"Attractive?" I gave a little nonchalant laugh that sounded awfully strained. "No, not at all. Not in the least. That dead rat over there exudes more sexual attraction than you do."

"Is she blind?" I heard the girl ask someone else. "Or just stupid?"

"Hush, child, and let the reaper alone," the older woman answered.

"That's right, miss, you let him have it," another ghostly woman spoke up. "Don't do to let your man think as he can speak to you like that."

"He's not my—" I stopped before I said anything more.

Kristoff just stood there and looked at me with those uncanny eyes, making me squirm a little.

"Oh, all right, I'm lying like hell. Yes, you're very attractive, the kind of sexy that makes women want to rip off their underwear and throw themselves on you. Happy now?"

He didn't even blink, just stared at me for a second or two. "You mean as you did last night in the park?"

My cheeks burned at the memory. I glanced behind me. The ghosts were all gathered together in a half circle, watching me with interest. Even the horse seemed to be waiting to see what I'd say next. "That was a different situation entirely. And I had my undies on, thank you! Regardless of your god-amongst-men status, I don't like you. You have insulted me, deliberately intimidated me, and tried to make me feel guilty about something that is not my fault."

His eyes darkened. I swear to god, the teal color darkened a couple of shades. I watched in fascination as the black spikes from the pupils seemed to elongate and fill the iris. "When have I insulted you?"

The words snapped me back from a reverie about how bad men so often had such pretty eyes. "What? Oh. When haven't you insulted me? You wanted to kill me last night."

"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead," he said in an even tone. That scared me more than anything else.

"Oooh," one of the ghosts said as there was a general intake of breath.

"Yes, well… that aside, you told me you'd rather marry a viper than me," I told Kristoff, incensed enough that I didn't care if I was arguing in front of an audience or not.

His lips tightened. "You didn't want to marry me, either."

"They're married?" the teen asked in a sulky voice. "That just isn't right."

"No, of course I didn't want to marry you, and still don't. I don't know you, let alone have those sorts of emotions for you that usually end up in a marriage. And there's the little fact that you're an evil vampire, and I'm evidently one of the good guys, so this whole Romeo-and-Juliet scenario isn't going to work."

He took a couple of steps closer to me, his glare menacing. "If you think I harbor romantic illusions about a mere legal convenience, I urge you to rethink. I am not Romeo."

The ghosts forgotten in my ire, I took a step toward him, the toes of my shoes just a hairsbreadth from his as I leveled him a look that told him I wasn't the fool he took me for. "With the implication, I suppose, that I'm no Juliet? Well, thank you, you don't need to point that out any more than you do the fact that you don't like that Alec and I spent the night together."

A bluish fire flared to life in his eyes as he leaned in toward me. "Don't like it? Are you implying I'm jealous?"

"Of course not," I said, gathering up my tattered shreds of dignity. "I'm no stranger to the mirror, and you've made it quite clear you not only think I'm physically repulsive, but that Alec is crazy for not having the same taste as you do."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, his eyes narrowing. "I did not say you were repulsive, and I don't give a damn who Alec sleeps with. His personal life is no business of mine."

"Who's Alec?" I heard whispered behind me.

"Shhh! I think they're just getting to the good part."

"You didn't actually say the word 'repulsive,' no, but you implied that just looking at me sickens you," I said, suddenly feeling like crying. Why did I care that he thought I was a frumpy, overweight hussy? "You can't deny that the only reason you kissed me is because I made you."

"Of course I deny it." He leaned even closer until I could feel his breath. "No one can make me do anything against my will. No one."

I ignored the fact that I couldn't seem to get enough breath into my lungs and gave him a cool look. "Oh, really? So you did want to marry me?"

"I said I was willing to do whatever it took to keep you from gaining the full powers of a Zorya, and I meant it," he answered, his voice low and gritty.

The air seemed to heat up several degrees in the alleyway. "That would imply that you did want to kiss me," I said, having to clear my throat a couple of times before I could speak.

His gaze dropped to my mouth, and I was suddenly aware of a most appalling fact—I wanted him to kiss me. Right then, right there, in front of the ghosts and anyone else who wandered by. I wanted to feel his mouth on mine, and taste him again, and rub myself against him in a wholly foreign manner. But worst of all, I wanted him to force me into a kiss so that I could pretend to myself that I didn't want it at all.

Shame and disgust tumbled around with confusion and indecision inside me. How could I sleep with one man, and the next day be wanting to kiss his evil friend? What was wrong with me?

"I've never been adverse to kissing mortals," Kristoff said in his deep, unusually sexy voice. I shivered a little despite the sudden heat that was making me very aware of the clothing binding my skin. "And I don't find you repulsive."

"Oh," I said, my brain giving up any attempt at sanity and settling down to providing my mouth with really insipid things to say. "Good. You're not repulsive, either."

I swear his eyes lightened then. They went from teal blue to a light robin's egg blue, the black flares from his pupils even darker. I took a deep breath at his nearness, wondering why I could feel air going into my lungs, but still felt light-headed and breathless. My breasts rubbed against the soft leather of his jacket, the sensation making me shiver again.

"I'm glad you think so." His lips brushed mine, just the lightest of touches, more a little bump than a kiss, but with it, I finally came to my senses.

"I'm not a harlot," I yelled, grabbing two fistfuls of his jacket and shaking them. "I do not sleep with a man one day, and kiss the living daylights out of his friend the next, no matter how much I want to. I'm not that sort of girl! You're bad. You're evil. You're a vampire, dammit! But you're no Angel, and I'm no Buffy, and you can just stop making me confused about everything!"

A puzzled look was followed by a quick spike of anger in his eyes, and then he was kissing me, really kissing me, with his lips and tongue and his hands in my hair, and I lost it all again. His tongue twined around mine in an erotic, sinuous dance that made me aware of all sorts of suddenly erogenous spots on my body. I rubbed my breasts into him, allowing him to taste me, savoring the sensation of his body so hard and hot and utterly masculine.

It's a good thing he was holding on to me, because my legs started to go weak under the effect of that kiss. By the time he pulled back, I was gasping for breath, stunned with the intensity of emotions that seemed to spring from him, but which I unaccountably shared. I stared up at him in unadulterated amazement, not sure what to make of anything anymore.

His eyes were the pale blue of an icy lake. "The discussion of which of us is truly evil will have to wait for another time. You are not safe here. The mundane police are looking for you, and a number of reapers live here."

I stepped back, my face red with embarrassment at his words. I'd become my worst nightmare—a pushy, shameless woman. What must he think of me? I all but seduced him in an alleyway, for god's sake, right in front of a gaggle of ghosts, the very day after I'd spent the night with his buddy. I lifted my chin and tried to regain my composure. "I figured the police would be looking for me. I'm not afraid of the Brotherhood people, though. I know you have issues with them, but they don't pose me any threat."