Page 16 of Benjamin and the Thief

He slammed the door shut and turned on his heel. She turned her head and watched him as he walked back in the direction of the Preston mansion.

Fuck!

In frustration, she slammed both her hands on the dashboard, only to feel pain shoot through her right hand as the cuff around her wrist jerked her arm back.

“Ouch!”

What now?

In her mind, she replayed Benjamin’s last words. They weren’t done, he’d claimed. Did that mean he would give her the benefit of the doubt? Why else had he practically smuggled her out of the house and not even mentioned to his colleague that he’d captured a would-be thief? Or had he only done it so that there wouldn’t be a scene at the Prestons’ party? After all, the Prestons had been in the papers more than enough in the past few months. Surely, they didn’t want their name mentioned in conjunction with a crime yet again. Perhaps that was the reason Benjamin had snuck her out of there without anybody being the wiser. They’d probably given him strict instructions in an event like this.

She shook her head. No, she couldn’t trust Benjamin to do the right thing. He worked for the Prestons, and everybody working for them knew that they demanded absolute loyalty. And once she told Benjamin what she was really trying to do, the Prestons would be warned, and her chance of exposing them would vanish into thin air.

As much as she regretted not being able to spend another night in Benjamin’s arms and to see where their attraction would take them, she had to look out for herself and her brother. Nothing could come between them.

Catalina looked around the interior of the car. She opened the storage compartment in the center console and rummaged through its contents: coins, tissues, receipts, and other odds and ends. Nothing useful. She closed it again, then opened the glove compartment.

Bingo!

8

Benjamin adjusted his bow tie and forced himself to take a few deep breaths to calm himself. Catalina’s unwillingness to tell him the truth had riled him up. She didn’t strike him as a cool-as-a-cucumber cat burglar. She’d looked too nervous for that. That same nervousness had colored not only her cheeks but also her voice. Or maybe that was just another act, and she was trying to play the innocent again so that she could wiggle herself out of the situation she was in. Maybe she thought that she could manipulate him. In any case, something didn’t make sense, but right now, he didn’t have the time to get to the bottom of it. He had to get back to his post, or somebody would get suspicious.

Upon entering the foyer of the Preston mansion, Ethan, who stood at the foot of the stairs, looked at him.

“Anything the matter?” Ethan asked.

“No, everything’s fine. Just thought I’d forgotten to lock the car. You know how it is,” he lied.

“Senior moment? You? Well, I guess you are getting old.”

Benjamin forced a chuckle, glad that Ethan didn’t suspect him of lying. “Last time I checked, you were only a year younger than I.”

He caught a glimpse of Lydia walking toward them from the back of the house.

“And you’d better not mention age in front of Lydia. She’s older than both of us,” Benjamin warned.

“My lips are sealed,” Ethan claimed, just as Lydia came within hearing range.

“You guys taking a break or something?” she asked. “’Cause you might wanna keep an eye on the alcohol. Caught one of the waiters shoving a bottle of Dom Pérignon into his backpack.”

“Crap,” Ethan exclaimed. “What did you do with him?”

“Not much,” Lydia claimed with a grin. “But he might wonder later why his pants are wet.”

Ethan rolled his eyes, then whispered under his breath, “You used mind control on him to piss himself?”

Lydia shook her head. “I didn’t. I simply told him I’d crush his balls if he didn’t put the bottle right back where he found it.”

Benjamin had to grin. Lydia was a fierce woman, the oldest among his hybrid vampire friends. And while she looked like a supermodel with long blond hair, a body to die for, and a voice like an angel, she knew how to handle men and put them in their place. She was still single, though she didn’t lack admirers, vampires and humans alike. She was probably just choosy, or enjoying the variety.

Just like he had. Until now. Which brought his mind back to the subject of the sexy thief he’d handcuffed to his car. He couldn’t wait for this damn party to be over. But the night was young, and in addition to the piano player, who entertained the guests, and the never-ending flow of alcohol, the Prestons had also set up a silent auction to benefit some charity whose name he couldn’t remember.

With Ethan back guarding the side entrance of the house, he left Lydia in charge of the front entrance and wandered into the salon. Dressed in his tuxedo, he didn’t look any different than the rest of the men in attendance, except for the fact that most men were a good thirty to forty years older than he was—or rather than he looked. After all, he’d stopped aging at the age of twenty-one like all other vampire hybrids. For years he’d tried everything he could to make himself look older, mostly so that he would be taken seriously by the clients he was assigned to. But after a while, he’d given up on that endeavor and just let his work speak for itself. He had almost nineteen years of experience as a bodyguard and security expert under his belt, and once his clients saw what he did, their fears of him being too young for this kind of work were assuaged.

As he made his way through the salon, he let his gaze roam over the partygoers. The women wore lots of jewelry: rings, necklaces, and earrings so heavy he was surprised their earlobes didn’t droop down to their waist under their weight. He’d never quite understood people’s fascination with jewels. In the vampire world, where thanks to immortality and compound interest many of the men and women of Scanguards were rather wealthy, nobody showed their wealth outwardly. Sure, many of them owned large homes in good areas of San Francisco, and some liked fast cars, but that’s where the display of wealth ended. Their blood-bonded mates rarely wore more than a beautiful ring. They didn’t even need that to be assured of their mates’ undying love. Because a vampire’s love was forever.

He shook off the thoughts and concentrated on his job. The time dragged on like it always did when he was waiting for something better. Once more, he switched posts with Lydia, who then roamed the salon as he’d done before. Everything was going smoothly. Just as it should, because what were the odds that there would be two thieves trying to rob the same house during the same event?