"You're confused, mademoiselle, or is that madame?"

"Mademoiselle, of course. I shall never marry, despite rumors to the contrary." Oops, too close to a recent issue. "Now what is this confusion?"

"If I'm paying, I should see your goods, shouldn't I?" His eyes raked over me, head to toe and back up again.

"You're seeing most of them." I untied the bow on the corset and loosened the ribbon. My breasts took advantage, popping free until I was definitely showing nipple. I did another turn around the room, staying out of Jerry's reach. "Now take off your shirt. Do you have a manly enough chest I wonder? I hate a thin, weak chest on a male."

Jerry grinned and ripped off his dark blue shirt, buttons flying. I'm sure his housekeeper would have fun when she got to vacuum some night. He pounded on his hard chest like he'd just left his cave.

"This manly enough for you?"

"Well, it looks firm enough. Let me feel." I moved closer and ran my hands over him, teasing his nipples with my fingertips. When he reached for me, I danced out of the way. "No, no, no. Not yet. I haven't seen the most important part. Your equipment. The pleasure center. It must be of a size to touch me"I slid my fingers inside my thong"deep inside."

"Gloriana," Jerry groaned. "This game is going to kill me."

"No, it's not. It's going to be a bit uncomfortable for a while, but that's the point, isn't it? We don't want to be comfortable!" I smiled and reached for his belt buckle. "Now take off you pants, monsieur."

"You do it. I hope I don't shock you, mademoiselle. I am ready to please you. Bursting to please you." He stood still while I unbuckled his belt and unzipped his pants. I slid them down his legs and he stepped out of them. His boxers strained with his erection.

"You have a very proud gentleman here." I peeked inside the elastic waistband. "And he is eager to come out." I pulled down his underwear and tossed it aside. I stepped back to study him, tapping my chin and frowning as if trying to decide if he would do or not.

"Well? Is he up to your standards?" Jerry didn't touch me but his face was flushed and I could tell he was on the verge of tossing the game out the window and me on the bed.

"Don't rush me. I'm thinking." I ran into the bathroom and found a washcloth, wetting it with warm water. I strutted out to the bedroom and found Jerry still standing in the same spot as if he was afraid to move or he might lose it, if you know what I mean. I dropped to my knees in front of him and ran the warm cloth over and around the length of him. I reached between his legs, using the cloth to stroke his heavy sacs.

"What the hell are you doing?" He put his hand on my head.

"I've decided he'll do, but we have procedures here, monsieur. We always make sure our customer is clean before we do this." I smiled, then took Jerry into my mouth. His gasp of pleasure was all I needed to hear. As ready as I'd made him, Jerry is a vampire after all and was more than up to the task of allowing me to take my time to please him. I felt his hands in my hair as I used my lips and just the slight touch of my fangs. "You have quite remarkable staying powers, monsieur."

"You're torturing me, Gloriana. Lie back and let me love you."

I ignored him, sliding my hand between his legs to touch the base of his sex. His gasp was my reward. Did I want him to suffer?

Well, he had made that remark about this mother I finally leaned back and smiled up at him.

"What would you like to do now?"

"First I want to see more of you. I like this corset, mademoiselle. So I will not use one of my knives on it. Kindly remove it." He sat on his heels and watched me slowly pull the ribbons apart. When they were loose enough, he pulled the corset off over my head.

I still had on my matching red thong, but he made no move to take it off yet. Instead he lay me back again and made love to my breasts, his lips moving over every inch of them. He pulled first one nipple into his mouth and then the other. He drew on them until I thought the pressure would drive me mad. Just when I thought he would surely tire of this, he started all over again. He slowly circled one nipple with his fangs, then the other and I felt shivers run down my body all the way to my toes. Next he used his tongue to trace the same sensual path. Finally, he used his lips, pulling them inside his warm mouth and suckling until I gripped his hair.

I didn't try to read his mind, but I wondered if all this attention above the waist wasn't to erase Ray's touch. By the time Jerry had thoroughly explored every inch and suckled my nipples, I was wild and begging for him to move on. He lifted his head, his eyes bright. "Move on? How about here?" He placed his palm against my mound. "There is something very sweet behind this very tiny panty." He plucked the lacy front then ran his finger underneath to tease my folds. I moaned and parted my legs.

"You are very eager. One would think you had not had many clients recently."

"I told you. I am veryoh God, yes!particular." He pushed another finger inside me, stroking me until I trembled. Jerry eased his hand from me and kissed my stomach. He sat back and studied me, his eyes dark and his hair wild. God, but he looked good to me, all that was masculine and strong. His firm lips, his taste, I wanted all of him. He smiled and I saw his fangs gleam in the firelight. I reached for him, but he shook his head.

"Our game is not done. I can afford more of your time and you are so very pretty. Roll over. I want to see the back of these panties again."

The hell with our game. I bit back an objection and rolled over. He toyed with the thin string that rested between my buttocks and I had to admit it stirred me and made me want him even more.

"Interesting. Why do you bother? Or perhaps this is more costume, for you clients, and not underwear at all. It can't be comfortable."

"It's fine. But you are certainly free to remove it. I hardly notice it anymore." I sighed, then shuddered, when I felt his tongue trace that little string, then his fangs follow. "Please. Take it off if it is in your way."

"Yes." He pulled it off, then lifted my hips, kissing a path down between my thighs. I cried out, so sensitive, so desperate for him to take me.

"I Jerry, it's been so long. I need you. Please, please take me now."

"Jerry? Who is this man? I'm a customer, nothing more. I'm paying for your services, mademoiselle, and I will say when I take you."

Okay, this game had definitely stopped being fun. I rolled over and sat up, my arms across my breasts. "Monsieur, your time is up. Pay the madame when you go downstairs. I have another client waiting. One who is kinder."

"Gloriana, I" Jerry reached out. "I'm sorry. I guess I wanted to hurt you. I can be a bastard, can't I?" He tried to pull me into his arms and I allowed it.

"Yes." I rested my head on his shoulder, thinking. So he'd forgiven, but not forgotten. Who could blame him? If I'd walked in on him and Mara doing what Ray and I'd been doing? Hell, I'd have tried to scratch her eyes out, and then I'd have figured out a way to make Jerry pay, even while probably taking him back so Mara couldn't have him.

"Shit, I blew it, didn't I?" Jerry settled me in his lap, both of us still naked. It wasn't exactly the ideal way to have an important discussion about our future together. Or not.

"No, I guess I did. You're still seeing Ray and me together, aren't you?"

"Hell, yes. You were in sunlight. I'd never seen you in real sunlight before. You looked beautiful and happy. And as good as naked. With another man. I really wanted to kill both of you."

"I understand. I do. I can't ever erase that memory for you. All I can do is ask that you give me a chance to prove that you can trust me. That we can make more of our own memories together. And, Jerry, you're going to have to keep dealing with Ray. Seeing Ray and me together, while we pretend to be engaged for a while longer. You can't kill him. And I hope you didn't really want to kill me."

Jerry's arms tightened around me. "It makes me crazy that the man attracts you. Of course I see your interest when you look at him, and it's not all because you're such a fine actress. Damn it, Gloriana, I think I should be enough for you. Let me prove to you that I can be." He rolled me under him and kissed me like we were going to die in the next moment. I opened my mouth and my heart to him. We touched everywhere, setting small fires and blazing infernos. The heat from the fireplace was nothing compared to ours as we claimed each other. Jerry's mouth was a torch that set fire to all parts of me. I tasted him and knew just what he liked and where he liked it. There was much to be said for the familiar, the warmth of a comfortable fire on a winters night or the light in the window of home after a long journey when one has been lost. I was home now, found. Why had I ever given in to wanderlust and forgotten how much this meant? I loved this safety, this perfect harmony as we moved and held each other. Jerry shouted just when I cried out, together reaching the same insanely perfect place where no one existed but the two of us. Safe. Warm. Together.

If only we could shut out the rest of the world. But even one uninterrupted night was probably too much to hope for.

Chapter Sixteen

"I like Lily. She looks like you, you know." I lay next to Jerry in the bed, finally relaxed enough to carry on a normal conversation. Which meant we'd made love three more times and seemed to have worked out our mutual frustrations with each other. Not that we'd discussed them. Jerry was typical male, not into talking about feelings. But I'd take the nonverbal cues. Like the way he held me and looked at me without the shadows in his eyes.

"I wish she didn't have Dracula and his gang with her. I think she has real potential to be a fine person. But she rebelled against her mother years ago and has kept up the pattern." Jerry rubbed my arm. "If the test shows she's mine, I'm taking a stand with Mara. She's going to have to let me work with Lily to try to change her ways."