There was spice in his voice. Of course, his baritone was low and deliberate, everything that could be expected of a man of his build and boldness. But there was something else; like his sandstone eyes, it was a quality she had never experienced. 

[i]“Ella,”[/i] he repeated back to her, his lips savoring the simple name and releasing it up and out into the atmosphere with delicious hints of cardamom and saffron. Even the shape of his mouth seemed colored by these exotic spices that perfumed the warm air that blew out in her direction with every soft and easy exhale. 

He was a beautiful man. He had sharp edges and strong angles, and he towered over her with an unexpected height—he was masculine for certain. But he was also elegant and fragrant, and he dressed in fabrics that made his sun-kissed skin appear as appetizing as browned and hardened sugar. 

[i]“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,”[/i] he said, finally releasing her hand. 

The same assessment that she had made, she realized, had been done to her in turn. She noticed the way his thumb strummed the broad pads of his fingers — savoring the cold of her skin, the same way she knew would sip the warmth right out of his blood if given the opportunity.  But while she could easily surrender herself to a dream-like landscape of sensory examinations of his hands, lips, or eyes, she could not risk being so careless as to ignore the weight of the comment he had made. 

He had been watching her. 

Like a single droplet of ice-water, she felt the tension roll down her spine and numb her to her fingertips and toes. A cloak of suspicion, the very doubt that kept her alive, fell heavy over her shoulders. It was a struggle not to let the weight of her wariness not round her shoulders inward in an attempt to make herself small. Having been the object of a fiend’s obsession once before had left deep and ugly scars upon her very intellect that would be nearly impossible to hide. But she didn’t want him to see the damaged parts — the scars written deep across her soul in language only monsters understood.

Narcisse was beauty, and elegance, and all things that delighted the senses. There was no ugliness here, or fear, or reason to doubt. 

[i]“I’ve wanted to for quite some time,”[/i] came his confession, and with it another pale dab of rose across her cheeks, but a smile as well. 

[i]“I would tell myself for months, if she comes tonight and she is alone, I will introduce myself and ask to drink with her. And every night, you'd show up alone, and every time, I’d talk myself out of it.”[/i]

He grinned at her; it was boyish and sweet, save for the dark, silken beard around his cheeks that gave him a man’s appearance. Once more, she found herself making the sad comparison to those in her past. Had a creature ever regarded her with this simplicity of emotion? There was no false polish to him, no carefully crafted illusion. He lacked the frightening artifice she had come to expect from men who wanted something. 

And he did want something…

But maybe she was willing to give it for the first time in her life. 

[i]“But, we aren’t getting any younger, are we? So, here I am, hoping to learn more about you, the lovely and mysterious Ella. Sit with me a while.”[/i]

The metallic gold of her eyes drifted from his face and over his shoulder. She looked to the double doors where the barkeep should be returning. But there were no signs of him. 

“I am afraid to stay,” she whispered, leaning close to him as if they were sharing a secret. “I believe I’ve upset him, and I don’t know if I should stick around for his return. But I am very curious, Narcisse, why after so many nights of longing for my attention — tonight was the night you decided to heed your curiosity.”

Rather than slip into a seat, Gabriela drew back and away a few teasing steps before offering a slight, careless shrug. 

“How about a walk? These establishments are always, always, always built lakeside. If we explore, we’ll find some picturesque shore with a silver moon hanging just above and framed in the edges of deep, dark woodlands.” 

She grinned. Her plump lips curled deviously as her offer was meant more as a challenge. He knew that she was something else. Perhaps not what she was exactly. But she saw it in his eyes, and the appreciation of her flesh against his, how he had been so thoughtful for just a moment after releasing her hand. She imagined he had his own suspicions — and she was more than willing to help him prove them true.