She said it defiantly, both to him and to the vampire if he was monitoring their conversation. She didn’t think it was possible, but then she had not thought it possible that anyone but Gabriel could “hear” their private path. All Carpathians communicated on a common mental path, but this was different. Gabriel was her lifemate. Their path was an individual, very intimate, personal one. No other should have been able to penetrate their private communication. Lucian was indeed powerful and unique. As she emerged into the darkness of night that was her world, into the fresh air where she could breathe without the stench of human suffering, Gabriel materialized beside her, his strong arm encircling her slender waist.
Francesca’s heart nearly stopped, his presence was so unexpected. “I thought you were establishing an alibi somewhere.”
“It is not so hard, honey, to send vivid images to those humans I have touched already. The judge and I have spent a pleasant evening together in his home. He plays chess, did you know that? Naturally I was the victor, but it was a close game. He believes I drank his favorite brandy with him and conversed on all sorts of subjects. As he resides alone, it was not at all complicated to plant the memories in his mind.”
“There was another murder?” Francesca asked unnecessarily. “It was Lucian, wasn’t it? What is he doing? What does he hope to gain?”
Gabriel shrugged easily, the movement a subtle ripple of power. “He seeks to draw me into his web. Do not worry, honey, he will not defeat me at the scene of one of his kills. He may be high and powerful from one of his kills, but I know his ways. I know the way he does battle, how he thinks and moves and plans. He will be far more clever than an ordinary vampire. He has a master plan. This is just beginning, rather like the opening moves in a chess game.” He bent his head to inhale her fragrance, needing in that moment to bury his face in the warmth of her neck. He could feel the age-old call of her pulse, her blood, the essence of life calling to him. His body was hard and aching and his hunger intensified.
Francesca was shocked at how her body was responding to his. Every cell was alive. Inside, heat was spreading at the mere sight of him. Even with the vampire stalking them and Brice out to blacken Gabriel’s name, all she could think about was Gabriel’s hard body, the heat of his skin, the softness of his long hair, the perfection of his mouth.
“Stop it.” There was a husky sensuality to Gabriel’s voice. The words were low and his hand bit into her ribs just beneath her breast so that every step they took she could feel the brush of his thumb against the underside of her swelling flesh. “I am trying to be the hunter, the legend you have named me. Do not tempt me. I am not nearly as strong as I would like to think.”
She smiled up at him, her long lashes concealing the sudden hunger in her eyes. She liked the way she felt beside him, safe and protected. Cared for. She had been so alone for so long. Let him hunt another time.
Gabriel stopped abruptly and caught her chin in his hand. “I was alone, too, Francesca. All those empty years. Totally alone. You are cared for now. And safe. And protected. You are my reason for existing, the air I breathe.” His thumb feathered along the side of her face. His black gaze burned over her, needing. Needing. He took her breath away whenever his eyes moved over her so possessively.
“I want you.” She said the words in the same low tone he had used. She wanted him on fire, unable to resist temptation. She no longer wanted him in control. It was contrary of her and she knew it was wrong of her. He had a job to do, she shouldn’t distract him, she shouldn’t seem to know that he needed to be with her in the same way she needed to be with him. She knew she was playing with explosives, but it didn’t matter to her. The world was caving in around her and she wanted his arms and his body and the hot flames only he could ignite. She wanted him no longer thinking and in control; she wanted him needing her beyond anything else. Beyond hunting Lucian.
He made a sound low in his throat, easily reading her every thought. “You are not making this easy, Francesca. We are in an open place and it is becoming difficult to take a step without pain.”
A slow smile tugged at her mouth. Her hand brushed his chest, dropped lower to caress the inviting bulge that was already hard and thick. Her long fingernails raked the fabric, teasing him, deliberately arousing him further. She took the lead toward the river, her body enticing him with every step. Her breasts were aching and swollen with need and her hunger was rising sharply. Inside her mind were hot, erotic pictures. “It isn’t as if we will not know if someone comes along,” she whispered softly. Francesca reached up and began to slowly unfasten the buttons of her blouse as they approached the shelter of some trees.
Gabriel watched in complete fascination as the edges of her blouse slowly parted to reveal her creamy breasts thrusting so invitingly toward him. Her smile was pure seduction. “You think to resist me, lifemate?”
“We are not in a safe place,” he replied, but his black gaze was burning over her naked skin so intensely, her nipples hardened in response. He had scanned the area just as she had. He knew they were alone, and the knowledge didn’t help his discipline at all. He knew that if someone came along the river, he was perfectly capable of shielding their presence.
She dragged the shirt from his shoulders, wanting to see the ripple of power in his hard muscles. Her hand moved over his skin, her fingers imprinting the memory of him on her brain for all time. “I want to feel what you’re feeling,” she said softly. “I want to know what I can do to your body, to your mind.” Her hands went to his waistband and with deliberate slowness she opened the material so that he spilled out thick and hard and throbbing with fullness and need. At once the warmth of her hands cupped him, her fingers committing him to memory.
Gabriel groaned with pleasure, allowed her mind to fully merge with his so that she could feel the intensity of his enjoyment, the lust rising sharply in him, the hunger threatening to consume him. Her long silken hair brushed his sensitive tip as she found his chest with the warmth of her mouth, her soft lips following the path her fingers had taken. Another groan escaped as she moved ever lower, so slowly he thought he might die before she touched him.
Her lips moved over the hard length of him, her tongue tasting him, gently at first. Then her mouth, hot and tight, took him to a place he had never imagined, took her there with him. Francesca could feel every pleasure she gave him, knew exactly what he wanted, what he needed. Her hand found the tight muscle of his buttocks through the material of his trousers and urged him deeper into her, reveling in the power she wielded in that moment. She reveled in the fact that he could do nothing but thrust his hips helplessly, his fists clenched in her silken hair. It felt like nothing she had ever experienced, hot and sexy and so erotic. It seemed incredible to have such power over a legendary being.
He muttered her name, his head thrown back, his voice husky with need. He dragged her up to him, fastening his mouth to hers, hard and relentless, dominating, hungry, intensely masculine.
He kissed her until he was drowning in her, merged so deeply he didn’t know where she started and he left off.
Francesca. His life. The air he breathed. His arms tightened possessively. His lips drifted from the heat of her silken mouth to her throat, down lower to find her creamy breast, soft and full and inviting. His lips closed over the hard peak, pulled strongly, a torment for both of them.
She circled his head with her arms, cradled him to her. “Tell me this is real, Gabriel, this is us, you and me, not the Carpathian heat rising between us.” There was a plea in her voice, an aching need for it to be real.