Taken by a Vampire (Vampire Queen) - By Joey W. Hill Page 0,180

hand on the back of Niall’s.

Alanna pressed her lips together, cheeks reddening. She was being irrational. It was a reality of a servant’s life, she knew that. With Evan here as a vivid reminder of that, she forced herself to behave properly. “I simply want to be sure I’m following the correct etiquette for the situation here, Master.”

“Would you like the option of sex with another man, Alanna?”

No. It was such a vehement declaration, the recoil of it sent a pain through her chest. Leaning forward, Evan tangled his fingers in her hair. “Then the correct etiquette isn’t really an issue, is it?” His tone was neutral, reasonable, though something in his gaze wasn’t. “You’ll let me know if that changes.”

But what were Evan’s thoughts on it? Niall’s were obvious, and flattering, though in a backhanded way, since the Scot didn’t seem to think there was any problem with thrusting his cock into some tall Amazon woman who probably didn’t shave her armpits and used skunk spray for deodorant. She ignored Evan’s muffled chuckle, staring out the window, her face averted from their driver.

Of course, Niall’s thoughts could be more sexist than emotional. Being three hundred years old, he couldn’t hide the fact that he found women fragile and in need of protection from male advances. She was pretty good at hand-to-hand. She could show “Mel” a thing or two, maybe put her on the ground to safeguard Niall’s virtue. Not that he seemed to desire its protection.

The forbidding darkness to Niall’s expression discouraged further poking at him. Though she felt a perverse desire to do just that, Evan tightened his fingers on her nape.

Do not goad him, Alanna. The old friends he sees here, he may not see again.

Shame flooded her. Why had she not thought of that? Evan shook his head, telling her not to speak of it, and she didn’t, but she could do something else. As Niall brought the vehicle to a halt in front of their lodgings, she touched his hand on the wheel.

“I have no desire to be with anyone other than you and my Master, Niall. I am here for the two of you only, no matter what other engagements you desire.”

The words stuck in her throat, but she was here to serve. Never to make demands, never to have anything of her own. No possessions didn’t mean material items only, after all.

Though Niall put his other hand over hers, acknowledging the words, he said nothing himself. In fact, he immediately took his touch away, shutting down the RV.

The bungalow was a neat, small cottage. A wealth of flowers spilled off the porch rails from wooden boxes, while lush groupings of black-eyed Susans and various colorful flowers she didn’t yet know screened the foundation. Instead of balustrades supporting the porch rails, there were carved panels in between the main posts. A bear guiding her two cubs, a deer leaping over a stream, a hawk in flight. She expected they’d been done by colony residents.

“Is the art they have here very valuable?” she asked Evan. “Mel seemed well armed.”

“This is more than an art colony. It’s a sanctuary for women and children,” Evan said.

As Niall left the vehicle, Alanna watched him stride up the stairs to unlock the door, scope the interior. From the tense set of his shoulders, it was clear he wouldn’t welcome her assistance right now. Evan’s expression reminded her to let it be, so she focused on his explanation.

“Many of them are victims of domestic violence. Others have escaped countries where women don’t have basic freedoms, access to education, and this is a place of transition for them. It was a sanctuary before it was an art colony. Forty years ago, one of the women who came was a very gifted painter and sculptor. Initially, she developed art programs to help women and children deal with what had happened to them, or to express what they were becoming.” Warmth touched Evan’s serious gray eyes. “Some of the residents had the talents and desire to achieve commercial success. Out of those, a few returned to be permanent staff, to use this as their main studio while continuing to teach others the way she did.”

Alanna absorbed that. “Are there any men here, other than the two of you?”

“Yes. Else your suggestion wouldn’t have gotten under Niall’s skin.” Evan gave her a tight smile. “The colony’s population is about two hundred people. Twenty-eight are resident artists. They’re all women, ones who originally came