Page 8 of Tamed By Her Touch

There was a long, terrible silence and then…

“What,” a deep, rumbling voice said from behind her, “are you doing?”

Clair closed her eyes. Well, shit—she was caught.

Slowly, she turned and saw Kaelus, standing in the doorway.

The huge Hybrid looked even bigger than usual because his broad shoulders nearly filled the entrance. His golden eyes were fixed on her, then on the MRA, then back on her again. His expression went from disbelief to horror to fury in approximately three seconds.

“Now before you get upset—” Clair began, raising both hands in a “don’t shoot” gesture.

“Get away from my analyzer!”

The roar was loud enough to make her jump. Unfortunately, the sudden movement caused her elbow to bump the edge of the specimen tray.

Kaelus lunged forward and Clair gasped as one enormous arm shot past her, catching the tray before it could hit the floor. At the same time, his other hand closed around her waist and pulled her back against his massive chest, keeping her from stumbling into the analyzer.

For one strange second, neither of them moved.

Clair was suddenly extremely aware of the fact that Kaelus was holding her, and Lord, he was big.

She had known that intellectually, of course. It was difficult to miss a seven-and-a-half-foot tall male who had shoulders like a professional linebacker and arms thicker than most women's thighs. But knowing he was enormous and actually being pressed against all that hard, warm muscle were two very different things.

His hand was wrapped possessively around her hip. And despite all the growling and glaring and general bad temper, he smelled wonderful—warm and masculine with a faint spicy scent she couldn't identify but which drew her to him in a way she didn’t understand.

Then Kaelus seemed to realize what he was doing. He released her so abruptly that Clair almost stumbled again.

“Don’t move,” he growled.

“Well, make up your mind, big guy,” Clair exclaimed, flustered. “First you're dragging me all around and now I'm not allowed to move?”

“I was preventing you from destroying a piece of equipment worth more than the annual scientific budget of your entire state of Georgia!”

“Oh, please!” Clair exclaimed. “I wasn't going to destroy anything.”

“You were about to knock an active sample onto the floor,” he accused.

“Because you came in here roaring like a pissed-off lion and scared the hell out of me!” she snapped, glaring up at him.

“I wouldn’t have to roar if you would obey my rules!” he shot back.

“Oh my God, not your precious rules again.” Clair rolled her eyes and Kaelus's expression darkened.

“Yes, the rules again! You have broken every one of them!”

“I have not!” she denied.

He pointed toward the black tape barrier on the floor.

“Rule number one—you are standing on my side of the laboratory.”

Clair looked down and saw it was true—both of her feet were well across the black line.

“All right, fine, so I broke rule number one,” she said, shrugging.

But Kaelus wasn’t finished.

“Rule number two—you are using my equipment,” he pointed out.