Raphael shook his head, raising his hands in defeat as he took a couple of steps toward me. I switched my attention to him, smiling victoriously as he moved closer. Two could play at this little mind-seduction game. I'd been willing him to come to me, and now he was.
'Then what is it he's doing?' Roxy whispered in my ear, so low I almost couldn't hear her over the shrieks of anger Tanya was emitting at regular intervals as she lambasted Dominic for his nasty comment. 'Joy? What's Raphael doing to you?'
'Seducing me,' I answered, taking a step forward and letting my eyes go all soft at Raphael. I thought he needed a little reward for giving in and coming to me once he realized I had an iron will that couldn't be swayed by a little mind-seduction. His amber eyes opened wide in response. I took a deep breath and inhaled that lovely Raphael scent that wrapped around him. The cheerleading team in my nether parts kicked into overdrive.
Raphael, with one last look at me that I was sure would turn all the bones in my body to oatmeal, turned back to Dominic. Tanya was on her knees before him, pleading with him to listen to her.
'If having a nightly catfight is a new attraction,' Raphael told him, 'you really should consider charging more for admittance.' He nodded toward the people gathering behind Dominic and Milos. I turned to grab Roxy and Christian and make an escape while we could, but Christian had disappeared.
Dominic stiffened and gave Raphael one of his pseudo-haughty stares. 'You will not speak about
'Will you give it up?' I frowned at Dominic, interrupting the reply Raphael was about to make. 'I'm not an angel, and I'm certainly not
'You're not playing fair!' I accused him. 'You made me say that! You're making everyone think I'm the one who's wild about you! I'll thank you to stay out of my mind, and stop seducing me!'
'Seducing you?' he asked, ignoring Dominic as he frowned at me. 'I am seducing you?'
'Yes, you are, and you needn't try to look so innocent, we both know who you are and what you're doing, so you can just wipe that 'I haven't the slightest clue what you're going on about' look off your face, and keep your mind to yourself! If you want me in your bed, you're going to have to do it properly, you got that?'
'Certainly. Perhaps you could tell me when and how you would prefer I seduce you? I would hate to catch you unaware at an inopportune time, or go about it in a manner that did not meet with your express approval.'
'
'You want a knuckle sandwich, buster, just keep it up.'
Dominic laughed and turned to Milos. 'She is delightful, is she not? Do you not envy me my good fortune in finding her?'
'Oh, for God's sake, I'm going to plant one on him…' I thought about taking a swing at him, but decided I wouldn't just a nanosecond before Raphael grabbed my hand, my entire fist wrapped firmly in his. I shivered at the touch and tried to keep the cheerleading squad in my womanly parts from breaking out into back flips.
'She has spirit. She will be an excellent consort for me,' Dominic continued, one hand holding Tanya down as she flailed at his feet, beating on his legs and screaming obscenities.
'That's not spirit, it's just gas,' Roxy spoke up, her arms crossed. I glared at her. There were times when I really didn't need her help. 'Which, if you think about it, is a rather fitting comment on her opinion of you, don't you think?'
'You will read the runes for me,' Dominic said, releasing my hand when I jerked it hard enough to make him stagger forward a few steps. 'No, no.' He held up his hands when he saw me about to protest. 'You must. Did you not hear Tanya? She has challenged you. You must avenge the insults she has made against your honor.'
I grabbed Roxy by the arm. 'Thanks, but no thanks. We'll be on our way now. I'll see you later,' I said meaningfully to Raphael as I dragged Roxy past him.
He blinked. 'Will you?'
Dominic called something out to me. Tanya shrieked in response. I ignored both of them to stare into the loveliest eyes I'd ever seen. 'I assume so. We have unfinished business, don't we?'
He looked at my lips. I suddenly found myself wanting to lick his.
'Yes,' he replied, his eyes going molten. My breath caught in my throat as he reached out and brushed a strand of hair where it had flown across my cheek. 'I believe we do have unfinished business.'
'Good,' I gulped, suddenly one big mass of tingling body parts that wanted an immediate introduction to all of his body parts. I tried to slam down a mental barrier between his mind and mine, but it did no good. The cheerleaders in my groin were setting up fundraising car washes to finance a field trip to his groin.
'Hey! I don't want to leave yet! Just because you've got a witch all mad at you and a weirdo claiming you for his consort, not to mention a vampire just waiting to sink his fangs into you, doesn't mean I have to go back to the hotel room and twiddle my thumbs. I want to be where the action is!'
I released Roxy's coat. 'No problem. You might go find Christian and apologize for how the evening turned out. Poor guy must think everyone around here is a lunatic.'
'I'm sure he's in no doubt that some people are, at least,' Raphael muttered. I squinted my eyes at him just in case he was talking about me. Was that any way for a Dark One to speak of his Beloved?
'Later.' I nodded to him.
He made a slight bow to me, his rugged, manly lips quirked in an odd little smile.
I ignored Dominic's demand to stay where I was, and skipped off into the night. When I looked back, Raphael had a hold of Dominic, and was speaking vehemently in his ear.
I raced back to the hotel, in a bit of a swivet because of the dark promise Raphael had let me see in his eyes.
Chapter Eight
It was one thing to prepare for a date, I mused as I walked briskly by the people streaming into the fair, but another entirely when the date one was preparing for was a vampire, and quite likely to feel a bit peckish at some point in the proceedings. I tried to decide if I was the type of woman who allowed a first date to drink my blood, and after weighing visions of me appearing the following morning covered in bandages against the erotic descriptions of lovemaking in Dante's books, I decided I'd just wing it.
'I'm getting the hang of this believing-in-vampire stuff,' I praised myself as I stomped up a grassy slope toward the hotel. 'It's not so hard, really. You just have to carry around a really big grain of salt at all times.'
By the time I arrived at my room I had my game plan well in mind. First, I'd have a long soak in the tub. I knew Raphael wouldn't be able to seduce me properly until after two a.m., since his duties at the fair would keep him busy until then, so soaking time was not an issue. Following that, I would don an extremely sexy bit of nightwear, and lounge on the bed practicing provocative poses and seductive looks until Raphael arrived.
An hour later, having had my bath, I paused as I was brushing my hair and stared into the mirror at my frowning face. Why hadn't the thought of Raphael's employment struck me before? Why hadn't I ever wondered why a vampire, a man who must be several hundred years old, was working for his living? Surely vampires were all independently wealthy. I knew the Dark Ones in Dante's books were. They never seemed to worry about money.
'Just my luck,' I told my reflection as I brushed my hair until it crackled with static. 'I get the only poor vampire in town. Eternity on a budget… oh, happy day.'
If I have to admit to having one weakness in life—and in truth, I have many, my reaction to a certain amber- eyed Dracula for one—it's that I love slinky nightwear. I fully admit to being a negligee connoisseur; I must own more than a dozen of them, all silk and satin, with oodles of lace. I'd brought only two with me to Europe, however, so my decision of what to wear for Raphael was not difficult, but it still took time.
'Do I want the
