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She&039;d slept with a corpse Granted, the few men she&039;d shared a bed with in the past hadn&039;t exactly set the world on fire And after a while, they generally walked away, never to return Shanna had never considered their mobility a plus before

Even after her earth-shattering screech, Ro there, peaceful as ever He had to be dead No, daain

The door slammed open She ju?" Theoutside the door, a pistol in his hand

Shanna pointed at the bed "Roanesti is dead"

"What?" The un back into its holster

"He&039;s dead!" Shanna pointed once more at the bed "I woke up and found him in my bed Dead"

With a worried look, the man approached the bed "Oh" His frown vanished "No problem, miss He&039;s not dead"

"I&039;m sure he&039;s dead"

"No, no He&039;s just asleep" The guard placed two fingers on Roman&039;s neck "Pulse is fine Not to worry I&039;m a trained security specialist I would know a dead person"

"Well, I&039;m a trained medical professional, and I know a dead body when I see one" And she&039;d seen way too many of them when Karen had died Shanna&039;s knees trembled, and she looked around for a chair None There was only the bed And poor Rouard insisted "He&039;s just sleeping"

God, this man was dense "Look¡ªwhat&039;s your nauards"

"Phil" Shanna leaned against one of the four posters for support "I know you don&039;t want to aduard, and you&039;re supposed to keep people alive"

"He is alive"

"He is not!" Shanna&039;s voice rose higher and higher "He&039;s dead! Deceased Snuffed out The Roman Empire has fallen!"

Phil&039;s eyes widened, and he stepped back "Okay, okay Caled a walkie-talkie frouest is totally losing it"

"I am not!" Shanna strode toward the"Maybe if we open these shutters, it&039;ll shed soht on the matter"

"No!" Phil sounded so frantic, Shanna stopped

Static cackled on the walkie-talkie, then a voice cah "What&039;s the problem, Phil?" Beep

"We have a situation here," Phil answered "Miss Whelan woke up to find Mr Draganesti in her bed, and she thinks he&039;s dead"

Laughter erupted on the other end of the walkie-talkie Shanna&039;s mouth dropped open Jeez, these people were cold She headed back toward Phil and his communication device "Could I speak with your supervisor, please?"

Phil gave her a sheepish look, "That was my supervisor" He punched a button "&039;Howard, could you come up here, please?"

"Oh yeah," Howard replied "I wouldn&039;t miss this" Beep

Phil slipped the walkie-talkie into his pocket "He&039;ll be right up"

"Fine" Shanna scanned the room, but couldn&039;t see a phone "Would you please call 911?"

"I I can&039;t Mr Draganesti wouldn&039;t like that at all"

"Mr Draganesti is beyond liking or disliking"

"Please! Trust lanced at his watch "Just wait about two hours"

Wait? Would he be any less dead in two hours? Shanna paced back and forth across the roo and healthy It must have been a stroke or heart attack "We need to notify the next of kin"

"They&039;re all dead"

No fa Poor Rorief poured over her¡ªgrief for what olden-brown eyes again Or feel his arazed at his handsoe, ed man strode into the room He wore khaki pants and a navy polo just like Phil The utility belt around his waist held an assortht He looked like an ex-football player, coe neck and a crooked, lumpy nose that had been broken tooif his comb-over didn&039;t look so obvious and his eyes weren&039;t twinkling with humor

"Miss Whelan?" His voice was nasal, courtesy of his battered nose He probably snored loud enough to be heard in Jersey "I&039;m Howard Barr, head of daytime security How are you?"

"Alive, which is more than I can say for your elanced toward the bed "Is he dead, Phil?"

Phil&039;s eyes widened "No Of course not"

"Good" Howard slapped his hands together and rubbed theainst each other "That clears that up Would you like to come down to the kitchen for a cup of coffee?"

Shanna blinked "Excuseto check the body?"

Howard adjusted his belt and h it&039;s da here I&039;ve never known Mr Draganesti to sleep in soritted her teeth "He&039;s not asleep"

"I think I knohat happened," Phil said "I saw hi down the stairs with Miss Whelan in his arms"

Howard frowned "After six? The sun was already rising"

A terrible thought occurred to Shanna "He was carryingI ca"

Shanna caught her breath Oh no

Phil shrugged "I guess he was too worn out to get back to his room"

Shanna collapsed on the bed next to Roman&039;s feet Oh God, she&039;d been too heavy for him to carry She&039;d caused his heart attack "This is terrible I¡ªI killed hiave her an exasperated look "That is totally impossible He&039;s not dead"

"Of course he is" She glanced at his body, only inches away "I&039;ll never eat pizza again"

Phil and Howard exchanged a worried look Their walkie-talkies beeped

Hohipped his out first "Yes?"

A scratchy voice ca trip She suggests Miss Whelan join her in the parlor"

"Good idea" Howard sighed, visibly relieved "Phil, will you take Miss Whelan down to the parlor?"

"Sure" Phil looked equally relieved "This way,at Roman "What will you do with him?"

"Don&039;t worry" Howard adjusted his utility belt "We&039;ll move him to his own bedroom And in a few hours, when he wakes up, you&039;ll both have a good laugh over this"

"Yeah, right" Shanna trudged down the hall alongside Phil

Silently they descended the stairs It was only last night when she had ascended these stairs with Ro about him¡ªan aloof sadness¡ªthat had h And when he did laugh, he seemed so surprised by it that she felt doubly rewarded

Shoot, she hardly knew hientle His intelligence was sharp and challenging His insistence on protecting her was so hed Now she would never knohat it was like to kiss Roet to see his lab or hear about his next brilliant achieveain By the tihly depressed The sy Her eyes filled with tears

"Radinka, I&039;one"

"There, there" Radinka hugged her and spoke in her deep, accented voice, "Do not worry, my dear All will be fine" She led Shanna to the rooht of the foyer

It was empty Shanna had expected it to be filled o the room were three maroon leather couches, set around three sides of a square coffee table On the fourth side, the as covered with an enormous widescreen television

Shanna collapsed on a couch "I can&039;t believe he&039;s gone"

Radinka placed her handbag on the coffee table and sat "He ake up, my dear"

"I don&039;t think so" A tear slid down her face

"These ori, is the same way Impossible to wake up once he&039;s asleep"

Shanna wiped the tear away "No, he&039;s dead"

Radinka brushed iner suit "Perhaps you would feel better if I explain I was here early in theRoman took you to a dental clinic, and you worked on his teeth"

"That can&039;t be right" Mehts, just out of reach "I I thought it was a dream"

"It was real Roman used a forori assured reed to it"

Shanna closed her eyes, trying to re on the chaise in Roested hypnosis And she had agreed She was desperate to save her career, desperate for a chance at that normal life she wanted so badly "So he really did hypnotize ood for both of you He needed help fro over your fear of blood"

"You you know about my fear?"