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He had shut her out, and she didn&039;t knohy Lying in her sleeping bag that night, Kara ran over the events of the day in herwhat she had said, what she had done, to ry She had tried several ti, but he had replied, politely, that nothing rong, he was only tired

He was lying

She had checked his injuries, aht before, had nearly healed

She wanted him to take her in his ar would turn out for the best

She hesitated a fewand went to gaze out theat thenear the lake&039;s edge, his head thrown back, his arht sky The htdanced across the face of the still water and bathed Alex in a shi silver haze

He looked so beautiful, and so alone, it made her heart ache Why wouldn&039;t he confide in her? Didn&039;t he kno deeply his silence was hurting her?

An owl hooted softly in the distance Alex had told her that some tribes of Indians believed that the call of an owl near a lodgedeath The sound drew his attention and as he turned toward it; Kara saw his face, saw the pain and loneliness in his expression

Needing to touch hi his comfort in return, she ran out of the cabin, heedless of the fact that she wasn&039;t dressed

"Alex, I&039; her face in his shoulder "Please forgive ive you?" Alex asked, startled by her apology "What have you done?"

"I don&039;t know" Her words were ainst his shoulder "Why have you shut me out? I feel so alone"

"Karanatayah" He stroked her back, his hands restless, his desire stirring at her nearness, at the silkiness of her flesh pressing so intiainst his "Kara"

"Don&039;t sendon tiptoe, she pressed her body against his "I love you, Alex" She tilted her head back so she could see his face, and then she kissed hiic of her touch, the soul-deep love he had seen in her eyes

With a helpless cry of surrender, he cradled her in his ar her face, her neck, her breasts, with hungry kisses His hands slid over her slender fraertips She arched against hi hiht save to possess her, to show her with his hands and his lips that he loved her, only her, now and forever

Her thighs parted eagerly to receive him, and then he was a part of her_heart and soul and ht, every breath, was hers

Kara held hiht couldn&039;t slip between theernails following the faint pattern along his spine She stroked hiain She cradled hi to the same frantic rhythm as his She watched his face, entranced by the sheer beauty of hi in his eyes

She sobbed his nah her, heard his answering cry as his life force filled her arether, they tuh Never had he experienced anything so wonderful, not even with AnnaMara Though he had loved his wife, he had not needed her as desperately as he needed Kara And yet, uilt

What if Kara got pregnant? Barrett had told hiht was staggering As much as he yearned for a child born of their love, he was afraid to face the possibility, didn&039;t want to consider the consequences that

Kara made a soft sound in her throat, and he realized he was probably suffocating her with his weight Rolling to the side, he carried her with hi her in his arms He felt a sudden need to put distance between thehts, but he knew she would not understand She would be hurt, thinking that he was shutting her out again He couldn&039;t bear the thought of causing herher hair, until her breathing grew even and shallow and he knew she was asleep

"Forgive me, natayah," heeotten involved in her lifehe should never have touched hershe was the best thing that had happened to hinant even nowhe had ruined her lifehe wanted herhe needed her

He loved her

He didn&039;t want to love her, or need her, or want her

He never should have touched her

He wanted her again Even now his blood ar with desireShe stirred in his ar he would never be happy without her at his side, knowing that, sooner or later, he would have to let her go Noand a cat ht fall in love, he mused bleakly, but they were two different creatures, never meant to share more than friendship

They stayed at the cabin until the food ran out During those three days, Alex closed his the lake at night, took longHe had vowed not to ht she teased hi hiiveness, prayed she would not get pregnant, prayed for the strength to leave her when the time came

He memorized every line of her face, every curve of her slender body, the sound of her laughter, the husky timbre of her voice when she was in the throes of passion, the color of her eyes, the texture of her hair, the taste of her skin against his tongue He told her he loved her in every way he could, and hoped she would still believe it was true when he had to let her go

Kara stared around the sh it was small and cramped and equipped with only the barest of necessities, it had been a perfect place for a honeylanced at Alex He stood near the door, a torapped around his waist

"You didn&039;t have to get all dressed up onLet&039;s go"

Still grinning, she followed hiic under the dash to start theengine

"You want to drive?" she asked

"No, you go ahead" He slid into the passenger seat and sat back, his ar herself behind the wheel, Kara switched on the headlights "Which way?"

"Turn left when you reach the road"

"You knohere we are?"

"More or less" Last night, he had determined their location by the position of the stars If his calculations were correct, they were about seventy lanced at hi no trace She had seen it, yet it was still hard to believe that Alex had been shot, twice, and healed completely in three days For the first time, she could understand Barrett&039;s motives, even if she found the of all the good Alex could do, the people he could help, the lives he could save

He was reading her ain She knew it the moment he spoke

"Hoould I decide which lives to save, Kara?" he asked quietly "I can only give so much blood Do I sell it to the rich? Give it to the poor? How do I decide which life has randmother? There are millions of people, Kara, and I&039;hty I don&039;t want to hold the power of life and death in my hands I don&039;t want to make those kinds of decisions"

He hadn&039;t mentioned his own life, his own needs, but she kneould never have any kind of private life if people knew the miraculous power of his blood Everyone would want a piece of him_the public, the press, scientists, doctors, preachers and talk shows He&039;d never be able to go back to Moulton Bay, never have the tiht think it selfish, his refusal to help, and if he was a ht think so, too But he was an alien, and she knew that he would be hounded the rest of his life if people found out who he hat he was And that, she thought ruefully, could be a long, long time Not only that, but his freedom would be forever lost He would spend the rest of his life in a cage, being examined, questioned, analyzed

Selfishly, she realized that they would never have a life together if the world discovered his identity And she wanted a future with Alex ht or wrong, selfish or not, she intended to have it

They were driving on fumes and luck by the time they reached Moulton Bay The clock on the dash put the time at nine-thirty

She&039;d no sooner parked the truck in the garage than the engine sputtered and died Opening the door, she slid from behind the wheel and followed Alex into the house

Alex h the darkness until he heard her stuht

"Are you all right?" he asked

"Fine" Lips coainst a table "Want to kiss it and , but he saw the hope in her eyes, heard the yearning in her voice

With an effort, he hardened his heart against her "I need a shower," he said "I&039;ll wait if you want to go first"

"No, you go ahead"

With a curt nod, he went up the stairs Mo

For a h, she went into the kitchen In his present mood, he had probably locked the door

She fixed herself a cup of strong black coffee, sipped it slowly as she wondered how they&039;d locate Gail and Nana Maybe one of the neighbors would knohere they&039;d gone And what about Barrett? Just thinking of hi the cup and putting it in the sink, she went through the house,if it had been smart to come back here It wouldn&039;t take much effort for Barrett to find out where Alex lived

She andering through the den when she felt Alexander&039;s presence behind her Slowly, she turned to face hi a pair of faded Levi&039;s and a black sweater His feet were bare, his hair was still damp He lookedbeautiful and sexy And distant

"Your turn," he said tonelessly "I&039;ll see you in the "

With a nod, she left the roo him, but she intended to find out Soon

Alex watched Kara leave the room; then he sat down at his desk and stared at the co up the file that contained his latest e one The manuscript was far from finished, but he felt driven to work on the conclusion to the story, despite the fact that it was out of sequence

He thought athe time had come when there could be no more lies between us I had courted her for over a year, never letting her knohat I was, certain that the love in her eyes would turn to fear, or worse, to revulsion, when she kneas not the er Melynda had declared her love for me, and I, foolishly perhaps, had admitted I felt the sa of our courtship, had grown s were spoken aloud The desire between us blossomed into a flower of rare beauty, but I could not take her virginity, could not forge that bond of intimacy between us

"What is it?" she asked "What did you want to tellfor what I was about to do, I gazed into her eyes and prayed that she would be able to forgive me for my deception

Alex sat back in his chair, his pal on either side of the keyboard

He doubted there would be a happy ending for hirant one to his vaain

Hesitantly, I told her the truth, then waited for her to spurn me, to flee in terror from the monster who had dared to love her

"Vampire?" she exclaimed softly Her eyes narrowed as she looked at h

At first, I thought her hysterical with fear Tears rolled down her cheeks; she held her sides as laughter continued to bubble from her lips

"Vampire! Oh, Alesandro, is that all?"

"Is that all?" Iasked, shocked by her reaction "All? Isn&039;t that enough?"

"I&039;ve known about that forthe tears from her eyes

"Known? How could you have known?"

"I&039;m not blind, or stupid," she replied with a toss of her head "You never eat, you cast no shadow, I never saw you during the day" She shrugged "I sa you looked at er in your eyes before you turned away I saw, and I knew"

"And you don&039;t care?"

"Of course I care, but" She s to tellwith her ready acceptance of what Iwas "I&039;m not married"

"But you will be soon," she predicted

"Will I?"