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Roanesti woke up with noon top of the suede coue along the inside of hiswith his fingers Solid Of course, he wasn&039;t sure if the fang could still extend and retract, and it would be i as the tooth ired in place He&039;d have to convince Shanna to remove the splint

After a quick shower, he threw on a bathrobe and padded into his office to check for ht his eye She&039;d co to Ro was ready for the Gala Opening Ball Since she was noorking night and day, she felt she deserved another raise Another one? Fine

Jean-Luc Echarpe and Angus MacKay, French and British covenGood The guest roo to introduce t taste sensations fro Ball Five hundred bottles had been prepared for the event Everything was looking great

Then he read the last paragraph Upon waking, Shanna Whelan had discovered him in her bed Oh no She had decided he was dead and became terribly upset Oh shit Of course she would think he was dead During the day, he had no pulse But on the bright side, this could mean that she actually cared about him

Radinka had tried to convince Shanna that his heavy sleep was due to the anesthesia he had received at the dental clinic Unfortunately, that theory only drove her to the conclusion that she&039;d killed him Great She was upset not because she felt any affection for hiine the scenario¡ªShanna running about the bedroo Shit

Roman crushed the paper in his fist and tossed it into the trash This was the last straw He had to finish the for the day He couldn&039;t lie around helpless when Shanna needed him

He punched a button on his intercom phone

"Kitchen," a nasal voice answered

"Howard, is that you?"

"Yes, sir! I&039;lad to hear you&039;re up and about There was a little bit of excite"

Roround God&039;s blood You would think being est coven in North America would entitle him to a little respect

"Not that we&039;re co around here Oh, Connor just walked in"

"Howard, we have iht Your ehtened security during the day and absolute discretion"

"I understand, sir We&039;ll take good care of everyone The Highlanders are coht"

"Good night Connor, are you there?"

There was a pause, then a beeping noise "Aye, I&039;m here"

"Escort Miss Whelan to my office in ten minutes"

"Aye, sir"

Rorabbed a bottle of synthetic blood froe, and popped it into the microwave He headed back to his bedrooray dress shirt¡ªan effort to look a little ht Angus and his entourage would be dressed to the hilt in their Scottish finery Jean-Luc would be acco his fa wear

Stuffed in the back of his closet, Ro cape that Jean-Luc had given hiroaned He&039;d have to wear the da like the Hollywood version of Dracula, but Roman preferred the more relaxed dress code of modern times He reet it pressed before the Gala Opening Ball

Thewas ready He tossed the tuxedo onto his bed Just then, the outer door to the office slammed open

"Roe to her voice Nervous, breathless, near panic

No way had that been ten minutes She must have run the entire way Damn There went his breakfast

"I&039;asp as he strode barefoot to the bedroo close to his desk, her face flushed froape Her eyes widened as he moved into the office "Oh my God," she whispered Moisture shiers

God&039;s blood, she&039;d been through hell He looked down, ereat, he was a sight His shirt was hanging open His trousers were unbuttoned and low enough on his hips that his black boxer shorts were showing He pushed his damp hair back from his face and cleared his throat "I heard what happened"

She just stood there, staring at hih the door "Sorry, sir I tried to slow her down, but¡ª" He noted Roman&039;s state of dress "Och, we should have knocked"

"You&039;re alive" Shanna inched toward hied, a re And would have to wait until Shanna left

Connor winced He knew a variest when he first awoke "We should coanesti has finished dressing"

She didn&039;t seem to hear Connor Shein her scent She se top made her look as juicy as a ripe peach What little blood was left in his body surged toward his groin, leaving him doubly starved¡ªfor her flesh, and blood

The intensity of his hunger must have been noticeable Connor backed toward the door "I&039;ll be leaving you two alone, then" He eased out, shutting the door behind hirab now He curled his hands into fists, fighting the tehtened you I&039;m sorry"

A tear escaped, but before it could reach her cheek, she brushed it away "I&039;ht"

Did she really care that th of hi lower to his stomach Da to glow

"You&039;re really all right" She touched his chest, a light touch with her fingertips, but it jolted hi her to hiht embrace

She stiffened at first in surprise, then relaxed, nestling her cheek against the htly on his shirt "I was afraid I had lost you"

"I&039;et rid of, actually" God&039;s blood, he was hungry Control, stay in control

"Radinka said I worked on your teeth last night"

"Yes"

"Let me see" She reached up to his mouth and examined the splint "The tooth looks fine, a little more pointed than usual It seems to have healed very quickly"

"Yes You can remove the splint"

"What? No, I can&039;t These things take ti her attention "Did you need to get that?"

He took her hand and kissed her fingers "I just need you"

She snorted softly and rerip "Is it true, then, that you actually hypnotized me?"

"Yes" It was close to the truth

She frowned at hie, did I? Ito know I did stuff and have no memory of it"

"You were very professional" He recaptured her hand and kissed her palain

"I didn&039;t freak out at the sight of blood?"

"No" He kissed the inside of her wrist Type A Positive was pulsing through the vein "You were very brave"

Her eyes lit up "You knohat thisher arave him a kiss on the cheek, "Thank you, Rohtened around her His heart expanded with a gliestion to her at the dental clinic Bloody hell! This was his doing She wasorders He wrenched hiasped, clearly surprised Then her face seemed to crumble, but only for a second before it settled into a stony, shuttered look She stepped back Da hard to mask the pain She really did care about hi her during the day, and now hurting her feelings He had so damned little experience with ed oncefro him arm blood Unfortunately, Shanna presented a temptation much harder to resist She was fresh

"I&039;d better be going now" She retreated to the office door "I I&039;m happy you&039;re alive, and that your tooth is fine And I appreciate your protection and all the nice gifts, which I really can&039;t keep"

"Shanna"

She reached for the doorknob "You&039;re a busy man, so I&039;ll stay out of your way In fact, I&039;ll be leaving¡ª"

"Shanna, wait" He moved toward her "I need to explain"

She refused to look at him "There&039;s no need"

"Yes, there is Last night, while you were hypnotized, I planted an idea in your estion that you would throw your arive me a passionate kiss And when you did, just now, I realized what I¡ª"

"Wait a ave hira of me, but¡ª"

"That&039;s crazy! First of all, I am not under your control Sheesh, I&039;m barely under my own"

"Perhaps, but¡ª"

"And secondly, I bet I&039;m a lot harder to control than you think"

He kept his mouth shut She was correct, but he didn&039;t want to confirm it

"And finally, that was not a passionate kiss It was a dinky peck on the cheek A e should know the difference"

He raised his brows "Should I?" He could hardly explain he&039;d spent most of his mortal years in a e difference between a peck on the cheek and a passionate kiss"

"And you are angry withto discriry! Well, lared at him "You pulled away from me like I was some kind of leper"

He stepped toward her "It won&039;t happen again"

She snorted softly "You can say that again"

He shrugged one shoulder "I&039;m a scientist, Shanna I can hardly make a comparative analysis of the different types of kisses if I cannot acquire the necessary data"

Her eyes narrowed "I knohat you&039;re up to You&039;re trying to weasel a free sample out of me"

"You mean they&039;re not normally free?" He smiled "How ive thelowered at hi you a passionate kiss"

Ouch He figured that was payback for hurting her feelings earlier "I actually thought the little peck was very exciting"

"Oh, please I&039;le-fever type stuff Believe e reason, hell freezes over, and I decide to give you a passionate kiss"¡ªshe leaned against the door and crossed her ar the difference"

"As a scientist, I can&039;t deal with beliefs" He moved closer "I need proof"

"You won&039;t be getting it from me"

He stopped in front of her "Maybe you can&039;t deliver"