THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

afterward.”
    Great. Her face burned. He’d had what amounted to a basic physiological reaction that would have happened with or without her presence, and she’d practically leapt on him. She closed her eyes again, this time in utter humiliation.
    “Lighten up on yourself, Nurse Crawford. You may not have known about vampires and the delights of blood-sharing, but your primitive brain does.”
    She blinked. “My primitive brain?”
    “The primitive arousal center of your brain, yes. It knows, Ainsley.” His voice was like velvet brushing against her skin. “It’s as deeply embedded in your instincts as the fear of serpents or saber-toothed tigers or lightning. Don’t punish yourself for what it remembers.”
    No. Un-uh. She wouldn’t have reacted the same way had this happened with any of the clients she’d processed in his clinic. Not even the one who bore a strong resemblance to Alan Rickman, right down to the voice, and she adored the hell out of Alan Rickman. Truly, madly, deeply adored him. But she was happy to take the out he offered.
    “Well, that’s a relief. I was beginning to think—” Omigod! Her words trailed off as another thought occurred to her. That’s why he hadn’t wanted to draw her blood that time. But she’d pushed and pushed until he relented. That’s why he’d practically fled afterward. What might have happened if she had but looked into his eyes?
    “Ainsley?”
    She blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”
    “You didn’t finish your thought.”
    “That’s because I had another one.” Feeling off balance and not liking it one little bit, she went on the offensive. “Is there anything else I should know at this juncture?”
    His expression did not change perceptibly, but somehow he was closing up on her. Damn him! He had no right—
    “Ask me whatever you would.”
    Huh? “Really?”
    He extended his hands, palm up. “Really.”
    I’m an open book, the gesture said. But gestures could lie, or speak partial truths. Time to see how much he would tell her.
    “Who attacked your house?”
    His left eyebrow shot up. “I thought Eli told you that much.”
    “He did. Now I want you to tell me.”
    “Very well.” He pushed a strand of long hair back from his forehead. “The assault was launched by a vampire, a rogue by the name of Radak Janecek. He knows the nature of my work — the search for a vaccine to inoculate the vulnerable. Clearly he fears I am getting too close, and chose to make a preemptive strike. Fortunately, he destroyed nothing that can’t be reproduced.”
    “So you plan to resume your research?”
    “As soon as possible.”
    “When your house is repaired?”
    “No.” He shook his head. “That will take months. I’ll set up a clinic here immediately.”
    Her jaw dropped. “Here? In Montreal?”
    “Yes, here.”
    “But it can’t be as easy as that. Surely you can’t just literally drop from the sky in your helicopter and open a clinic? What about the local health authority? What about the Quebec government? What about Health Canada?”
    He smiled. Not the polite, automatic social smile, not the apologetic one, not the rueful one. A real honest-to-God amused smile. It was, she thought, just the second real smile she’d seen from him. It flashed suddenly and was gone, further proof of its sincerity.
    “I’m afraid this particular clinic is going to be an unsanctioned one. It would take far too long to get approval from the proper channels. But you may be certain the clientele won’t betray us.”
    “Us?” She took a half-step backward. “You expect me to go back to work, then?”
    “Ah, you have concerns about your safety.”
    Ainsley lifted her chin. “After the last twenty-four hours, I’d have to be a fool not to have concerns about my safety. And I assure you, Dr. Bowen, I am no fool.”
    “Indeed not, Ms. Crawford. Nor am I a fool. We shall have security worthy of a king. The clinic itself will be underground, and therefore there will be no official paper trail to lead my friend Janecek to it. That will buy us some time.”
    “Underground, like the cavern in St. Cloud? Or underground, as in illicit?”
    He shot her a reproving look. “The latter, although I prefer to think of it as unsanctioned rather than illicit.”
    She nodded. “Is that it? You’re going to rely on hiding it?”
    “That’s part of the picture, but hardly all of it. We will move it around, alternating locations. And before you ask, no vampire who would