“Thank you for taking care of her,” I heard Gray saying. At least he was trying to be polite.
“It was an honor, Mr. Sloane. Her work is important. I will help her and you in any way I can. Feel free to call upon me.” When I looked around to say good-bye to the vampire he was already gone.
“Let’s go home, sweetheart,” Gray said, weariness plain in his tone. “Did he behave himself?”
“He was fine.” He had been for the most part and there was a part of me that mourned the fact that he wasn’t still here. “The two of you have a lot in common. You both can’t stand Dev Quinn.”
His handsome face fell and he sighed. “I’m sorry, Kelsey. I let him get the best of me again. I should have called him and explained the situation and asked to be allowed in to investigate. I shouldn’t have tried to sneak in.” He noticed my bare feet and swung me up into his arms. I felt so small and delicate when he carried me. I suppose I was small and delicate compared to Gray. It was nice to feel feminine.
Gray carried me around the truck and settled me into the cab before going back for my shoes. He handed them to me and then got into the driver’s seat. As he drove I filled him in on everything I discovered. I told him about the trouble the Council was having with the wolves and the fact that one of the murders occurred during the day. I discussed the fact that apparently the actual Jack the Ripper was alive and well and living in Dallas. I didn’t mention that Marcus had been sweet and kind and up until he thought I was working with his nemesis, we’d had a real, undeniable chemistry. That was done and probably had been more a figment of my imagination than anything else.
“Are you sure Vorenus didn’t try anything on you, sweetheart?” Gray asked and I could tell he was being careful not to show his temper. He hadn’t liked the fact that I’d shown up with the vampire, but he was smart enough to know that a big display of masculine jealousy wasn’t going to help his cause. “It’s hard for me to believe he could spend time with you and not try something. He’s a powerful persuasive. He can make you do things you don’t want to do.”
“I know.” I didn’t really want to talk about that portion of the evening. For some reason, I wanted to keep my time with Marcus private. “He explained it to me. I told you, Gray, he didn’t try anything and he got angry with the one vampire who did try.”
“What?” The question was a curt slap of the tongue.
I sighed and leaned my head against the window of the truck. I must be tired or I would have known better than to mention that incident.
“Kelsey?” He wasn’t going to let me off the hook.
“Some vamp was looking for a date and he tried to persuade me to go with him. Marcus took exception, but he didn’t have to since I’d already handled it.”
Gray got on the freeway, which was blissfully clear at this time of night. “How did you handle it?”
“I don’t know.” I wondered if we were going to get into another fight over this. If we were, I’d rather go to my place. I was antsy. I’d been through the emotional wringer and all I wanted to do was sleep. I didn’t think I could take another big scene. I had to hope Gray’s patience wasn’t wearing thin on the sexual front. “I tossed him out of my head and that was that.”
Gray was thoughtful as he exited the freeway and started down the road to his house. I enjoyed the silence for a moment and let the evening’s events wash over me. All in all it had been pretty crappy when I really thought about it. I’d been used by men all night. Gray tried to force me to choose between him and work. Quinn tried to use me as a pawn in his war with Marcus. The local alpha treated me like a piece of ass. Marcus…that had almost hurt even more than Gray. I expected that Gray would realize I wasn’t the girl for him. I just hoped for a little more time before he figured it out. Marcus wasn’t a lover. He was a friend who I thought I might not have to pretend around.
“Kelsey, we’re home,” Gray said softly and I realized the truck had stopped. His hand came out to run the length of my arm. “Let’s go to bed, sweetheart. We’ll go over everything in the morning and figure out what to do.”
He got out of the truck and was around to my side before I could open the door myself. He helped me down and hustled me into the house, locking doors and setting alarms. He nodded toward the rear of the house where his bedroom was. “Go on, sweetheart, I’ll be with you in a minute. I want to check on a few things first.”
When I got to the kitchen, I noticed a small tray had been left for us. Syl, no doubt. I passed on the wine, preferring a bottle of water, but I took two of the cookies. And yes, I then turned and took another two. I munched on the pepperminty chocolate chip cookies as I made my way to the back of the house.