Louise

Hans swore at how slowly the line was moving. He was about to decide to try to force his way in when his cell phone rang.

"We're on our way." Patrick said and then hung up.

While he waited, he thought about Barb and his responsibility to her. Yes, he was obligated to protect her but he wasn't obligated to love her. No, he had no real choice in who his mate was but he didn't have to accept her as she was either. He also conceded that she might have had a reason for acting as she did but from his point of view, there was never a good excuse for rudeness and that a person was responsible for their actions no matter what happened to them.

The line moved up another foot or so and then stopped for several minutes before moving ahead again. His cell phone chirped when he was halfway to the front door.

"We're here." Patrick said. "As far as we know she's alright, she's dancing with Blackwell."

"What's the plan?" Hans asked.

"You stay in line and hopefully you can get in. Ethan is going to call Blackwell to see if he'll let us in... of course, he won't but we're hoping that it will buy us some time. The other thing that will help is if Barb hasn't mentioned us. If she did, it's going to be even more difficult to get her out."

"Understood, keep me appraised." Hans said and hung up to wait for entrance into the club.

********

Once they were on the dance floor, Thorne took Barb into his arms with a smile that looked sincere. Barb hesitated but reluctantly allowed herself to be held.

"You really are quite beautiful." Thorne murmured in her ear. "How is it that the Sinclaire's have kept you hidden?"

That one question was enough to make Barb forget her caution. She began to tell Thorne about how they had been treating her.

"You should see the room that they put me in! It isn't even a suite and I had to catch a cab to the hotel because their plans were more important than my arrival."

Thorne barely listened to the litany of complaints, he was thinking. Suddenly he smiled...

"How would you like to spend the rest of your stay in a much nicer place? You could have whatever it is your heart desires."

"Really? And where would that be?" Barb asked.

"I have a number of homes each fully staffed with servants that can and will meet your every need." Thorne replied. He knew what buzzwords to use with Barb and then turned on the charm. "Of course I would understand if you declined. After all we've only just met and..."

"Where are your homes?" Barb asked all sense of caution completely gone.

"All over the world but I have several here in California including a few on private beaches...."

"I like the ocean, do you know that they never even took me to see it?" she whined.

"That is a shame." Thorne commiserated. "Then if you agree to come with me, it would be one of the beach houses."

Little by little, Barb was sucked in. Now if any of the Sinclaire's showed up, he could tell them that she chose to come with him and they could do nothing about it. It would also be too late for her to change her mind. He chuckled to himself; it had been awhile since he fucked around with the high and mighty Sinclaires.

Not wanting to seem over anxious, he let the subject drop. Just as the dance ended, Allen approached him.

"You have an important call."

"Thank you Allen." Thorne said and turned to Barb. "I apologize but as I said earlier, sometimes I must mix business with pleasure."

"I understand." Barb said sweetly and watched who she thought would give her everything that she ever wanted walk away.

**********

"Hello Ethan." Thorne said pleasantly. "What can I do for you? Who? Ah yes... she's here. Of course, she may leave if she chooses to. Certainly... I'll have Allen meet you at the front door... yes, of course... I'll see you in fifteen minutes."

Thorne hung up and laughed, it wasn't too often that he pulled one over on Ethan Sinclaire.

He went back to the table where Barb was impatiently waiting. He could tell that she had made her decision, the money hungry bitch he thought to himself as he smiled at her.

"Were you serious about your offer?" she asked before he had gotten settled in his seat.

"I was." he replied.

"Then I accept!" she said happily.

"Really? That's wonderful but aren't you concerned about going to an unknown place with a strange man?" he asked covering his bases. "After all, I could be a mass murderer or something equally as horrible." he added.

"I'm a good judge of character." Barb replied, "And I don't believe that you're any of those things."

"Thank you for your trust." Thorne replied taking her hand in his. "We'll be able to leave shortly."

"I don't have anything with me...."

"No worries, we'll have everything that you need at the house." Thorne replied.

"Barb!" she heard from across the room. She looked up to see not only Kevyn but also Patrick, Nathan, Louise, Hans and Ethan approaching the table. She rolled her eyes and waited until they were at the table before she said anything.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Taking you out of here is what." Kevyn replied.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Barb retorted.

No one except for Nathan noticed Louise looking at Thorne with a horrified expression on her face.

"Sweetheart?" he murmured and pulled her into his arms as he realized that she had completely dropped her shields. He strengthened his own shields but not before she began to vomit.

"EWWW!" Barb yelled as she backed away as a spray of liquid just barely missed her.

Thorne looked at Louise with a curious expression on his face. He jumped as he felt Louise probing him even as she vomited. He looked at her, letting her probe him as much as she wanted. He jumped again when he felt Kevyn in his head.

"Well I'll be damned." he said not caring that Kevyn could hear him.

Louise had stopped vomiting and looked around for something to drink. Seeing nothing, she looked at Barb.

"Don't go with him." she said weakly.

Thorne didn't say anything; this had to be Barb's choice.

"Barb, listen to her... he's... wrong... he's evil, for once in your life forget about money and come with us." Louise begged.

Thorne watched as the sisters tried to convince Barb to leave with them confident that she wouldn't go. The lure of what he could give her was much too strong.

"Go home to your perfect lives with your perfect men and leave me alone." Barb replied.

Hans stepped up to the table and looked at her for several seconds.

"Please come with us, this.... Man means to harm you. Once you go with him, we... I can't help unless you leave with us."

"Now you want to help me?" Barb asked. "You're nothing but a hotel clerk! What can you do for me? Make my bed? What?" she demanded.

"Barb." Louise said softly. "Remember that verse in the bible that says to beware of the wolf in sheep's clothing? He's the wolf. He looks so nice on the outside but Kevyn is right... he's wrong and he's going to hurt you. You have to come with us...."

Barb moved so that she was standing by Thorne's side.

"Mr. Blackwell has graciously offered me a stay at one of his beach homes; I'll call you when I get back."

Ethan had been silent up to this point waiting to see if the sisters could sway Barb. It wasn't long before he saw that it wasn't going to happen. When Hans' stepped forward, he hoped that the pull of mates would trigger something but it didn't. It was now up to him to get Barb out of Blackwell's grip but if she continued to choose him, it was out of his hands. Not even going to the council would help as long as she agreed to be with him.

"Thorne." he said as he stepped forward. "Let's call this what it is. You're using her to fuck with us. Let her go and we'll settle our differences some other way."

Blackwell smiled but it didn't reach his eyes.

"She is free to leave if she chooses or she can stay but I will promise you this, she won't forget her time with me if she decides to come."

Everyone except for Barb heard the implications of that statement. What she heard was the promise of being pampered, waited on and mind blowing sex. Louise tried again.

"Listen to what he's saying! You've always had good instincts, listen to them!"

For a split second, everyone, Thorne included thought that she was going to change her mind. Pressing her advantage, Louise kept talking.

"Listen to yourself! You know that he's bad!"

She was crying and trying to break free of Nathan's arms convinced if she could just touch her sister that she would see reason. In a final attempt to jar Barb, she screamed,

"Hans is for you!"

Barb hesitated once again, looked at Hans and laughed. Ethan tried again to talk to Thorne who responded by asking them all to leave.

"I believe that she has chosen and I allowed you into my club so that you could see for yourselves that she is perfectly fine. Please see yourselves out."

Ethan looked at Barb ignoring Thorne.

"Barb listen to me." He said. "I know that you think that Thorne is what you want but trust me when I say that he isn't. I also think that deep down you know that. I also think that your instincts are telling you to run as fast as you can and you're letting what you think you want and need cloud your judgment. That's something that I have a little experience with and I can tell you that it caused a lot of pain and suffering that is still being felt to this day. Please think about what you're doing."

"Nice speech." Thorne said snidely.

Louise made a desperate attempt to break away from Nathan and actually touched Barb's arm.

"Please?"

For the third time, everyone thought that Barb was going to change her mind and leave with them and for the third time they were disappointed. They watched helplessly as she laid a hand on Thorne's arm, her choice made.

**********

"I don't understand!" Kevyn shouted when they were outside of the club, "Why in the hell couldn't we just grab her and make her come with us?" she demanded.

"There are laws in our world just as there are in the human world." Patrick explained. "She chose to stay."

"He tricked her! He had to have!" Kevyn retorted.

"No he didn't." Louise said. "He told her the truth and let her interpret it any way she wanted to. She was going to go with him no matter what we said or did."

"Because of money?" Kevyn asked.

"He knew what she thinks she wants and he used it to his advantage but deep down Barb knows that he's bad." Louise replied. "She also knows why he chose her... Patrick, why does he hate your family so much? That's why he wants her; he wants to hurt this family."

"But what about Barb?" Kevyn asked.

"We can only wait until she wakes up." Nathan said.

"What if he won't let her go?" she asked.

"He will if she says she wants to leave." Ethan said. "That was the only thing that I could get him to agree to and that he won't hurt her too badly."

"So there's a chance that she won't go with him?" Kevyn asked.

"There's always a chance." Ethan replied.

Louise didn't say anything, she already knew that Barb was going with Thorne; the pull of his money was much stronger than the pull toward Hans and her family. There was one thing that she did say and she said it with confidence.

"She'll be back and she's really going to need us."

Suddenly she was exhausted but amazed that she hadn't fainted although vomiting had been bad enough. She didn't object when Nathan picked her up and carried her to the car, she was just that tired. Once in the car, she closed her eyes and said a prayer for Barb, she was going to need it.

******

Hans went back to the hotel and straight to his suite without letting anyone know that he had returned. He had to wonder how much of Barb's going with Thorne had been his fault but then he remembered how she had looked at him as if he was nothing. Even at the club she had looked at him that way when he offered his help. And that laugh when Louise told her that he belonged to her... no, he decided, she was exactly where she wanted to be. He could only hope that Thorne didn't hurt her too much before she realized that she was going to bed with a monster.

He realized with a start that he wasn't jealous of the fact that she would be going to bed with another and he wondered what it meant. For a brief second he thought that maybe the fates had changed their minds after all but he knew better.

After what happened, he once again wondered if it was possible for Barb to change and if she did, how long would it last? He stopped thinking about it; there was no point in driving himself crazy thinking about her and the fates. With nothing else to do but wait, Hans decided to go back to work. Before he left his suite, he said a prayer to the fates that Barb would come to her senses before Thorne hurt her too badly.

******

Nathan carried an exhausted Louise up to their suite, laid her on the bed and started the bathtub. When it was ready, he woke her by softly calling her name and kissing her until she was awake.

"Come on sweetheart." he said as he led her to the tub.

He wanted to get in with her but didn't think that she was ready for that yet especially since she was worried about Barb but it would feel so good to sit behind her with his arms wrapped around her as he ....

"Nathan?" Louise called, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." he replied, "I'll be outside. Call me if you need anything."

Louise watched Nathan leave the bathroom and realized that she did a lot of watching him leave and wondered what she should do about it. She slowly lowered her shields; she wanted to know what he was feeling.

She audibly gasped as she felt Nathan's desire for her and gasped again as her nipples hardened and moisture gathered between her legs. She quickly stripped, got into the tub, turned on the jets only to turn them off. The bubbling water only made her nipples and the area between her legs throb even more. She finished her bath, dried off biting back a moan as she dried off her too sensitive nipples and her private area. When she stopped and thought about it, the feelings of arousal began to grow stronger once she said yes to being Nathan's mate. She knew what it meant but she wasn't sure that she was ready for that step and wondered how one prepared themselves for making love for the first time.

*******

Nathan waited in the bedroom for Louise to come out of the bathroom. Even through the closed door he could smell her, he could hear the rapid beating of her heart and he could feel her uncertainty. It was a reminder that she really was an innocent and that maybe she needed to talk to Kevyn. He already suspected that the sisters needed some alone time anyway and made plans to go check on the progress of the beach house. In spite of Barb and her stupidity, life had to go on.

The twin's wedding was less than two weeks away and he wanted the house to be finished by then. He also wanted the mating to be completed as well and judging by what was happening in the bathroom that was a very real possibility. He decided that today, he wouldn't settle for lying in bed and holding hands, she was going to sleep where she belonged, in his arms. He also decided that he wasn't going to attempt to hide his erection. It was time for her to understand that he wanted and loved her. He paused, he had never verbalized his feelings for her to her and another little piece of the puzzle fell into place.

He went to the other room, moved his belongings into the suite and changed his clothes. While he waited for her, he called the house site.

"How are things?" he asked. "Good, I want it exactly as I drew it. I want it done in less than two weeks... I'm aware of that. Call in extra crews and I'll pay triple time... Yes. Call me with any problems."

He had just hung up when Louise walked in.

"Feel better?" he asked as he stood up to walk over to her.

"A little but I'm scared for Barb." Louise replied.

"I know and understand." Nathan replied as he put his arms around her. "Come on, you're exhausted. You expended quite a bit of emotional and psychic energy tonight."

"But I didn't faint!" she said with pride.

"No you didn't." Nathan said, "But why did you lower your shields like that?" He asked gently.

Louise hesitated, "I didn't mean to, at least not all of the way. I just wanted to feel what he was feeling. I have never felt such... anger and hatred. As you know, it made me sick."

"What did you feel from Barb?" he asked.

"That she's out to prove that she can get a rich man... but underneath she knows that he's evil but she's convinced herself that she doesn't care or that she's reading him wrong."

"What?" Nathan asked when she paused.

"One of the things that she kept telling me was that I wasn't being honest with myself. She says that I'm really after your money and that I'll get away with it..."

Nathan stopped her.

"You are in no way like her other than in familial resemblance. I know that money... mine or anyone else's doesn't matter to you. Ignore that part of your conversation. Let's get you into bed."

Nathan led her to the bed, helped her in and climbed in behind her. When she reached for his hand, he took it and pulled her into his arms.

"This is where you sleep from now on." he told her as he molded himself around her. "If you prefer to face me, that's fine but no matter which direction you choose, you sleep in my arms as a matter of fact, face me now, I have something that I want to say to you."

He waited for her to face him and then he continued.

"While you were bathing, I realized something." he said. "I realized that for you words are just as important as actions. All of this time I've been showing you how I feel about you but I haven't told you. Louise, I love you. I love your sensitivity and your quiet strength. I love how you love your sister even though she's hurt you and I don't see any redeeming qualities in her. I love your enthusiasm when you're cooking a meal or simply watching one of the cooking shows. I am blessed to have found you."

Louise was speechless. She knew that he cared for her- loved her but to hear it gave her an almost surreal feeling along with a feeling of... she searched for the word... contentment. Here was someone who could and would care for her in a way that she had been missing and hadn't really realized it.

She lay there in Nathan's arms trying to think of how she should respond when it came to her. The truth. She couldn't very well expect Barb to accept who she was if she wouldn't accept a few facts of her own. She was in love with Nathan Sinclaire and it was time to accept and admit it to him and to herself.

Nathan waited and watched as she slowly accepted what he told her. He wanted nothing more than to peek inside of her head to see what her response would be but he resisted. He had waited this long and he would continue to wait without cheating.

"I think.... No, I know that I love you too." she finally said.

While she was nervous, what she hadn't expected was to feel a sense of relief. She felt as if she had carried around a secret that she was finally free to share and was experiencing the relief of telling it.

"Louise, look at me." Nathan said gently. He waited until he had her full attention before speaking. "Thank you."

Louise gave him a confused look, she was certain that they would consummate their new relationship and was surprised by the simple thank you and the urging her to sleep.

"I want to wait until this mess with your sister is resolved." he said answering her unspoken question. "I want no distractions when we make love for the first time and I don't want it to be here. Tomorrow night if nothing has changed, I want to show you something."

Louise didn't argue, she was honest enough to admit to herself that she would feel awkward enough making love for the first time without it being in Kevyn and Patrick's house.