Hot Blooded

did, I wouldn't have a license for long. No, Jenny, I'm not nearly this
unprofessional. I swear it. I guess there's just something about you." He smiled
again, slowly this time. "You bring out the beast in me."
    She tried to laugh it off, but a chill raced right up her spine. She returned
to eating her sandwich, and he watched her. Watched every bite she took, watched
her chew, watched her swallow and lick her lips. He watched her like no one had
ever watched her before. When she put the beer bottle to her lips and tipped it
up to drink, his eyes were glued to her mouth, and she felt almost stripped
naked the way they looked at her.
    He made every single part of her body tingle with awareness, all without even
touching her. Those eyes—they were powerful.
    She set the bottle down. "I should go."
    "You haven't agreed to go out with me yet."
    She thought maybe she'd rather stay in with him, but she couldn't very well
say so. "How about tonight?"
    He nodded. "I'll be at your place at six. We'll have dinner. And maybe I'll
show you some of the secrets of the Branson Estate."
    "There's a full moon tonight," she whispered. "I really should be out
patrolling, keeping an eye for the werewolf."
    "The moon rises at nine twenty-two tonight. I promise I'll kiss you goodnight
long before then."
    Her stomach knotted. "What makes you think I'm going to let you kiss me?"
    "Oh, I'm going to kiss you. Consider yourself forewarned."
    His eyes were on her mouth, and she was fighting the urge to lean across the
table and press it to his. She pushed her chair away from the table, got to her
feet. "I really have to go." Because if she stayed here much longer she was
going to start tearing off her clothes.
    "Have a good afternoon, Jenny. I'll see you at six."
    She started for the door, then paused. "Samuel, the others—the grad students
and Dr. Hinkle—they don't know about what happened last night. I'd just as soon
keep it that way."
    "You didn't tell them?" he asked, getting to his feet, coming with her to the
door. "Why not?"
    She shrugged. "I wanted to have proof first."
    "You think they won't believe you."
    "I don't know if they would or not. Just—don't say anything about it if you
see any of them tonight, okay?"
    "Your secret's safe with me," he murmured. Then he opened the door and was
distracted by something beyond her. When she turned and saw the giant dog loping
toward them she almost jumped. Then she looked again and realized it wasn't a
dog at all. It was a large black wolf.
    "Mojo! There you are. You're late for lunch," Samuel called.
    She stepped out of the way as the wolf raced past her into the house and
leapt on Samuel, standing on its hind legs, paws to his chest. Samuel ran his
hands through the animal's lush, deep fur.
    "My pet, Mojo."
    "He's a wolf."
    "Just garden variety, I swear."
    She nodded, patting the dog on the head with a hesitant hand before turning
to go.
    "See you later, Jenny."
    "Thanks for lunch." She left the cabin in a rush, hurried back into the woods
and as soon as she was out of sight, stopped to lean back against a tree, hug
her arms, close her eyes and ask herself just when in her life she had ever been
as turned on as she had been just now. He had barely touched her. My God, she
was trembling.
    She took a few breaths, tried to steady her frayed, tingling nerves and
finally got moving again, heading back to the site where she'd left her plaster
to dry.
    When she got there, the leaves she'd placed over the footprint were gone. The
plaster was missing as well, and the footprint itself had been smeared beyond
recognition.

----
Chapter 4
    Â« ^ »
    WHEN she returned to the plantation house, she crept in quietly, using a side
door and hoping not to encounter anyone on the way to her rooms. She was upset,
shaken and still trying to remember the events of the day exactly as they'd
happened. First, she'd created the plaster cast. Second, she'd heard the
vehicle. Third, she'd moved away from her precious footprint, leaving it
unguarded, in order to find the source of the noise, and she'd crept up on the
little cabin in the woods, and the by-then-silent Jeep. And fourth, Samuel La
Roque had come up behind her.
    Behind her.
    Why hadn't he just got out of his Jeep and gone into his house? It wasn't as
if she'd made any noise that would have alerted him to her presence. What had
possessed him to creep into the woods, past her, and then come up