WHAT are you doing?’ Alexander demanded as Miah slid soundlessly off the side of the bed like a wraith trying to avoid detection. In almost the same movement she reached for her discarded nightdress.Miah ’s upper lip was damp with perspiration. She had broken out in a literal cold sweat. Why would Alexander lie? Nor had there been anything teasing about his voice or manner. Indeed he’d had been terrifyingly matter-of-fact when he mentioned putting back the time frame for a while. A baby? She was to give him a baby as part of the contract? He had to be out of his mind!She pulled on her nightie with shaking hands, for the nakedness of intimacy seemed more wrong than ever now that she was being forced to confront the reality that to protect her sister she had deceived him. Was it possible that Mirabella could have set out to deceive her as well? It was after midnight and Miah was incredibly tired. There were no bright ideas in her mind to inspire her and no magical escape hatch in sig
‘According to what you’ve told me your sister used your name from the outset in this scam,’ Alexander reminded her very drily. ‘Obviously there was no way that she could ever have planned to marry me when she was masquerading under your name! That would have been a legal impossibility.’In receipt of that shrewd and contemptuous assurance, Miah dealt him a fuming appraisal, infuriated by his insinuations. Just then she was in the grip of shock and it was beyond her capability to compute that fact and doubt her sister’s intentions when her own actions had always been powered by family loyalty. ‘You’ve said enough—’Alexander flung open the communicating door to her bedroom in a blunt invitation for her to leave. ‘I’ve only just begun.’‘What are you going to do…now that you know?’ Miah asked nervously.‘I’m not about to be the loser in this scenario,’ Alexander drawled, smooth as silk. ‘Be assured of that. I may well prosecute you and your sister for fraud.’Miah twisted her hands t
And now she knew that it was a job she could never, ever fulfil. Alexander had been willing to pay a fortune for a discreet woman, willing to give him a child and then walk away without any hassle. What did that say about him? Her soft mouth trembled and she dug her fingers tightly into her palms. Not a guy who thought much of a woman’s maternal instincts or even of a child’s need for a mother. Not a guy who thought much of women as decent people full stop, she reckoned painfully. And all she had done was give him even more justification for his cynical attitude towards her sex!Her eyes stung with tears and she blinked rapidly and sniffed, furious that her emotions were still out of her control. But she really did feel wretched and ashamed at what she had let herself get involved in. She was thinking about the man who had impassively admitted putting his alcoholic mother to bed every night as a child. Even his loving grandmother had not managed to alter Alexander’s bleak view of fami
‘How?’‘I want you in my bed whenever I want you, and with no more nonsense about not wanting to be with me.’ Alexander lifted his arrogant dark head high, his glittering golden eyes hurling a challenge. ‘If I’m not going to get a child out of this arrangement, that will be my compensation.’Aquamarine eyes wide with alarm at that bold demand, Miah was wildly aware of the burning heat of his sensual scan of her body and she slowly turned a painful pink shade.‘And that is not negotiable in any way,’ Alexander intoned soft and low. ‘I will only let you go free if you return that money.’Miah sent him an anguished look. ‘I couldn’t just go on sleeping with you as though nothing has happened!’Alexander shrugged a broad shoulder in a show of outrageous nonchalance. ‘I think you’ll find you can, just like you did yesterday when you were the only one of us aware of the deception,’ he reminded her with a sardonic curl to his handsome mouth. ‘I’m leaving for London in an hour but you’re st
Suddenly, without a warning, Miah and Alexander had another vision as their eyes met, they knew it was them ... .in the past…standing outside Shaina’s room. “Are you Miah Del Ponce?” There was a stranger standing outside Shaina’s room. She sensed he had been lurking there for some time. Miah had scanned him, of course, that was as natural to her as breathing, and she had known he was waiting to talk with her.“The doctors here are quite remarkable,” she said softly. “Don’t you think it is much more likely they healed the child if her cancer is in remission? I go and read to the children often, but I cannot heal them, much as I would like to. Have you seen them on the cancer ward? They are so beautiful and brave. It’s rather heartbreaking. Perhaps you should visit them. The story would have tremendous human interest, don’t you think?”She buried the subtle compulsion in her suggestion carefully. The reporter shook his head as if to clear it. “I have to get the story.” She nodded gentl
“That’s a hell of a thing to say to me. I wanted Shaina to get better. I was the one who asked you to look at her in the first place. Her father had no money. Don’t forget that, Miah, while you’re so busy condemning me. And don’t think for one minute your precious Alexander has no ulterior motive when it comes to Shaina. His motive is you. He wants you and he’ll use anyone to get you. Is Alexander holding something over your head? Are you afraid of him? Is that what it is? You can tell me. I can help you. He can’t be so powerful we couldn’t fight him together.” Miah almost burst out laughing. Bert had no concept of what power really was. The two of them and an army could not defeat Alexander. “No, Bert. I’m not afraid of Alexander, but thank you for asking. I’m grateful you would want to help me.” “Why have you taken him back into your life without so much as a fight?” Bert demanded. “He just showed up on your doorstep and you let him in. Why? Why didn’t you take some time to get to
“Do not leave the hospital until I am once again with you. I am on my way.”“What if that’s just what he wants? What if he is using me to lure you out where he can harm you?” There was real fear in her voice. “He has never defeated me in battle, sweetheart. You should have more faith in your lifemate. Luther is a very unusual demon, just as he was an unusual supernatural. There is no other like him. It does no good to try to second-guess him. He always does the unexpected. He could just as easily have attacked you or Shaina. He is intelligent far beyond your imagining, just as he is more powerful than the legends have told. To guess what he is up to is impossible, but he has found you and he has found Shaina. I do not want you to set one foot into the night without me by your side.” For some reason, Miah was annoyed. “I am not about to allow this demon to change my life, Alexander. This is my city. There is much I do here, much I love. Over the centuries there have been many demons
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, Alexander, this is us, you and me, not the supernatural heat rising between us.” There was a plea in her voice, an aching need for it to be real. “Only you, Miah,” he whispered fiercely. “Look into my mind and see the truth; it is there for the taking. I want you and only you. For yourself, not just your beautiful body. For me there will never be another. No other could satisfy this desperate craving. A craving as old as time itself. Beautiful and magical.” His hand wandered over her skin, pushed low into the waistband of her jeans.“I look at you and remember the endless centuries, all those wars and battles, my people turning undead and the countless times I was