Dark Gold

Alexandria sat in the huge marble tub, her hair swept up into a topknot, bubbles brushing her skin like a thousand tiny fingers. Aidan paused in the doorway, his face drawn, his eyes holding shadows and a sad, haunted expression she wanted to erase for all time.

When she had felt his deep, disturbing sorrow, she had deliberately sent him erotic images, wanting to help him, wanting to comfort him. From a distance, knowing she didn't have to face him, it had been easy to allow her imagination free rein. She had been shy at the thought of his return, when she would have to face whatever repercussions her vivid, wanton images had created.

Now though, seeing his beautiful eyes shadowed, haunted, holding such sorrow in their depths, washed every vestige of shyness away. She would do anything to remove that grief.

There was such a weariness in Aidan, he felt he might never move again. He could only stand in the doorway and stare at Alexandria, unable to believe his good fortune, unable to believe she was really with him, really forever in his life. Why him? Why was he the one staring into enormous sapphire eyes overflowing with joy at seeing him? Why not Gregori, who had given so much to their people, who had suffered so much and lost so much of himself in the process? Why not Julian, his soulmate, his twin, so dark and twisted with loneliness? Why was it that the gods had chosen to favor him?

"Because we were meant for one another," she said softly, reading his thoughts. "Gregori has his lifemate, Aidan, and he has chosen to give her time to grow up. He'll hold out; he has hope to keep him strong. As for your brother, I know him from your thoughts and memories. He has your strength, and he will endure forever if necessary."

Aidan raked an unsteady hand through his windblown hair. He leaned his weight against the doorjamb and simply watched her with his unblinking golden gaze. She was so beautiful, so brave. Had he really done anything in his lifetime to deserve her, the happiness she brought him, the joy?

Alexandria shook her head, a slow smile curving her mouth, deepening the dimple that so intrigued him. "Of course you don't deserve me. I'm so good and brave and perfect." Her smile was teasing, frankly sexy, and as she shifted slightly beneath the fizzing bubbles her full breasts broke the surface, inviting his suddenly heated gaze.

"And so beautiful. Do not forget beautiful," he said softly and straightened abruptly, his muscles rippling.

She felt her heart jump in anticipation. "Maybe. You certainly make me feel beautiful." She tilted her chin, her sapphire eyes sexy, speculative. The look made his blood race.

His hand went to the buttons of his shirt, and he slowly slipped each one free, his eyes holding hers. She didn't look away or look scared. Instead, she smiled that slow, sexy smile of blatant invitation.

"You have something in your mind, piccola," he murmured softly, his body tightening in anticipation.

She shrugged, a lazy movement that sent ripples along the bubbling surface of the water. "I decided now would be a good time to try out something from one of those fantasies of yours."

The shirt floated to the floor unnoticed. She had eyes only for him, an urgent singing in her blood, a fire sweeping through her.

"Do I have fantasies?" he asked softly. His body tightened, hardened, wanted, and needed. He could barely speak, barely move.

Her laughter slid over his skin caressingly. "I'd say some pretty interesting ones. But don't get too excited. We're going to start with something easy."

His eyebrows rose as he reached down to remove his shoes and socks. His every movement was unhurried and lazy, but his eyes were molten with heat as his gaze devoured her. Alexandria's breath caught in her throat. He was bending over, that was all, a casual, everyday movement, but his face was so sensual, his body so fluid yet controlled. She bit her lip, her lashes falling to hide her sudden surge of desire.

"I want you to want me, Alexandria," he chided softly. "I need to know you want me. Do not hide from me."

In spite of herself, her mouth was already curving in response, her dimples deepening. "It's just that you're so beautiful, Aidan."

"Women are beautiful, not men."

"You are beautiful," she corrected him. "Look at yourself through my eyes." It was a teasing challenge.

He found it hard to resist. And there was something sexy about seeing himself the way she saw him. The wanting, the needing. The hunger. His hands went to his slacks, pushing them from his hips with a deliberate slowness that sent anticipation curling through her.

"See?" She shifted to her knees in the tub, the bubbles fizzing around her narrow rib cage, her breasts bare and gleaming with beaded water. Her eyes were on his lean hips and hard, jutting masculinity as he stepped into the sunken tub, the bubbles swirling around his legs like tiny tongues lapping at his skin.

Alexandria let out her breath slowly. His thighs were strong, muscled columns covered with fine golden hair. Her hands slid up his calves, urging him closer. She felt the tremor that ran through him, and she smiled seductively.

Her fingertips moved slowly over the sculptured muscles, and her breath was warm and tempting along his heavy erection.

Aidan closed his eyes in ecstasy as her tongue moved in a slow, languid caress over his velvet tip. His stomach muscles tightened as her mouth, tight and hot and moist, closed around him. A groan was torn from somewhere deep inside him. He caught her hair in his fists, dragging her even closer to him, and his body nearly exploded with pleasure as her hands sought his buttocks and urged him more deeply into her. With her mouth tight around him and her soft breasts pressed against his thighs, the bubbles tugging at his calves, and her silken hair in his fists, every thought was pushed from his mind until it was filled only with her, with pure sensation.

Her fingers massaged his buttocks, pressing hard into the heavy muscles, urging him on. He moved, a slow, long stroke, gritting his teeth against the pleasure that nearly consumed him. Her mouth moved over him, again and again. His hands bunched in her hair so hard he was afraid he might hurt her, but he couldn't control the involuntary response. His mind sought hers, and he found excitement, need, a total sharing of his pleasure. She was aware of what she was doing to him and reveled in it, in her power over him. Every sane thought disappeared, every care, every worry. There was only his body, her mouth, and the feel of her satin skin and the bubbles bursting around them. Fireworks. Earthquakes. White lightning. He found himself helplessly thrusting against her, his head thrown back, his joy and rapture not only physical but a part of his very soul.

Aidan's hunger rose until the demands of his race overcame him, insisting he put her pleasure before his own. With a soft, possessive growl he pushed her back into the water, his gaze running over her bare skin like lava. She had time for only one inarticulate cry before his mouth was on her throat, her breasts, his hands all over her body. She felt so small, so delicate under his palms, her skin warm and slick with water. He explored her everywhere. Then his fingers found her creamy with need for him. He pushed inside, watching her eyes, and her body responded with a fresh wave of liquid desire. He pushed deeper, his mouth on her now, his teeth scraping her breasts, her stomach. He could feel her muscles clench around him, velvet and hot. He kissed her hips, the little indentation that always drove him crazy, then raised them out of the water.

Slow down, slow down, his mind repeated, but his body had other ideas. He was on fire, his very skin burning. His mouth replaced his fingers, wanting to bring her to the same fever pitch he was experiencing. She moaned, the sound making him wild. She tasted like hot honey, spicy and addicting. He attacked, on fire with need and love and violent, insatiable lust.

Beneath the onslaught of his mouth, she writhed, cried out. Water splashed over the sides of the tub. Her body clenched, released, wave after wave of sensation spiraling through her. She clutched at him for anchorage as she spun out of control, a terrible, wonderful ride that went on forever.

Aidan finally lifted his head, his eyes hungry, his mouth sensual. He pulled her body to his, wrapping her slender legs around his waist. "You drive me wild, Alexandria. You make me completely insane with wanting you." His voice was husky, and he was pressed against her, hard and thick, pushing so aggressively that her body was slowly opening, allowing him entrance. The feeling was exquisite, a slow burn, hot velvet clutching him, tightening around him, the friction almost unbearable. His hands pinned her small waist, holding her firmly while he buried himself slowly, deeply in her hot, moist sheath. "Look at me, Alexandria. Know that I am your lifemate and that you are always in my care," he commanded softly, his golden gaze holding her blue one, forcing the ultimate intimacy, wanting all of her, every inch of her, wanting them to merge completely, body to body, mind to mind, soul to soul.

He began to move then, a slow thrusting of his hips, burying himself deeply with each surge. She bit her lip, the tiny pinpricks of blood triggering the fangs in his mouth. His hands urged her closer yet, so that she arched her body, her head back, her throat vulnerable and exposed, her breasts equally inviting. His tongue took the water from the rosy, hard tips and moved upward, tracing swelling curves until his mouth rested over the pulse in her neck.

He felt her body clench in anticipation, and his teeth scraped gently back and forth until she moaned and caught at his head with both hands. Satisfaction gleamed in his golden eyes. His tongue stroked her pulse as his body moved in hers. He thrust his hips harder and harder.

"Aidan!" Her soft cry was a plea.

"Not yet, cara, not yet." With his great strength he stood, taking her with him, the water sluicing down into the tub. Her legs circled his body, her hands around his neck, and he thrust harder still, over and over, wanting every inch of him inside her.

Her nails dug into his shoulders, an exquisite pain. He leaned her against the wall for better leverage, his hips savage, relentless, frenzied. His teeth scraped, nipped. Then she cried out at the piercing pain, so sweet and sensual, as his fangs buried themselves deeply, claiming her blood as voraciously as his body was claiming hers.

She had driven him wild, and his predatory nature took over, the untamed male of his species, dominant possessive, claiming his mate. His mouth worked at her throat, taking her very essence as her body took his, dragging at him, tightening around him, clenching and demanding until he had to cry out with the intensity of the pleasure. Ruby droplets trickled down the swell of her breast, and his tongue followed the trail.

Alexandria was spiraling into the night itself. The ferocity of Aidan's lovemaking should have terrified her, but she matched his intensity, beat for beat, her fists wrapped in his blond hair, her body wrapped around his tightly, her cries muffled against his shoulder.

His shout, husky with passion, rose to the heavens, carried on the wind. And as he held her, breathing hard, leaning both of them against the wall, from far off in the night came a reply. Of anger. Rage. A howl of the suddenly ferocious wind. The sound clawed at them, filled with hate.

Frightened, Alexandria looked toward the window. "Did you hear that?"

Slowly, reluctantly, he lowered her to her feet, his arm still circling her waist. "Yes, I heard," he admitted grimly.

Outside, the clouds began to darken ominously, malignantly. Hail the size of fists beat at the roof and windows. Instinctively Aidan turned her, standing protectively in front of her lest the ice break through and harm her.

"Is it Gregori?" she whispered, remembering the awesome power clinging to the man, seeping from his very pores.

Aidan shook his head. "If Gregori wanted us dead, Alexandria, we would be long gone from this world. No, this is the last one of the group of undead who entered the city together, for what purpose I do not know. With the incredible hearing of our race, I guess he did not like the joy we shared."

"He sounded dangerous," she said. "Like a wounded bear."

Aidan tilted her chin up, his golden eyes moving over her face possessively, tenderly. "He is dangerous, piccola. That is why I must hunt his kind and see to it that they do not cause the world misery."

Looking down at her upturned face, her lips swollen and her cheeks flushed from his lovemaking, he couldn't resist lowering his head to hers, claiming her mouth with a gentle kiss. "Thank you, cara, for ridding me of my own particular demons."

She sank back into the tub, its jets now silent, and looked up at him with her enormous eyes. "Could he... kill you?"

"I suppose, if I became careless." He sat down opposite her, the water rising with his weight. "But I will not be careless, piccola, not even for a moment. Tomorrow night I must hunt him. He is waiting for me."

"How do you know?"

He shrugged casually. They might have been discussing the weather. "He would never have sent a challenge if he had not devised a trap. I have acquired a certain... reputation among the undead."

She drew up her knees and rested her chin on them. "I wish he would just go away, find another city to terrorize."

He shook his head, his golden eyes loving. "No, you do not. Besides, I would never allow him to kill wantonly anywhere nearby. My work often involves travel, you know."

"He's the serial killer who's been in the papers recently, isn't he?" she guessed shrewdly.

"One of them. The others are dead now."

She twisted her fingers together in agitation.

Aidan laced a hand through hers reassuringly. "Do not worry, Alexandria. I will protect you from him."

"It isn't that. I know you will. It's just that now that I know you, now that I've met Gregori and I know what causes someone to turn vampire, isn't there any way to... to cure them?"

He shook his head sadly. "I know you feel sorrow for them and for those of us who must destroy them, but in most cases it is a conscious choice on their part. And once a kill has been made during the taking of blood, there is no way back."

She met his eyes squarely. "Gregori has done so."

His golden gaze was suddenly cold and speculative. "That is impossible."

"I know he has. He regrets it bitterly, and it eats away at him, but he has killed someone evil using that method. I know, Aidan, really. I sometimes see things in people that others can't."

"Is he turned?" His voice was quiet, lacking inflection, and he was very still as he awaited her answer.

She shook her head. "He thinks he's evil, but he has tremendous compassion in him. But he is dangerous, Aidan. Very dangerous."

"Vampires are adept at hiding the truth. They are consummate liars. You are certain Gregori has not turned?"

She nodded. "I was afraid of him. He's afraid of himself. As he said, he's like a tiger, unpredictable and dangerous. But he's not evil."

Outside, clouds were blackening the gray dawn sky. Aidan smiled smugly and waved a hand, and instantly the clouds began to disperse. "The remaining vampire thinks to intimidate me with a display of power, and I allow it to lull him into a false sense of security. But the dawn is upon us, and he must seek the shelter of the earth."

Alexandria relaxed a little. She didn't like to think the vampire could be just outside their window, listening to their conversation.

Aidan shook his head. "If he were that close, piccola, I would know."

She laughed. "I still forget you can read my thoughts. Sometimes it's very disconcerting."

"Sometimes it can be very interesting." His strange, brilliant eyes gleamed at her, sending a blush spreading over her entire body.

"Your mind is interesting, too," she agreed, a smile curving her mouth. "It has all sorts of interesting ideas."

"We are just getting started," he said softly. He leaned toward her, cupping one breast in his hand, his thumb feathering over the hard peak. "I love touching you, being able to touch you whenever I wish." His fingertip brushed her throat, the mark he had deliberately left on her.

She felt his touch through her entire body. "You should be outlawed, Aidan. You know, all my recent sketches for Thomas Ivan's characters took on your look. I couldn't help myself. Do you think Thomas will notice?"

His eyes glittered at her. "Thomas Ivan is an idiot."

"His concepts are both innovative and popular, and he happens to be my boss," she said firmly. "You're just jealous."

"One of my more annoying habits, no doubt. I do not intend to share you, Alexandria." Abruptly he released her. "I do not want another man touching you."

"Working together does not mean sleeping together," she pointed out patiently, secretly knowing that she would readily break off even the work relationship with Ivan if it truly caused Aidan deep distress.

"And you believe he will accept that?"

"He'll have no choice. I'll tell him you and I are engaged. He'll have to accept it."

"I will make arrangements to marry you tomorrow morning. I have a few friends who can speed up the process, and we will take care of the license and have done with it."

She sat back, her sapphire eyes suddenly spitting fire. "Have done with it?

Have done with it?" She repeated his words, unable to believe he had actually said them. Right now she wouldn't marry him if he were the last man on earth. "I wasn't asking for any favors or a commitment from you, Aidan. Nor do you have to protect my honor."

He was watching her carefully, all at once still. "We have the ultimate commitment between us, Alexandria. We are lifemates for all eternity. We will remain together until together we choose to meet the sun. But your very imaginative, idiotic-boss would not respect that bond, would not even understand it. He will, however, understand the human ceremony of marriage."

"I don't understand this lifemate business, either. Yet, like Thomas, I do understand the sacrament of marriage. Not that you asked me. Not that you respect the institution I was raised to believe in. I find your attitude extremely insulting, Aidan." She was working at hiding her hurt from him, but her expressive face, the glittering sheen to her eyes, would have given her away even if he had not been able to read her thoughts.

He shook his head sadly. "We share everything, Alexandria, including our thoughts. I have unintentionally hurt you, and I certainly did not mean to do so."

She stood up, water pouring from her skin. "We may share our thoughts, but we don't seem to understand one another." Grabbing a towel, she wrapped it around her like a sarong, her eyes studiously avoiding his.

"I think perhaps we do. You would have liked me to ask you to marry me in the human way." He reached out, a lazy rippling of muscles, and shackled her ankle with his fingers, a steely vise preventing her escape.

The oddly intimate act sent flames racing through her bloodstream. Alexandria resented his ability to turn her body to liquid fire with just a touch, just a look. She could feel the electricity arcing between them, see the hunger in his gaze.

She shook her head. "Don't, Aidan. This is important. You can't just hurt me anytime you like and then make love to me until I can't think straight."

At once his expression changed. He stood up so abruptly, she stepped back, intimidated by his sheer size. "Do not do that, cara mia." His voice was a caress, a plea. "Do not ever fear me. I would never willingly hurt you. We are already one. I thought you understood that. You are irrevocably tied to me for all time. It is a much deeper and stronger tie than a marriage ceremony. I must admit, I should have considered that you would have thought the marriage ceremony important, but I was assuming, as you are now Carpathian, you would realize that we are already 'married,' bound together for all time. It was done the moment the ancient words were spoken. The ritual was completed when we shared our blood, our hearts, our body and soul. But the words alone were irrevocably binding. It is the 'marriage ceremony' of our people."

His arms swept around her stiff, resisting frame. "Forgive the presumption, cara, and know that I want to marry you in the human ceremony because it is important to you."

His mesmerizing voice washed over her like water, cleansing away her resentment as if it had never been.

Alexandria rested against him, pressing close for comfort. "This life is so scary, Aidan, I want as many things as possible to be normal, or almost the same as they were. Just simple familiar things. I can handle it better that way."

"You know, piccola," he teased, brushing her cheek with gentle fingers, "Carpathian men never ask their mates. They simply claim them. But shall I ask you formally?"

She rubbed her face against his chest. "It would mean a lot to me if you would," she admitted.

"So I guess I had better do it right," he said softly, taking her hand and going down on one knee. "Alexandria, my only love, will you marry me tomorrow morning?"

"Yes, Aidan," she replied demurely. Then she spoiled the effect by laughing. "But we have to have blood tests. You can't just get married in a minute."

He rose.

"You forget the power of mind persuasion. We will be married tomorrow morning. Now get dressed, cara. You are tempting me all over again." His hands wandered down her slender body to caress her bottom.

Her smile was slightly wry. "You're going to give me all kinds of trouble with your chauvinistic ways, aren't you?"

He laughed in answer. "I was just thinking you were going to give me all kinds of trouble with your independent thinking."

She tilted her chin. "You have heard the word compromise before, haven't you? You do comprehend its meaning?"

He looked thoughtful, taking his time before replying. "As I understand it, compromise means you do what I say as soon as I command it. Is that about right?"

Alexandria pushed at the solid wall of his chest. "You wish, Mr. Savage. It's never going to happen."

He pinned her arms to her sides and nuzzled the top of her head. "We will see, my love. We will see."

Laughing, Alexandria pulled away from him and began to dress. The dawn was brightening the sky, and with it came the terrible lethargy she was becoming familiar with. She wanted to see Joshua, to have normal mornings with her brother. Dress him, feed him, spend time with him before he went off to school.

Aidan allowed her to escape him, letting her keep her illusions of normalcy as long as possible. He liked to see the happiness in her, and he had a bad feeling about the vampire's blatant challenge. The creature was up to something. He was the last one remaining from the group that had come to the city, terrorizing the population and leading the police on a wild goose chase. The vampire was not stupid; he would have studied Aidan and his strengths and weaknesses before issuing such a challenge. What was the undead up to?

He glided through the house silently, inspecting each entrance, window, and pathway leading to the house. Every safeguard was in place. The house was impenetrable, even with him sleeping beneath the earth in his secret chamber. No, the vampire could not strike at the house. Where, then?

He followed the sound of hoeing and found Stefan in the huge garden. Whenever he was upset or tired, Stefan gravitated to tending his plants.

When Aidan joined him, he leaned on the hoe and regarded his master steadily. "So, you feel it, too. I had trouble sleeping last night." He spoke in their native language, another sure sign of his state of mind.

"The vampire howled last night. A distinct call for vengeance. I thwarted their plans, whatever they were, and now the one remaining undead intends to destroy me. How he will attempt it, I do not know."

"It will be through one of us," Stefan said sadly. "We are your Achilles' heel, Aidan. We always have been. He can bring you down using Marie, the boy, or me. You know he will."

Aidan frowned. "Or Alexandria. I fear her reaction to what must come."

"She is very strong, Aidan, very courageous. She will be fine. You must have faith in your chosen lifemate."

Aidan nodded. "I know what is in her heart and mind, but I want her happiness above all else." He gave a humorless smile. "I remember a time many years ago, I went to the aid of Mikhail. He had found his lifemate, a human woman. She was very strong-willed, and I remember thinking that he should better control her, make her do his bidding at all times so that she would remain safe. We cannot afford to lose even one of our women - you know that. She was so strange to me, so unlike the women of our race. She showed no fear even of me, a Carpathian male she did not know. I vowed if I found my lifemate, I would not do as Mikhail and bow to her wishes. Yet now, I cannot stand to see sorrow in Alexandria's eyes. I feel sick when she is hurt or upset with me."

A grin spread across Stefan's face. "You're in love, my old friend, and that is the downfall of all good men."

"Even Gregori, the dark one, allowed his lifemate her freedom because of her fear of him. How does one strike a balance between keeping a woman happy and protecting her?" Aidan mused aloud.

Stefan shrugged. "You're in the modern world now, Aidan. Women rule their own lives. They make their own decisions and generally drive us all crazy. Welcome to the twenty-first century."

Aidan shook his head. "She thinks she is going to work with that madman, Thomas Ivan. Yet I know what he wants to do with her."

"If she wants to work, Aidan, have you any choice but to allow it?"

The golden eyes flashed. "I have a choice, Stefan. Still, perhaps the line of least resistance is to have a little mind-to-mind chat with Mr. Ivan. I am certain I can make him see things my way."

Stefan laughed. "I wish I had that particular talent, Aidan. It would come in handy with some of my business dealings."

"Do not allow Joshua to go to his school this day. The vampire will, in all likelihood, try to strike at us through him."

"I agree," Stefan said. "The boy is the most vulnerable."

"Use Vinnie and Rusty again. Keep them around for the next few days," Aidan advised. He glanced up at the sky through his dark glasses. "The trouble will come today."

Stefan nodded in agreement. "I will keep a close watch. There will be no fire this time to destroy all we have built." He looked down at the ground, still ashamed of a past catastrophe even though it was not his fault.

Aidan clapped him on the shoulder. "Without you, Stefan, no one would have survived that day, perhaps not even me." He had been safely buried beneath the soil, but the loss of his "family" would have been devastating. Because of that time, so many years earlier, when a vampire had used a human to try to trap them in an inferno, and he had lain helpless beneath the soil, he had redoubled his studies and his safeguards, strengthening his power and abilities. Never again would he be caught unable to aid those he cared about.

Joshua's laughter reached him, and the soft, carefree sound did something to his heart. The child touched him in ways no other had. He was so like Alexandria, so filled with the joy of living, and he had the same beautiful blue eyes.

"No one will harm the boy, not if I live," Stefan said firmly.

Aidan turned away. He did not want Stefan, who knew him so well, to realize how those words filled him with dread For all his powers, Aidan was vulnerable in the sunlight, and a vampire could use human puppets, minions, to capitalize on the weakness the day brought. Even with his ability to project during the daylight hours, a feat few of his kind had accomplished, Aidan would still be leaving Stefan without his physical aid, and Stefan was no longer a young man. Aidan did not want to lose his friend any more than he wanted to lose Joshua.

Joshua burst from the kitchen laughing, his blond curls bouncing. "Help me, Aidan, she's after me!" he hollered as he charged toward them.

Stefan stepped squarely in front of his prize tulips, while Aidan glided in to wall off the roses. He caught Joshua's flying figure with one hand and swept him up to his shoulders. "Who is after you, young Joshua?" he asked, pretending not to know.

"Don't you protect that little scalawag!" Alexandria came running after her brother, her hair bouncing in a pony tail, her sapphire eyes dancing with mischief. "You won't believe what the little monster has been hiding under his bed!"

Joshua ducked behind Aidan's neck. "Run, Aidan! She's gonna tickle-torture me, I just know it." Aidan obliged, trotting the boy into the shelter of the garage, knowing Alexandria would follow.

"Ha!" Alexandria said, unaware that she had placed herself in danger from the early morning sun. "You wish I'd tickle-torture you. I'm going to do a lot worse than that," she threatened. "Put him down, Aidan, and let me box his ears."

Joshua clutched at Aidan's thick mane of hair. "No! I'm telling you, Aidan, we gotta stick together on this."

"I do not know." Aidan pretended to think about it, winking at Stefan as he twisted and turned to protect Joshua from Alexandria's jumping attempts to reach the boy. "She looks pretty mad to me. I do not want her coming after me like that." He shifted slightly, as if he might really turn the child over to his sister.

Alexandria pretended to spring at him, laughing wickedly. At the last second, Aidan turned to keep his body between her and Joshua. Joshua grabbed him even tighter, squealing in feigned alarm.

"I'm gonna tell her!" Joshua cried. "If you don't save me, Aidan, you're gonna go down, too!" His eyes were alight with mischief.

Alexandria stopped in her tracks and glared at Aidan. "You are a party to this mutiny?"

He attempted innocence. "I have no idea what the child is trying to accuse me of to save his own life." His golden eyes were laughing, belying his words. "Remember, Alexandria, that a man will say anything to save his own skin."

"Ha!" Joshua snorted. "You tell her, Stefan. It was all Aidan's idea, and you helped, right?"

Alexandria faced the older man accusingly. "You, too? You were in on this blatant disregard for my orders?" She put her hands on her hips. "And it was an order."

The three males hung their heads in unison, looking for all the world like naughty little boys. "I am sorry, cara."

Aidan took the blame squarely on his broad shoulders. "I could not resist the little creature."

"Little? You call that little! It's a moose!"

Stefan pushed out his chest. "No, Alexandria, it wasn't Aidan. I saw the little thing, and young Joshua's face was so bright, I just had to get it."

"Little? Are we talking about the same animal here? That dog is not little. It is huge. Did either of you two pushovers take a look at the paws on that thing? They're bigger than my head!"

Joshua burst out laughing. "No way, Alex. He's really cute. You are gonna let me keep him, aren't you? You just have to. Stefan says he'll be a good guard dog someday. He says he'll look after me and be a friend if I treat him right."

"And in the meantime, he's going to eat like a horse every day." Alexandria swept a hand through her hair, her smile fading. "I don't know, Josh. I barely make enough money to feed the two of us, let alone whatever that thing is."

Aidan lifted the boy to the ground and circled Alexandria's waist with one arm. "Have you forgotten, cara? You promised to marry me. I think I can cover the cost of the dog food."

"You mean it, Aidan?" Joshua shouted, jumping up and down. "You mean it, Aidan? You're really gonna marry Alex? And I can keep my dog?"

"You'd sell me out for a dog?" Alexandria demanded, catching Joshua around the neck in mock aggression.

"Not just a dog, Alex, but this neat house and Stefan and Marie, too. Plus, you won't have to work for that bozo."

"Bozo?" Alexandria turned slowly and regarded Aidan with glittering blue eyes. "Now, how would an innocent little boy come up with a descriptive word like that?"

Aidan smiled at her, a sweet, innocent smile that should have made her feel like laughing but instead sent heat curling through her body. She tilted her chin. "You're lethal," she accused him.

He framed her face with his large hands and lowered his head slowly, purposefully. "I would hope so," he murmured right before his mouth claimed hers, sweeping her into their own private world.

But Alexandria was soon reminded they were not alone. "Holy moly," Joshua said in a loud whisper. "Can you believe that, Stefan?"

"Never saw such a display," Stefan admitted.