Hot Blooded

double-checked the plates, saw the MD tag on the corner.
    "Did you come for me?" a deep voice asked.
    The voice came from right behind her, and startled her so much she nearly
jumped out of her skin as she spun around. He stood there, looking at her, not
even cracking a smile.
    "What are you doing here, Professor Rose?"
    She released the breath she'd sucked in, before it could burst her lungs.
"Sheesh, you scared the daylights out of me."
    "That's what happens, I suppose, when you are caught sneaking around on
private property."
    "I wasn't sneaking around! I was working. And what are you doing out here,
anyway, making a house call?"
    He shook his head slowly, holding her eyes. "I came home for lunch. I do that
sometimes."
    Jenny licked her lips and tried to calm her racing heart. "You… live here?"
    "And you don't. So again, I have to ask, what are you doing here?"
    He seemed awfully irritated for someone who'd seemed as into her as he had
earlier. She couldn't hide her disappointment. "Look, I didn't know it was
private property. There are no signs—"
    He pointed, and she turned her head to see a posted: no trespassing sign
tacked to a nearby tree.
    "Okay, so I wasn't looking for signs, or maybe I would have seen them."
    "Then what were you looking for?"
    She didn't answer.
    "The loup-garou?" She didn't miss the sarcasm loaded onto the word. "They
only come out at night, Professor Rose. But I would have thought a woman of your
expertise would know that."
    "That's what the folklore says. I don't take anything as fact until I've
found proof of it, though."
    He nodded slowly. "So is that what you're out here looking for? Proof?" He
narrowed his eyes. "Or is this where you had your… encounter last night?"
    "Not far from here," she said. "Out on the road."
    "I see."
    She drew a deep breath, then sighed. "I've really pissed you off, haven't I?
I'm really sorry about the trespassing, Doctor…" she searched her memory for his
last name. She was sure she'd seen or heard it this morning, but—
    "La Roque," he said.
    "Right. La Roque. It's not my habit to traipse around on private property. It
really isn't. I always ask permission before walking on private land. I insist
my students do the same. I just—I was overzealous and forgot my protocol." She
held his eyes, hoping he could see the sincerity in hers.
    He studied her face as if weighing her words. When he spoke again, he said
the last thing she expected to hear. "You want to come in? Join me for lunch?"
    For some reason she thought of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.
At least he didn't say he wanted to have her for lunch, she thought grimly. She
wanted to get back to her plaster cast, which should be hard enough by now, but
he lived here. He could have seen or heard something, especially if the creature
frequented this area. She couldn't pass up the opportunity to pick his brain,
and she thought he knew it.
    Besides, now that he'd decided to accept her apology, that look was creeping
back into his eyes. The one that heated her blood.
    "Sure," she said at last. "I'm kind of surprised you would ask."
    "You shouldn't be. Or didn't you get the message back there in my office that
I would like to see you again while you're in town?"
    She licked her lips. "I… yeah, I did."
    With a nod, he moved past her, leading the way out of the trees and into the
clearing that surrounded his cabin. She noticed that the long driveway angled
back out, probably to the road. She scanned the ground as they walked, straining
her eyes in search of any other odd tracks, but the ground was hard and dry. Not
a good medium for footprints.
    He opened the door, then stood aside to let her enter first. She did, and
stopped just inside, looking around at the cozy cabin. The living and dining
rooms were combined in one large, open space, with a cobblestone fireplace at
one end. The room was open to the peak, log rafters at intervals. A loft took up
half of the upper part, its floor forming the ceiling of the small kitchen.
    "This is a great cabin."
    "It suits me."
    "Very private, out of the way."
    "That's what I like best about it." He walked into the kitchen, opened the
fridge and began taking items out of it. "I'm having a ham sandwich. That okay
with you?"
    "Fine, if you hold the ham."
    "What?" He looked at her, puzzled.
    "I'm a vegetarian."
    He blinked slowly. Then, finally, he smiled. It was like a light dawning on