Lucern woke with a gasp, his body sucking oxygen deep into his lungs and just as quickly forcing it out again. The sound of his heart was like a drum in his ringing ears, and his eyes saw only darkness. That darkness slowly gave way to blurred color. Lucern lay still for several moments as his body struggled to recover, knowing he had come close to death.

He slowly became aware of pressure on his shoulder, and he glanced down, relieved to find that his eyesight had returned. He was able to see the top of a head. He couldn't see the face, but he recognized Kate's honey-blond tresses and felt an odd warmth flow through him to know she was with him.

Letting his eyes drift closed, he took stock. There was no brain damage from what he could tell; his memory was intact. Kate had saved him. The idea was a bit mind-boggling. He was used to being the warrior, the savior, the hero. But Kate had been the hero today, fending off his attacker withof all thingsa pillow.

He would have chuckled if he had the energy to do so. The woman had felled their attacker with a pillow, an attacker who had got the best of him. It really did boggle the mind. Her courage and cleverness were a formidable combination. He tried to lift his hand to caress the soft strands of her hair, wanting that further connection with her, but didn't yet have the strength.

Frustrated by his weakness and lack of control, Lucern forced himself to be patient. His body would be working like mad to send blood to repair his brain and vital organs first. Once they were in working order, the blood would concentrate on the rest of him. Then some of his strength would return.

As he lay there, he wondered about his attacker. Who was the man? It was a question he would like answered, but Lucern also wondered what had become of him. He could only assume that Kate had tended to the matter, or she surely wouldn't have fallen asleep on him. If she was asleep.

His eyes popped open again.

From prior experience with injuries, Lucern guessed that he had been unconscious for perhaps half an hour. It seemed a relatively short period of time for Kate to have handled their attacker, removed the stake from his chest and fallen asleep. This time, when he tried to move Lucern was able to raise his hand and rest it weakly against the side of her head.

Much to his relief, Kate murmured sleepily. She cuddled kittenlike against him, snuggling into his body. The action managed to relax Lucern. She was alive. Everything else could wait. He closed his eyes and fell into a light rest as his body finished its repairs.

When next he opened his eyes, it was hunger urging him back. His strength hadn't fully returnedLucern was still weak, comparatively speakingbut his weakness was equivalent to an average man's strength. Moving carefully, he shifted out from under Kate, easing her head to the floor before sitting up and peering around. He immediately spotted his attacker lying on the floor by the closet. The man was trussed like a turkey.

Luc's eyes went to the refrigerator and he noted the four slashed bags. He twitched with realization. Four bags. There had been eight left after his last feeding. Standing up, he moved to the refrigerator, pulled the door the rest of the way open and peered inside. A breath of relief slipped from his lips at the sight of four intact blood bags. He must have interrupted the fellow's work before the man got the chance to destroy the whole supply.

Lucern grabbed one of the pints and stabbed his teeth into it as he turned to survey the room. There would be a bit of work setting it to rights. He had to clean up the blood on the carpet and take care of the gentleman now imitating a bear rug on his floor.

He contemplated what to do with his assailant as he went through two more bags of blood. At last, he decided he would have to find out more before making a decision. He needed to know if this had been an attack on Luke Amirault the vampire author, or Lucern Argeneau the vampire. The difference could affect the safety of his family.

Lucern felt pretty good once he'd finished his third bag of blood. He decided to leave the fourth and final bag for later, and he closed the refrigerator door and set to work. He took care of everything as best he couldincluding handling his assailantthen turned his attention to Kate, who still lay sleeping in the middle of his floor. He debated whether to take her back to her room, but the last he had seen she had hit her head on the closet rod. He didn't like the idea of leaving her alone all night. What if the injury caused her some difficulty later? She should sleep here in his room, though not on the floor.

Moving to her side, Lucern knelt and slipped his hands under Kate, then lifted her into his arms. She barely stirred as he carried her over and laid her on the bed. He noticed the strip of cloth around her wrist as he started to straighten. Picking up her hand, he unwrapped the makeshift bandage. Concern filled him. The gash in her flesh had clotted and was no longer bleeding, but he couldn't tell how deep it was. He didn't think she needed stitches, since it was already closed, but

He grabbed the phone and called down to the front desk, requesting bandages and antiseptic, then pondered how she might have received the injury. The only thing he could think of was that she had gotten it somehow during the battle. He now regretted letting the man go so lightly. He should have

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the outer door. The first-aid items had arrived. He went and got them without letting the bellhop in, then went back to attend to Kate. He cleaned her injury and carefully wrapped it, then set her hand gently on her chest and pulled the covers up over her.

He left her sleeping while he stripped off his ruined clothes and showered the blood away. Then he slid into bed, too, being sure to stay as far away from her as he could. He didn't want to risk bumping Kate's arm or have her getting upset when she awoke. He would sleep on his side of the bed.

Of course, he hadn't considered that Kate might not stay on her side. He had just started to doze off when Kate rolled over, throwing her hand across his chest and snuggling up like she belonged there. Oddly enough, it felt like she did.

Kate was slow to wake, almost reluctant to face the world. It took a moment for her foggy brain to remember what had happened; then Lucern's image slipped into her mind. She stiffened and opened her eyes. The first thing her gaze fell on was Lucern's chin. She stared at it for a moment, then reluctantly lowered her eyes to his chest, afraid to find the gaping hole there. When she saw bedding, she sat up abruptly, startled to find herself in bed with him. Her gaze swept the room in confusiononly to find it all in order. Had it all been a dream? she wondered vaguely.

Her eyes fell on the floor in front of the mini-refrigerator, and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. Obviously, someone had tried to wash away blood, and had managed to remove the worst of it, but there was still a large, faint stain. Turning back to Lucern, Kate tugged the blankets down.

A sob surprised her by breaking from her throat at the sight of his unmarred chest. Both relieved and amazed, she ran the tips of her fingers lightly over the perfect skin there, then she closed her eyes and tried to calm her wildly beating heart. He was alive!

A warm hand closed over hers, and Kate opened her eyes again. Lucern was awake, and he peered at her and clasped her hand.

"You saved my life," he said solemnly. "Thank you."

Kate glanced away, her gaze finding the closet and the empty floor in front of it. "The man who attacked you"

"I cleared his mind and sent him home."

She stared at him in horror. "Sent him home? He attacked you."

"I could hardly call the police and try to explain the situation," Lucern pointed out. He shrugged, then added, "Besides, he wasn't well. His mind is wrong."

"Why did he attack you? Was he at the conference? Does he"

"No, he wasn't a conference attendee. He lives here in the city. Apparently, his wife was a big romance fan. When she left him, he wanted someone to blame it on. He decided it was all those books she was reading." He shrugged. "He started reading them for himself, and when he got to mine, he got the idea that I was a vampire. He saw our picture in the paper and knew that I was in town, and he decided that I had taken control of his wife's mind and lured her away from him. He began to believe that if he could just destroy me, her mind would be set free. He believed she would come back to him."

Kate stared at Lucern, her thoughts racing. He sounded so understanding.

She had felt helpless and useless last night, and had suffered a great sense of loss at the possibility that he might be deadmore loss than was appropriate for one of her writers. There was really no use fighting it anymore. Kate knew her feelings for this man ran deep. She had thought him brilliant and talented before ever meeting him, had found him surly and rude on arriving at his home, then had seen other sides of him slowly show themselves, like the legs, arms and head of a turtle. She had come to see that the hard shell he showed the world was just that, a shell, a shield meant to protect himself. He was smart and strong, but he was also compassionate and kind. A man had nearly killed him, and yet Lucern found it in his heart to feel sorry for him. She heard the compassion in his voice. It was as soft and open as his expression. His shield seemed to be missing entirely this morning, and she had no idea why. She almost wished it weren't so. Perhaps then she would be able to battle the wealth of feelings welling up within her.

"Kate?"

Her eyes refocused on his face.

"How is your head?" he asked. "I saw you hit it on the clothing rod before I lost consciousness last night."

"My head is in bad shape," she told him solemnly.

Concern entered his gaze. "It is?" He sat up and reached for her, his fingers running gently over the back of her head. "I took a look last night, but there wasn't much of a bump. I thought" He fell silent when she placed her hand against his chest where the stake had been. The bedding pooled around his waist, leaving endless flesh bare to her view.

He looked fine. Still, Kate knew he would need to replenish the blood used to repair his body. She would also have to replace the bags of blood the attacker had destroyed. Luc needed enough to see him through the rest of the conference. It was Saturday morning, six a.m, she saw with a glance at the bedside clock. There was only that day and the next to get throughbut Lucern had been injured and would need a large infusion. She was willing to offer him her own. Unlike last night, this time it would be a pleasure to give it. He would make sure of that, she knew. Her fingers moved across his chest of their own accord.

His skin was slightly cool to the touchnot the cold flesh of a corpse, but a degree or two cooler than her own. It felt nice. Kate almost felt as if she were suffering a temperature, but knew her overheated flesh had nothing to do with ill health and everything to do with the naked man in bed next to her. She was pretty sure he was naked. She had learned that first morning that he slept in the nude, and she vaguely recalled her legs scraping bare skin as she had shifted this morning. Of course, he might be wearing jockey shorts or something.

Lucern caught her wayward hand in his, ending her mental debate as to whether he was naked. Kate dragged her gaze from his lap where it had drifted. He caught her eyes with his own, held them as he raised her hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss to her palm.

Kate's breath caught. His caress caused a tingling in her palm that ran up her arm, eliciting from her a small shiver.

"Does your head hurt very badly?" he asked.

Kate slowly shook her head. "That's not what I meant by its being in bad shape, Luc."

"Then, what ?"

Kate ignored his question and raised her hand to caress his cheek. The clean bandage on her wrist surprised her. "Did you?"

"Yes." He caught her hand and drew it to his mouth. Again he pressed a kiss on her palm just above the edge of the bandage. There was a flicker of anger in his eyes. "Did he do this?"

"No. I did," she admitted. "To help you."

His gaze followed hers to his chest, and realization dawned on his face. It softened the anger of a moment before.

"Kate," he began, his voice husky. But she didn't want his gratitude. She hadn't done it wholly for him. Her reasons were much more complex and partially selfish. She had done it for herself. Because she couldn't imagine a world without him in it. She didn't want to, and she didn't want a thank you. She wanted to give him the chance to take the blood he no doubt needed, and she wanted him.

"I want you," she admitted. "You're one of my writers, a vampire in serious need of blood, you nearly died last night, we both could have died, and yet now, this morning, I don't care about any of that. I want to push you back on the bed, crawl on top of you and take you inside me."

Lucern stared at Kate, his mind blanked by her words, filled with the image she painted. He could see her pushing him back, dragging the sheets and blankets aside, shrugging out of the bulky terrycloth robe she wore, then shifting over him and reaching down to guide him into her.

A moment before, what she suggested would have been impossible. His body would not have cooperated. Now, however, he was awake and peering expectantly up from under the blankets. Damn, he thought with mild amazement, there was definitely something to be said for modern, aggressive women.

Clearing his throat, Lucern managed a smile. "I think that idea shows merit," he said.

Oddly, his gruff formal words had the effect of making Kate burst out laughing. Lucern was trying to decide if he should join her or be affronted when she suddenly sobered, straightened beside him on the bed, and untied her robe. She slipped it off her shoulders. As it pooled around her waist, she said solemnly, "I hope you have a condom."

Lucern stared at the pale creamy flesh of her body. He had gotten her almost naked just days before in this very room, but he hadn't had the view he had now. Kate was slender and shapely, her curves generous but not overly so. She had rosy nipples, which topped breasts pointing at him like a pair of binoculars. He wanted to reach out and grasp them as he would binoculars, but rather than look through them, he wanted desperately to lick and suck and

"A condom?" he asked, as if he'd never heard the word before. Fortunately, his mind cleared enough for him to grasp the meaning: she was concerned about the sexual diseases of the day. "Oh. Not to worry; diseases can't survive in my body."

He smiled one of his rare smiles, pleased to be able to pass along the information. Not having a condom wouldn't be a problem. Besides, at that moment, he was positive that a condom wouldn't be sufficient. Many would be needed. Many, many, he thought as he reached out to run his finger over one of her erect nipples.

He glanced up with a start when Kate slapped his hand away. Much to his dismay, she didn't appear impressed with his announcement. She was frowning.

"But don't vampires have sperm?"

Lucern had to think about that question for a moment before his poor besotted mind understood. Sperm? Sex. Babies. Oh!

"Oh!" He glanced wildly around the room, his mind working frantically. He didn't have a condom. He didn't use condoms. STD's weren't a fear to him, and pregnancy had never been much of a concern. It was rare for a human and his sort to manage a baby. His cousin, the mad scientist of the clan, had explained why to him, but he couldn't remember at the moment. Still, he didn't think Kate would take that rare chance. He needed a condom.

"Uh, just a minute. Just uh" Sweeping the blankets aside, he leapt from the bed and grabbed the bloodstained pants he'd removed last night. He began searching through the pockets. When he found his wallet, he took it out and smiled at heran admittedly pained smile. "I just have to er just one minute."

He ran out of the room and into the living room. He paused halfway to the door to the hall when she shouted, "You don't plan on going to buy some, do you? You're naked, Luc!"

That stopped him.

"Luc?"

"No. No, I'm notJust a minute," he finished at last, his mind feverish. He considered dressing, but then an image of Kate rose in his mind. No, there wasn't time to dress. What if she changed her mind? Had second thoughts? He couldn't risk that. It would be faster if

Hurrying to the phone, he snatched it up and dialed the front desk.

"Good morning," a cheerful female voice sang. "Front desk. Can I help you?"

"Condoms," Lucern blurted.

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Condoms. I need condoms," he barked.

"I see, sir." The cheerfulness went out of the voice. "What size?"

"Size?" They had sizes? Lucern peered down at himself. "Big."

"Of course, sir. They're always big," the voice said dryly. "Your choices are fitted, regular, large or extra large."

Lucern stared down at himself again. He seemed smaller than he had been moments ago. His erection was dwindling. He decided to forgo the extra large. "Large."

"Luc? What are you doing?"

Lucern turned to find Kate standing naked in the bedroom doorway, her gaze moving nervously between him and the door to Chris's room. His gaze swept her from top to toe, and he was grateful that his eyesight hadn't been damaged last night. Neither had his sense of smell. Her sweet, spicy scent was wafting to him, surrounding him with its succulence. She smelled good enough to eat. That thought brought other thoughts to mind: licking every inch of her flesh and

"Luc?" Kate was starting to look concerned. "Are you all right? You look odd."

"Sir?"

Lucern's gaze dropped to his erection. He said into the phone, "Make that extra large."

"Extra large what? Lucern, what are you doing?" Kate asked. She was starting to sound irritated.

"Just a minute," Lucern barked into the phone. Setting it on the table, he hurried to Kate's side to catch her by the arms. "I'll be right there. Go back to bed. You have goosebumps." She had them everywhereon the arms his hands were absently caressing, on her breasts which his eyes were caressing, onPerhaps extra large wouldn't be big enough.

Shaking his head, Lucern turned Kate around and pointed her toward the bed. "I'll be right there. I promise."

"But"

Lucern closed the door on her protest and hurried back to the phone. "Hello?"

"Yes, sir." The woman was definitely annoyed at waiting. "Now, what size package do you want? We have six-packs, twelve-packs, twenty-four and thirty-six."

"Six, twelve, twenty-four and thirty-six?" Lucern repeated. This was like some sort of test. Dear God, he couldn't think. The scent of Kate still enveloped him, and his brain had gone all fuzzy. He wondered briefly if he shouldn't have consumed more blood. Perhaps he had lost more than he'd thought, and his blood supply was so low that his body was now having to take blood from elsewhere to support his erection. If so, it had definitely chosen to remove it from his brain. His thoughts were as muddy as a pigsty after a rainfall.

"Sir?"

"All of them," he said at last. The more the merrier.

"Lubricated or nonlubricated?"

"Urgh," Lucern choked into the phone.

"Very good. Lubricated," the woman said. "Now do you want For Her Pleasure, Ribbed, Ultra-fit, Extra Strength, Ultra Pleasure, Shared Sensation, Textured, Sensitive, Ultra-thin, Magnum, Supra, Pleasure Mesh, Extended Pleasure or Magnum XL?" The woman sounded like she was really enjoying herself.

Lucern wasn't. He peered down to see that his erection was definitely suffering from this barrage of questions. It was a sad sight, and he whimpered into the phone.

"I'll just send a variety, shall I?"

Lucern was sagging against the table in relief when she added, "That should be no more than half an hour. Have a good day, sir."

Lucern was erect at once. Well, his body was. His penis was still flagging as he roared, "Half an hour?" into the phone.

His answer was the dial tone.

"Luc?"

He slammed down the phone and turned to find his bedroom door open again. Kate was once again standing in it. But, she had re-donned her robe. He noted this with horror, his sinking heart telling him that the moment was passing. If he didn't do something soon, she was going to change her mind. Uncertainty was already creeping into her expression. "Maybe we should just give this a pass. You're one of my writers, and it probably isn't very professional to"

Lucern almost groaned aloud. This was exactly what he'd feared might happen. Faced with it now, he did the only thing he could think of. Crossing the room, he caught her in his arms and kissed her. It was no "Good morning, nice to see you" kiss. It was "I want your body hot, sweaty and plastered against mine." Kate hesitated the barest moment, thenmuch to Lucern's reliefgave in with a moan. She melted against him.

Lucern's erection gave him a thumbs-up. It poked at Kate's robe. That was enough to urge him to take her in his arms and carry her to the bed. Setting her on her feet beside it, he quickly removed her robe and tossed it aside, then set to work convincing her she hadn't made a mistake on admitting she wanted him.

His planhe began to worship her bodywas to drag out the foreplay until the condoms arrived. Half an hour shouldn't be any problem at all. It would take that long to make his way across every inch of her skin. He started with her breasts, sweeping his hands up beneath them and catching their bottoms with his thumbs as the rest of his fingers closed around the sides. Then he bent his head and took one perfect nipple into his mouth. He would coax it back to its former glorious state of erection.

Kate moaned and shuddered as her nipple pebbled in Lucern's mouth. She had begun to think this wasn't a very good idea when Lucern left her side, but now, as he suckled on her breast, drawing its peak into his mouth and pulling her desire back from where it had briefly hidden, she let her doubts drift away. She wanted him. Oh, yes, how she wanted him.

Her hands roamed over his shoulders and down his back, clawed his flesh as he nipped playfully at hers.

Lucern chuckled against her breast and urged her onto the bed. He lay atop her at once, his mouth finding hers and devouring it. Kate kissed him back with every ounce of her being, her hands sliding into his hair and holding him there as she did. Then she let her hands drift down over his body.

Lucern stiffened against Kate, his eyes closing with pleasure as her fingers wrapped around his erection. She squeezed gently before sliding her hand along its length.

Ah, the aggressive modern woman, he thought vaguely. Renaissance and Regency women had been much more timid. Not all of them, of course, but the majority had allowed the man to set the pace and do most of the work. Not his Kate, however. She grabbed for the gusto, urging him on, and once again Lucern saw that there was something to be said for modern women after all. They were smart, business savvy, sexy as hell and not afraid to go after what they wanted. They were

Horrible, he thought suddenly as he thrust into her caress. He had half an hour to kill before the condoms arrived. He hadn't been with a woman for a while. Several hundred years of sex had rather stolen the novelty of it, and he had grown tired of the bother more than fifty years ago. He'd led a rather asexual life since. However, Kate had reinvigorated that side of himwith a vengeance. And if she continued to touch and caress him the way she was, he was going to lose control like a teenager. Oh, this wasn't good.

Reaching down, Lucern caught her by the wrist and pulled her hand away. He broke their kiss and moved down her body, shifting his erection out of reach. He was determined to keep her busy and excited until the condoms arrived.

Kate moaned with mingled desire and displeasure when Lucern's mouth slid from hers and he began licking and nibbling his way down her body. She had the brief thought that it was a shame he didn't have two mouths so she could continue to kiss him as he ravaged her flesh.

Catching the hand that had stopped hers from exploring, she drew it to her mouth. Grabbing one thick finger, Kate sucked it into her mouth and nipped. Lucern paused to pay special attention to her breasts.

Her body tingled everywhere, and Kate shifted restlessly beneath Luc, clutching his hand and gasping as his mouth dropped to her belly. The muscles in her stomach contracted and rippled under his onslaught; then they clenched as he moved lower still and urged her legs apart. Oh, this was She hoped he wouldn't bite her there.

The thought, silly as it was, forced a gasping laugh from her lips, but it died as quickly as it was born. What he was doing to her didn't leave breath or thought for such concerns, and moments later she didn't care if he did bite her so long as he didn't stop everything else.

Dear God, he would kill her with pleasure and she would be happy in the dying, she thought dazedly.

Then, losing the capacity to think as her body imploded, she cried out, arching her hips upward and tearing at the bedsheets. She shuddered out of control, grabbing Lucern's shoulders as he shifted. The only thing that would make this better was to have him inside her. She was sure of it. "Please, Lucern," she gasped.

"What is it, sweet?" he asked as he lay between her legs.

"I want you inside me. Put on the condom," she begged. When he stiffened and paused, she frowned. "Luc?"

"Er" Much to her dismay, he pulled away from her. "I, er"

"Didn't you get a condom?" she asked. "I thought"

"Yes, yes. I, er, I just forgot it in the other room," he assured her quickly. Pushing himself from the bed, he added, "I'll er just be a moment. Stay here."

Then he hurried out of the room, pulling the door closed behind him.