Warriors of Poseidon 06 - Atlantis Betrayed

this afternoon—”
    She pulled away from Christophe and walked off the dance floor, her head held high, smiling distantly over the heads of the nosy gossipmongers. He caught up to her in two strides of his impossibly long, hard-muscled legs and pulled her hand into his.
    “Thanks for the dance, Princess. It’s been a while.”
    “Really? Last year? Last month? When was the last time you treated anyone to your dance prowess?”
    She heard the sarcasm in her voice, but it was one of her defense mechanisms when she was embarrassed.
    “Not hardly. The last time I danced like that was in those dance classes I told you about. The palace housekeeper’s daughter took pity on us and rounded up some girls so we didn’t have to dance with each other. I can tell you that even as a kid, Bastien—one of my fellow warriors—was huge and the gods know that he had at least three left feet.” His shudder at the memory was so heartfelt that she laughed in spite of herself.
    “These stories are very entertaining, whether they’re true or not.”
    “They’re true. I’ll prove it to you soon, but part of me is hoping you come to believe me without needing evidence,” he said.
    She glanced up at him and his face had hardened into an expressionless mask. He’d put up his defenses again, and she knew the time for dancing and joking, brief as it had been, was over.
    “Let’s go and talk to some vampires, then,” she said, changing direction to make for the exit. “I’ve already written my check to the hosting organization.”
    He tightened his grip on her arm. “There is no we. You are going home and Denal is going to babysit while I do some investigating. That Fae, and if I’m not very badly mistaken he’s a Fae lord, which is even worse news, just warned us off of Vanquish. The last thing you need is to be caught anywhere near this investigation.”
    She yanked her hand away from his, stuck on a single word. “Did you say babysit? Do you think of me as a baby?” She kept the smile pasted on her face for the benefit of anyone watching, but fury was burning a hole in her throat. “Babysit?”
    Atlantis Betrayed – Warriors of Poseidon 06
    Page 85 of 188
    He put his arm around her shoulders again and herded her over to the Reading Room, where a bored-looking museum employee was standing guard.
    “Sorry, no guests tonight, renovation,” he recited in a monotone.
    Quicker than thought, Christophe grabbed the man’s chin with one hand. “We’re going in,” he said gently.
    “You’re going in,” the man repeated, staring wide-eyed up at Christophe.
    “Nobody else comes in.”
    “Nobody else.”
    “You never saw us.”
    “Never saw you.”
    Christophe released the man, who continued to stare straight ahead as if dazed or in a trance.
    Christophe pulled Fiona into the room and turned left until they were out of the line of sight of the doorway.
    “What was that? You have mind control, too?”
    He shrugged, but the faint glow still reflecting light from his eyes was all the confirmation she needed.
    “Is that what you did to me? Put some kind of mind control on me to make me go along with your crazy schemes? To . . . to get me into bed?”
    All amusement drained from his face. An expression that almost looked like hurt flashed in his eyes, and then was gone. “Is that what I did, Princess? Be honest with yourself and with me. Which one of us cast the spell on the other? Because I can’t seem to get through five minutes without wanting to kiss you. To strip you naked and taste your skin. Right now I’d bend you over that table and drive my cock into your perfect body if I thought you would let me, so tell me, Fiona. Who is in control here?”
    He stood apart from her, his hands clenched at his sides, and didn’t make a move to touch her. “Just go if you want to go. Hells, I’m used to it. I still plan to find the Siren and I’ll give you Vanquish when I retrieve it. But you never have to see me again.”
    He meant it, too. She knew this man, somehow. He stood, shoulders hunched as if in defeat, waiting for her to leave. People had let him down before. Betrayed him. She could see the signs of it—the same signs that she’d seen in her father before he died, betrayed by his own father.
    She’d always regretted that she hadn’t been old enough to help her father. This time, with this man, she could do something about it.
    “I’m not going anywhere,” she whispered. “Let’s figure this out