Carpathian 03 - Dark Gold

"She will lead him a dance. But she doesn't realize the danger she will always be in. Or the danger Joshua will be in."
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    "She needs time, Stefan," Marie said softly. "She will have us to help her, and Aidan will guide her."
    
    Aidan paced after Alexandria, pushing down the swirling demon raging against that soft, faraway look that had crept into her eyes. Intellectually he understood the lure Thomas Ivan represented to Alexandria. She wanted to be human. She wanted to feel human. She wanted to work and live in the human world. She believed Ivan could give her that. Even more, she would not have to deal with the unfamiliar, frighteningly intense sexual feelings Aidan evoked in her.
    
    He reached out and caught the length of her hair in his hand, bringing her to an abrupt halt. "Do not worry about the police, Alexandria. They will not ask you anything about the vampires. They have no idea they were vampires, and they believe you were in a hospital. If they ask, just tell them you do not remember anything."
    
    She was quiet a moment as she arranged the roses. He could sense her unease. "Aidan? Can I leave here? Would you let me go?"
    
    Involuntarily his hand tightened in her hair. He let his breath out slowly. "What brought this on, piccola ?"
    
    "I just want to know. You said I wasn't a prisoner here. Can I come and go as I please?" Her teeth were tugging at her full lower lip.
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    "Are you planning on dating this joker?"
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    "I want to know if I can leave this house."
    
    He wrapped an arm around her slender waist and pulled her against his hard frame. "Do you think you could survive without me?" His mouth was close enough to her neck that she could feel the warmth of his breath. Despite her every intention not to respond, her body caught fire.

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    
    Her sapphire eyes searched his face. He gave nothing away; she had no idea what he was thinking, and she wasn't going to merge her mind with his to find out. He was drawing her deeper and deeper into his world, a world of the night. A world of sexuality and violence. Alexandria wanted her old life back. She wanted familiar things around her, things she had some control over.
    
    His perfect mouth touched her throat. A brush of flame. His golden gaze met her eyes. "Do not ask questions you do not really want the answer to. I will not lie to you, even to make it easier."
    
    She closed her eyes as warmth flooded her body. He made her feel cherished. Made her feel beautiful. Made her feel unfulfilled and empty without him. Her fingers tightened around the stem of one of the roses. She jerked her hand away with a little cry, cradling one finger.
    
    "Let me see," he said softly. His voice was tender, his touch gentle as he pulled her hand to him for his inspection. A pinprick of blood welled up from her index finger. "Sir Galahad left a thorn,"
    he murmured as he bent his head and took her finger into the healing heat of his mouth.
    
    She couldn't move, couldn't speak. Her body blazed with need. She stood as still as she could, watching him the way a cornered mouse does a cat. He had already taken over her life. It was there in her mind, in her body, her terrible need of him. She wanted to cry. Even if she managed to escape, to somehow get Joshua out and run away from him, she would carry him with her everywhere she went.
    
    Abruptly she jerked her hand away from him before the flames leapt any higher. "His name is Thomas Ivan, not Sir Galahad, and I doubt very much if he personally took the thorns from the roses."
    
    Aidan nodded solemnly. "You are right, piccola . He would not think of such a thing himself, nor would he perform the task. He would think it beneath him and a waste of his time." He reached around her and removed the thorn, then examined each stem carefully to assure himself she would not get hurt again.
    
    "Why do you have to make him sound so petty?" she demanded, exasperated. She was determined to be attracted to Ivan. Women all over the world had multiple lovers. If other women could be attracted to more than one man in a lifetime, so could she. It didn't have to be just Aidan Savage. He was worldly, sensuous, impossibly attractive with those haunting eyes and that perfect mouth. Any woman might fall for him, but all it was physical attraction. She could get over it like a bad case of the flu. A virulent case of the flu.
    
    Aidan