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She smiled again. 'You know, you are the sexiest man I've ever met.'

'Try to remember that in the morning.'

She pouted. 'You think I'm drunk?'

'No. I think you're about to crash.'

He picked her up in his arms and started toward the door. She rested her head against his shoulder and inhaled his scent.

'You smell good, too,' she whispered.

'So do you.'

She was vaguely aware of being carried up the grand staircase. She snuggled closer, wondering if he was taking her to his room. She did not know whether to be relieved or disappointed when he walked into the guest bedroom.

He set her on her feet, turned her around, and unzipped the green gown.

'You're undressing me,' she said, watching the satin pool at her feet.

He picked up the gown and put it carefully across the back of a chair. 'This is as far as I go.'

'Oh. Well, I suppose it's for the best.'

'That's what I'm telling myself.'

She kicked off her shoes and sank down onto the bed, yawning. He pulled a quilt up to cover her. She closed her eyes. Elvis hopped up beside her and settled down at her feet.

'I lied when I said I didn't know why I freaked out so badly after that encounter with Patterson,' she confessed.

She did not open her eyes, but she felt Fontana go still beside the bed.

'Did you?' he asked.

'The reason I had that little panic attack was because of you.'

'I caused it?' His voice was perfectly neutral, utterly drained of all emotion.

'Well, sort of.' She turned on her side and pulled the quilt to her chin. 'When I realized how much of a threat Patterson was to you, I understood something else, as well.'

'What was that?'

'How much I'm attracted to you, even though I swore I'd never get involved with a man who was so much like everyone else in my family. I can't seem to help myself. It wasn't the thought of Patterson wanting to murder someone that gave me a panic attack. It was the realization that he wanted to murder you in particular that did it.'

'Sierra.'

'Good night, Fontana.'

She thought she heard him say something else, but it was too late. She was already plunging down into the warm oblivion of sleep.

Chapter 21

SHE CAME AWAKE ON A SURGE OF ADRENALINE. HEART pounding, she sat straight up in bed, trying to shake off the sense of disorientation. Get a grip. You're in Fontana's house. That's why the room doesn't look familiar.

But common sense wasn't having any effect on her intuition. Everything inside her was shrieking at her to get out of the room, or, if all else failed, to hide under the bed. Run.

Evidently the medicinal effects of the brandy had worn off. This panic attack was worse than the one she'd had earlier at the Crystal Ball. She was practically jumping out of her skin. Every hair on the back of her neck was standing on end. She could hardly breathe.

A familiar rumbling sound caught her attention. In the luminous light that filtered through the windows she saw Elvis. He was at the foot of the bed, fur sleeked, all four eyes gleaming.

The bedroom door opened with terrifying softness; a figure glided silently through the opening. She would have screamed, but her throat was paralyzed.

'Get up,' Fontana said very softly. 'We have to get out of here. Now.'

Dazed, she shoved aside the covers. Fontana was dressed in what looked like a black T-shirt, black trousers, and black boots. He gripped a short, cylindrical object in one hand.

'What is it?' she whispered. 'What's going on?'

'Someone got through the security system. More than one person, I think.' He opened her closet. 'They're on the grounds and moving toward the house. If they got this far, they'll be able to get inside. Since I have no way of knowing how many of them there are, we're leaving. Here, put these on.'

He tossed a pair of jeans, a turtleneck sweater, and the casual loafers she had brought with her to the mansion down onto the bed. Then he went to the window, flattened himself against the wall, and looked out into the green mist.

She realized that she was still wearing her lacy black bra, panties, and panty hose. The panty hose had to go. You couldn't run for your life in panty hose.

She got rid of the panty hose, pulled on the jeans, and then jerked the turtleneck down over her head. She shoved her feet into the loafers.

'Okay,' she said. 'I'm ready.' Since when had she started sounding breathless? 'Where are we going? The garage?'

'No.'

'A safe room?' Her heart plummeted. She couldn't stand the thought of being locked up in some tiny space while they waited for the cops to arrive.

'There is no safe room. But don't worry; there's a way out.'

He went toward the door. She got a closer look at what he held in his hand. It was a wicked-looking mag- rez.

'I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that,' she said.

Instinctively, she grabbed her glasses, her purse, and Elvis, and followed Fontana out into the unlit hall. There was enough vague light coming through the clerestory windows to illuminate the corridor.

'I didn't hear any alarms,' she said.

'The entire ambertronic system is down.'

'You mean none of that fancy security stuff is working?'

'I'm definitely going to have a few words with the company that installed it when this is finished.'

Another icy shiver slipped down her spine. 'The whole house is wide open?'

'Not yet. In addition to the high-tech stuff, the doors have old-fashioned mechanical locks. But if they got this far, it's safe to assume they'll be able to get through the bolts.'

'If the security system is out, how did you know there were intruders on the grounds?'

'The heavy psi. Can't you feel it?'

'Sorry, all I can feel is my own pulse,' she said.

'I'm a hunter. I'm especially sensitive to dissonance energy. Trust me when I tell you there's a lot of it in the vicinity.'

'What's so unusual about that? There's always plenty of background energy here in the Quarter.'

'Not this much.' He halted at the window at the end of the hall. 'Take a look.'

She hurried forward. Heavy fog cloaked the gardens, but the mist wasn't glowing with the usual green psi.

'What in the world?' she said.

'You're looking at ultraviolet psi energy,' Fontana said. 'Someone is generating a wide beam of it. That's what knocked out my security system.'

Figures moved in the glowing mist; shadowy forms with two legs and bulbous heads.

'Hank's fish-headed aliens,' she said. 'Night Riders. But how are they managing to pull so much dissonance energy?'