Page 62 of Dark Gambit: The Play

"I know," Gilbert said. "That's why I accepted Kian's offer."

Darlene suspected that Kian had suggested the arrangement because he wanted Gilbert monitored. Given that his family was staying behind in the village, the precaution was unnecessary, but Kian was a little paranoid.

Or a lot.

"Are you coming back with them?" she asked.

"They're driving the van back the next day. I need to stay longer to prepare the house for rental and to visit my job sites. I'll probably be back on Friday." He looked at Karen. "Sooner if I can help it."

"I wish I could come with you," Eric said.

Surprised, Darlene arched a brow at him. Had he forgotten their plans for tomorrow?

"You can come if you want to," Gilbert said.

Eric sighed dramatically. "I'm still too weak to help you pack. Besides, Darlene will miss me too much." He winked at her.

Gilbert nodded. "That's okay. I prefer that you stay in case Karen needs help with the kids. Cheryl got a part-time job at Callie's restaurant, so she won't be much help, and Kaia has her hands full with the research."

"Did you make reservations at Callie's?" Karen asked Gilbert.

He shook his head. "I checked the waiting list on the clan's virtual bulletin board, and it looked like the entire clan, including Kalugal's men, are on that list. She can only handle forty guests at a time, so it will be a while before she has an opening."

Karen gave him an incredulous look. "Then you should have put our names down before everyone signs up for a second round." She picked her tablet off the coffee table. "I'll do it right now." She cast a glance at Darlene. "How about you? Are you and Eric on the waiting list?"

"We are. We have reservations for Wednesday two weeks from now."

Eric regarded her with a conspiratorial smirk. "If for some reason we can't make it, we can give our reservation to Karen and Gilbert."

"Why wouldn't you be able to make it?" Karen asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Darlene might come down with something. After all, she's still human."

47

MARCEL

As Marcel lay awake, savoring the feel of Sofia's warm body in his arms, he tried to remember if he had ever felt like that toward the woman he'd thought he loved all those years ago. Had it felt so right, so good?

He couldn't recall. The anger and guilt had long ago erased any tender feelings he could have had for her. He remembered the lust, his obsession with her, his need to be near her, but her closeness had never brought him peace. He was sure about that. Being with Cordelia had been turbulent, exciting, excruciating. He'd had to work so hard to gain her affection, and in retrospect, he knew that he never had. She'd been with him because he'd been a tool she'd wanted to use, and she'd wielded him like a mindless weapon.

No, not mindless.

Eager to please, eager to do anything that would make her welcome him into her arms and give him what he'd thought was love.

She'd never loved him. She'd been a sociopath incapable of love, a master manipulator who'd used her beauty and her fake charm to enthrall him as surely as if she'd entered his mind and thralled him as an immortal would.

She'd been a human with an evil mind.

But the truth was that his anger was mostly directed at himself. He could have walked away, he should have realized that she'd been manipulating him, but at the time he'd been incapable of rational thought, and all he'd cared about was making her happy.

How convincing she'd been with her fake tears, with her fake pleading for him to end her suffering and eliminate the cause of her torment. And like a fool, he'd believed every lie and had felt honored to be her knight in shining armor.

Sofia stirred in his arms. "Is it morning yet?" she murmured with her eyes closed.

"Not yet." He caressed her slim back. "Go back to sleep."

"Okay." She yawned, smiled, and cuddled closer to him.