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Kingsley heard the front bell at the door and voices in the hall--Griffin and a woman’s voice A woo No rest for the wicked," he said

"Mon roi," she whispered, and Kingsley’s heart clenched at the name she called him only in their most private moments "Please, be safe I need you"

A thousand times she’d whispered that to himbreathed it across silk sheets as she crawled to him, moaned it into his ear as he entered her But those words had a newto do with passion anymore

"I need you, too," he said "I need you to do as I tell you Stay there Stay safe You’ll be ho He could pro

"I promise" So up the phone and forced thoughts of Juliette from his mind No time for emotion or sentimentality No time for love, not when he had a job to do And while no one on earth adsley, a battlefield was no place for them and he could not deny that his world had turned into a war zone He and Søren would find a way to get Nora back And her fiancé, Wesley, as young but certainly no coward Any man who braved the bed of Nora Sutherlin and the wrath of le prêtre could be called ht and took a deep breath He felt better now Juliette was safe and far away from all this madness The three of them--Wesley, Søren and he--would find a way to deal with this crisis on their own They’d put no more women at risk He should ban the He would exile theile, too at risk in such a dangerous time

He started toward the door to his office but it opened before he got to it

A beautiful redheaded woman, her pale skin painted with freckles, swept into the office ahead of Griffin

"Ma’asley raised his hand

"Hello," the wosley

"May I help you?"

"Yes, you can tellon Where’s Nora?"

"I would tell you if I knew, madame Perhaps you could tell me who the hell you are?"

"My na to you, but I’ot Wesley He toldin her light and sley walked over to one of his filing cabinets, opened it and thuh files He pulled one out, walked back over to her and let her finish her speech

"and I’ on or at least letsup out of nowhere and you have no idea who I ae thirty," Kingsley said, opening the file "Irish mother Welsh father Fluent in Welsh, I see I think that’s the one language le prêtre doesn’t speak You’re much more beautiful now than you were back in school, and you were très jolie back in your school days No wonder Professor Easton deflowered you on his desk Although had it been me, it would have been the desk, the floor, the wall, back on the desk but from behind"