His thumb stroked her bud, and he felt her come, the tiny ripples of orgasm, the soft mewl of pleasure escaping her lips. He loved bringing her pleasure.
He withdrew his hand from her panties and kissed her again, softly on the mouth this time, a farewell parting for the night. He wanted to go. He wanted to stay. If she wished him to remain here for the night, he couldn’t. Not without craving more.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” he said, stroking her hair.
She looked down at his chest, and he lifted her chin to see tears in her eyes.
“Elizabeth?” he said, his voice low, concerned, shocked.
She gave him a smile, faked to reassure him. “I’ll… see you in the morning.”
“What’s wrong?”
She just shook her head. “Nothing.”
He knew something had upset her, but when it came to figuring out women, more often than not, he and his brothers didn’t have a clue. “Are you hurting?”
She shook her head.
He thought she might be and didn’t want to admit it. That she didn’t want him to believe he was at fault.
He left the bed and threw on his boxers, then went into the bathroom to get her a glass of water.
He gave her the water and waited until she took a sip and seemed to feel a little better. “See you in the morning.” He didn’t think he could go to sleep again, as worried as he was about Elizabeth and the men and why she seemed upset.
The front door slammed shut. “Sounds like Darien.” Tom had planned to grab his clothes and retire to bed, but he dressed instead. “Sleep, Elizabeth. We’ll talk in the morning.” He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.
He smiled, but the smile she returned wasn’t genuine, and her eyes swam with tears. Not knowing what else to say if she wouldn’t help him out, he said, “See you in the morning.”
He left and closed the door, wanting to kick himself for taking things too far with her. He hurried downstairs and met Darien in the living room. He had brought in Elizabeth’s bags and raised a brow at his younger brother in question.
“She’s gone to bed. I’ll take her bags up to her. They’ve been dusted, right?” Tom asked him.
“Yeah. I can’t figure it out. Why steal her stuff and then leave it there?”
“Maybe they weren’t trying to get away with her stuff. Maybe they hoped that by bringing her stuff to the abandoned hotel, they could lure her there.”
“And then what?” Darien asked. “It certainly wasn’t just to talk. Breaking the window was an act of violence against Elizabeth. They could have jimmied the window open or attempted to pick the lock on the front door. They smashed her window as if they were angry.”
“Because she took pictures of them?” Tom rubbed his whiskery chin. “They stole everything she had to learn who she was, but they don’t want anyone to learn who they are. Her ID and airline tickets were inside the case of her laptop, so without having time to search through her stuff at the B and B, they just took everything. Why else would they need to ID her if she isn’t some sort of mark?”
“Makes sense. But why leave her stuff and run when she showed up?” Darien asked. “Maybe they believed she’d come alone. That no one from our pack would watch over her. They probably didn’t want to get in a fight and just had to cut and run.”
“That’s what I figure. I’ll take her suitcases up to her and then go to bed,” Tom said.
“I’m calling it a night, too. Again.”
When Tom reached the guest room, he saw the light still on underneath the door. He rapped on it. “Elizabeth, are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she said. “You can come in.”
He opened the door and walked inside, setting her bags on the floor. “Remember that Darien wants you to check them over tomorrow to see if anything is missing. Are you really all right?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. Have a good night’s sleep.”
He paused, feeling she wasn’t sincere. He figured he could learn more about whatever was bothering her tomorrow when they were both well rested.
At least, that’s what he planned.
Chapter 14
Later that night, Elizabeth woke feeling much more herself physically, but emotionally she felt bad. She hadn’t realized how quickly she had become attached to Tom, and now she had to leave.
Despite the late hour, she called North to arrange another meeting, hoping he’d answer the phone. She had to get this resolved, get the evidence against her uncle, turn it over to Hrothgar, and return home soon.
Someone picked up, but when he didn’t say hello or anything, she thought North might be half-asleep. She said, “North?”