The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

muscles rippling despite the bruises and burn marks on his skin. Black hair flowed like silk down his bare back, and he wore only a leather thong around his hips, a loincloth hiding his privates. The rest of his body was on display for all to see.
    Natalia looked. She couldn’t help herself. She had never seen so much naked male flesh in her life, not even her husband’s. Especially not her husband’s. The other ladies pretended to look away, to hide eyes behind veils, but how could they resist?
    The Dream Catcher stood upright, not cowed by his capture. But his leg was twisted, and the marks on his body indicated they’d beaten him. He hurt. Natalia suddenly wanted to touch him, to comfort him, to reassure him.
    As though he sensed her sudden stab of pity, the Dream Catcher raised his head and looked straight at her.
    Natalia felt herself falling, being pulled towards his great silver eyes, larger than a normal man’s, intense and magical. But no, she still stood on her two feet halfway across the ballroom. She squeezed the stem of her wine glass, unable to look away. The wine glass broke, and blood trickled down her fingers.
    The Dream Catcher cocked his head, staring at her like an animal intent on its prey. The ladies between him and Natalia parted as though his gaze physically shoved them aside.
    Lady Delia smiled a nasty smile. “It seems he has chosen you, Natalia.”
    The ladies around her looked disappointed. Some pulled their gauzy veils closer over their faces so they wouldn’t be caught having anything so gauche as an emotion.
    Natalia turned to Delia in confusion, breaking the spell of the Dream Catcher’s eyes. “No,” she said quickly. “Thank you.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous. The Dream Catcher chooses the one whose desires most call to him.”
    Her eyes held viciousness. Natalia stared at her in shock. Delia couldn’t be that cruel, could she? But Delia’s smile told Natalia that she could. Her triumph in capturing a Dream Catcher must have gone to her head.
    “No,” Natalia repeated. She deposited her broken wine glass on a nearby table and turned to leave, sweeping her own crimson veil across her face.
    The silk stifled her, nearly gagging her. But behind it she could let hot tears build in her eyes. Damn Delia. She’d brought Natalia here for this little humiliation, nothing more. To mock Natalia’s perversions, to put her in the pillory for daring to want something forbidden.
    And damn Ivan Sorvenska’s tattling mouth. He’d ruined Natalia when he’d bleated to his own gossipy mother what Natalia had wanted their marriage to be. Animal lust, Ivan had sneered when Natalia shyly asked on their wedding night if they could share a bed. Is that what you are, Natalia, an animal? Why don’t you hire a Shareem and have done?
    Shareem were males created long ago for the sole purpose of pleasuring women. They lived in the slums of Pax City, and the occasional scandalous woman went to them for carnality. Some said they’d been bred with Dream Catchers, but no one knew for sure. Natalia had never been able to bring herself to seek out a Shareem.
    She’d thought that Ivan the charming, Ivan the handsome, Ivan who’d touched her hand and told her he liked her just as she was, would be amenable to doing what high-born men and women were supposed to shun - lie with each other. That was why she’d rejected the Ministry of Families’ carefully chosen mate and married without their blessing.
    She’d risked all to marry Ivan then discovered too late that he hadn’t wanted a physical marriage after all. He’d charmed Natalia in order to gain access to her money and the Sorvenska family name, which he took upon their marriage. He wore the name like a prize he’d captured. He was disgusted by Natalia’s request, and immediately moved to separate living quarters.
    Natalia could have borne the humiliation of his rejection, but Ivan had repeated all to his mother. Ivan’s mother, who’d never liked Natalia or the Sorvenskas, had spread the tale of her daughter-in-law’s disgusting perversions far and wide.
    Ivan’s mother had urged Ivan to sue for divorce, citing Natalia’s unacceptable predilections. Ivan could make much money from the suit as the wronged party. He’d been in the planning stages when he’d died, falling, drunk, from a balcony. People had looked at Natalia in suspicion, but fortunately Natalia had been at a meditation centre during the incident, and the speculation