Taken by a Vampire (Vampire Queen) - By Joey W. Hill Page 0,27

If he gets caught up in what he’s doing, hours pass before he’ll notice anything.” He slid into the driver’s side. Fishing in the bag, he tossed the sunscreen in her lap. “Go ahead and put some of that on your face. I’ll be happy to put it anywhere you can’t reach.”

“I can handle it myself,” she said evenly. His flirting confused her, but it was an even trade, because she could tell her family situation had baffled him. Randoms didn’t understand. On Day One, InhServs were told they weren’t human. They didn’t have family, friends or human experiences. She was a vampire’s servant, the sum total of her identity.

It was an honor like no other.

She put her belongings away in the dresser of the guest room. Niall said he wouldn’t need her until the dinner preparations, so she curled up on the sofa in the living room to read the book about plants. After handling some tasks outside, he ended up at the kitchen table, repairing what appeared to be some type of small engine.

He’d said little throughout the rest of the afternoon, giving her room with her own thoughts. Silence with him was surprisingly comfortable. She’d enjoyed pausing in her reading to watch him work oil into the gears, troubleshoot the engine. He had his hair tied back on his shoulders, his tawny gaze steady on his task. He handled the small machine parts with capable grace.

When he’d noted her curiosity, he’d invited her to come over and learn how it was done. A good teacher, he explained what he was doing, letting her adjust one of the gears under his direction. When it worked as it should, she felt a welcome sense of accomplishment that made the lines around his eyes crinkle at her obvious pleasure.

Mechanical skills had not been required of her, since Stephen had an extensive household, but any new skill could be useful. Even if she wouldn’t be around long to use it.

Apparently, there was no way to silence that cynical, terrifying voice in the back of her head.

Fortunately, it was time to prepare for dinner. Midafternoon, he’d had her take a frozen venison stew out of the freezer to thaw. Now he rose to start cooking, putting his project and tools away in a crate and stowing them in a corner. He told her to set the table.

She started that immediately after wiping the grease, oil and dirt from the table. She suspected he had deduced she would if he didn’t. His wink at her confirmed it. Typical male.

Ignoring him, she put out three place settings, but she could feel his regard. When she took up an extra set of napkins and began folding them, his curiosity drew him back to the table.

He slid into a chair next to her, making it creak with his bulk. “What are you doing?”

“Origami. This is something I did when preparing Lord Stephen’s table. His guests seemed to enjoy it.”

As the bird of paradise took shape, a relatively simple design, she handed the next napkin to him. “If you like, you can fold with me, follow the pattern.”

He shook his head. Remembering his mechanical aptitude with the engine parts, she suspected he could pick up the skill quickly enough based on sight alone.

When she finished, she placed the bird in the middle of Evan’s empty plate. “Do we have candles? A tablecloth?”

“Probably somewhere. It’s a rental cabin.”

She found a few stubby votives in the cabinets, a vinyl oval tablecloth in decent condition, printed with a pattern of cream-colored transparent leaves, and a silver plate. Bringing them back to the table, she removed the settings to the sideboard and put the cloth down, leaning over the table to smooth it. Her gaze was on her work, but she was well aware of Niall’s attention as she stretched across the table, her position emphasizing the roundness of hip and buttock.

Indulging such personal pleasures was not necessarily against the rules; she’d stolen more than one glance at him as well this afternoon. The open throat of his shirt, revealing the burnished curl of dark chest hair, the stretch of the cargo pants over haunch and thigh as he knelt to check something on the woodstove. The shrug of broad shoulders as he answered her questions. The way those tawny brown eyes watched her, trying to figure her out as much as she was him.

It was normal for servants to measure each other, getting familiar with what they might be required