Ruby Shadows Read online

  Well, I was out of the saddle now and it was time to put a little distance between us. I dropped Laish’s hand as quickly and as casually as I could once I got off Kurex’s back and went to look inside the suite.

  “Oh, it’s gorgeous!” I breathed as I stepped inside. Or maybe I should say, stepped down because it was a sunken room with a deep step just inside the doorway. The carpet was rich and thick, made of something that almost felt alive. It caressed my bare feet (I’d taken off the other black ballet flat) making me feel like I was getting a foot massage as I walked.

  “Take your time and explore,” Laish said, nodding at the huge suite. “I must go tend to Kurex. I do not trust him to any of the handlers Druaga has on his staff.” He pointed a finger at me. “You are to stay in the room the entire time I am gone and do not open the door to anyone. Furthermore, do not accept any kind of offer, no matter how small or inconsequential it may seem.”

  “Yes, sir.” I gave him a sarcastic little mock salute. “And should I put myself to bed early without supper while I’m at it?”

  Laish’s eyes were suddenly half-lidded, his ruby eyes glowing as he looked at me.

  “As to that, mon ange, I shall return and put you to bed myself. A process I am very much looking forward to.”

  “What do you mean?” Despite myself, my heart started to pound. “We…I thought we didn’t have to…to do that unless we were paying the Sin Tax to get into the next level—the third circle of Hell.”

  “The border between Baator and Minauros, the Great Dessert, is just beyond the sixth exit of the Hotel Infernal,” he said softly. “Therefore we may pay the Sin Tax ahead of time and in a much more leisurely fashion than we paid to get into the second circle.”

  “We can?” I faltered, hating the tremor in my voice but unable to help it.

  “Most assuredly.” His eyes were still burning.

  “Remember your promise, Laish,” I said quickly. “You said you wouldn’t take me…wouldn’t go too far.”

  “Yes, but we must at least go further than we did to cross the Styx,” he murmured. “The fee to travel deeper into the Infernal Realm grows with each step.”

  “But still,” I said. “You told me you wouldn’t do that unless you had to. Until the end.”

  His ruby eyes raked over me, making me feel incredibly naked.

  “Just because I may not yet make love to you doesn’t mean I don’t anticipate stroking your beautiful body and making you come tonight, mon ange.”

  “I…you…” For once I was at a loss for words. Grams would have called it a miracle—she says I always have something to say for myself whether I should say it or not. But this time I found nothing.

  Laish didn’t seem a bit bothered by my silence. He raised an eyebrow at me.

  “Enjoy yourself while I am gone, Gwendolyn and remember what I said.”

  Then he closed the door behind him, leaving me alone in the huge suite with a ball of apprehension like a block of ice melting in my stomach.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Gwendolyn

  I tried to shake off the worry Laish’s words had caused in me and decided to just go explore the suite. I hadn’t known what to expect for accommodations during my journey through Hell but staying a night in a high-roller suite wasn’t one of them. It was a pleasant surprise—or so I tried to tell myself. But somehow his words kept echoing in my head. “Just because I may not yet make love to you doesn’t mean I don’t anticipate stroking your beautiful body and making you come…”

  Seriously, what was he going to do to me? I’d never let any guy I ever dated get beyond second base—or below the belt, however you wanted to say it. Earlier when he’d cupped my pussy on the banks of the river Styx, I’d trembled against him and shamed myself by begging for more and he was only touching me outside my panties. This time I had a feeling he wasn’t going to stop—the thin barrier of silk and lace would be gone—long gone. And I was going to have those big, warm hands all over my body, whether I wanted to or not.

  The problem was that deep down I wanted to—a Hell of a lot, no pun intended.

  Stop it, I reminded myself firmly. He’s a demon, remember? And a demon of lust at that. No wonder it’s hard to say no to him but that doesn’t mean you have to make a fool of yourself. He wants to pay the Sin Tax—fine, there’s no getting around that. But you can pay it without gasping and begging like some horny actress in a porno at least. No matter what happens, just keep control of yourself.

  Having given myself a stern lecture, I felt a little better about the situation at hand. After all, I had gone into this with my eyes open. There were just some things that would have to be done in order to achieve my goal. That didn’t mean I had to enjoy them—only that I had to endure them. And in the meantime, I was going to stop stressing about the whole mess and just go explore the opulent suite.

  The sunken room with its soft black carpet had a living room area with wide, white leather couches grouped around a central fire pit. There was also well as a bar stocked with every imaginable liquor and quite a few I didn’t recognize at all. And that was saying something considering I’d done a little bartending in college before I started capitalizing on my witchy roots to make a living.

  The bar area led into another room and the moment I walked in and saw the vast, king-sized bed I knew what it was for. A luxurious white fur spread covered its wide surface and mounds of plump pillows were piled against the headboard.

  “Hmmm…” I ran a hand over the spread and wasn’t at all surprised to find it was real fur. Probably baby seal fur or something awful and reprehensible like that. This was Hell, after all. If they didn’t give a damn about starving kids right out on the street, they sure weren’t going to mind clubbing a few dozen seals to make a bedspread.

  I pulled my hand away from the luxurious spread quickly, trying not to think about the possible source of the fur or the starving children outside the hotel. Poor things! I wished Laish would let me do something for them—I still didn’t understand why he was being so hard hearted.

  Because he’s a demon, I reminded myself firmly. A demon with no soul. So don’t expect him to act like anything else and you won’t be disappointed. Still, he could be so gentle and kind with me. It seemed wrong that he wouldn’t even consider the plight of those poor little children…well, maybe I could find a way to give them something on our way out of the hotel. I sighed and went to explore some more.

  The bedroom led into a large master bathroom with a black marble tub so huge it looked like you could do laps in it—a far cry from the cramped shower-tub combo in Grams’ house. I went to it eagerly and found a selection of bubble baths and scented oils in fancy bottles lined up on one side. Perfect!

  I practically clapped my hands in delight. I love long, luxurious bubble baths—who doesn’t? And I almost never got to have one since the hot water heater at Grams’ house wasn’t exactly huge.

  Back home I’d run half a tub of hot water before the heat ran out. I could either sit in a half-full tub or fill the rest with cold and have a tepid bath which was no fun. Here, it appeared, I could soak to my heart’s content.

  “Well, I know what I’m going to be doing tonight,” I murmured to myself happily. Then the thought of Laish popped into my head. “Well…part of the night anyway.”

  Then I had a thought—why not take a bath right now? Who knew how long it would take Laish to tend to Kurex? I was bored and the one thing the gorgeous hotel suite didn’t seem to have was a TV or any other kind of entertainment. Laish had told me to stay out of trouble and I couldn’t imagine a better way to do it. Besides, it would be a lot less embarrassing to be lolling around in the tub naked when I was here by myself than when he was there to watch me.

  Mind made up, I began filling the tub. I was just pouring a generous dollop of some sweet, floral scented bubble bath under the running faucet when I heard a knock at the door. It was so soft that at first I wasn’t certain I’d heard anything—it was hard to h