Avery's brow wrinkles.Why would you think that?

I flutter a hand. "Why? Because I was on my way home from here when I got stopped. And the cop wasted no time in getting me into his car. How else would he know I was a vampire?""Did he shine a light in your eyes first?"

Now it's my turn to be surprised.As a matter of fact, he did. It almost blinded me.

And weren't you speeding when you were stopped?

You got that from reading my thoughts, didn't you?

He smiles a hard, cold-eyed smile. "I told you to be careful, not to call attention to yourself, didn't I? And what's the first thing you do, drive that sports car of yours 100 miles an hour down a city street.That's why you were stopped. And the light is the way they check for us. It's a high-intensity strobe bulb. It affects the vampire physiology. Disorients us. That cop wasn't looking for a vampire when he stopped you. He lucked into finding one, and you made it easy."

I have to grudgingly concede that everything Avery said rings true. Uncertainty creeps into my consciousness. "So now they know about me, don't they?"

Avery shoots me a black, layered look. "And you may have led them right here. To me."

Guilt makes me turn away from Avery. I was so sure I had been picked up leaving here. The possibility that I may, in fact, have put him in danger fills me with dismay. It was a stupid, rookie mistake.

Getting to my feet, I place the gla.s.s on a small table between our two chairs.I'd better go.

But he's on his feet, too, and he stops me before I reach the door. His hands are on my arms.

You can't go, Anna. It won't be safe for you to return to the cottage. You'd better stay the night.

My first reaction is to object-to his hands on me, to the idea that I'm not safe on my own. But his touch sends an involuntary tremor through me. I try, but I can't hide the reaction. I'm suddenly flooded with the memory of how it felt when I was drinking his blood. I find myself wondering how the rest would be.

"You can find out."

He takes a step closer, heat and desire radiating from his skin. I feel his lips, a feather touch at the hollow of my throat, tantalizing, persuasive. I close my eyes and sway into him. His lips part. His breath burns.

I'm lost.

He lowers my body to the floor. His hands are gentle and sure as they gather my skirt up around my waist, unb.u.t.ton my blouse, and pull it all free. His robe falls open, exposing a smooth, bare chest. I fumble with his belt, unzip his pants. He yanks them off and presses himself against me. His skin is cool beneath my fingertips, but there's heat where our bodies touch. Electricity arcs between us, and gusts of desire that shake my very being.

Then he's inside me, and I'm inside him, pa.s.sion making us one. When his blood fills my mouth, and mine, his, the raw act of mutual possession is complete. I abandon myself to a whirl of sensation, the pleasure pure and explosive.

Nothing that has come before prepares me for this. I'm dreadfully afraid that nothing will ever be the same.

Chapter Sixteen.

I'm glad when I awaken in Avery's big bed that I am alone. I pull myself into a sitting position from a tangle of silk sheets and look around. Sunlight from huge, arched windows illuminates a room filled with antiques-heavy, carved, and made of some rich, exotic wood.

No dark, dank casket filled with earth from the motherland for this vampire.

Still, I hold my head in my hands and groan.

What have I done?

On the nightstand, there's a decanter of coffee and a china cup, along with a single red rose in a crystal vase and a note that simply says, "You were wonderful." I feel as if I'm living a scene from a bad romance novel.

I groan again. The night is a blur in my mind, but I remember that there was s.e.x-a lot of it-and the taste of blood as intoxicating as any wine.

You were wonderful.

No, it's not a romance novel, it's a bad fantasy novel complete with a rakish vampire and his eager protege.

I finger the note.Very eager protege, evidently.

I put a tentative hand to my neck, but there's nothing to feel. No puncture marks, no raised skin. Did I remember to do the same for Avery?

I swing my legs out of bed.That I feel. I'm sore and chafed, and as I stumble off to find the bathroom, I wonder if Avery is having the same trouble.

The thought that he might be a little tender today, too, brings a smile to my lips.

Where are my clothes?

I get the answer when I swing open the bathroom door. My dress has been neatly hung on a hangar, my panties and bra folded on the edge of the tub. It's a big tub, with Jacuzzi jets and a lot of decorative bottles promising perfumed delights.

I succ.u.mb.

I'm soaking in a jasmine-scented whirlpool when the first dose of reality hits.

Max.

Whathave I done?

I sink deeper into the water.

I was protecting, Max, wasn't I? From myself. And it's not like we're married or engaged or anything.

Right.

Well, we've never even talked about it. We've just had-what? What have Max and I had?

I lay my head back on the cool tile. I'm already thinking of him in the past tense.

The reality brings a wave of sadness. I love Max. I think. We've been together for almost two years-well, as together as a couple can be when one of them is an undercover Drug Enforcement agent. It's the first long-term relationship I've had in years, and it's built on mutual respect and trust.

At least it was.

Trust.

I trust Max, and Max trusts me.

Would he trust me now, if he knew about Avery?

About Avery? h.e.l.l, what if he knew about me?

I'm a vampire, for chrissake. A vampire.

"And a very beautiful one, I might add."

Avery's voice startles me into sitting straight up in the water. I jump so high, water splashes over the side and onto the floor in a mini-riptide. I turn and glare at him.

Don't do that. Don't sneak up on me.

He laughs and moves toward me, stripping off a tie and shirt as he comes.

I knew there was a reason I had that tub installed.

He steps out of slacks and boxers and stands naked, looking down at me.

I reach out, smiling, and caress a muscular thigh.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" he says at last.

But I don't answer, my mouth is otherwise engaged.

Later, back in the bedroom, I stretch and yawn and look over at Avery.Don't you have to go to the hospital?

Avery is leaning back against the headboard, his arm around me, sipping coffee from that elegant china cup.

I went in while you were asleep. Checked on a few patients, cleared the rest of my schedule. I thought you and I might spend the day together.

Avery, I can't spend all day here. I have to get home. I just wonder if there will be a welcoming party waiting for me.

Avery sits up straighter.I've been thinking about that cop who picked you up last night. You know, he may not have run your license. He wouldn't want it on record that he stopped you, particularly if you suddenly disappeared. Unless he wrote your license number down somewhere, he might not be able to trace you. I'll call Captain Williams later and see what he can find out. You didn't get a badge number or name or anything, did you?I shake my head. I wish I'd thought of it. Everything happened too fast.

Well, just don't drive that Jag for awhile.

I roll toward him. "Why don't you come home with me? We can take a walk on the beach. I can show you some of my favorite haunts."

He doesn't answer, but what he's thinking comes through loud and clear-too loud and clear. It's a good thing I can read what he's feeling as well as his thoughts. He feigns horror as he contemplates dingy, smoke-filled dives with sawdust-strewn floors populated by hygiene-challenged, s.h.a.ggy-haired surfers.

"Very funny," I comment. "You've been breathing this rarified air too long."Oops, wait a minute-we don't breathe air anymore, do we?

There's a sardonic twist to that s.e.xy mouth.

"After what happened in that bathtub," he says, "you have to ask?"

It's noon when I haul myself out to my car and gingerly climb inside. It's been the most bizarre twenty-four hours of my life. I've been kidnapped by the police and had s.e.x with a three-hundred-year-old vampire, during which I actually drank his blood and enjoyed it. More than enjoyed it.

All of it.

I turn the Jag towards home. Avery wanted me to wait for him, to leave my car there, but I'm anxious to get back. I told him I'd put the car right into the garage where it won't be seen. I want to shower and change clothes and check in with David. He's probably called about a dozen times and will be frantic because he couldn't reach me.

David is like that.

And it's time we get back to work. I'm sure Jerry will have jobs lined up, and I need something other than this new "nature" of mine to think about.

I reach for my purse and shake loose my cell phone. David's number is on speed dial, and I punch it before I remember he's in LA with Gloria.

I'm just about to disconnect when he answers with an abrupt, "Jesus, Anna. Where have you been?"

"David? You're back home?"

"Never mind that. Where are you?"

"I'm on my way to the beach. Why?"

"Get here as fast you can."

"You're at the cottage?"

There's a brief pause. "What's left of it." His voice softens. "There's been a fire."

Chapter Seventeen.

A fire?

I drop the phone and concentrate on driving. I've just pa.s.sed Grand Avenue when I see the smoke. Panic twists my stomach. I'm a half-mile away, but I can't get closer because fire equipment blocks Mission. I leave the car in the parking lot of a Seven Eleven and start running.

I see David first, standing with a group of firemen. Only the firemen aren't holding hoses or wielding pick axes. In fact, they aren't doing anything at all except standing around chatting with my ex-football player partner.

It makes me angry. Why aren't they fighting the fire? I open my mouth to yell, but something stops me.

I look down the street, toward the cottage.

I know now why the firemen are cl.u.s.tered in their little circle, with David holding court. He may as well. There's nothing left of my home except smoldering debris.

I stop short, heart hammering so hard I think it will burst my chest.

Nothing left.