Hot Blooded

too, wore nothing but a few strategically placed pieces of hide set
off by thigh-high boots. "What is this, Lance?" Grace demanded. "You guys didn't
wear this crap."
    "No." He strolled toward her, a wicked glint in his eyes as he admired her
barely clad body. "But then, if any of my opponents had looked like you, I might
have been willing to."
    "Uh huh." She felt a feral smile spread across her face. God, after the day
she'd had, she needed this. "What have you got in mind—as if I need to ask?"
    "A duel." He lifted the sword, his sherry eyes lighting with laughter.
"Winner fucks the loser."
    The fury that bubbled under the tight lid of her control turned her smile
into a savage grin. "That's what I thought."
    Leaping forward, she swung her own sword at his head with every ounce of her
strength.
    "Jesu, Grace!" He retreated, lithe as a tiger, his blade shooting up to block
hers. In his eyes was a hint of offended astonishment, like a big predator
suddenly attacked by something small and delicious that should know better.
    "Hey, you're the one who wanted to fight." Grace went after him again,
hacking at his head, watching those powerful arms lift his weapon to beat hers
effortlessly away. She licked her lips, admiring the sheen of torchlight on his
oiled skin. "So let's fight."
    "Actually," he snarled, blocking another attack with a ringing parry, "the
operative word in my challenge was 'fuck.' "
    Well, they might get around to that, too. Eventually. But all she wanted
right now was to burn off some of the rage roiling in her belly, wipe out her
galling helplessness with a good brawl. And Lance could give it to her without
getting hurt. She didn't have to hold back. With a happy growl, she banged her
blade into his, enjoying the hard impact of steel on steel as he parried with no
particular effort.
    Apparently realizing she needed to work off her anger before he attempted his
seduction, Lance started circling her. But as he tested her guard with flicks of
his sword, he seemed more interested in the sway of her breasts and the bunch of
her thighs than her blade. His sensual smile suggested he was imaging what he'd
do when he won.
    And they both knew he would win. He could end their mock duel in a dozen
ways, either through sheer vampire muscle or his overwhelming experience in
gutter fights spanning sixteen centuries. And when he did…
    Grace felt her nipples harden and rasp against the rough hide of her bra.
    Common sense told her she should throw down her sword and cry off before he
claimed his inevitable prize. Each time he emptied himself inside her brought
her that much closer to the Gift.
    But just as that shaft of sanity penetrated her reckless mood, she saw
Lance's gaze sharpen. Predator that he was, he had no intention of letting her
get away.
    He began stalking her. It seemed his every move became a dance of seduction,
a display of muscle rippling under gleaming, oiled skin. When she inhaled, her
lungs filled with the hot scent of leather and Magus. And her body responded
just as he intended, growing so wet and ready she was tempted to drop the sword
and surrender to whatever he wanted to do to her.
    Instead she lunged at him, refusing to yield, either to her hunger or her
common sense. Her sword slammed against his, skated down the length of it until
Grace was nose to nose with him. "You do know what I'm going to do to you when I
get tired of this?" He flashed his fangs in a dark smile.
    "The question is," she growled, "what am I going to do to
you
?"
    He laughed and tossed her back with a thrust of his weapon that forced her to
scramble to keep her feet. As she steadied herself, he came after her, that
smile stretching white and hungry. She danced away, knowing he allowed it.
    "You know, this would be a good time to consider surrender," Lance drawled.
He wasn't even breathing hard, the bastard. That wolf-smile broadened. "Spin it
out much longer, and I may have to punish you."
    Stung, Grace slammed a quick, hard one-two combination strike against his
blade, trying to knock it aside. She would have had better luck beating down an
I beam. "You really need your arrogant ass kicked."
    Lance had the gall to laugh. She used the instant's distraction to snake
through his guard. Would have hit him, had not those vampire reflexes carried
him neatly out of the path of her blade. He shot her that annoyed predator
glower again. "I can think of better uses for all