Carpathian 12 - Dark Melody

back to him. He kept her locked firmly beneath his shoulder as they walked toward the house. "And I am certain we all obey." She fit perfectly, her smaller frame moving against his, soft and feminine, reminding him continually of their wonderful differences.
    Corinne glanced up at him, studying his features, then ducked her head to hide her expression. His eyes held warmth when they looked at her, but they took on a merciless stare when he looked away. He seemed more animal than human. Even his movements, fluid and powerful, seemed inhuman. She struggled to understand exactly what it was about him that she found intimidating.
    Her heart, instead of matching the rhythm of his, was pounding very hard and fast. Her mouth was dry.
    "Dayan."
    "Why are you frightened of me when I treat you so gently?" His voice was soothing and tranquil. He never sounded annoyed or irritated by her thoughts. Dayan took the keys to the front door out of her hand and unlocked it.
    Corinne thought a long time before she answered.
    Just how afraid was she of Dayan? She looked up at him, at the rugged angles and planes of his face. At his strong jaw. At his sculpted mouth. "I don't think I am, really," she mused aloud. "There's something different about you, Dayan – something dangerous. But not to me. I don't think the threat is directed at me." Her chin went up. "You know, I've always detested the way everyone wanted to tell me what to do with my life because of my health. I have a good brain and I can figure things out for myself. If you choose to spend your time with me and you want to care for me, knowing full well the repercussions of what can and probably will happen to me, then so be it. It's your choice, Dayan." She reached up and framed his face with her hands. "Just know that if you care too much, death can be very painful to the one left behind."
    "Would it stop you, Corinne?" he asked quietly, his dark gaze drifting broodingly over her face. "If I were the one with the bad heart, would you walk away from me?"

    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    A slow smile curved her mouth, lit her face and dispelled the worry hidden in her eyes. "I love life, Dayan. I believe in living it. I would never pass up love or laughter or knowing you because I was afraid of pain. It would be a small price to pay for your company. But then, I've known pain and experienced things others haven't. I've learned the value of love and laughter."
    Dayan turned his head slightly even as his gaze remained fixed on her face, devouring her. He kissed her hand, drew her finger into the heat of his mouth.
    At once her body clenched and a thousand butterflies brushed at the walls of her stomach. He made her feel beautiful, and sexy and very wanted. "What do you think you're doing?" She faced him with her heart in her eyes and her breasts rising and falling in anticipation.
    His tongue did a slow, silky caress along her finger, then reluctantly released her. "Seducing you," Dayan admitted without remorse. He bent his head to find her mouth with his, kissing her leisurely, a long, slow kiss meant to tell her what he couldn't seem to convey with mere words. Poet or not, there were no words to say how much she meant to him. No words to say he would follow her anywhere. That she was life to him.
    "You say it just fine." She whispered the words into his mouth, into his soul.
    Dayan tensed, his arms imprisoning her, holding her tightly to him. There had been no blood exchange.
    Yet she was reading his mind. Slipping in like a shadow, with skill and ease, going where only those of Carpathian blood should go. Had she learned too much? Her heart wasn't laboring any more than normal.
    Carefully he touched her mind. Corinne hadn't even noticed what she had done.
    She pulled away first, in a small, delicate retreat that made him smile even as he opened his arms to allow her escape. "What attracts you so much to music?" Dayan asked, surveying the neat stacks of music magazines on the coffee table.
    "Music takes me to all the places my body will never let me go," Corinne told him, glancing up at him almost shyly. Her soft smile made his knees weak. "I'm able to feel the sensation of jumping out of an airplane or swimming beneath the ocean by just selecting the right piece. No matter where I am, or how difficult it is to breathe, if I can hear music, I know it will be all right." Her grin was self-conscious. "That probably sounds silly to