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He stilled, his fingers th of jaw Jocelyn could not halt the tiny shiver of response to his light caress

"And my kisses?" he prodded

Jocelyn forced herself to pretend to consider his words "They are bearable, I suppose"

"Bearable?"

With a lol he slowly bent his head to touch his lips softly to her own Jocelyn readily arched toward him It was not a kiss of passion or physical need Instead, it was a tender reassurance that they had survived the nighted to escape with their lives intact

For th froether

Then with obvious reluctance Lucien at last pulled back to carefully tuck a stray curl behind her ear

"Well?"

"Mmm Perhaps they are wondrous"

"That is considerably better" His smile faded as he drew in a deep breath "Ah, Jocelyn I feared that you would never forgive aze dropped as she recalled her horror at discovering the truth that he was a vampire It was not, after all, every day that a entleman she had tued wryly

And, of course, there had been the fear that she had been played the fool once again Echoes of the betrayal she had felt at the hands of Lord Patten had made her lash out with an instinctive need to protect herself fro in common with the shallow, absurdly idiotic Lord Patten

He had not been atte to use her for his own pleasure He did not consider her a ained and then tossed aside when he greeary of her

He had wanted only to protect her

And to bring a s her with a growingly concerned expression, she offered him a smile

"I will admit that I was rather shocked to discover that you were not a siuise"

His expression cleared at her light tone, his broiggling in a ridiculous fashion

"I prefer a roguish vampire"

"Indeed," she said dryly

"I did not kno else to approach you, my sweet," he confessed in rueful tones "And in truth, I presu before you would ever discover the truth I did not consider the danger that you would steal my heart"

"I believe you were the thief," she promptly corrected him "I was quite content with my quiet, uneventful life"

"Perhaps content, but not happy," he murmured

"No Not happy"

"And now?"

Jocelyn paused Wrapped snuggly in his arms, she felt warentle in the world, she wanted to knoould be at her side for the rest of her life

But even as she wanted to weep for joy at the thought that he loved her, there was that annoyingly sensible part of her that forced her to recall that it was not so simple

This was not the usual sort of flirtation And Lu-cien was not another London gentleoodness’ sake, he was not even mortal

There were any number of difficulties that had to be confronted

"I do not know," she said slowly

He furrowed his brow as he shifted, better to view her pale countenance His movements were still aard, and he could not entirely prevent his wince of pain Jocelyn’s heart cringed at the savage attack she knew he must have endured

"What is it, Jocelyn?"

"I--" She caue concern into words

"Jocelyn?"

"Amadeus is now dead," she at last blurted out

His confusion only deepened "Thank goodness"

"I aer," she continued in brittle tones "There is nothing now to keep you in London"

"Ah" His brow cleared as he realized the direction of her fears "You are not atteet rid of me, are you, my sweet?"

"Will you return to the Veil?" she abruptly demanded