Page 69 of Kiss of Wrath

“Hey, it was a joke, all right? Don’t get your Dracula cloak in a twist.” Even though she wasn’t serious, Miranda was somewhat miffed that he’d reacted so strongly to the idea of marriage with her.

“I do not joke about marriage,” he said.

“No kidding! You don’t joke about anything, as far as I can tell.” Before he had a chance to respond, she added, “Of course, I understand why you would feel the way you do, considering your circumstance.”

In a clear attempt to deflect her away from that forbidden subject, he asked, “Have you never wed?”

“Nope.”

“Why?”

“No time, no right man.”

“But there have been men?”

“Are you trying to find out if I’m a virgin? A thirty-four-year-old virgin?” She should have been insulted, but instead was just amused.

“No.” He paused. “But I would not be averse to hearing your answer.”

She said nothing.

“Well?” he prodded.

“It’s none of your business.”

“Neither is my ‘circumstance,’ but that does not stop you from barging in.”

Okay, so he didn’t want to talk about the tragedy in his life. She could respect that, even if she was curious. Maybe later he would open up to her. In the end, most of her clients admitted that talking about their problems really did help. “We’re almost to the end of the Strip,” she pointed out. “Turn right at the next light and go over one block, then right again. My office will be about a half mile after that.” When he pulled up to the curb outside her building, she asked, “Do you want to go in? We’re on the fifth floor.”

“No. I’ve already seen it.” He put the car in park but did not turn the ignition off.

Now, that was alarming! She was still suspicious of the man, somewhat. Had he been stalking her? “When?” she asked in a voice she couldn’t stop from being icy.

“Earlier today, when the children were in school.”

“I didn’t see you.”

“You were at the courthouse.”

She pondered whether he could be telling the truth or not. “It’s impossible for you to have done everything you did today and drive into the city, park your car, take the elevator to my office floor, then walk around and survey my work space.”

“I did not drive.”

This story was getting more and more bizarre. “Okay, I’ll bite. How did you get here? Fly?”

He should have smiled, but then, he never smiled. “I probably would not mind a bite from you.” Again, no smile. “No, I did not fly. I teletransported. By the by, I do not like your sarcasm.”

“What? First you are a Viking. Then a vampire. Then an angel. Now you teletransport, like a bleepin’ ‘Beam me up, Scotty,’ or whatever the hell teletransporting is. And don’t forget, a nanny-slash-house manager. I’ll tell you what I don't like. The way you—”

She had no chance to continue because he leaned over and placed both hands on either side of her face, turning her for a kiss. Just before his lips met hers, he murmured against her mouth, “You talk too much.” They were both constrained by their seat belts, but that didn’t stop the kiss from being a powerful expression of the sexual chemistry that sparked between them at first touch.

He groaned his pleasure, which acted like an aphrodisiac to her, proof that he found her desirable, that he wanted her. Because, God help her, she wanted him, too.

She felt the muscles of his arms bunching as he held a tight rein on his passion. He was attempting to resist her. She, overcome with passion herself, would not let him and licked the seam of his lips.

“You, my lady witch, are as tempting as Eve ever was in the Garden of Eden,” he said.

Whether it was a complaint or a compliment, she wasn’t sure. And didn’t care. “That would make you Adam,” she responded with another teasing lick.