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She followed hilih it with an unerring step, D up on tiptoe when he lowered his lips to her ear “Stay out of sight There’s no reason for hiht you” At her nod, he added, “And privacy is such ashe’d yell at him later, she used every ounce of her skill to conceal her presence as they moved down the hallhile D doith heavy, booted footsteps until the light cainated from a room that flowed off the hall toward the front of the house, had been reflected by the ornarapes andbeyond a candle flame as Dmitri passed out of the doorway and into the dark beyond, while she pressed her back to the wall, ready to go in when needed

“Dh kind of a voice, raspy yet deep

“Your throat never recovered”

“I shouldn’t have displeased her as I did” A sound that h

“Your mistress wasn’t known for her patience—or the care hich she handled her toys”

The civility of the conversation made the hairs rise on the back of Honor’s neck She knew full well she was listening to two predators circling each other Only one of theht

Kallistos had lost none of his beauty in the intervening years He had, in fact, grown further into that delicate bone structure that showcased eyes of brilliant copper, and lips so soft and well-shaped, el had been seduced by their perfection His body, too, was a thing of beauty Slender, but with incredible muscle tone—the air barely stirred when he moved, his tread that of a dancer

“An exquisite creature,” Isis had called him the day she took Dmitri to her bed—and forced Kallistos to watch

“I have been an ill host” Kallistos waved his hand toward a tray set with a crystal decanter filled with bloodred liquid that shiht “We are two sophisticated h on Kallistos’s cheekbones, the glitter in those copper eyes, asked, “How long since you slept?”

The other ainst the wall beside ahis hands into the pockets of suit pants of a deep brown that appeared alled his face to its best advantage It was, Dmitri knew, an automatic act, but not an unconscious one—because as Dmitri had learned to use the scent lure as an offensive weapon, Kallistos had learned to use his face and body

Now, he parted those perfect lips the slightest fraction “There is a large bed upstairsquite ready for use” Sensual invitation in every word, the confidence of a man who had been able to bend both e for centuries

Even Isis, D hi human men the vampire had lured to his lair had co their bodies for him to do with as he wished “You failed in your atteht to build an arned to make his audience smile with him, to see him as a pretty adornment, no threat at all “A silly premise, I soon came to realize, but why not use the slaves I already had? It was fun leaving presents on your doorstep”

Pushing off the ith a look full of delight, he circled around the sofa until they stood only a few feet apart, his gait elegant “Then it struck me—I didn’t need to have an army to destroy you” He spread his hands “All I had to do was take sohtered her”