Stone Romance (Stone Passion #2) Read online

  Stroking Melanie’s hair, Jenna was at a loss for words. Just a few minutes ago she had felt as if she could take on the world, that it was a brand new day full of endless possibilities. And now her sister’s heart was breaking and she didn’t know what to do. And she felt a little guilty because Rhys had told her not everything was as perfect as it seemed and she hadn’t believed him, not really. “Is there anything I can do?”

  “Turn back time so that I never agreed to let Vaughn give up his nights for me,” Melanie replied miserably. “Then he could stay with me and I wouldn’t have to make a choice.”

  Not understanding what Melanie meant, Jenna tugged at the long, purple coat and urged, “At least get your winter gear off, Lenni.”

  Melanie’s half-hearted attempts at helping were enough to get the jacket and boots off, revealing Melanie’s rumpled summer dress and sun-kissed skin. It was apparent that Melanie had spent a lot of time over the past weeks on the enchanted roof of her apartment building and Jenna did not want to even begin to imagine what Lenni had been doing. It was pretty safe to say that her sister had no tan lines.

  Jenna’s skin was still slightly golden from the few hours she had spent up there a few weeks before. Since they had complete privacy, they had both taken off their bikini tops and enjoyed the sun on their bare skin. It had been a wonderful experience and she now realized it was also the moment she had started to wake up from her years’ long slumber. She also clearly recalled the gorgeous monkey gargoyle; he had been imbued with laughter and he had made her feel happy. Alive.

  In a way, the monkey did remind her of Rhys; there was something very mischievous about both of them, something wonderful and unexpected. And she was a horrible sister to be contemplating marble statues and sexy men when her sister was crying her eyes out. “Shh; it’ll be all right, Lenni; you’ll see.”

  “No it won’t,” she countered mournfully, looking up at Jenna with glossy eyes and a splotchy face. A shudder worked its way through her distraught body and she squeezed her eyes shut, turning away from Jenna. “No matter what happens it’s going to be awful.”

  “You can’t mean that,” Jenna chided, a little spark of anger threatening to flare up inside at Melanie’s callous words. Vaughn was still alive; whatever problems she was having with the man could be sorted out if they chose to do so. She ruthlessly snuffed the flame out knowing that if it weren’t for her sister, she wouldn’t have survived the loss of Jeremy, the birth of Ferris.

  “I can’t talk about this right now.” Pulling the cover over her head and shutting Jenna out, Melanie continued to sob inconsolably. Guilt and anger swirled in Jenna’s gut; she wanted to be there for Lenni and she didn’t know what to do. Rubbing the lump huddled on the bed, Jenna watched in helplessness as Melanie cried.

  Lying down on the bed, she curled her body around her sister’s, stroking her back and hoping it was giving some comfort. She didn’t talk, just held Melanie, her thoughts racing in circles over what could have possibly happened between last night and this afternoon. The only thing that she could think of that would be so devastating was if Vaughn was already married and had been living with his brothers while his wife and he worked out their differences. Maybe he hadn’t meant to fall in love with Melanie but it just sort of happened. And of course, once Melanie discovered his secret she couldn’t stay with him; she would cut out her own heart before she got involved with a married man.

  When Melanie’s body stopped shuddering, Jenna assumed she had finally submitted to the oblivion of sleep. She was going to rush out and switch laundry loads and then get back before Lenni ever woke. Carefully sliding off the bed so as to not jostle Lenni, she looked up and saw that Ferris was quietly standing just outside the room, trying to peak into the room without being seen. Her blue-green eyes were wide with concern and Jenna knew the little girl would worry until she knew her aunt was going to be all right.

  Kissing Melanie gently on the cheek, she walked over to Ferris and held out her hand, “Come on, sweetie; let’s let Lenni rest.”

  Not taking her eyes from the huddled form on the bed, Ferris whispered, “Why is Aunt Mellie crying? Is she okay?”

  “She will be okay.” Jenna took Ferris’s hand in her own but her daughter didn’t budge.

  “Can I go in and see her?”

  Jenna shook her head no, “I don’t think that is such a good idea.”

  “Please let her come in,” Melanie’s broken voice cracked from the bed, startling Jenna with the fact that she was awake. She had been as still as the tomb, and just as cold. “Please.”

  Heaving a sigh, she released Ferris’s hand and the little girl fled to Melanie’s side, climbing up onto the bed where she was engulfed in a desperate hug. Jenna stood in the doorway for a few more minutes, touched by Ferris’s efforts to comfort Melanie and once again awed by their special bond. The familiar ache pulsed in her chest and she rubbed the tender spot; she knew Ferris loved her; it was just that sometimes it seemed that her child loved Melanie more.

  It was ridiculous to be jealous over a child’s affection for Melanie, especially when her sister’s heart was shattered. If only she could take some of Melanie’s pain away; if only she knew what to say to make everything better.

  Quietly leaving the room and closing the door behind her, tears clogged her throat; maybe she and her sister weren’t meant to have love and romance. Or maybe Melanie was making a mountain out of nothing and it wasn’t really the end of the world. She was just going to have to find out what the heck happened between Melanie and Vaughn and fix it because her sister did deserve happiness and after everything Lenni had done for her, it was time Jenna paid her back, at least in part. There was nothing insurmountable, except for death.

  She was just going to have to figure out how to kidnap Vaughn and then lock the two of them together until they worked out their differences. She was fairly certain Rhys would be willing to help her out, since Vaughn was his brother and they seemed close. Surely he would want Vaughn to be happy?

  And she had to admit to a little bit of selfishness on her part; she really, really liked Rhys and was looking forward to getting to know him better. It wouldn’t be right for her to date the brother of the man who broke Melanie’s heart.

  Her face heated with a hint of shame and a dose of remembered pleasure; she still couldn’t believe the things she had done with Rhys’s seductive voice whispering in her ear. Surely a guy who had no qualms about bringing a woman to orgasm over the phone would enjoy a scheme which involved potentially illegal activities and possibly duct tape, but only if Vaughn and Melanie were incredibly stubborn.

  Stealing away into her old bedroom, she sat down on the bed and grabbed her notebook and pen and started plotting. And after several hours, which included time spent eating dinner, then getting Ferris off to bed, and finally locking herself in her room above the garage, she developed an intricate plan involving marzipan, a blindfold, the production of a musical number – if Rhys could pull it off – and three or four ferrets. She even illustrated some of the more complicated steps and she did one brief sketch of Rhys in a superhero costume that consisted of a pair of boots and a cape and nothing else.

  Of course, the more elaborate her plan became, the more ridiculous it was and near the end she was giggling uncontrollably, wiping tears of desperation and sadness and laughter from her eyes. The release had been cathartic; making her feel a hundred times better and returning her to a state of near normalcy.

  Scrapping the ten page, fully-diagramed scheme, she realized that the simpler the plan the more effective it would be. And she knew that for such a plan to work she needed Rhys’s cooperation. Grabbing her cell phone from the night stand, she took a breath and dialed his number, hoping Rhys answered and not either of his brothers. She was eagerly anticipating the moment the man with the smoky, rough velvet voice picked up the phone.

  “Hello?” a sinfully delicious masculine voice breathed into the phone. Only it wasn’t Rhys’s and Jenna f
elt like she was back in high school pranking the hot quarterback and having his disapproving father answer the phone.

  “Um, hi,” she squeaked, rolling her eyes at her immaturity. She was a grown woman and she actually had a brain, even if it was deciding to take a vacation at the moment. “May I speak with Rhys, please?”

  The man on the other end heaved a long-suffering sigh, “Must you? Hasn’t your sister done enough damage?”

  That was an odd question to ask, considering Melanie was the one with her heart splattered all over the ground. “You must be Armand.”

  “I am.”

  His voice, while sexy, sent chills down her spine and not in the good, pleasurable way. Gritting her teeth together, she curled her lips into a smile even though he couldn’t see her; maybe the smile would make her voice more pleasant or something and he would just give the damn phone to Rhys. “My daughter says you need a puppy.”

  The line went dead silent and she was afraid he might have hung up on her. “Hello?”

  “I’m sure your daughter wants a puppy for herself.” His voice was slightly less haughty than before; there may have even been a trace of amusement.

  “Nah,” she shook her head, encouraged by the almost-friendly tone of his voice. “She wants a gargoyle now, of all things; can you image?”

  “Quite.” The partially thawed tone was erased completely in favor of a completely frozen tone. There was a shuffling sound and some murmuring in the background but Jenna couldn’t make out what he was saying. Her heart was racing in her chest at having survived a verbal skirmish with the man she had never met and now she was pretty sure she never wanted to meet him. Having said only a few words over the phone he was intimidating as hell; it was all in the tone of his voice. How else was he able to freeze a person with barely a word being spoken?

  “Jenna.” Rhys’s warm voice melted through the frozen layer of ice left behind from her brief conversation with Armand. She could picture the slow, easy smile that curled his luscious lips and for a moment she forgot why she called. “What can I do for you this evening?”

  “Rhys.” Licking her lips, feeling her body respond even though it wasn’t the time or place, she got straight to the point, “What the hell happened today?”

  He let out a long, miserable sigh, “Their perfect world cracked.”

  “Can it be fixed?” She couldn’t hide the desperate hope that made her voice squeak. He didn’t say anything for a long time and from the dread filling her she realized that she wasn’t going to like his answer.

  “Vaughn is leaving in a few days,” he explained, leaving Jenna stunned and speechless. “He asked Melanie to go with him but it would mean giving up you and Ferris.”

  “Why?” Jenna frowned, not able to comprehend how. “Melanie is my sister, Rhys; no matter how far she goes, she’s always able to return home.”

  “Not this time,” he said softly, resolutely. “They would… leave and not come back.”

  Jenna inhaled sharply as a knife was thrust into her chest and her heart continued trying to beat around the wound, writhing in agony. “Like a suicide pact?”

  “What?” Rhys’s voice rose an octave in surprise before he bellowed with laughter, “No, sweetheart; he’s simply going away. It’s as simple and as complicated as that.”

  “Oh.” She really didn’t know what to say and her emotions were running the gambit from despair to bewilderment. “So it’s not a matter of getting them together to work their differences out?”

  “It’s really not,” he assured her. He took a breath as if to say something but remained silent until her belly began to tighten with dread. Wanting to hear what he meant to say, she held her breath and didn’t try to fill the void with meaningless chatter. Finally, he released his breathe and sighed, “There are so many things you don’t know about my brothers, Jenna, about me.”

  “That’s what I’m trying to do,” she interrupted. “Get to know you better.”

  He laughed but it was without humor, “You have no idea how that tempts me but it is impossible, at least for now.”

  “When will it be possible?” she asked, her words soft as her heart sat like a lump in her chest.

  “I don’t know,” he said wistfully, sounding like he regretted the words even as he spoke them. “All I know is that now’s not our time.”

  “Will we have a time?” she asked, her throat tight with tears she refused to cry. She barely knew the man; she wouldn’t cry over something that almost happened. It was better this way; ending it before it could really begin.

  “I don’t know,” he answered honestly and a surge of anger threatened to engulf her; he had gotten her hopes up, promising her that they would make it work, and now he was telling her that he just didn’t know. “I want you so badly, Jenna, but everything is so fucked up right now.”

  Clearing her throat, she uttered the words that tore the scab from her heart, letting the blood flow freely. “Then we shouldn’t tempt fate and see each other anymore. I think we should break up.”

  She knew that they weren’t dating but the hours they had spent together had been among the brightest in a very long time. Unfortunately, she needed more than the promise of someday to take the leap; she had already leapt once and almost hadn’t made it out of the blackness when it had turned to dust. As much as she liked Rhys, as easily as she could imagine a future with him, she needed more.

  “Jenna….”

  “I meant it when I said it felt like you were the piece of me that was missing,” she rushed on before he could convince her to change her mind to wait for maybe. “My daughter already adores you and I think I could adore you, too, but if there’s no hope….”

  “There’s always hope,” he breathed.

  She smiled sadly, “But in this case hope isn’t enough; I need more.”

  “Jenna.”

  “Good bye, Rhys,” she whispered, hanging up the phone. If she couldn’t fix the problem then the least she could do was be there for Lenni.

  With a sigh, she made her way back over to the main house, to Melanie’s room. Ferris had somehow managed to make a place for herself on Melanie’s bed, leaving hardly any space at all. Careful not to wake either of them, Jenna climbed onto the bed, wrapping her arms around Melanie from behind, feeling Ferris beneath her fingertips.

  “Here.” Rhys handed Vaughn another beer, his heart aching for his brother. “Maybe she’ll come back?”

  Taking the bottle, Vaughn looked at him with a grimace and sighed. “No; I asked too much of her and there just wasn’t enough time.”

  Straddling the ledge, Rhys faced Vaughn, “Why didn’t you simply tell her what all it entailed before you made the offer?”

  Vaughn’s lips quirked up in a rueful smile, “I didn’t think; I just knew that I would give my life to protect her and beyond that?” he shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “I just wanted to keep her safe.”

  Armand joined them, sitting on the ground, resting his back against the half wall and stretching his legs out in front of him. “Humans are fickle creatures, Vaughn; when you wake all of this will fade into a distant memory. In a few years you’ll even forget the color of her eyes.”

  “Have you forgotten the color of Katrina’s eyes?” Rhys asked, nudging Armand with his knee.

  Reluctantly, Armand smiled, “Blue-ish green.”

  Rhys arched an eyebrow, “Her eyes were brown.”

  Armand’s smile widened as he looked over his shoulder at his two brothers, “See? Forgotten.”

  Vaughn chuckled but it was strained. Twisting so he was leaning against the half wall, he let out a long sigh, “I don’t regret it.”

  Looking out over the city skyline, Rhys listened with half an ear. He enjoyed the muted sounds of the city from his perch on the building. There wasn’t a lot he could add to the conversation since he had never given up his nights for anyone and until he met Jenna he never even considered doing so. He had been content sampling the delights of many women, s
ometimes at the same time. With a huff, he took a drink of beer, “We should take the next few nights off and let the city go to hell.”

  Armand smacked his thigh, the hit actually painful, “Don’t be an idiot, Rhys; abdicating our responsibilities isn’t the answer.”

  “You’re so full of crap, Armand.” Rubbing his thigh, Rhys continued scanning the city as he laughed, “You used to be able to take a joke; what happened to you?”

  “You used to be funny,” he retorted, the razzing good natured despite the underlying cynicism that he now wore as a second skin.

  Rhys chanced a look at his brothers and frown when he saw the whiteness around Vaughn’s mouth, the way he pressed his lips together and squeezed his hand into a fist. Putting a hand on Vaughn’s shoulder, he jumped when Vaughn flinched. Vaughn looked up at him with desolation in his golden eyes, the light faded to almost nothing, “How am I going to go on without her?”

  “She might return,” Rhys offered, hating Melanie in that moment for doing this to Vaughn.

  “You’ll survive,” Armand said softly. “It’s the nature of gargoyles to survive.”

  Vaughn bent his head and rasped, “What if I don’t want to?”

  Rhys gaped at him for a moment before smacking him on the back of the head. When Vaughn grabbed the back of his skull, whipping his head around and glaring at Rhys, Rhys snorted, “That’s a hell of a way to cherish Melanie’s memory. You’re acting as if she is already gone.”

  Vaughn closed his eyes as a shudder worked its way through his body, “If she doesn’t return in time than she might as well be; I’ll never see her again and,” he swallowed thickly. “And I can’t figure out what I am going to do without her.”

  Despite his brother’s breaking heart Rhys could still envision a scenario where he would give up his nights for Jenna; to keep her safe he would give up everything even if it meant losing her. In the end, Vaughn was going to realize that he made the only choice he could; in order to keep Melanie safe he had to give up his nights.