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attention for only a moment. What stood in the doorway was far more
fascinating.
I had expected him to be bigger somehow, like some great hulking demon, but
the fact that he wasn t didn t dampen the frisson of sheer terror that blew
through me when I first saw him. Terror, oh yes, and something else. Something
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that made my blood sing and my stomach tighten just to look at him.
He was several inches shy of six feet and built like some sleek, angry jungle
cat.Michael. The Devil sArchangel . And indeed that face should have only
belonged to some fallen god or angel. He was too unearthly beautiful, too
starkly dangerous, to be real. His hair was dark blonde and longer than had
been fashionable any time in this century. It was tied back at his nape except
for several strands that had worked themselves free, as if tousled by the wind
or by a lover s hand. His brows were darker, set over eyes that were either
blue or green, but what took a face that was merely handsome and catapulted it
into the realm ofmesmerizing orgodlike were his cheekbones. Sharp as a knife s
edge, they made my breath catch just to look at him. The candlelight flickered
across his face, casting deep shadows in the hollows under those incredible
cheekbones, drawing my attention down to his lips. Neither full nor thin they
were incredibly sensual, shaped in such a way as to make me wonder what they d
feel like against mine, what they d feel like trailing along the bare skin of
my throat. The thought made me shiver again but this time not in cold or fear.
In truth, he looked more like a pirate than a vampire. Tall black leather
boots encased his legs up to mid-thigh and a simple white linen shirt was
tucked haphazardly into his black breeches, as if he d dressed in a hurry.
Perhaps my summons had pulled him from a lover s bed? I didn t much like that
thought. His shirt was open at the neck, exposing a smooth expanse of pale
chest, its full sleeves gathered at the wrist in a small fall of lace. That
lace should have looked feminine but instead drew my gaze to his hands which
gripped either side of the door frame. They were strong, the fingers long and
blunted. His knuckles looked as if he d seen more than his share of brawls and
I wondered briefly whose blood ran in the veins that stood out on the backs of
his hands. He was not armed with so much as a dagger but when his fingers
clenched on the door frame and I heard the soft crack of the wood underneath I
realized that those beautiful, lethal hands were weapons in themselves. And
even knowing that, all I could think of was what they would feel like on my
skin, moving up my arm, drawing my hair aside, moving lower&
He made a sound, a growl like that of the jungle cat to which I had likened
him. That sound had never come from any human mouth.
Witch, he whispered and pushed away from the door. And then he was moving,
crossing the ballroom with such malevolent grace and inhuman speed that it was
only two heartbeats before he was nearly upon me.
Driven by fear and an instinct for self-preservation, I raised one hand as he
reached for me and my power flowed out of me, hitting him in the chest and
lifting him off his feet. In one fluid movement I spun both of us around and
pinned him to the wall. He looked surprised, and quite frankly so was I, but
there was no way in hell I was going to let him know that. He was suspended
several inches off the floor, my hand on his chest. My fingers fairly itched
to slip inside the open V of his shirt, to feel his skin. Would he be warm or
cold? Raising my head I looked at him. His eyes were a blue-gray, with a just
a hint of green.
Play nicely, vampire, or I ll stake you where you stand, I said, my hood
falling back as I looked up. I have no wish to hurt you, I need your help,
but I will defend myself if necessary.
He stilled, those haunting eyes slowly moving over every inch of my face,
then lower to where my cloak fell open to reveal a generous swell of breast.
His gaze lingered there. Tension hummed between us and if he had half as much
interest in my body as I had in his then perhaps I could use that to my
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