Carpathian 04 - Dark Magic

to kiss that orange-bearded imbecile."
    "I wanted to kiss every one of them," she lied indignantly.
    "No, you did not. You were hoping that silly fop would wipe my taste from your mouth for all eternity."
    His hand stroked back the fall of hair around her face. He feathered kisses along the delicate line of her jaw. "It would not have worked, you know. As I recall, he seemed to have a problem getting close to you."
    Her eyes smoldered dangerously. "Did you have anything to do with his allergies?" She had wanted someone, anyone, to wipe Gregori's taste from her mouth, her soul.
    He raised his voice an octave. "Oh, Savannah, I just have to taste your lips," he mimicked. Then he went into a sneezing fit. "You haven't ridden until you've ridden on a Harley, baby." He sneezed, coughed, and gagged in perfect imitation.
    Savannah punched his arm, forgetting for a moment her bruised fist. When it hurt, she yelped and glared accusingly at him. "It was you doing all that to him! The poor man—you damaged his ego for life. Each time he touched me, he had a sneezing fit."
    Gregori raised an eyebrow, completely unrepentant. "Technically, he did not lay a hand on you. He sneezed before he could get that close."
    She laid her head back on the pillow, her ebony hair curling around his arm, then her arm, weaving them together. His lips found her throat, then moved lower and found the spot over her breast that burned with need, with invitation. Savannah caught his head firmly in her hands and lifted him determinedly away from her before her treacherous body succumbed completely to his magic. "And the dog episode?"
    He tried for innocence, but his laughter was echoing in her mind. "What do you mean?"
    "You know very well what I mean," she insisted. "When Dragon walked me home."
    "Ah, yes, I seem to recall now. The big bad wolf decked out in chains and spikes, afraid of a little dog."
    "Little? A hundred-and-twenty-pound Rottweiler mix? Foaming at the mouth. Roaring. Charging him!"
    "He ran like a rabbit." Gregori's soft, caressing voice echoed his satisfaction. He had taken great Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    pleasure in running that particular jackass off. How dare the man try to lay a hand on Savannah?
    "No wonder I couldn't touch the dog's mind and call him off. You rotten scoundrel."
    "After Dragon left you, I chased him for two blocks, and he went up a tree. I kept him there for several hours, just to make a point. He looked like a rooster with his orange comb."
    She laughed in spite of her desire not to. "He never came near me again."
    "Of course not. It was unacceptable," he said complacently, with complete satisfaction, the warmth of his breath heating her blood. His mouth touched, skimmed, moved across her nipple, branding her with heat, with flame, before finding the underside of her breast. Savannah closed her eyes against a need so intense that she shook with it. How could she want something that hurt so terribly?
    No pain , ma petite, only pleasure . His tongue created an aching void in her. I swear it on my life . His mouth was hot velvet closing over her breast. Fire danced over her skin, invaded her body, melted her insides so that she was liquid heat, pulsing with need for him, only for him.

Chapter Five
    Savannah's fear was being pushed aside by the heated tenderness of Gregori's mouth, by the gentleness in his caressing hands. He carelessly shoved the sheet down, exposing her bare breasts to his hungry gaze. Hot. He was so hot Savannah could not stand the feel of the thin sheet on her heated hips, twisting around her legs. Her hands were tangled in Gregori's thick hair, crushing it in her fingers like so much silk.
    His shirt was open to his tapered waist, his hard muscles pressing against her soft breasts. The rough, dark hair on his chest rasped erotically over her nipples.
    A wave of heat heralded a storm of fire, through him, through her. Savannah's hands, of their own accord, pushed his shirt from his wide shoulders. She watched with enormous eyes as he slowly shrugged out of it, his silver gaze holding her blue one captive. She was drowning in those pale, mesmerizing eyes. Eyes filled with such intensity, with so much hunger for one woman. Her. Only her.
    Afraid of what she was committing herself to, Savannah tentatively, cautiously, touched his mind with hers. She found a hunger so deep, so wild, so urgent, she was instantly lost. How could she deny his fierce