"I hate you!" She screamed out at the scented air. "d.a.m.n you, Almonzo! I said I hate you!"

He listened to her scream her little lungs out for a few minutes and laughed to himself as she slapped around in the water. He knew he missed one of the most entertaining of shows but somehow resisted the urge to join her. Instead, he waited patiently right outside the door.

By the humming sound of her voice, a half-hour of a luxurious bath and a sedative in fine wine, Tabitha sounded like a woman in better humor. He finally heard the swatting sound of wet clothing as she slapped it against the side of the bathtub. After he was certain she was relaxed and ready for company, he called for Tate. Almonzo was ready to show her just exactly what she would miss if she missed out on him.

Chapter 3

Tate pushed a tea service cart into the room and smiled. "So, finally, she's willing. If you don't mind my saying so, it certainly took you longer than Orlando. I'm quite surprised."

Almonzo gritted his teeth. "Tate, I do mind. My s.e.x life or the bedding of a life partner is not your concern." Tate made a valid point, something Almonzo decided must have placed him at the b.u.t.t of family jokes.

Orlando and Natasha made their joining look simple. After the last few weeks and what he experienced with Tabitha, he deserved her as a lifetime reward. His little siren was an adventuresome woman and he believed she only wanted to be pursued but G.o.d help her, once he had her where he wanted her, he planned to chase her for a lifetime. His c.o.c.k would stay fisted in his hand as he stalked her out of one century and then f.u.c.ked her right into the next.

The older man's smile only widened. "Of course it isn't my business and when you finally don't need a supplement for your nourishment, let me know. For now, you are pale and weak. It's there on the tray for you since you obviously need to drink it." He nodded politely and then excused himself.

Almonzo loathed the plasma gunk. He bypa.s.sed the tall gla.s.s and defiantly left it there. If he couldn't talk Tabitha into a sip of her sweet nectar, he d.a.m.n sure wasn't going for a subst.i.tute, at least not yet.

Almonzo uncovered the fruit and cheese tray. He arranged a plate of a.s.sorted treats with several chocolate-covered strawberries and then he filled a flute with champagne. He moved into the bathroom slowly, cautiously. He entered the room ready to find a willing woman. Instead, he found sleeping beauty. The sedative worked its magic all too well.

Quietly, he placed the champagne and strawberries next to the tub. His eyes drifted over her. The bubbles and rose petals made for difficult visibility. He was certain of the pleasures found underneath them but if he strained to see the beauty found there then his bold maneuver to slip in beside her would've been postponed. He took off the robe, the one he put on for nothing more than appearances, and then slide he did-right into the water without so much as a splash.

It was hard, he decided, to be quiet or still in water. He wanted to just sit close and watch. Take in the sight of heaven before she decided to wake up and stir a little h.e.l.l. And she would. Sweet mercy, would she ever.

While he kept an attending eye on beauty's rebel, he noticed what he had to work with once the opportunity allowed it. Anytime he looked at her, he saw the face of an angel and he also knew, because he'd watched her in his dreams long before meeting her, she'd have a savage body meant for pleasing a man. With one knee showing, tipping the bubbles, he wasn't sure resisting a full flesh visual proved anything significant.

Her round face and b.u.t.ton nose struck him as perfect and the long neck she sported defined pure perfection. He strained his own in hopes of a better view. d.a.m.n Tate for placing the bubbles next to the bath. Even when the man wasn't around, he seemed to screw things up for him.

While it was difficult to leave her body for a second, he wanted to see, was dying to know, what she had on underneath the clothes covering her. His breath caught in his lungs when he saw it. Hot pink panties and a lacy bra to match called out for his fingertips.

He reached out of the tub and touched the silk. d.a.m.nation. The best part wasn't what the garments looked like but what they felt like. He tossed them back to the tile step where she'd left them and laughed when he saw the a.s.s of the panties. Like he needed something else to fuel a blazing fire, she tempted him without as much as a word ever spoken. "Bite this" was the logo stamped on the b.u.t.t.

"Gladly." He chuckled again and, on instinct, reached for a leg only inches away from him. After he had her in his palms, the only choice was to ma.s.sage, because Tabitha started to move and wake up.

"d.a.m.n it all!" She moved her leg and quickly stood before she thought and gave him the best bird's-eye view ever.

"Holy sweet mercy." His voice caught in his lungs. "Quite impressive for a woman who supposedly does not want a man to see what she's hiding." His b.a.l.l.s tightened with an unfathomable heat lashing at them.

d.a.m.n, did they hurt. He was rock hard with solid strength and dying to show her his best a.s.sets, since she was kind enough to show hers first.

She sat back down fast and covered her b.r.e.a.s.t.s with her hands. "What are you doing in here?"

"Now there's the sweetest question you've ever asked and I'll just bet you have an idea or two."

"When h.e.l.l freezes over, then I'll thaw out some tempting ideas." She glared at him. "I feel violated."

"Do you, now?" He rubbed his palm over the length of his face.

"Yes, I do." The color flooded over her in patches.

"Well, explain to me how in the h.e.l.l you can feel violated, as you so eloquently put it, when I'm sitting here in my f.u.c.king swim trunks?" He stood up to display a pair of long swim shorts. They still revealed too much, something he never stopped to consider when he stood up to prove he was an honorable man.

Making a splash, she released her arms and then covered her mounds completely from view by sliding further into the water. "You underestimated your abilities to hide obvious admiration! Your swim shorts, I don't care about! It's the swimming trunk I'm worried about!" She leaned her head back and closed her eyes tightly. "Please! Get out of my bath!"

Almonzo sat back down fast and a spray of water splattered to the floor. "Okay, enough." He didn't say anything else, nothing at all. He felt like they should either make plans to move forward or she should just get the f.u.c.k out. He didn't have the stamina for anymore games. Not now. He released a long overdue sigh. He was going forward with a seduction ready or not. It was a must. He saw what he'd been missing. As far as he was concerned, it was a true shame, if not an unpardonable sin that he waited in the first place.

"What do you mean?" It took her about five seconds to comment.

He moved closer to her. He had the champagne flute between steady fingers and the chocolate-covered strawberries were close enough to grab one. He dipped the seedy fruit carefully over the rim of the gla.s.s and then smoothly, and he congratulated himself on his effectiveness, moved it to her lips. "Open."

Her mouth formed a tighter line with just a slight movement.

He set the champagne down, held the berry to her lips and pressed once more. "Open, please."

Still nothing.

"Now, sweetheart," his sarcasm carried, "or else, I may find another place for this luscious berry." His other hand dipped under the water and her eyes gave everything away. He moved closer and positioned his hand right above the only womanly cave he ever wanted to visit again. He didn't touch her there, only allowed her to realize when he wanted his way, he generally took extreme measures to get it.

"Lay one hand on me and I scream." Her eyes darkened with the l.u.s.t she tried to deny, the wanton need she tried to avoid. The obvious infatuation covered her forehead with sweat beads and drove her body to shift to where her legs were only closer. Everything her lips told him she didn't desire, her body only trumped with a different truth.

"Then I'll scream, too." He smirked. "No one will come but you." He swatted her inner thigh with a quick clasp. "I promise. Now bite." He shoved the berry into her mouth and then he carefully placed the gla.s.s in her hand. "Drink."

"I see what Natasha meant. Do this. Do that. It's what you Spensers want in a woman, huh?"

"I've never heard a complaint. Maybe there's a first time for everything." He pushed himself out of the warm heat that surrounded them in the tub. It was only because the tepid water combined with his personal male heat made his head swim.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Her eyes darted back to the berries.

"Like those, do you?" He reached for another one, dipped it again in her gla.s.s and fed it to her.

"What did you mean by a 'first time for everything' remark?"

She was going to wish she'd let it ride, he thought, before saying, "I know you're a virgin."

Swallowing hard, she looked past him again at the plate of berries. Her mouth fell open slightly and once more, he found she didn't know what to say.

He took a bite of the berry and moved it to her mouth. She caught it between her lips and sucked slowly. His hand stayed in place until he felt her wicked little tongue on his thumb, forefinger and middle finger. He was completely pa.s.sion-driven after the fact. It was the unleashing of the male vampire.

She chewed, then she swallowed hard. "I can't discuss this with you."

"Who says we have to talk about anything at all?" He took a sip of her champagne and then moved yet another berry to her mouth. Slowly, he crept closer. She knew what was next. He felt her jerk next to him. d.a.m.nation, if she didn't understand then too bad. The moisture painted on her lips might have something to do with the love of berry juice but no-it was what he realized he'd eventually see-s.e.xual hunger. Berries didn't draw out a woman's tongue again and again, but a man, a vampire, was a different story.

Her lips closed around half of the fruit and he took his time nipping at his part. It was the side that belonged to him, the piece that would lead him in for a closer inspection of luscious lips, fruitful gifts and delicious promises.

A moan escaped her throat and he didn't deny them the opportunity to move somewhere. He understood the risks and he realized she would push him away and stop him. He still wanted it. He needed to know how she tasted and, heaven help him, how she felt.

His hand slid up to her belly before he planted his lips where they definitely fit. His mouth slanted over hers before she denied him. He took the kiss and, at the same time, moved his hand up to the valley between two mounds swollen to perfection-and that's where he seriously screwed up.

He was slick heaven. He was everything her sister told her to expect- and Natasha should know-she was in his brother's bed but Tabitha wasn't ready. She wasn't sure she would ever be ready and since Orlando and Natasha refused to get involved, maybe she needed to tell Almonzo. Still, it was d.a.m.n hard to think when the man's hands wandered all over her and never mind what his lips were doing to her.

"Please." Her voice sounded surprisingly calm. Of course, it would be, since she wanted him to go on and yet found she was compelled to make him stop. "I can't." She pushed him away before his hands worked to the left or right.

"You can. I know you can." His mouth moved to her ear, covering it with his hot breath.

"No. You don't understand."

He moved along her neck before he spoke the words into her mouth with a spicy promise smothered in dominant s.e.x appeal. "My darling, I'm listening and I relate to everything you're saying. Sweet mercy, do I ever."

"You're not going to like what I tell you." She moved away and left him alone in the water. She took a towel from the nearby rack and didn't hurry to cover herself. Why bother now. His eyes penetrated her in a way his manhood potentially never would and she liked the way he looked at her.

Remarkably, she was comfortable when his gaze lingered over her exposed skin. Almonzo was her twin soul regardless of how often she fought him and she realized it long before their charades began. In many ways, what she felt for him was comparable to love at first sight. Still, it didn't move the obstacles standing in their paths and there were plenty.

His hand moved across her a.s.s with a stroke designed to send shivers up and down her spine while his fingertips worked around her hip and thigh with a speed similar to that of sound. Trembling, she stood with her bare a.s.s in front of him before she began to wrap the towel from front to back, tucking the corner of the thick cotton wrap under her arm.

"Nice, Mr. Spenser." She actually thought so.

He patted her bottom. "We're not going to start that s.h.i.t. I listened to your sister call my brother by his surname until I wanted to place a wager on how often she'd use it in bed. I told Orlando if he didn't put a stop to it she'd scream out Spenser in a fit of pa.s.sion." His expression turned wicked. "I want to be sure when you cry out mine, the only words I hear are, 'Oh, holy h.e.l.l, Almonzo. Don't stop.' And sweetheart, I won't. I swear it." He bit down on his lower lip and stepped closer with a devilish smile.

"Full of yourself, aren't you?" She placed her fingertips over his lips and whispered just behind them when he inched closer. "So c.o.c.ksure you'll have your way with me."

"Lover, you have no idea." He clearly wanted her to get a better picture when he moved into her with a slow grind that would've moved Justin Timberlake to tears. "None at all." His voice proved he held conquering intentions. It was heavy with carnal desires meant to lead two consenting adults into blissful runs of ecstasy and yet, she put on the brakes and shattered the moment when her cell phone rang.

The buzzing sound interrupted a time once destined to be theirs. She reluctantly moved into the bedroom to retrieve it and instantly relaxed until she saw the caller identification flash with the warning of a 'protected call' and then reality slammed into her chest with an undeniable force.

Chapter 4

"You have ten minutes and counting, starting now." His voice transmitted pure evil, and it was as wicked as the lewd man who possessed it.

She was slow to speak. "I understand."

Almonzo watched her from the doorway. He glanced at the supplement left for him and then looked back at her. She didn't try to guess what he was thinking because she identified with those same sentiments. If she'd ignored the call, his nourishment shake would've remained forever untouched. The way he stared at her now, he must have sensed something was wrong. His brow narrowed. "Who is it?"

"I'll be there." She swallowed hard.

"Come alone or we'll take the family's most precious jewel." He meant Constance, the youngest Spenser. Everyone in the inner circles of vampire royalty thought Constance Spenser held the keys to the family's heart. "We're at the gates."

"I understand." She watched Almonzo watching her.

Suddenly, she saw fear wash over him. It scared the h.e.l.l out of her. His body became rigid, alive with the sudden terror swarming around him. He approached her fast and took the phone from her hand, hitting the speakerphone b.u.t.ton as he did it.

"Who the h.e.l.l is this?" he demanded with a voice few men crossed. In fact, only a vampire would be brave enough to rally an exchange. One vampire, in particular.

Silence fell on attentive ears.

Tabitha held her breath. She was scared to move. She recognized the voice on the other end of the phone. She knew the vampire who possessed it-Darian Sabbat. If he was in Scotland, he wasn't here for sight-seeing. He was in Edinburgh for her and he wasn't going home empty-handed.

Darian took women kicking and screaming or calmly, it didn't matter. When he chose a woman, they simply vanished with him. If Tabitha refused him, then he'd settle for the youngest Spenser. Her gut wrenched with the pa.s.sing thought. He already had his bargaining chip.

Even before she encountered the vivacious youngster, Tabitha had been amused by stories and her antics. Once she met Constance, she understood why Orlando and Almonzo loved her so. The little girl held all of their hearts in the palm of her hand.

"I said who is this?" It was a growl, low and hungry, thirsty for the blood of another.

Time clicked away. "Please, Almonzo...the phone. I need ..."

The animalistic sound from the other end of the line was enough to send Almonzo into a fit of fury.

"Your brother took one and now, it's our turn." The laughter of a few men came across the receiver. "Enjoy your h.e.l.l, because one way or another, you'll get there if you don't send Tabitha out now."

Almonzo's lavender pupils seemed enlarged until the whites of his eyes were no longer visible.

"Go f.u.c.k yourself!" He hit the panic-alert b.u.t.ton, telling Tabitha, "We had this installed years ago. We've never had a circ.u.mstance to use it. Now, it's a must. The son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h on the other end of the phone is serious, Tabitha, and he is very dangerous. Of course, you grasp that part, don't you? I take it you know him well?"

She didn't respond so he continued. "We know all about Darian Sabbat and his brothers. They are numerous, dangerous, and h.e.l.l-bent on taking what they want, when they want it. How in the h.e.l.l did you get mixed up with them?" He demanded answers.

Tabitha quickly dressed in the same clothes she'd worn earlier. Almonzo kept his focus on her. She barely noticed.

She didn't tell him about Darian. Thankfully, Tate left her luggage packed because she was out of time. Maybe the old man with the notorious ESP knew she needed to be ready to run. By the time she was dressed, which was one for the record books, Orlando, Samuel, Tate and Marion, the family matriarch, were in the room with wild expressions covering their faces. They were all ready to prove they were capable of defending their own regardless of what was waiting for them.

Orlando must have quickly noticed the fight between life and death looming in the eyes of his twin. His eyes quickly transformed to match them. To Tabitha, they appeared jaded and vile. Death looked better and she hoped like h.e.l.l her sister never witnessed what she was seeing now. The Spenser men were motivated to kill and it wasn't a pretty sight. They killed for their family, for one of their own. It was unquestionable.

Tabitha shivered. "This isn't going to help."

"Start talking, Tabitha. Now!" Orlando walked over to her and took her by the arm.

Almonzo snapped at his brother. "Don't you lay a hand on her! d.a.m.n it, she's been trying to tell us all something but none of us would listen to her! Including me." He turned to his parents. "It's the Sabbat clan." He only paused for a second before he raced forward spitting words in all different directions. "They're here for her but there must be some mistake."

He needed to believe there was an error somewhere and Tabitha saw him try to make sense of everything. She was still going to walk away. Darian made provisions to ensure it.