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"Rachel!" Etienne slammed the car door and hurried up the sidewalk to his front door

"Don&039;t even talk to ht up to her on his front porch and grabbed her arm to turn her toward him "You didn&039;t let me finish"

"Finish?" she echoed with disbelief "What is there to finish? I got it I gave you a boner But you et erections at the drop of a hat I&039;ve heard so &039;Close your eyes and they&039;re all Marilyn Monroe, right?&039; " She sla"

Deciding it ht be better to finish the conversation inside, Etienne pulled out his keys and quickly unlocked the door She iain as they went inside "It isn&039;t like that with o I--Where are you going?"

She started upstairs, not even bothering to answer hi in a heartbeat Frustration welling up within hi the hall to his bedroom

"Look, there was a ti that moved," he admitted as he followed her "But I&039;d been celibate for at least thirty years before you ca anyed all that for me"

"Glad I could be of service"

Etienne winced The wory He liked it "Look, I What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I&039; her clothes back into the bag his mother had used to transport the"

"Got it in one You&039;re so clever Care to throw out a couple of big words to iue? Etienne glared at her "You aren&039;t going anywhere We have to resolve this We also have to discuss Pudge"

"Ah ha!" She turned on him with cold satisfaction "I just knew that hat it was all about Pudge! You want me to lie and claim he kidnapped me"

"It&039;s the best way to deal with the matter," he said solemnly

Rachel snorted in derision "You mean, it&039;s the most expedient for you people But he didn&039;t kidnap ot in the way"

"He&039;s dangerous, Rachel"

"Oh, please Your uncle just finished threatening e in a heartbeat"

"Yes, he would," Etienne agreed "But my family prefers to use death as a last resort And in this case it isn&039;t necessary, for a sie alive and well but locked up and no longer a threat Or would you prefer to see hiuilt that crossed her face He&039;d scored a point Bravo for him

"I can&039;t lie, Etienne I rile"

"You could at least try You hold the man&039;s life in your hands You can lie and see him alive, or you can refuse and force his teraped "Now I&039;m responsible for his life? Like it&039;s eddon"

"Well, if you live long enough you just ht be the cause of it," he snapped

"Oh!" She turned back to sla It&039;s a wonder you weren&039;t able to woowhat you wanted"

"I never asked you to &039;do what I wanted&039; " Etienne ran a hand through his hair with frustration "And this is exactly why I didn&039;t want to ruin as happening between us"

That caught her attention, and Rachel stopped packing She even turned to stare at him "What?"

"I like you, Rachel And I want you Constantly," he added dryly "I wasn&039;t sleeping with you to get you to do what I wanted about Pudge In fact, our relationship is the reason I didn&039;t push the Pudge issue My fa me to Bastien even did it in front of you the day ere locked out in the garden, but I couldn&039;t do it I didn&039;t want to I kept putting it off Unfortunately, I put it off long enough that Uncle Lucian caught wind of it, and now it is a serious issue"

Rachel shifted on her feet, her mind in an uproar She distinctly recalled Bastien&039;s asking Etienne if he&039;d talked to her about He&039;d never finished the state the man that he would But he hadn&039;t Not that day or the ones that followed Perhaps he was telling the truth She wanted with all her heart to believe he cared about her, but her mind was in such turmoil she didn&039;t knohat to think She needed time away from hi her

Etienne added to her confusion by pressing a gentle kiss to her lips "I don&039;t think I&039;ll ever be able to resist you, Rachel You stir ed to do in three hundred years You er You&039;re beautiful"

He drew her into his arms, and Rachel was helpless to resist She would think in the , she pro would be clearer in the

Etienne was a beautifulthere watching hi out of the bathroom, she took the time to look hih ht Rachel had fainted as usual, but with her thoughts troubled as they were, she hadn&039;t slept long She had never been able to sleep at such ti and she ide awake, her thoughts awhirl as she stared at her lover

He claimed to like her and to be truly attracted to her Rachel had no probleht of herself as a likable sort But attracted to her? Did he really find her beautiful and desirable? She sighed and rolled onto her back to stare at the shadows spilling across the ceiling Rachel could look in the mirror and see that she looked better than ever thanks to the turning, but she didn&039;t really feel attractive inside

She&039;d been the tall girl during her school years, the gawky carrot topteased than flattered and asked out on dates Her fianc¨¦ Steven had been her first real boyfriend, and that hadn&039;t been until University With him, she&039;d finally felt pretty and wanted until she&039;d caught him in bed with her roo since Some of that could no doubt be blamed on the hours she worked, but not all of it No, Rachel wasn&039;t confident in her attractiveness The last feeeks had been like so a handso attention to her But dreams were hard to believe in, and it was far too easy to believe he had been wooing her to get what he wanted

Etienne sighed and shifted in his sleep, drawing her attention Her gaze drifted over his naked body, pausing at the sheet twisted around his waist The man was a distraction even now She needed ti at the thought of how that would go, Rachel eased out of bed and began to gather her clothes She&039;d go walk through his garden or so h now that she could use straws

She would rather go home It was her safe haven fro She also would have liked to at least call her fa--but she was reluctant to risk either just yet Not until she&039;d resolved all this

Rachel ed to collect her clothes andEtienne Once the door was closed, she relaxed a little and quickly dressed She ran a brush through her hair, washed her face, and stared at her reflection in the e kidnapped me," she said experi between a grile slipped from her throat

Rachel&039;s shoulders slumped She&039;d always been a rotten liar It was inconvenient at times, but ot caught Honesty was the best policy Those were phrases she&039;d had drummed into her head repeatedly as a child Rachel had always believed thee, she couldn&039;t help thinking that in this instance a lie would serve everyoneaway from the aze shifted i in the sa at how adorable he looked lying there with his hair all ruffled, his chest bare, and the sheets tangled around his waist, she turned off the light and eased into the room, then tiptoed to the door to the hall

She felt like a thief sneaking out of the roo, but she continued to tiptoe all the way down the stairs She had just reached the door to the kitchen when she heard the soft screech of protesting wood Pausing in the kitchen doorway, she peered around the room It was a moment before she noticed hts Thehad been pushed up, and so in and werethe rest of their body behind

Heat prickled up the back of her neck, adrenaline puh her, and Rachel did what caht into the first available hiding spot, the hall closet She was easing the door closed before she realized what she was even doing It wasn&039;t until she felt relatively safe in her hiding place that her brain seee, and she realized that she, Rachel Garrett, now a va from a common thief

Rachel felt the fear run out of her like water fro? She was a vaive hiet Teach hiht with a to ease the door back open, she only had it a few inches when the burglar straightened and she saw his face Rachel paused again as recognition struck her Here was the ue, the khaki-clad e

That was enough to lar; this was a man who knew Etienne and his family He knew about vampires, and how to kill them And that was no doubt what he was here to do, she realized Panic iain, and Rachel spent ato think what to do Her plans to slip out for a solitary ere definitely out She had to get upstairs and warn Etienne And she had to do so before Pudge got to hie moved past She&039;d have to follow him and take him by surprise

Rachel heard the creak as he started up the stairs, and she kneas safe to coht, so it was safe to leave the closet When she stepped out into the hall, it soo The sun was still shining brightly, however, its rays coh the s made dustall thoughts away as inconsequential, she started to follow Pudge, then paused and peered back into the closet for a weapon The best she could co the kitchen, where she would at least be able to find a sharp knife, but she feared she didn&039;t have tie to know that he was ar a rifle, a holstered gun, a knife long enough to alured nothing short of a bazooka would even things out at this point

Snatching the mop because it at least had a sturdy wooden handle, compared to the flih the hall She raced as quickly and quietly as she could up the stairs

The upstairs hall was e She wasn&039;t sure if it meant the man knew exactly which room was Etienne&039;s and had already entered, or if he was searching each rooht co that he was in one of the other rooet to Etienne, Rachel screwed her courage to the sticking place and scampered up the hall on tiptoes At the door to Etienne&039;s roolance back at the empty hall, then quickly opened the door She was just in tih over his head Rachel did the only thing she could think to do at that point: she let loose the loudest, longest shriek she had ever e paused, shocked eyes jerking around to her and her mop, then just as quickly back to Etienne, who started awake crying, "What? What is it?"

Much to her horror, Pudge then plunged the stake down

The sound Rachel released was full of fury, and came from a place she didn&039;t even know existed within her It sounded to her ears like a pri her mop at the back of the ed to duck

Rachel had used enough force that she overbalanced By the ti himself at her in a football tackle His head hit her in the abdomen and knocked the breath out of her, and she stumbled backward onto the carpet, where the as knocked out of her again They both slae was quicker to recover, and he had his long, wickedly sharp knife at Rachel&039;s throat before she could even attele free "Freeze, lady, or I&039;ll cut your head off," he gasped