glowered hard at Juliette until she couldn’t ignore him.
"I think I should excuse myself. This isn’t my business."
"No, it's all right. Please stay." Tristan pointedly stared at each of his brothers and sisters. "I already told her that Sunil, Ash, and I, are looking for an elderly friend who's missing."
Her poker face on, Gabrielle smiled. "Good. Thank you for that."
"The plan?" Slower than Gabrielle, he recovered his composure from the lie.
"You three leave tomorrow to scrounge up any leads to start. Just wing it. Basically it’s a recon mission. Then head back for us and we'll join you. We'll hold down the fort here while you're away and search the internet again for more information."
"Tomorrow? How long will you be gone?" Breaths came shallower.
Tristan shrugged. "We hope a short time. We won’t have phone access, so can’t be in contact. It could be a few days, maybe a few months."
Winded, Juliette dropped her forehead to her finger tips and bit her lip. "A few months," she whispered. "Excuse me." In one swift motion, Juliette shoved her seat from the table and darted to the stairs.
"I'll be right back." Tristan followed her to the second floor.
The door to her room stood open. Beyond it, her silhouette contrasted against the light pouring through the window. A sheet of blonde hair flowed down. Tristan quietly approached her. “Juliette?”
"Months, Tristan? Will you call?"
“As we said, we won’t have a way to do that.”
Her shoulders quivered as a gasp escaped her lips. “You can’t even call. I’ll do nothing but worry if you’re okay.” Still she kept her back to him.
"I don't like it either. But we’ll be safe."
"Why could searching for a friend last months? What are you hiding from me?"
Tristan sighed and shrugged. "It's complicated and would take quite a while to explain."
"I have all afternoon."
Aggravation mixed with compassion for the woman he kept in the dark. "I don't have enough time to tell it. Please just trust me on this."
Her hands balled into fists, Juliette turned around. “Trust you? I've done nothing else! You and Libby are the only people I’ve been able to trust entirely. Now she doesn't even know where I am. And you! I'm starting to wonder. I h
ate feeling like this, Tristan."
In surrender, Tristan lifted his hands. "If you want to know about anything else in the world, please ask. I’m sorry, but I can’t go to detail about where we’re going."
"You eat raw steak?"
A few seconds passed. Tristan found no way out of the truth without a lie. "Yes."
"Why? Blood is gross."
"There’s no blood. The juice is myoglobin. That’s what we’re used to, and makes us healthier."
“Is Sunil ditching his classes?”
“Vacation was lined up weeks ago. They’re covered.”
"What are you really doing in Canada?"
One hand on his hip, Tristan pinched the bridge of his nose with his other. "Juliette, I've told you all I can. Please trust me."
"No, you trust me."
Silence stretched between them.
"If you want me to hand you my trust, you have to give me some of yours. Not even twenty-four hours ago I was still with Nathaniel. I've left everything. My education, my best friend, everything. I was relieved to get away, but I'm starting to feel more scared now. I know less about what's going on here than I did at Nathaniel's. At this moment I don’t know where I’ll be in a week. Over at his place I had some idea what to expect. He never asked me to trust him, and didn’t bother pretending to care. You want it blindly."
The weight of her words cut Tristan to his core. The remaining swelling of her lip, the oblong bruise on her cheekbone, and rapid rise and fall of her chest awoke in him the desire to lay his heart and life bare to her. Her safety came first. "You’re right. I’m asking a lot, but I’m bound in a way I can’t explain. Juliette, you aren't going to be hurt here. We will prote-"
"Emotional hurt still hurts. I've been on the roller coaster for the past day. In the last hour alone..." Juliette’s battered face fell, her shoulders hunching forward.
A kick to the groin couldn’t have been more painful. The ache in his chest forced tears to fill his eyes. "I can't tell you more than I have, and that’s hurting you. But if I did, that would hurt you too. I don't know what to do, Juliette."