THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

her eyes. “I don’t suppose you used conventional medicine to staunch the bleeding?”
    A pause. “Would you like me to say I did?”
    She sighed and opened her eyes. “I might if I thought I could believe it. Of course, I’d then have to inquire how the puncture marks miraculously disappeared.”
    “I think you know what happened.”
    “I think I do, too.”
    He’d saved her life. Of course, he was also the man who jeopardized it in the first place. The thought lent her voice a harder edge than usual.
    “I hope you’re not expecting a thank you?”
    “Obviously not. In the circumstances, I’d settle for you not staking me in my sleep tomorrow.”
    She blinked. “That really works?”
    “Staking?”
    “Yeah.”
    “I should think so. Just not like on TV.” Again the smile, this time slightly self-mocking. “We’re fast healers, but perhaps not fast enough to heal that kind of catastrophic cardiac penetration wound. Without quick access to a cardiothoracic surgeon, I’d die just like you would.”
    “Dammit.”
    “What?”
    “I’m never going to run out of questions, am I? Every time you tell me something new, I think of a dozen more questions.”
    He met and held her gaze. “Probably. But I’ll answer them all. Frankly, fully and honestly. That’s my motto from now on, at least as far as you’re concerned.”
    She felt another little sliver of her anger slip away. Damn him, how did he do it? For heaven’s sake, he’d practically kidnapped her out of her life so he could use her blood in his highly speculative, highly controversial research, without her knowledge or consent.
    “Why didn’t you just tell me from the start? I’m a very reasonable person.”
    “Agreed. In fact, you have one of the most open, resilient, nimble minds I’ve ever encountered. It’s been a pleasure to work with you.”
    Hmmph, empty flattery. Except she couldn’t quite stop the flush of pleasure his words caused. She lifted her chin. “So why didn’t you tell me?”
    “Remember your state of mind at the time.” He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “You were terrorized, your psyche stretched to the limit with what you’d had to absorb. Having just been so brutally savaged by one vampire, somehow I couldn’t see you agreeing to hang around with another one. Nor could I see you freely offering your blood to my cause.”
    Her mouth firmed. “So you made up the fiction of a possible infection.”
    He replaced his glasses. “Yes.”
    “Would you do it again, if you had a chance to do it over?”
    “Yes.”
    Just like that. Not even a pause.
    Well, no one could fault him on his commitment.
    “At least you’re keeping up your end of the deal, the being honest thing.”
    “I told you I’d answer any of your questions, honestly and completely.”
    He finally lifted his mug, which he’d thus far ignored, and took a sip of the cooling tea. It was, she realized, the first time she’d seen him drink anything.
    “Okay, here’s a question.” She fixed him with a fierce stare. “Why did you go prying into my past, digging up that stuff about Lucy and Devon? You said you couldn’t care less what my secret was.”
    “That was before Janecek got wind of you, before he figured out who you were. Now that he knows, he’ll be looking for a chink in your armor, something that makes you vulnerable. We — Eli and I — thought it was prudent to get to the bottom of it, purely from a defensive point of view. Clearly, you love this woman and her daughter like family, and Janecek will exploit that if he can.”
    Her breath stalled in her lungs. “Do you think he’s found them?”
    “No.” He shook his head. “From all appearances, he’s a few weeks behind us in terms of intelligence gathering, and we haven’t managed to find them yet.” His brows drew together. “You couldn’t help us with that, could you?”
    “You want me to lead you to them?”
    “If you can. I mean, we can find them, sooner or later, but I’m thinking sooner would be better in this situation.”
    Her stomach flipped as she thought about Janecek getting his hands on what amounted to her only family. She picked up the pen and note pad lying in the center of the table, wrote a number down and handed it to Delano. “This phone number is all I have, but I know it’s in Cuernavaca.”
    “Mexico?”
    “Yes, about an hour and a half south of Mexico City, according to the map I looked at.” She tossed the pen back down on