She would have to watch herself with this man—before he got too close.

Yvette was grateful when her attention was suddenly captured by the man speaking to Kimberly. He’d just placed his pudgy palm on the girl’s arm. Bad move. Inhaling as she approached, Yvette scented perspiration coming from her charge. Kimberly felt uncomfortable. Time to run interference.

“Kimberly, there’s somebody who’s asking for you,” Yvette said as she approached and took her arm. Then she turned to the heavyset man, gave him a big smile and batted her eyelashes. The man’s face flushed. “Excuse us for a moment, would you?”

Before the man could even protest, she’d ushered Kimberly off to another corner of the ballroom. “Who was that?” Yvette needed to know whether he could be the threat they were trying to protect Kimberly against.

Kimberley gave a dismissive wave with her hand. “Oh, that’s Charles. He’s the nephew of the producer—and a total bore. If you hadn’t rescued me, he would have killed me with boredom. Really,” she rattled on, her normal self again, “I could barely get a word in edgewise.”

Join the club. “Yes, totally annoying, isn’t it?” Yvette had a hard time keeping all sarcasm out of her voice.

“You have no idea. What do some of these people think? They don’t listen. They constantly talk as if they are the most important people in the world. It’s just so tiring. Can you imagine being stuck with somebody like that for longer than ten minutes? I thought I was dying right there.”

Poor little rich girl. “Thank God you have me to rescue you,” Yvette interjected, trying not to roll her eyes. No way would Zane have been able to suffer through an evening like this without killing somebody. She suspected he’d purposely intimidated Kimberly to be let off the hook. Maybe he’d even used mind control on her to plant the idea in her mind that she wanted him gone. And Gabriel had fallen for the trick and promptly assigned her. Damn, Zane was way too smart an asshole.

“I need another drink. Do you want some?”

“Still on duty, remember?” Yvette forced a smile. She could think of better things than spending the next couple of hours babysitting a spoiled little brat who’d never been told to shut up. Her only consolation was that she could tune out the inane chatter of the people around her and let her vampire senses alert her to the things she needed to know. It kept the rest of her brain free to pursue its own diversion. And the only worthwhile diversion she could think of right now was recalling the way Haven had looked, felt, and smelled. And imagining what he would feel like when he was underneath her, naked, panting, and begging for release.
Five

Whoever the stinking vampire was who was protecting Kimberly Fairfax, he was good. Haven hadn’t spotted him yet. That was another reason why he hated vampires: they were too stealthy.

It didn’t matter. Haven knew that eventually Kimberly would leave the party with her bodyguard by her side. He was prepared for the encounter: a stake was tucked away in the inside pocket of his suit, and the witch’s potion was readily accessible in his right jacket pocket. And just to be sure, he’d packed something else to defend himself: a strong silver chain with small weights on each end lay in his other pocket. should everything else fail, he could throw it around the vampire’s neck; the burning metal would sear into his skin, temporarily distracting and disabling him, and give Haven sufficient time to either deploy the stake or the potion.

Over the years of hunting vampires and looking for his baby sister, he’d learned an awful lot about the bloodsuckers—mostly about how to hurt or kill them. Their flesh sizzled and burned when it came in contact with silver, and no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t break the metal. What made being prepared for a vampire difficult was that neither he nor his brother had inherited their mother’s ability to recognize a vampire by the aura that surrounded him.

Despite his lack of powers, Haven prided himself in having eliminated over two-dozen vampires over the years. None of the kills had brought him any further in his search for the vampire who’d abducted his sister; nevertheless, he’d taken their lives. Hell, they were dead already. How he despised those creatures who took from humans without concern, without mercy. So he’d shown them no mercy either. He’d become ruthless in killing vampires. Every time he turned another one to dust, his need for vengeance was stilled for a short while. But it never lasted long.

Haven assured himself that once he found his sister, he’d find peace and could finally think of a normal life, but until then, revenge was what drove him.