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"What ahed "Laszlo looks like a dork, and you - Dougal, you gotta lose the skirt, the poufy shirt, and the hairy handbag That thing is scary"

Dougal glanced down at his sporran, made of black muskrat fur " ’Tis verra practical Where else would I keep ave him an incredulous look "Have you heard of those? Sheesh, dude, you’re al, you’re accessorizing with a dead animal"

"I’m no’ medieval I was transformed after the Battle of Culloden in 1746 ’Twas called the Age of Enlightenht for Bonnie Prince Charlie? How enlightened was that?"

Dougal gritted his teeth "I fought for freedolish tyranny As a bloody Yank, ye should understand that"

Gregori shrugged "Fine But I’ you, rade" His eyes lit up "I bet you need soo anywhere" He took off across the foyer and down the hallway

Laszlo fiddled with another button "What is he up to?"

"No good,on a strawberry and casting curious glances at the crowd of Vamps across the room "Are ye serious about her?"

"I-I’m not sure," Laszlo answered quietly "She may be in shock, so I should probably leave her be for a while and give her some time to adjust"

As Laszlo continued to reason with hial studied her She was a natural beauty, and he would wager a year’s earnings that she was unaware of it Her hair was long, thick, and black, her face sraceful So much like Li Lei Same creamy, porcelain skin Same tilt of her head Same little nose and exquisitely shaped mouth He nearly moaned when she bit into a strawberry, then licked the juice frohter, olden brown, and their shape was a little rounder And there was another difference A huge one Leah Chin was alive This was no ghost shrouded with regret but a vibrant, lovely wohtly back, but Leah’s hair was loose A glorious, shiently with her every move He couldn’t wait to touch it, feel its silky texture, and run his hands through it

His gaze drifted lower Her knit shirt covered her shoulders, but he had no doubt they were beautiful The clingyhim to envision the -

"al gave him a wary look

"Paperwork," he clarified "Mounds of it I doubt I have tiain at Leah and discovered her staring at him Her eyes widened, and she turned her back Damn, was he that scary to look at? Her abruptback and forth It was cut bluntly across, the ends right below her shoulder blades

A vision popped in hisastride hi wildly And when she leaned forward to kiss hiently across his face He would be i it ht," Laszlo continued "Very tight schedule So al muttered So much he would do He would caress her all over, explore every inch of her creamy skin, make her moan and writhe and scream with pleasure He adjusted his sporran to conceal his hard -

"staff," Laszlo said "We have staff al ht

"Oh God, no," Laszlo whispered

Dougal followed the che toward the a life-sized sex toy to a birthday party for bairns? Obviously, she wasn’t intended to be a present for the children That rowled

Chapter Five

Howat her froht her doing the sarear toward him?

First of all, he was probably a vampire, so it was crazy to look at hiain And that, unfortunately, providedon all her synapses Just one step away fro completely bonkers

He was handsome, but then, so were randfather, she’d always had a fondness for men in kilts, but there were other kiltedat them And it wasn’t as if he made her feel safe Quite the contrary Laszlo looked a lot safer So did the cheerfulbabies

Was that the difference? Everyone looked happy except the guy in the doorway Was it her own frazzled nerves that caused her to be drawn to the one person who appeared as agitated as she did?

She could feel his stare, the heat of it prickling her back The last few tiry Intense As if a roiling fire inside hilanced at hier in his eyes And pain It shook her, grabbing onto her heart

There’d always been a strong need inside her to fix people ere suffering As if that could somehow erase all the pain she’d suffered in silence It hy she’d insisted on going to medical school in spite of the aardness she felt around others

But this was no ordinary et drawn in Not with him Deep in her heart she knew he had the power to devastate her more than any other man on the planet

She turned her back to him "Who is he - the man next to Laszlo?"

Abby narrowed her eyes "That al Kincaid Haven’t seen hi the Echarpes in Texas"

"He’s security?" Leah sipped some punch and sed hard when Abby nodded her head Of course he was security He’d been watching her all evening Even now she could feel his sharp e into her back "A va She had to be out of her mind

"He’s always struck uy"

Quiet until the volcano erupts Leah wondered if she was the only one who sensed he was about to blow

"He’s a"You want to hear a funny story? Lara tolda bachelor party for Ian in a hotel roopipes, and they were all drunk on Blissky and trying to dance a jig They were so loud that the hotel called the police, and Jack had a hell of a tilanced over at the happy crowd Apparently vampires liked to party "So what happened? Were they arrested?"

Abby chuckled "No, but Jack ended up married to the police officer Lara’s over there so a baby, too"

Leah gulped She was sensing an alar pattern here "Do the Undead always take mortal women for their wives?"

"Well, not always" Abby picked up the cake knife "Which flavor cake would you like?"

Not always? Did thatelse?

Her heart started racing again What if va? What if the normal world around her was actually abnormal?

"I think I’ll try the pink layer" Abby put a slice on a small plate "I’m not sure if it’s cherry or strawberry What would you like?"