“No,” she replied. “I can’t go home yet. This monstrous pile of stone belongs to His Grace, the Duke of Ghoulston.”

He frowned. “Why can’t you go home?”

For a moment he thought he saw a shadow of her were-beast, a vague outline of fang and whisker. “Because the duke has something precious of mine. And he won’t return it until I give him something in exchange.”

She strode up to the portcullis and spoke to the guards on the other side of the iron grating. “The duke is waiting for me.”

“That we know, Millicent,” answered a giant of a man with red hair. “He is pacing the study as we speak.”

“Then you’d best let me in,” she replied. The giant eyed Gareth. “He’s with me. His Grace will want to see him.”

“Perhaps. But he’ll not enter until he gives up his weapons.”

Gareth folded his arms across his chest and shook his head. He’d had the pleasure of a pistol only for a few moments and felt loathe to give it up. But his lady touched his arm and beseeched him with her eyes. So, to win her favor, he would be required to enter the monster’s lair unarmed. He huffed a breath and handed his weapons to the guard.

The portcullis rattled up with a shriek of grating steel. The giant followed close behind them as they passed into a courtyard strewn with some type of colorless trees that apparently didn’t need the sun for nourishment. He took Millicent’s elbow as they ascended steps of some blackish stone to a wooden door carved with ancient runes. Powerful wards shivered his skin as they passed into the hall.

Gareth stared at the lewd images carved into statues and sewn into tapestries. “You did not say, lady, what you are giving the duke in exchange for your precious thing. Although I can guess.”

She turned that amber-gold gaze upon him again. “And you would be right. I must give him you, Sir Gareth Solimere.”

Three

Millicent expected more of a reaction from the knight, yet he appeared unruffled by her words. He just nodded his head and continued to stare at the duke’s wicked artwork with a knowing smile.

She’d never met a man who smiled so much. It made her uncomfortable. Possibly because every time he did so, she felt his charisma like a tangible thing and had to stop her body from swaying into his arms. He was simply the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen in her life, and despite the warnings in her head, she wanted to touch him.

She could kick herself.

A door opened down the long hallway and slammed shut, the sound echoing along the cold stone floor and up to the high ceiling. A woman glided toward them, her footsteps soundless, her arms slightly spread beneath a sheer black pelerine. She wore a black silk dress covered in glittering black beads, the neckline so low Millicent marveled that her flesh didn’t pop out of the top. More black beads dotted the elegant coiffure of her brown hair, the entire effect of her costume making her look like glittering midnight.

“Hello, Selena,” sighed Millicent.

“Ah, the she-cat returns. With the prize, I assume?”

Millicent felt too tired to play any of Selena’s games. “Just take me to Ghoulston.”

“Not so fast,” she replied, her lips barely moving with her words. “Who have we here?”

Millicent felt the exact moment Selena’s eyes met Sir Gareth’s. A crackle of heat flared from Selena to the knight, a physical awareness that annoyed Millicent to no end. With Gareth’s sensuality and Selena’s lust for anything with blood flowing through its veins, she should have expected it. Still, she had to resist the urge to step between the two of them.

He bowed, his wavy blond hair tumbling over his forehead, making him appear even more rakish. “Sir Gareth Solimere. I’m honored, my lady.”

“How delightful,” crowed Selena. “Please rise, brave knight.”

Millicent rolled her eyes. Selena ignored her, gliding over to Gareth with a closed-mouth smile. She placed her hand on his shoulder, where the blood had dried on the torn cloth of his tunic. He didn’t flinch and Millicent marveled at how quickly his injury had healed.

“And what are you doing with her, Sir Gareth? A man of your nature requires a more… inspired companion,” Selena said.

He smiled and a red glow shimmered in the depths of Selena’s glossy black eyes. Millicent knew Gareth could take care of himself, even without the benefit of his sword. He’d proven his prowess when he’d fought two were-beasts and managed to survive the encounter relatively unscathed. She might even owe him her life. She should also expect that any woman he encountered would respond to his obvious charms.

And that Selena would lust after fresh blood.

But for some reason, Millicent couldn’t bear to watch the two of them trade knowing looks. Couldn’t stomach Selena’s possessive smile. Her annoyance turned to severe irritation. “I shall be happy to inform His Grace that you kept him waiting.”

Selena turned and hissed at her, finally forgetting to keep her lips over her teeth, revealing two sharp front teeth and even pointier fangs at the corners of her mouth. “You are never any fun, Millicent. One day I’ll find out if the blood in your veins truly does run so cold.” She spun, a glitter of black silk, and headed back down the hall.

Gareth and Millicent followed, the red-haired giant still at their backs.

“You’re jealous,” whispered Gareth, a note of triumph in his voice.

Drat, the man was persistent. He would soon realize he was only a bargaining piece for the one person she had ever allowed herself to truly care about. Just because she found it difficult to resist his charisma didn’t mean she cared enough for him to be jealous. “Don’t be ridiculous. I just thought I should warn you about her first. I owe you that much.”

“Warn me?”

Millicent nodded at Selena’s back. “She lusts after any man.”

“So?”

“She wants more than to share a man’s bed. She wants his blood—which is why the duke did not trust her to steal the relic for him. She’s a shape-shifter, Sir Gareth, and cannot control some of her particular tendencies.”

“A were-vampire bat,” he said. “I know. Verily, it amazes me that you think I didn’t. Perhaps it’s difficult for you to understand how truly long I’ve lived. Besides this underground world of yours, there’s very little I haven’t seen, my lady.”

Millicent didn’t quite know what to say. She’d never met a man like him before. So young looking, and yet so very old inside. “Oh, quit calling me that,” she finally managed.

Selena stopped in front of a paneled door and threw it open with a flourish of fluttering silk.

The room looked remarkably similar to the duke’s study in his mansion aboveground, except it lacked sunshine streaming through the paned windows and the fresh flowers his housekeeper managed to fit into every nook and cranny. Millicent doubted anyone above even knew about his residence in the Underground.

The Duke of Ghoulston had been pacing in front of the roaring fireplace and turned eagerly as they entered the room. His beady eyes studied their group for a moment, lingering on Sir Gareth with a frown. Then he quickly focused on Millicent. “Did you get it?”

She held up her arm, the moonstone reflecting the fire’s flames within its depths.

He rubbed his hands together, the dry, raspy sound enough to make her shiver. “Jolly good. I won’t ask if you had any trouble. I can see you did by the condition of the very expensive dress I loaned you.”

Millicent could give a bloody farthing about his expenses. “I want to see Nell.”

Selena hissed a laugh and glided across the room to an ornate cabinet, pouring herself a decanter of red wine and sipping it while she undressed Sir Gareth with her eyes.

The duke flopped into a padded wing chair, his belly vibrating with the aftershock. “Not quite yet. First you give me the relic… and explain why the hell you brought this man to my home.”

Millicent glanced at Gareth. He looked entirely unconcerned by the duke’s sinister tone, examining him as if the other man were an insect he seriously considered squashing.

“Don’t do anything foolish,” she told him. Sir Gareth raised those blond brows, a slight quirk to his lips. His hair glowed a shade of gold in the firelight and he looked so boyishly handsome she wanted to scream at him. Instead, she lowered her voice. “Please. For my sake.”

He gave her a slight bow, with barely a nod of his head.

Selena choked on her wine, as if stunned that the knight followed Millicent’s bidding.

The duke narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. “Explain him, Millicent. Now.” She’d forgotten the giant had followed them into the room until the duke looked pointedly over her shoulder at the guard, who took a warning step closer to her.

“He’s part of what you wanted. He’s—”

The knight stepped forward. “Sir Gareth Solimere, a knight of the Round Table and, at this moment, my lady’s protector.”

The duke ignored Gareth and kept his steely gaze fastened on Millicent.

“He belongs to the relic,” she explained. “Well, he came out of it anyway. It’s what all the society ladies have been gossiping about. Not the relic itself, but the man who has been trapped inside.”

This time the duke gave Gareth his full attention. “So, you’re not a madman. By your clothing, I assume you’ve been trapped inside the relic since the Middle Ages?”

Gareth planted his legs and crossed his arms over the red dragon emblazoned on his tunic. “As you see.”

Millicent winced at his aggressive posture and hurriedly spoke. “He can come out only from midnight to dawn. He’ll be gone again in”—she glanced over at the gilded French clock on the mantel—“a few hours.”