JК
Danse Macabre :: Гамильтон Лорел
Страница: 415 из 427«Once it was Jean-Claude, but he could never truly love another man the way he loves a woman. Belle's tastes and demands sent many of us to the arms of other men, but Jean-Claude could never be content with just men in his bed. He is a lover of women above all else.»
«And you?» I asked, because he seemed to want me to ask.
«I think if it were the right man, I could be in love, and content, but I think the same of a woman. It is love I seek, Anita, not the package around it. I have always been needier of attention than Jean-Claude. I sought a woman for my human servant when I realized that Jean-Claude would never be content with just men, with just me.»
I didn't know what to say to the pain in his voice. An emotional burden he'd carried for two or three hundred years, and I was supposed to fix it, or at least make it better, how? How was I going to do that?
I felt Damian reach out for me. It made me stagger against Asher. He had to catch me. «I'm draining Damian.»
«Then I must stop being an enfant terrible, and let you feed.»
«I do want you, Asher. I do love you. But right now, I don't have time to…»
«To heal my wounds,» he finished for me.
«To make love to you the way I want to.»
He gave me a look, like he didn't believe me.
«We have to feed and get back to the party, but you are not just emergency food to me. You are not just someone I share with Jean-Claude. You are special to me, Asher, you, just you. I don't have time to make you believe me tonight, but I'll try to do better later.»
He drew me in against his body, held me close, whispered into my hair, «Later you will have to feed upon someone else, for I will have had my turn.»
I drew back enough to see his face, and said, «Remember one thing, that I didn't make love to you that first time because I had to feed the ardeur . I made love to you because I wanted to, because Jean-Claude and I wanted to.»
«You did it to protect me from Belle Morte's agents.»
«Yeah, we did it so that Belle couldn't call you home, so you'd belong to us by her rules, but you're still the only new man in my life that I had sex with because I wanted to take care of you, not because you were food.»
«Take care of me?»
I nodded. «It's what you do when you love someone.»
He smiled then, and it was that rare smile. The smile that made him look terribly young, and not at all like himself, as if that smile was all that was left of what he might have been centuries ago. «You can't possibly love all the men in your life, Anita.
«And you?» I asked, because he seemed to want me to ask.
«I think if it were the right man, I could be in love, and content, but I think the same of a woman. It is love I seek, Anita, not the package around it. I have always been needier of attention than Jean-Claude. I sought a woman for my human servant when I realized that Jean-Claude would never be content with just men, with just me.»
I didn't know what to say to the pain in his voice. An emotional burden he'd carried for two or three hundred years, and I was supposed to fix it, or at least make it better, how? How was I going to do that?
I felt Damian reach out for me. It made me stagger against Asher. He had to catch me. «I'm draining Damian.»
«Then I must stop being an enfant terrible, and let you feed.»
«I do want you, Asher. I do love you. But right now, I don't have time to…»
«To heal my wounds,» he finished for me.
«To make love to you the way I want to.»
He gave me a look, like he didn't believe me.
«We have to feed and get back to the party, but you are not just emergency food to me. You are not just someone I share with Jean-Claude. You are special to me, Asher, you, just you. I don't have time to make you believe me tonight, but I'll try to do better later.»
He drew me in against his body, held me close, whispered into my hair, «Later you will have to feed upon someone else, for I will have had my turn.»
I drew back enough to see his face, and said, «Remember one thing, that I didn't make love to you that first time because I had to feed the ardeur . I made love to you because I wanted to, because Jean-Claude and I wanted to.»
«You did it to protect me from Belle Morte's agents.»
«Yeah, we did it so that Belle couldn't call you home, so you'd belong to us by her rules, but you're still the only new man in my life that I had sex with because I wanted to take care of you, not because you were food.»
«Take care of me?»
I nodded. «It's what you do when you love someone.»
He smiled then, and it was that rare smile. The smile that made him look terribly young, and not at all like himself, as if that smile was all that was left of what he might have been centuries ago. «You can't possibly love all the men in your life, Anita.