She laughed softly. “I was the one who seduced you.” She wanted to make that very clear. “Time and again.”
“It was not for lack of wanting, lady, and you well know that. I was being a gentleman.” Very gently he allowed her feet to touch the ground. “And I told you first that I loved you. Just remember that when you are being smug.”
Francesca stretched sensuously, turning her face up to the stars. “Take me home, Gabriel. Set safeguards for Skyler and take me home. I want to spend the rest of this rising making love to you.” She grinned at him mischievously. “And you remember when you’re being smug, I was the one to make the suggestion first.”
“It is only fair that you spend time with your lifemate. Soon our home will be filled with others. I think it is time you stayed with me and admitted you made a terrible mistake looking at that poor excuse for a human man.”
“He is not as bad as he is looking at the moment.” There was genuine puzzlement in Francesca’s voice. Without giving any more thought to Brice, Francesca straightened her clothes, her body very close to Gabriel’s.
“It is all right with me that you showed poor judgment in this one small area before my arrival,” he said with a straight face. “After all, you showed your common sense in all other things.”
Francesca began laughing so hard she had to fling her arms around Gabriel’s neck to keep on her feet. “I can’t believe you’re such a schmuck after two thousand years. I would think you’d have a clue how to talk to a woman.”
He bent his dark head to hers. “Sweetheart, do you want to hear me talk to you?” His voice was softer than the night sky. At once her dark eyes found his. He was looking at her with hunger. Nothing else described it. Hunger. “Because I very much want to talk to you.” His hand cupped her breast, his thumb moving gently, insistently over the hard peak of her nipple. “Can you hear what it is I am saying to you?”
Francesca shivered and wrapped her arms around him. “Let’s go home, Gabriel. Skyler needs a few more days in the hospital and I want every minute we have alone with you. Every minute.” Her mouth found his, every bit as hungry as his eyes.
* * *
Chapter Eleven
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Something terrible was going on in the city. Francesca could hardly bear to look at the news. There were strings of murders, mutilations, terrible things that seemed to be breaking out all over the city. Was it Lucian? Was he responsible for the crimes sweeping her beloved Paris? If she and Gabriel left, would he follow them? It was more than the brutal murders, it was the feel of the city, as if something evil resided there. Something dark and malevolent, crouching, awaiting its moment to rise. Somehow it seemed to permeate the city until the residents were affected. Fights broke out, wrecks occurred on the streets, and conflict erupted everywhere.
It was important to her to spend as much time as possible with Gabriel. She wanted to be with him each rising, when the night was so beautiful it took her breath away. She wanted the early morning hours. She wanted to make love to him, watch his gaze become so intent that she felt a rush of heat through her body. They had spent every moment they could together, their only responsibility checking on Skyler. Francesca wasn’t yet ready to relinquish her time with Gabriel, but he was a hunter and the newspaper reported that evil had found its way into her city. He could do no other than destroy what threatened his family.
Gabriel moved up behind her, silent as was his way, his palm shaping the nape of her neck, his touch warm. “It is not only Lucian, my love. I believe Skyler and you are targets of the undead. You are now out in the open. I have exposed you to a danger you managed to elude for long centuries. Skyler is not of age, but her ability is strong and she has come out of her own mind where she had so successfully remained in hiding. The undead seek ones such as Skyler. We need to move her to this house immediately and set up strong safeguards for her.”