Waterlocked: An Elemental World Novella Read Online Free PDF Page B

know about it prior to this evening, so that should tell you something. There is a single secured day chamber that can only be accessed by a trap door in the bottom of the hull.”
    “I noticed.”
    “So you did. We have enough supplies here for three months of independent living, should we choose it.”
    Her breath caught. “You’re not going to keep me here for three months, are you?”
    Of course not. “Maybe.”
    “You can’t be serious! Who’s running things at home?”
    “Roger and Mina, of course. Max and Cathy are staying for security, should anything come up.”
    Gemma nodded. “That was a good choice. It’s a good-will gesture from us toward the MacGregors, and no one will cause problems with Cathy around. Roger can take care of the day-to-day. Mina has all the details for… yes, this might not be an utter disaster.”
    “Never seen a woman so opposed to a vacation. You work too much, Gem.”
    “And Max will take care of Daniel. Make sure he doesn’t cause any problems. He could smooth things over with anyone who’s angry…”
    He finally saw her start to relax. She trusted her family more than she did him. It irked him, even though he knew it shouldn’t.
    After all, one of the reasons Terry had pursued Gemma was because of her family, and not for the reasons she suspected. Yes, Carwyn’s clan was hugely influential and powerful, but they also reminded Terry of his own human family. It was that dependability and trust he’d hungered for in their connection at first. Now, of course, it was much more.
    But he wished she trusted him more. In hindsight, that might be one drawback to the whole kidnapping scheme. Still, one did what was necessary to achieve the desired results. Gemma was here, on his favorite boat, and he was going to spend the next week seducing her into falling in love with him.
    Not a bad plan, really. He just hoped it worked.
    Gemma was staring over the water. “Who had access to me while I was in day rest, Terry?”
    His head fell back in frustration. “No one I don’t trust implicitly.”
    “Who?”
    He snapped down the book he’d been reading. “Why? So you can kill them?”
    “Maybe.”
    He shook his head and picked up the biography again. “No.”
    “I knew I should have never stayed with you yesterday. Serves me right for being sentimental. I won’t make that mistake again.”
    It set his teeth on edge, but he swallowed his anger. “There’s only one secure day-chamber on this vessel, so you’ll have to share unless you want to spend the day at the bottom of the ocean, Gemma.”
    She sipped the blood-wine he’d stored in the galley. “I still can’t believe you kidnapped me.”
    Time to change the subject. “How’s that batch?”
    She gave a noncommittal shrug and rose to pace the deck. “Better, but I still think Rene could do more with the flavor of the port. The blood… actually tastes quite good. Very little of the normal staleness.”
    Blood wine was their newest venture, and one that Terry hoped to have ready for export within the year. Vampires had experimented with preserving blood in alcohol for hundreds of years with mixed results, most of them bad. Wine, possibly for color reasons, was the most popular, but tended to leave the blood stale. Gemma had hired a brandy distiller from France two years before with the idea that a distilled liquor would have better results. Brandy hadn’t worked as well as she’d hoped, but port seemed to have real possibilities. The fortified wine’s sweet flavor masked the staleness of the blood and the higher alcohol content had kept some batches preserved for almost six months in a traditional wine cellar. If they produced it successfully, they would become some of the richest vampires in the world.
    “Give me a taste?” He reached out a hand, aching to have her closer, even if she was just sharing a drink.
    She wandered over, the white shift she’d put on fluttering in the night wind. He swallowed hard. She