Immortals After Dark 09 - Pleasure of a Dark Prince

gave her a grin, looking like a crafty wolf.
    And she couldn’t help but feel like a henhouse he planned to raid….

TWENTY-EIGHT

    When Garreth had returned to the cabin, Lucia was wearing a small top that molded to her pert breasts and the shortest shorts he’d ever seen her in.
    As if she needed anything else to attract his attention.
    Add to that his earlier glimpse of her naked body, and he was going to be randy all day, pacing the decks till tonight, when he could bring her down below again.
    Unless a storm blew up. Never had he prayed for rain as he would be today.
    Now, on their way to the third-floor observation deck, Garreth was right on her heels as they climbed the rusted iron stairs. “Since I was on my best behavior last night,” he murmured at her ear, “I bet part of you is wondering if you ought no’ have approached me with this deal earlier.”
    She glanced over her shoulder with a raised brow. “As if you would’ve settled for this in the beginning. You had to experience a year of nothing for this to be appetizing.”
    She was likely right about that.
    When they reached the deck, Damiãno was just heading down. “
Bom dia,
” he said pleasantly.
    “And good morning to you,” Lucia replied with a smile that made Garreth want to eviscerate Damiãno.
    Garreth jerked his chin up, the gesture in no way a greeting. In turn, the man narrowed his eyes before descending the steps.
    “Am I going to have to separate you two?” she asked when they were alone on the deck.
    “No’ if he watches his step,” Garreth said in all seriousness.
    Once he’d ushered her to the railing, he closed in behind her, making her tense against him. He knew she would consider this crowding, but he couldn’t help himself. “See it there?” Over her shoulder, he pointed out a four-foot-long caiman lying atop a water lily. “It’s a juvenile.” Sporting a bony ridge over ruddy eyes and a black body, the creature lay with its mouth wide open, jagged teeth exposed. “They’re like a sharper alligator. Physically. Don’t know about mentally. Though they do seem to be wilier.”
    Deftly slipping to Garreth’s side, she asked, “How big do they get?”
    “The largest one on record was twenty-five feet. But Schecter’s right—there are bigger ones way upriver.
Much
bigger.”
    “You brought me out to see the caiman, and I’m almost more amazed by the water lily underneath it. It’s huge, like a table.”
    “
Victoria amazonica.
They get larger and grow thicker farther upriver as well.”
    She gazed around. “How far did we travel over the night?”
    “I believe we’re on a patch of the river where the map was missing, so who can tell?” They hadn’t passed a boat all morning. “But far enough out that we’re going to start seeing more and more river creatures. Pink dolphins and giant otters.”
    “It sounds like make-believe,” Lucia said, leaning back against the rail. She’d plaited her caramel-colored hair over her ears, but glossy curls tumbled free across her shoulders and around her elven face. He imagined those curls spread over his pillow as he mounted her lush, wee body, imagined them wrapped around his fist as he took her from behind—
    “So what was Travis up in arms about?”
    “Huh?”
Inward shake.
“Uh, apparently the captain has a standing order that no improvements are to be made to the ship, which—by the look of this wreck—is rarely countermanded. Charlie can fix things, but he’ll get his knuckles rapped if he does more.”
    “That’s strange.”
    “Oh, aye.” There was a lot of strangeness about Travis. But the human responded to cash.
    Garreth had already bribed him to head in the direction of Rio Labyrinto.
    Yet though Travis was an odd bird, there definitely was something up with Charlie. While his sister Izabel seemed confident and open, he had a quiet, awkward demeanor. Today, he’d looked pale, sickly even. Garreth couldn’t put his finger on what was
off
, just knew something was.
    “Where are the others?” Lucia asked.
    “Rossiter is pacing in his cabin. Izabel just finishedup with a gourmet breakfast. Schecter was slinking around the stern scouting for a place to ‘deploy’ his ‘sonic lure.’ I asked him if that’s what the kids were calling it these days, but he dinna get it,” Garreth said, and her lips quirked. Rubbing the back of his neck, he added, “But we’re being watched.”
    “I know. Can you scent anything?”
    He shook his