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She'd thought with ti, but she rong He wasto hihed He never sed her, yet he are of everything, every movement, in her shop and on the street She was certain he was armed to the teeth and sometimes she was afraid the few cops who frequented her shop would come in at the sa equally as awful

Two months passed and he came in three ti his order She found herself watching for hi at hier At least a half an hour longer than he had before

A few others dressed in Italian suits came in over the third month, never at the same time as her Iceman, but she knew he'd sent them her way Business see people in her shop brought in evenit

She'd all but forgotten Robert He aiting for her to open on a Thursday , a day her Ice the store, probably looking for a pattern Her heart stuttered when she saw hih the door He casually reached over and turned her sign from open to closed

She reached for her cell phone He leapt across the roo it fro it onto the floor a distance away It shattered, pieces scattering Evangeline took a deep breath and et broken

"You bitch," Robert bit out "You aren' gettin' aith this"

"What are you talkin' about? I'et aith anythin'"

"You told Saria I wasn't in the rain forest You couldn't just let it go"

She frowned, shaking her head "I haven't spoken to Saria in months I've been too busy" She should have Her friend would be worried about her

Robert stalked her across the room, and she couldn't help herself In spite of her deter up almost to the door

"Fuckin' liar Tryin' to getI want is a wooin' to pay for tryin' to get Drake and the others to cooin' to be I've been stayin' in a roooin' to be stayin' with you Hand over the keys to your house And I need ive it to me"

"You're out of your oin' to let you oes to payin' bills"

He backhanded her Hard Her cheek felt as if it had exploded Her eyes teared up and she found herself on the floor He was strong, incredibly strong, and his leopard was close She could see it in his eyes, those yellowish-green eyes gloith menace at her

Deep inside her, wildness woke a feral, dark creature; furious, raging even The skin raised along her ar the arrival of her other

No, Bebe, she said sharply He can't know about you She'd take a beating before she'd ever expose her best friend to such an abomination of a shifter

Robert ca et up off the floor, he hit her again, striking the same side of her face The pain made her feel sick to her stomach

She heard the bell over the door as if in the distance, and then, blinking to clear the tears fro, his breath a sob Her Ice hard, over and over She heard ribs crack Heard theered Robert and he went to his knees The Iceed him out the door

Evangeline tried to pull herself up by using the wall, all the while staring out theThere was a black town car with darkened s parked in front of her bakery A man in a suit held the door open while the Iceman thrust Robert inside and then climbed in after hied, looking exactly the same

Through the open door of the car she caught a glile She shivered as her Iceman spoke briefly to the driver and then slammed the door He waited until the car drove off, spoke briefly into his phone and then returned to the shop

He hadn't changed expression Not once Not when he'd been beating the crap out of Robert and not when he'd gotten out of the car She was almost certain Robert was dead Her Iceht Robert's She knew that would have been a sign of respect and clearly the Iceman didn't feel any at all for Robert

"Are you all right?" He crouched beside her

Up close he sood as he looked A little wild But like a cool forest, one covered in snow in the winter His eyes were even ht So cold they ht she could drown

"Evangeline" She needed hieline"

"I know" He touched her cheek with gentle fingers He wore gloves, so it wasn't skin-to-skin contact, but it didn't matter, her body still reacted with heat

How could he know her name? It wasn't like it was on the bakery anywhere Just an E She'd used calligraphy and the letter ca for in her shop Small Sweet Shoppe She'd loved that for some odd reason and she still did

"This is where you tell me your name"

He wrapped his ar his hold so that she didn't fall That so wild in her unfurled Stretched Reached toward her Iceht, itched like crazy and then receded

Don't you dare, she cautioned

She had the iain

"You don' want me to keep callin' you my Iceman That's what I do in my head Better to have a name, don' you think?"

Her cheek throbbed and burned like hell and she kneelling So was her eye Great She'd have to go all day answering questions when custootten the sign was turned to closed

His glacier-blue eyes e in expression Sowith her sense of humor and her really nicely swollen face She had to look awful This hat ca vain about her skin

"Alonzo"

A word His nah her even as she knew, deep down, he was lying to her His naet aith it because he'd just saved her fro Robert would have robbed her as well

"Is he alive?" She kneasn't She kneith the same certainty that she knew Alonzo wasn't her Iceman's real name

"Does itaround the counter space over her beautiful display cases

Did it? It rong to kill someone by civilized law The law of the shifters was different, and rogues received a death sentence if they endangered others of the lair She'd left the lair and that life behind

She glanced up at hi down at her with a leopard's focus No change in expression He was as cold as ice

"Heto you?"

She shook her head and immediately wished she hadn't A small sound escaped before she could stop it He instantly lifted her into his arress In his arainst his chest, she could feel those heavy lided across the floor There was no jarring of her body, not the way heher against his chest

He swept into her kitchen, placed her into a chair and went to the refrigerator She wished she'd wo

rn so nice She didn't have a lot in the way of nice She'd used her money for a down payment on a small house, and the rest of it went to the bakery Every cent she had was tied up in her business, so no nice clothes She didn't date so she didn't need them--until now

He pressed a bag of ice into her hand "Hold that against your cheek and answer me When I ask a question I expect an answer"

"Does that go both ways?"

Her eyes otten colder if that was possible "I barely knew him He was a troublemaker back home I'd never met him until he came to the bakery He wanted money"

"And you He wanted you"

She didn't think so, but she wasn't going to argue with him