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"She said she was going shopping"

Roland felt as if he would explode Shopping! By God, Rhiannon was more than reckless She was utterly insane! "Why the hell didn&039;t someone come and let me know?"

Eric pulled Tauard her fro for you for two hours, Roland I had no idea where to find you, and you ignored my summons

What h his hair, and let his eyes fall closed

"We have to find her There are DPI operatives all over the village And if Curtis hasn&039;t told them about the castle, you can bet he&039;s told them about her They&039;ll spot her in a second She stands oUt fronored the ht be nice if she could hear you say so"Roland only shook his head

"Honestly, Roland, I don&039;t knohy you&039;re so worded She isn&039;t going to do anything risky,"Tamara said

"Hah! She likes nothing better than to risk her pretty neck at every opportunity If you knew her at all, you would be worried, too"He was racked orry Why on earth had he let her out of his sight after she&039;d been nearly killed? Why in the naht she&039;d exercise some caution after that incident? Didn&039;t he know her better? He ought to have been watching her every move Instead, he&039;d deliberately closed off his mind so she wouldn&039;t be able to track him dohile he visited the little cimetire in the small wood lot near the castle He&039;d felt a sudden need to be there, to remind himself what he&039;d done to his family, and to the only other woman who&039;d ever stirred hi those sins slip histhat would only dooripped his shoulder"I&039;ll coh the here Frederick and Jamey frolicked with Pandora in the safety of the courtyard

"And leave only Taers would do if he found her here with only gentle Freddy and a cat for protection?"

Ta her hair behind her shoulders in exactly the way Rhiannon always did

"I&039;m no helpless mortal,"she declared

"I can take care of , Roland noted

"You&039;ve been around Rhiannon too ,"Roland said

"And you haven&039;t been around her enough,"she snapped

"Either that, or you&039;re a blind fool She thinks you dislike her She thinks you believe she&039;s not good enough for you If she does do so to show you horong you are"

"Where on earth do you get these notions? Rhiannor believes herself good enough for God hi about me"

"It&039;s not what she thinks that matters, it&039;s what she believes you think"

When he only frowned and shook his head, she fuht her shoulders and drew her back against hilanced up at Roland

"Go on, go find your rebel I&039;ll keep things secure here"

Roland left the castle, but he couldn&039;t help wondering about Tahtest chance that Rhiannon felt she had to prove herself to him? It was utterly ridiculous, of course But then, Rhiannon hadher as inferior

Perhaps there was soh, he had no time to worry about theories or motivations

Rhiannon was out on her own, and there were at least two potentially lethal eneht away

He began at the house she&039;d told hie That she&039;d been there ithout question The bloodstained skirt and his white shirt lay on the floor, and the tub&039;s interior was coated in droplets announcing its recent use The room still smelled of the scented candles she&039;d burned The candle as still warlil

A suitcase lay on the bed, laden with clothing He assu it back to the castle with her on the return trip, but wondered if he was assury when he&039;d last seen her

He shook his head, and checked the roohly He saw the notepad and pencil near the phone and he hurried to it She&039;d written so on the top sheet, obviously But she&039;d torn it off He licked his lips, lifting the pad to the light to try to ry, he turned to fling the thing at the wastebasket"and he saw the s atop some other rubbish

He picked it up, and smoothed it out

There was an address, and a rooers"

Rhiannon saw the two ht They sat in the hotel suite&039;s front roo in at theht

She was at theof a bedrooh the open door For once, she wished she were older, ed for the power to transmute herself into a mouse, and crawl about the room that way

She&039;d heard there were a feho could achieve such a thing, the very ancient ones She&039;d tried it herself a few ti headache for her trouble

She did have the ability to entrance humans She could, possibly, lull theh the roo a response from them But there was a chance her efforts would only result in alerting theers was the one who&039;d attacked her at the soccer uard his mind from hers

A little shiver raced over her spine as she studied his face He wasof dark stubble He was heavy, his ar, but not fat He looked like one of the professional wrestlers she&039;d seen on cable TV a time or two He wore his dark hair cut close to his head, in short bristles

His lips were too thick

She listened intently, and heard little other than their voices, speaking low She sniffed the air, and sne, and expensive whiskey

Silently, she hauled herself over the edge

"We understand each other, then?"

Curtis shrugged Rhiannon slipped to one side, out of their range of vision should they look this way

"I don&039;t need to understand you If you can help me capture one of them, you can name your price"

The man shook his head

"Not just any one of them Her She&039;s the oldest, the ed back the whiskey in his glass and licked his lips with a fat tongue

"I want you to tranquilize her, and leaveas I need"

Curtis shook his head He got to his feet, crossed to the bar and gripped the amber-filled bottle by its neck

"You want to screw her

You&039;re not fooling me Hell, I can&039;t blame you She&039;s a hot one"

The other lass up when Curtis approached, and whiskey splashed into it

"Maybe I will, but that isn&039;t oal You certain she&039;ll be absolutely helpless?"

"Absolutely This drug has been tested It works"Curtis filled his own glass and paced away

"You mind if I ask why you think you can capture her when the rest of us have failed?"

"I have certain abilities And I know their weaknesses"

"So do we"

"I kno to use them"

"Yeah, well, I can&039;t say I have much confidence in your chances But if you can do it, you can have her as helpless and as often as you want her"

Rhiannon shuddered at the ie She recalled too well the last time she&039;d been helpless at the hands of a DPI operative

Weakened from the blood they&039;d drained away, she could only lie there, hands and feet restrained, as they tortured and touched her

"Then you&039;ll tell

Curtis hesitated

"There are others that interest me, besides her

They;re mine Mine alone, you understand? "

"Perfectly"He chuckled and the sound made her shiver

"You have special plans for the"

"And you can tell no one else If their locale gets out, the entire DPI body will be staked out around the place

I&039;ll never get reed"

Curtis sighed long and hard

"They&039;re at a castle called Le Chateau de Courtemanche, south of L&039;Oe had sounded like "lumber"

Rhiannon wished she could simply kill the both of them God kneould be justified Unfortunately, Roland would never forgive her He and his noble, knightly ideas about honor And he thought he had a demon in hiht be of help if I were to take a saet it, pal That formula is top secret No one has it butto stay"

So you think, Curtis, dear, Rhiannon thought

"All right I don&039;t need it"The man rose and turned toward the door

Curtis turned to a table, out of Rhiannon&039;s sight She le and peered at hilimpsed rows of test tubes, with rubber stoppers, inside

The drug

"Aren&039;t you going to tell me how to reach you? I don&039;t even know your name"

The man opened the door and paused

"I&039;ll contact you, when it&039;s necessary As for my name, youthe door wide Curtis hurried to close it, shaking his head He carefully fastened the lock, and then ca herself beneath the bed, and peered out to watch hih the door that led to the bathroorab the briefcase In seconds she was out theoncedistance and leapt elegantly to the ground, landing with a little bounce, and fighting to stave off laughter She was nearly giddy with her success

Arms came around her froled, but the strength in them was unbelievable, and for just an instant, she fully expected to feel the jab of Lucien&039;s blade in her side once ?"

"Roland!"She turned in his grip, and went nearly liht you were that hunk of beef who tried to knife me before"

"I could very well have been You take less care than a whirling dervish"

"I daresay, I&039;ve known ood deal more care than they"His arms still imprisoned hers, and she shook free She lifted the briefcase, and thrust it at hiry when you see what I have"

"I don&039;t care what you have, you could have been killed or captured trying to get it When are you going to listen to me, Rhiannon?"

"Just look at it, Roland I know you&039;ll be pleased"

He thrust the case back into her hands: "Not here"He gripped her ared free once again, sorely hurt that he didn&039;t even care to see what she&039;d accol A rental"

"Leave it,"he barked

"Go to hell, Roland My packages are inside"

She raced away froain In seconds, she&039;d settled herself behind the steering wheel She was surprised when the passenger door jerked open and he slid in beside her"You detest autoht"

A little of her anger faded

"Just to be with rinned

"Because if I let you out ofyou&039;ll do next"

He could have slapped her and hurt her less She refused to let hiine and pulled away from the hotel The case rested on the seat between them He didn&039;t ain

She pulled to a stop right in front of her rental house, an"Roland scowled

"Keep going, Rhiannon"

"I only want to fetch my suitcase"

"Then park somewhere else and we&039;ll walk back for it No sense announcing our presence"

"Stop telling me what to do"

"Soh to act responsibly on your own"

She got out and slaht here I wouldn&039;t go back to thatfor ed the briefcase out of the car as Roland juood deal of force into it The case hit hiered backward

"Give it to Eric It&039;s the tranquilizer I thought he ht like to exa"

"Rhiannon, don&039;t be ridiculous"He tossed the case back into the car and caripped her upper arms and made her face him Then his eyes widened, and he looked at her in disbelief"You&039;re crying"

She ripped one ar so hurt considerably, and dashed the tears from her face with her hand

"No, I&039;m not"

He shook his head slowly

"Rhiannon, I didn&039;t hter

"I aypt Men fall at my feet if I wish it

Mortals and immortals alike Do you really think I can be hurt by the likes of you? "Her throat burned

"I hate you, Roland de Courtemanche I detest you, and you will not have the opportunity to reject ain"

Roland returned to the castle alone He drove the car, for the simple reason that he didn&039;t want DPI to see it outside Rhiannon&039;s house and realize she was inside He wasn&039;t even certain they kneas her house, but it would seem likely Her description would have been ban died about L&039;Ombre, and questions asked Soe

He entered through the front door, and found no one about He stalked to his chambers and stopped in the doorway, unable for a lanced down fro the silver chandelier that winked and sparkled Ta the bare ith the wet cloth Eric glanced up fro the stones Ja cobwebs"Where&039;s Rhiannon?"