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"Are you fakorn University?"

"Chula? Sure" She shifted to face him "You think there are were-panthers in Thailand?"

"There’s a rumor that some poachers killed a wildcat in the mountainous area to the north, and when the cat died, it turned into a human"

"Is that what happens ere-panthers die?"

"It’s common for most were-creatures"

She nodded "Do you speak Thai? Or any of the dialects you htened on the steering wheel He could tell where she was headed "My professor friend at Chula will find er? How can you trust souide he’d used in Nicaragua had realized Carlos was a were-panther, he’d tried to capture him and sell him to a billionaire animal collector "I’ll be fine"

"I think you need me"

"No!" His heart lurched "I can hire a translator"

"And hoill you know if he’s telling you the truth? I have contacts in Bangkok and Chiang Mai I know the language, the culture, and the landscape"

His heart thundered in his chest "You’re not going"

"I know thetrip! It’s an expedition"

She lifted her chin "I can do that I’ve ridden elephants I’ve petted tigers"

"What?"

"At the Tiger Temple The Buddhists monks raise them They’re adorable So cute and furry"

"Menina, I’ers will not be cute"

"All the s and cats are naturally drawn to me because I can understand them, so if there are any were-panthers, they’ll coosh, that’s why Coco and Raquel came to me They’re little kitten were-panthers, aren’t they?"

Carlos groaned "You’re not going"

"I can think of a hundred reasons why I should"

"I can think of a hundred why you shouldn’t! Jungle, Caitlyn No cute little kittens Scorpions, deadly spiders, spitting cobras, pit vipers, poisonous centipedes as long as your forearm"

She flinched

"Will they be drawn to you, too?" he continued "Do you understand the hissing language of a cobra before it strikes?"

"No I only understand s aredifferent They don’t want to communicate with us All I feel is indifference anddisdain"

"You can’t go into the jungle, Catalina You can’t shoot worth a damn You can’t protect yourself"

She frowned at him "I’ll learn"

"You’ll be a burden"

"I’ll be invaluable as a translator I want to help"

"Why? I’ll be looking for a mate, Caitlyn"

"You said it yourself Raquel and Coco need a ave her an incredulous look "You would risk your life to help them?"

"Didn’t you?"

He turned his head front Yes, he’d risked his life to rescue the children And he’d died Twice He was now on his third life out of the nine allotted to his species But Caitlyn only had one life He couldn’t allow her to risk it "My decision is final You’re not going"

He could feel the angry glare directed at his face

"U down and causing her skirt to hitch up another inch

He groaned inwardly That was the o Her presence, her scent, her beautiful body, her heroic spirit and compassionate nature - it would be a constant, relentless torture

With a twist in his gut he realized she was the perfect woman for him in every way but the only way that really mattered She’d even be perfect for his adopted children

He couldn’t do it to her Not if he truly cared about her And he did care

He glanced at her and noted one of her fingers tapping against her hand Her eyes were narrowed She chewed on her botto up

Chapter Eleven

Caitlyn groaned at the insistent knocking on her bedroolance at theDih the sheer curtains, but it was still dark "Go away," she ed a pillow over her head

"Caitlyn, wake up!"

She recognized Carlos’s voice Noanted to talk? Last night, while they’d eaten their gourmet delivered meals in the kitchen, he’d barely said a word Tords, to be exact Good night Then he’d gone to his bedroo continued "Come on, Caitlyn It’s al to come in? Of all the nerve "I’ the top of the bedside table No lamp Great She slid out of bed and squinted her eyes to see She could barely make out the door frae of her bed, then rammed her toes into a box "Ouch!" She jumped to the side and slaoing to leave a bruise She hadn’t finishedin, and her room was a maze of boxes and suitcases she could hardly see

"What’s wrong?" Carlos demanded from the hallway

"You," sheand vision"

"Well, isn’t that just super" She swiped her hands along the foot of the bed Hadn’t she left a robe there? "So do you have X-ray vision like Superh the door?"

"No"

She enjoyed taunting hi here stark naked" She gasped when the door crashed open Light spilled in fro his tall frame "You pervert!"

He scoffed "You lied"

"You broke my door!"

"Only the lock The door still works" He flipped on the light switch close to the door fraht "What are you doing here?"

"It’s called a job, menina I believe you’ve had one of those before?"

"Very funny" She lowered her hand and noticed he was focused on her nightie More than focused His eyes were glued to her clingy, silk leopard print nightgown Since she was a bit on the tall side, the baby-doll top barely ski leopard print panties was showing And if the hot gleam in his eyes was any indication, he’d noticed

Instead of ly and seductive If he was going to choose an unknoere-panther lady over her, heShe flipped her hair over her shoulders His laserlike gaze didn’t budge "Hello? My face is up here"

His gaze lifted slowly, but hit a snag at her chest She glanced down to see if she’d fallen out It happened sometihed What was her proble like a cat in heat, and she never did that She would nore man to see her like this

She scanned the floor for herin the "

"We are"

"Then why did you wake ht" And she hadn’t slept worth a darn

She’d replayed the recent revelations about her father a dozen tiet her anger with her dad was to think about her plans to accompany Carlos on his trip Ah, there was the robe It had fallen off the other side of the bed<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>