She shook her head. "Beats me. Come on, let's just get out of here. I can't believe I'm saying this, but this place actually gives me the creeps." Then she remembered one precious item. "Wait. Where's my camera?

"It must still be down there."

"Damn it."

"We'll come back for it later. It's not important now. You are."

She allowed him to lead her out of the crypt and back to the car. On the way back into town she pondered whether she'd lost her mind, or if she'd really encountered Ronan Kieran in the graveyard. How much she should tell Jim.

She chose, without being sure why, the avenue of not revealing anything about her encounter with Ronan.

Ronan rammed his toe against the refrigerator door as he wandered into the dimly lit kitchen in Erin's home. "Feckin' A."

Vampire vision or not, he'd managed to be more clumsy than usual popping into her home. He inhaled the delicious scent emanating from the big crock-pot on the kitchen counter. Definitely the smell of meat. His mouth watered. He hadn't taken mortal food in at least a week, and he was in the mood for it.

Frustrated from his encounter with Clarissa, and sensing that the woman had captured part of him beyond his control, he'd popped into Erin's home to get a supply of long- needed blood. The entire house sounded quiet. He also didn't detect Sorley around anywhere.

Just as well. He didn't want to explain to anyone where he'd been. He almost groaned as he adjusted his jeans, his body still wanting something it couldn't have. Fire ran through his body, his undead needs roaring and tossing like a tornado. It took everything he had to shove Clarissa's sweet, beautiful warmth to the back of his mind.

I'll be feckin' lucky if I ever get rid of this hard-on.

He wanted and needed relief, and he could take things into his own hands, but he didn't think masturbating would do the trick. It would take the edge off, but not the longing he'd felt since he first saw ClarissaGaines in that bloody graveyard the first time.

A little disgusted with himself for trying to seduce her in that horror movie tunnel, he leaned against the refrigerator. She'd tasted so damned delicious, ready to be taken, to feel his teeth along her beautiful skin. His breathing, deep and not yet controlled, rasped from his throat. Denying more than their deep kisses and the sexual feelings he'd given her had been agony. Mentally she didn't need his help. Yet he sensed she wanted him.

Her desire had drowned his senses in a corporeal inferno and demanded he take her away where no one could find them. Only supreme control had kept him from transporting her to a hidden spot where he could have taken her. Supreme control had prevented him from coming in his pants when he delved into her mind and felt what she felt.

The slick, gliding motion of his thick cock as he slipped it into her warm pussy. The steady, rhythm of his hips as he thrust inside her again and again.

Even now the fever that danced and burned inside bothered like an eternal itch. He wanted her more than anything.

Worse, he wanted her trust.

Shit.He desired her for more than a quick fuck to appease sexual appetite. He felt a yearning to protect her from anything and anyone.

Double shit.

He closed his eyes to true darkness, enjoying the oblivion as he did when he slept most days. He tried imagining something boring, like an overlong conversation with Sorley about any one subject. Sorley could turn any conversation dull, given time.

No, he couldn't banish the desire, no matter how much he tried. Possessiveness welled inside him, almost knocking him on his ass with the force. He took a steadying breath. He couldn't recall the last time he'd felt this way about a woman.

Aye, but you can remember.

Yes, he could recall if he tried hard enough. The last time he'd felt this hungry, this demanding about claiming a woman body and soul...the last time had ended when Fenella lay in his arms almost seven hundred years ago, dead.

He shivered with the painful memory. Mother Mary, would the pain never leave his heart?

Ruthlessly he tore the agony out, denying the feeling and using his lust for Clarissa to destroy unwanted emotions. What he felt for Clarissa amounted to staggering lust, nothing more. No one could ever replace Fenella, not in this century, not in any century.

If he must take Clarissa to save Pine Forest, to save his mortal friends, he would do it.

He'd made the decision and he would follow through.

He opened the fridge and he saw Erin had the refrigerator stuffed with delicious items.

His vampire stomach growled. He closed the cold section and reached into the freezer to extract a packet of blood.

"What are you doing?" Lachlan asked as he strode into the kitchen without bothering to turn on the light.

Lachlan's vampire-like abilities allowed him to see as well as Ronan with no problems.

The man's eyes sparkled with yellow fire. Lachlan wore only jeans, his chest and feet naked.

"Did I wake you?" Ronan asked.

"No. We're getting ready for the dinner with ClarissaGaines tonight. Did you forget?"

Ronan shut the freezer door and walked to the microwave. "I just spoke with her. She is very difficult to forget."

One of Lachlan's eyebrows tilted up in query. "Just spoke with her? You've had a lot of contact with her in the last two days."

He knew what Lachlan implied and couldn't deny it. "Of course I have. You know why."

Lachlan smiled. "Yeah, I know why."

"She was in trouble and I helped her." Ronan gave the short version of events in the tunnel, leaving out the passion.

"Damn," Lachlan said, "she could have been killed. I thought the city council said they were going to seal up that passageway after we told them about it."

Ronan snorted. "Takes them awhile. They probably want to leave it open because it goes under the graveyard and right to theGunn Inn."

Lachlan went silence, his eyes widening a little. "You're kidding me."

"I wish I was."

"So you've been exploring rather than just patrolling at night. Any sign of the ancient one?"

"No."

"Good. Maybe we have more time before the bastard recharges."

Ronan shook his head. "Sure, and he might just stay away long enough for me to fuck Clarissa."

Ronan didn't expect his friend to look shocked, but Lachlan's face hardened with disapproval. "I thought you said you couldn't sleep with her unless her feelings were genuine?"

Part of Ronan wanted to deny the truth. He wanted to say that ClarissaGaines would come to him whether he put images of mind-boggling sex into her head or not. But he didn't know that. "I sense strength in her. I can't read her mind all of the time. That's unusual, since with most women I can read any of their thoughts at any time."

"So what you're saying is you probably can't read her mind any better than I could read Erin's?"

"Partially. But I think it's more to do with her strength. I can see she has psychic ability, though I'm not certain how much."

Lachlan sighed. "All right. So where do you go from here? Halloween's coming up fast.

How can you possibly make her fall in love with you before then?"

Ronan chuckled softly. "This coming from a man who fell in love with Erin not long ago."