She sighed at her image in the mirror. She looked the same but different. More... She didn’t exactly know what. Just more. The dress clung like a second skin, emphasizing her full breasts and tiny waist. It could have been designed just for her. She ran a hand down the soft material covering her thigh. Her heart slammed against her throat when she looked up to find Aidan’s golden eyes watching her in the mirror. He stood behind her, his tall, powerfully built frame, his blond good looks complementing her own. She could taste him in her mouth. They made an erotic picture in the mirror, Aidan tall and heavily muscled, with his brilliant, hungry eyes, Alexandria slender and petite and pale.

“You look beautiful, Alexandria,” he said softly.

His voice was compelling, whispering over her skin with the same heat as the velvet dress. She couldn’t read his expression, only feel the molten gold of his gaze.

“I—I won’t be out late,” she stammered like a wayward teenager. And then she would have given anything to take the words back. Aidan didn’t smile, didn’t change expression.

She felt a shiver go down her spine. All at once her defiance seemed stupid, like baiting a tiger. That unblinking stare. Was he going to let her go? Only moments earlier she had been somewhat depressed that he would. Now she wanted nothing more than to run for her life, far away from him.

He shook his head slowly. “ Dio,Alexandria. You persist in thinking me a monster. Take great care, piccola, that you do not create one.” He left the room as silently as he had entered.

She trembled at the threat. She touched her mouth. He had been staring at it. Her lips tingled so, she swore she could feel the brush of his mouth against hers. She closed her eyes, savoring the feel of him, then cursed that he could so easily control her. She was human. Human! And she was determined to stay that way.

Alexandria lifted her chin. She would not be swayed by his sex appeal, and she would not be intimidated by his threats. She slipped on her shoes and glided regally down the stairs.

Thomas had arrived precisely on time and was waiting for her in the living room, grateful that Aidan Savage had chosen not to inflict his presence on him. His breath caught in his throat as Alexandria entered. She seemed to be more beautiful each time he saw her. She amazed him, haunted him, wrapped him up until he could think of nothing but her. His work was suffering, as a result. He was daydreaming about her when he was supposed to be completing the story line for his latest video game. He even dreamed of her at night, hot, erotic dreams he had every intention of making come true.

“Thomas, this was such a good idea.” She greeted him in a voice that seemed to penetrate right to his heart and stir a response somewhat lower in his body as well.

Then he felt the weight of those damned golden eyes on him. Relentless. Merciless. They saw his reaction and damned him for it. Aidan Savage lounged with deceptive laziness in the doorway, one hip resting against the wall, his arms across his chest. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. His mere presence struck terror into Thomas’s soul. Thomas took Alexandria’s cape and enveloped her in it, breathing in her perfume. “You look extraordinary, Alexandria. No one would ever know you’d been ill.”

Aidan did stir then, a mere rippling of muscles suggestive of a lethal predator. “Nevertheless, she has been extremely ill, Ivan. I trust you will see to it that she is well cared for and returned home early.”

Thomas smiled suavely, oozing charm. Damn the man, he wasn’t a teenager escorting his first date to the prom. He deliberately took Alexandria’s hand in his, knowing it would annoy her blond guard dog. “Not to worry, Savage. I intend to take very good care of her.” He urged her to the door, anxious to be away from Savage and his living, breathing, monstrous house.

Alexandria went with him willingly, seemingly as eager as he was. Out in the night air she stopped and took a deep breath. “He can be a bit overwhelming, can’t he?” she said, smiling. Smiling to rival the stars. Freedom. Blessed freedom. It didn’t matter at that moment that Ivan’s smile still reminded her of a shark’s toothy grin, or that she could hear his heart beating every bit as loudly as Joshua’s, or, even worse, that she could smell his arousal. She was away from Aidan Savage and his influence, and that was all she cared about.

“Overwhelming? Is that what you call it? He’s completely overbearing. The man acts as if he owns you,” Thomas burst out.

She laughed softly. “You get used to him. He can’t help it. He’s accustomed to giving orders. You probably know what that feels like,” she added mischievously.

He found himself laughing with her, relaxing as they made their way to the car he had waiting. He had deliberately hired a limo and driver to leave himself free for whatever might happen in the back seat later.

“I made a good start on the sketches, Thomas,” she volunteered, “but you didn’t specify what character traits were particularly important to you. I think you should decide ahead of time how you want individuals portrayed instead of leaving it all to me.”

“I’d prefer your input,” Thomas said, opening the door for her himself. He wanted to do it, and that surprised him. Most of the time the small courtesies he performed were only for effect. But Alexandria Houton was haunting. “Doesn’t that house bother you?”

She arched an eyebrow. “Bother me? The house? It’s beautiful. Everything about it is beautiful. Why do you ask?”

“I sometimes feel as if it’s watching me, biding its time, hating me.”

“Thomas, you’ve played too many of your own video games. What a vivid imagination.” Her laughter slid over him, touching him in places usually reserved for intimacy.

His hand inched across the seat toward hers. He wanted her more than he had ever wanted any woman. But then he glanced out the window and saw the reflection of eyes. Glowing, red, feral eyes filled with hate and the promise of retaliation, the promise of death. Unblinking cat’s eyes. The eyes of a demon. Of death. He shivered, and a moan escaped.

“What is it?” Her voice was soothing, like the soft sound of running water. “Tell me, Thomas.”

“Did you see something weird?” He was choking on fear. “Out the window, do you see anything?”

She leaned around him to look at the reflective glass. “What am I supposed to see?”

The eyes were gone as if they had never been. Was it Savage? His own imagination? He cleared his throat and managed a smile. “Nothing. I guess I just can’t believe my good fortune.”

In the close confines of a car, it was difficult for Alex to ignore her growing hunger. It seemed to gnaw at her insides, spread like a cancer. Her mind seemed to amplify the sound of blood rushing in Ivan’s veins. Beckoning, calling. But her stomach heaved at the thought of touching him, and she fought to keep a smile plastered to her face. He seemed to find every excuse to touch her, brush her leg, her arm, her hand, her hair. She hated it. Loathed it. He made her skin crawl. She hated herself for not being able to return his amorous glances, his touches.

She smiled at him, said and did all the appropriate things, but inside her stomach was rebelling. Somewhere deep inside her soul, a dread began to take shape, to spread. Thomas Ivan was an eligible bachelor, wealthy, charming, famous. Human. He shared her love of fantasy; he admired her artwork. They had much in common, yet even his lightest touch repulsed her. Inside she began to weep.

Cara mia, do you need me? Aidan’s voice crossed time and distance to find her, to wrap her in warm, protective arms.

She bit her lip. The temptation to call for him was nearly overwhelming, but she resisted. She would be human. And she would find a fellow human to love. Maybe not Thomas Ivan, but someone. I’m having the time of my life.