Carpathian 08 - Dark Legend

a second skin. He was incredibly handsome and she couldn't help noticing despite her resolve not to do so.
    Brice effectively stopped her by grabbing her arm and holding her still. "Who the hell is that?" He actually thrust Francesca behind him protectively.
    The gesture was so sweet it brought a lump to her throat. No one had ever been so protective and attentive to her as Brice. No matter how often she rebuffed him, Brice was determined in his pursuit of her.
    Gabriel came down the stairs. Glided. Flowed. He moved with the grace of a large jungle cat, powerful muscles rippling beneath the thin silk of his shirt. "Thank you so much for bringing her home. I was beginning to worry," Gabriel said smoothly. His voice was velvet soft, gentle, impossible to ignore. It paved the way for whatever compulsion he chose to implant in his listener's mind.
    Gabriel moved right up to Francesca, ignoring her little feminine retreat. His hand closed over her wrist, drew her beneath his wide shoulder. "You stayed out all night, sweetheart, you must be exhausted. I hope she was able to help your patient." His arm slipped possessively around Francesca's shoulders, firmly anchoring her to him.
    If she struggled or protested, she would be placing Brice in an untenable position. He would feel he ought to come to her defense and there was no one on this earth, she believed, who could successfully defeat Gabriel, unless it was his fallen twin Lucian.
    "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, using their mind merge to chastise him. He was tall, his strength enormous. He made her feel small and delicate when she was not that at all. He made her feel vulnerable.
    "Who are you?" Brice asked uneasily.
    "He senses your fear, Francesco. Do not make me do something you will have a difficult time forgiving."
    "Don't you dare hurt him."
    "I am Gabriel." Gabriel thrust out his hand toward Brice, as friendly as a full-grown panther. He looked elegant. He looked dangerous. He looked untamed. He looked very courtly and old-fashioned with his thick flowing hair caught at the nape of his neck by a leather thong.
    Brice shook the offered hand, uncertain how to handle the situation. Francesca wasn't giving him any cues. Her young face looked stiff and frightened, her eyes enormous, deliberately avoiding his questioning gaze. She remained nestled beneath Gabriel's shoulder and looked very much as if she belonged there. Certainly there was no mistaking the possessive way Gabriel touched her, the warning in his eyes when he looked at Brice. Gabriel was letting him know, man to man, that Gabriel considered Francesca his and wouldn't allow any other man in her life. It was in his very body posture as he sheltered Francesca's slender feminine frame against his own muscular one.
    "I guess you know who I am," Brice said grimly. The stranger reeked of danger. It clung to him, emanated from him. And Francesca just stood there silently, helplessly, as if she had no idea what to do.
    Fully aware of the imminent rising of the sun, Gabriel was moving her up the stairs, his larger, heavier frame urging her smaller one toward the door. Francesca went only because Gabriel gave her no real choice in the matter. If she protested in any way, she would be putting Brice in a terrible position. She forced a smile. "I'll talk to you this evening, Brice."
    "Do not count too heavily on it."
    Francesca continued the charade with a halfhearted wave before she ducked beneath Gabriel's arm into the safety of the house. "How dare you interfere in my life?" Adrenaline was surging through her veins. She paced across the floor, back and forth in quick, hurried steps, betraying her frame of mind. She couldn't have stayed still if she had wanted to.
    Calling on the patience born of a thousand battles, Gabriel watched her through half-closed eyes, his body as still as the mountains. "You are extremely angry with me." He said it very softly without a hint of expression.
    Her black eyes flashed fire at him, and she swung her head so that her hair flared out like a thick curtain of silk. At once his body reacted.
    She was intensely beautiful, every movement sensual. "Don't do that, Gabriel. Don't start patronizing me. You are nothing to me, nothing in my life. I helped out a fellow Carpathian, that's the extent of what is between us. It was my duty, no more, no less."
    "You sound as though you are trying to convince yourself, Francesca." He tilted his head, regarding her steadily. "You were