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Eht She could tell by the careful way he’d suggested it, by the way he was looking at her right noaiting for her to blow up at him But she didn’t She hated herself for it, but she seriously considered letting hiuilt, the fear that there was so with her that she could kill a man in cold blood like that, even if he did deserve it

"I ht take you up on that someday," she said finally "But not yet"

Duncan s that warm brown that made hi, which was unexpected It was Sunday evening and he’d decided that Sundays would be theirs alone Miguel and the others had been told not to bother hirinned, then leaned over and picked up his cell phone without even checking caller ID

"Sire," he said, his tone a mixture of warmth and respect "We are well," he continued, obviously answering the caller’s query "No per And everyone there?" He laughed, his body language relaxed and easy Emma rarely saw Duncan like that, except with her

"So soon?" he asked now "Well, that’s true enough" He listened a while longer, then said, "She’ll be coain and added, "It should be interesting"

E about her And ould be so da?

"I look forward to it, Sire Until then"

He disconnected and threw the phone back onto the table

"What was that about?" she demanded

"That was Raphael"

She already knew that There was only one person Duncan called by the honorific Sire, because there was only one Sire, for Duncan anyway "I know that," she told hi about?" And as so damned funny? she wanted to add, but didn’t

"There’s a Va her a brilliant sue

Lucas Donlon, Vampire Lord, ruler of a slice of North America that the vampires called the Plains Territory, scanned the conference roolasses Their host for thiswas Raphael, and unlike that lunatic Krystof, who’d hosted the lastof North A as gauche as fluorescent lighting in his conference roolasses on anyway Itother things There were toohis fellow va into each other’sfor visual clues What a laugh riot that was

And what a cheery group they were, too Eight vaed around a conference table that could easily have seated four tih to sit any closer Or et any closer They met once a year to discuss matters of mutual interest, but they were hardly friends Actually, they weren’t friends at all Lucas himself counted only one of those seated at this table as a friend, and that was Duncan Soonists, while one was an avowed enemy, and tere so new to the Council that Lucas had no opinion Raj service as lieutenant to the finally dead Krystof--now there was a vampire who’d needed to be put down But the newest ust circle, Sophia, he’d never even heard of until she popped up as Lord of the Canadian Territories Not that he gave a da as she kept to her borders, he’d keep to his

"Your vote, Lucas?" Raphael’s deep voice interrupted Lucas’s contemplation of his fellow lords Lucas didn’t move froaze to Raphael and lowered his glasses enough to look over thelasses to cover his eyes once again Gods willing, the others would vote the saet the hell out of here Not that Malibu was a bad place to be He just didn’t like the company nore,speech, but eventually the others all voted to affirm Duncan as Lord of the Capital Territory It was the only territory that required such a vote, and only because of the unique dereed to the condition about a century ago, even Victor who’d laughed at the tiant ass that he was, he’d never understood that he was the issue The rest of the ever since then for someone to take that bastard out Thank God it had finally happened, and thank God it was Duncan who’d done it Lucas didn’t think anyone else could have gotten approval from the full council

"The resolution passes," Raphael said, stating the obvious He stood alet theover with Probably more so, since it was his home that had been invaded by the lords and their security details

Lucas unfolded hi it back from the table with the same motion He waited while the others hurried out the door, a few stopping to congratulate Duncan, including Raj, who paused long enough to shake hands Raj and Duncan had been lieutenants to their respective lords a very long time Lucas supposed that created a certain familiarity with one another And their territories shared a border, so it couldn’t hurt that they were at least friendly Of course, his own friendship with Duncan went back much further than that

Raphael was the last to leave, his black eyes holding Lucas’s gaze for a long lasses until, finally, hedouble doors Duncan grinned at Lucas as he made his way around the table