Concern and guilt battled within Domitian as he realized that while his relatives were suffering unknown horrors, he'd been dropped into a tropical paradise and was mating with his life mate. Shaking his head, he paced away, and then returned, growling, "Why am I here? Why am I not in a lab being cut up? Why is he not experimenting on me?"
"I think he is," Sarita said quietly.
Domitian stopped midstep and whirled on her. "What?"
She shrugged and gestured to the nightgown she wore and pointed out, "He put us here in this honeymoon haven, left only skimpy gowns for me and boxers for you, along with lots of food, wine, blood for you, and a very big bed."
"Si?" he said, not seeing how that could be an experiment.
"He said he'd made it his business to learn everything about immortals," Sarita pointed out. "I think that must include seeing firsthand the life mate sex he's heard about. There are cameras all over this place. At least inside. I didn't look to see if there are any outside."
She frowned briefly and then shrugged. "I suspect this is part one of the experiment-watching us mate in a natural habitat. The next part is probably to force us to mate in a lab with electrodes all over us to measure heart rate and whatnot, and then take blood tests before, during, and after to check for hormone levels and such."
"El es el Diablo," Domitian breathed with horror.
Suffering the physical pain this man was likely putting the others through was bad enough, but while Sarita tried to hide it, he could see that the idea that someone had filmed and watched their private moments upset her. He couldn't imagine how being forced to perform sexually in a lab with electrodes and whatnot would affect the petite woman before him. And he wouldn't have it, Domitian thought grimly. They would not be making love again until they were away from here and safe.
"Of course," Sarita said now, a scowl on her face, "he could have taken our blood after we . . . you know . . . banged upstairs in the bathroom," she said, flushing a bit. "I lost consciousness. He said that happens, but I woke up in bed instead of on the floor and he could have-"
"I moved you to the bed when I woke up," Domitian assured her and then said stiffly, "And we did not bang, we made love."
Her eyebrows rose slightly. "I'm pretty sure you have to love someone for it to be making love, and I don't love you. I don't even know you."
Domitian knew he shouldn't be hurt by her words, but he was. It reminded him that while he'd known for a decade and a half that she was his life mate and had followed her life, coming to admire, respect, and care for her over the years, she'd never even heard his name until just hours earlier. He put that issue aside for now as another cropped up in his mind. "Wait, this cannot be an experiment. There is no way Dressler could know that you are my life mate."
"He does," Sarita assured him. "He told me in the lab, and then he talked about how hot life mate sex is and stuff in the letter he left."
"The letter. Where is it?" Domitian asked at once.
"It's on the desk in the office," she admitted, but caught his arm as he turned toward the stairs and reminded him in a quiet voice, "There are cameras everywhere up there, and in the lab down here too. We need to watch what we do and say."
Domitian's expression tightened. Giving a short nod, he caught her hand and led her back upstairs.
The letter was on the desk where she'd left it. Domitian urged her into the desk chair, and then settled on the corner of the desk and quickly read the message. Unlike her, he only paused to comment once while reading it and that was to curse.
"What?" Sarita asked curiously.
"He knows my name," Domitian said on a sigh.
"Okay," she said, narrowing her eyes. "Was he not supposed to?"
He shook his head. "I have lived under the name Diego Villanueva for the last five years, and that was the name he hired me under."
"Hired you?" Sarita asked with surprise.
"Si." Domitian supposed she'd assumed that he'd just been abducted off the street or something like the others, so he explained, "Dressler has been offering me a job for years and I always refused. But when this kidnapping business was tracked to him, I accepted his offer. The bastard played me from the start," he added grimly. "He knew my real name all along."
"What job did he hire you for?"
"Chef at his home on the island."
Sarita nodded slowly. "Yeah, he played you. Aleta is the cook there and she's amazing. He wouldn't replace her," she said with certainty.
"I am a master chef, trained at all the best European schools," Domitian said a little stiffly.