Carpathian 08 - Dark Legend

honest with you, but there were times when I seriously thought about becoming involved with you. Because I was considering a relationship with you, I must have been inadvertently sending you messages that we might eventually be together. That was very wrong of me, but I didn't do it on purpose."

    He turned his head for a moment, fury in his eyes. "That doesn't take away what I feel, Francesca, or absolve you of guilt."
    She sighed. He seemed to be going back and forth between recrimination and genuinely wanting to retain their friendship. "Perhaps it is too soon for a conversation like this one. Maybe we should wait a few weeks until you can see I never would have been right for you, I never would have felt the way you wanted me to feel."
    "We'll never know that for sure, will we?" he said. He was moving rapidly through the graveyard, moving away from the newer headstones into an older part of the cemetery where the stones were so ancient, they were crumbling and gray from the effects of weather.
    Francesca slowed her pace. "Brice, do you have any idea where you're going or are you just walking as fast as you can because you're so angry with me?" She could hear the blood pumping furiously through his heart, the rush of adrenaline coursing through him as he moved.
    He caught her wrist and yanked, a snarl twisting his handsome features. "Come on, Francesca, hurry up."
    She moved with him a few steps, deliberately touching his mind as she did so. At once she was afraid. There was nothing in his mind except the overwhelming desire to get her to a certain place at the far side of the cemetery. He was willing to use any method, from cajoling her or humoring her, to brute strength. His need to get to this place was so strong, it blocked out everything else.
    "Brice," she said very softly, "you're hurting me. Please let go of me. I can walk all by myself." He needed help desperately. Whatever was wrong with him, whether he had been shadowed by a vampire, or was using drugs, or was on the verge of a mental breakdown, Francesca wanted to help him. She feared for him now, more than for herself. There was something terribly wrong with him and she was determined to heal him.
    "Well, hurry up then," he growled, still retaining possession of her arm. He loosened his hold because she had picked up her pace and was walking willingly with him. "Honestly, Francesca, you want everything your own way. You didn't want to talk to me about our friendship.
    You probably wanted to discuss your little patient."
    "I do want to find out when I can bring Skyler home. She's anxious and bored in the hospital. And a reporter got into her room. She was very frightened." She kept her voice reasonable as she walked beside him, studying him intently. If she used her power, the vibrations of it would scatter into the night and draw unwanted attention. She would have to be persuasive to get him to her home, where she could control him and help him without the threat of interference.
    "If she was so darn frightened, why didn't she tell me about it?" he demanded, angry all over again. "I'm her doctor, not you, not Gabriel. If she has a complaint, she can voice it to me. We know she can talk. Not that she talks to anyone but you."
    "Brice," Francesca protested, slowing her pace again. He seemed to be pulling her at breakneck speed, almost as if he was so enraged he didn't know what he was doing. "Slow down, I'm going to fall. Do you have a pressing appointment somewhere? Let's go back to my house. I'll make us some tea, your favorite kind, and we can talk."
    He instantly slowed his pace, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he repeated. "I don't know what got into me. It isn't good for that girl to depend so heavily on you. She won't talk to the counselors we send in, she won't speak to the nurses, or to me, just you."
    "She has been severely traumatized, Brice. You know that. There's no quick fix for her pain. I'm taking it one step at a time with her. Once I have her settled at home, I will get her a counselor. I will follow your advice. You know I respect you as a doctor. I'm sorry we've gotten so off track together, but our feelings for each other are genuine. I still want us to remain friends. You might not be able to accept my friendship now, but perhaps you will in time. Meanwhile, we can still keep a professional relationship going, maintain that connection."
    Francesca tried to be hopeful. She put a gentle hand on his wrist to restrain him, to