The Perfect Ten Boxed Set

by Dianna Love

  “The fruits of your research?”

  “Definitely. Also the woman.”

  Eli’s lifted his left eyebrow, which for him was tantamount to gaping. “The Crawford woman?”

  The Merzetti woman, he thought, but instead he nodded. “Ainsley Crawford, yes.”

  “But why?”

  Delano inhaled, released his breath slowly. It was past time to tell Eli. He was right about that; he couldn’t do his job unless he knew the situation. “Because she’s the key. She can bring it all down, the whole vampire kingdom. And somehow, Radak must have figured that out.”

  This time Eli’s face showed no reaction. “Bring the Kingdom down? How?”

  Delano waved his hand dismissively. “It doesn’t matter how. What matters is keeping her safe. She is now my number one priority, Eli. The research must continue, but above all, her life must be preserved.”

  Eli held his gaze for a few beats. “Does she know?”

  “No.”

  “When will you tell her?”

  He ran a hand over the back of his neck. “With any luck I won’t have to.”

  The soaring eyebrow again. Twice in a single night. A record.

  “Delano, I don’t like this—”

  “In the long run, it would be better for her if she doesn’t know.”

  That was the understatement of the century. And if she did know, she could very well withhold her consent. He’d seen the look on her face when she realized her attacker was dead. Relief so profound she couldn’t hide it, but mixed with an equally strong measure of guilt and remorse. If she felt that conflicted thinking that he had killed Edward Webber to avenge the attack, imagine the turmoil she’d feel to know that, strictly speaking, it was her blood that caused his demise. Even though her role in his death had not been an active or deliberate one, even though the responsibility still lay squarely on Delano’s shoulders, he knew she would suffer for it. And if he went on to use her blood to bring down other rogues, which indeed he planned to do, she could multiply that guilt a hundredfold.

  Once upon a time, taking the decision out of her hands would have been beyond him. As a physician — hell, as a morally upright human being — he could not have crossed that line. But he was infinitely older now, and his once black-and-white world had long since dissolved into gradations of gray, a world where he frequently had to choose between the lesser of evils.

  “What about her safety? Doesn’t she have the right to know?”

  “She’ll remain under my protection until all threat is removed. And if I’m not satisfied she’ll be safe in her ignorance, I will certainly tell her the truth. But mark my words, Eli, it would pain her greatly to know. I seek only to spare her the burden. You know the work must go on.”

  Eli held his gaze for a long moment, measuring the veracity of his words. “Okay,” he said at last.

  Delano inclined his head in acknowledgement.

  “But I still don’t like it.”

  Delano narrowed his eyes. “Nevertheless, it’s my decision.”

  This time, Eli inclined his head in acceptance. “You should eat.”

  Eat. Delano’s lips twisted. Despite being a medical professional, Eli clung stubbornly to language that characterized Delano’s nightly infusion as some manner of meal. And Eli well knew he never ingested anything, beyond the occasional sip of whiskey he took just to feel the alcohol sear his throat, or maybe a sip of ice water to feel the cold.

  For better or worse, caffeine could not jolt him. No amount of alcohol consumption could produce the warm, welcome, barely-remembered buzz of inebriation. No matter how many cigarettes he smoked, they couldn’t create, and then fill, receptors in his brain to give him an instantaneous nicotine rush. The only, the sole intoxication available to him whispered in the veins of humans.

  And that was an intoxication no vampire could indulge freely, lest he become ruled by it. That was how creatures like Edward Webber were born. Far better to imbibe disembodied blood from a bag. Granted, it was like eating a K-ration when a sumptuous, aromatic buffet beckoned, but it was the only path he dared walk.

  Eli handed him the unit of blood. “You’d best eat. Ms. Crawford knows you’re awake and is probably preparing to knock down that door this very moment. I won’t be able to hold her off much longer.”

  Delano’s fingers closed around the bag of blood. Warm. Thirty-seven degrees Celsius. Body-temperature. “She waits outside?”

  “I expect so.”

  “Then send her in.”

  “But—”

  “Send her in.”

  Eli sighed. “You don’t have to do this, Delano.”

  Ah, but he really did. “She’s a nurse, Eli. I don’t think she’ll develop a case of the vapors. You didn’t.”

  “I’ve also killed men in hand-to-hand combat.”

  “Show her in, Eli.”

  Without another word, Eli turned to do his bidding.

  Chapter 7

  AINSLEY’S MOMENTUM as she entered the study carried her right past Delano. Belatedly, she caught a glimpse of him in her peripheral vision, standing still as a statue just to the left of the door.

  “Over here,” he drawled. “You seem to have overshot me.”

  She rounded on him, a flush warming her neck. The rat. No doubt he’d positioned himself there strategically so she would blow right past him. Well, she refused to feel like she was overreacting.

  “Dammit, Delano, why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because I thought you’d had quite enough rude shocks to cope with.”

  She made no attempt to stifle a snort of disbelief. “Really? So it was my welfare you were concerned about?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “And the fact that I might have declined the job had I known the boss was a blood-sucking vampire didn’t enter into your decision-making process?”

  His face hardened. “I shouldn’t have to explain to you, of all people, that there’s no sucking involved. And to answer your question, yes, that did enter into the equation. But frankly, I don’t think it would have been a deal-breaker, had I told you. You still have that crippling need to feed your bank account, and a decidedly lackluster reference from your employer.”

  “But I deserved to know!”

  “Know?” His face hardened still further, making him look even more remote. “You want to know, Ainsley? Then you shall know.”

  Suddenly, he was beside her. Just like that. One second he was standing twelve feet away, his features perfectly distinguishable. Then, the very next instant, he was there, right there, mere inches away, too close for her to adjust the focus. All she’d seen was a blur of motion.

  “Jesus!” Her hand leapt automatically to the pulse hammering in her throat.

  “Not even close.”

  He drew his lips back in a caricature of a smile, and before her eyes, the two upper cuspids telescoped into pointed fangs more fearsome and lethal looking than those of her attacker. Reflexively, she jerked back, but his hand shot out to grasp her wrist.

  “Don’t go all weak-kneed on me now, Ainsley. You want to know? Then watch and learn.”

  Then he raised what she realized was a unit of blood and sank his teeth into it. Holding her gaze, he squeezed the plastic bag, creating the pressure required to push the blood into his venous system.

  She watched, half revolted, half fascinated.

  It took thirty seconds. Maybe a little longer. When the bag was all but empty, he wrenched it from his mouth. Her eyes dropped to his teeth, to the elongated canines that gleamed red with blood. Then, drawn by motion, her gaze dropped to his chest. Beneath the black cashmere sweater he wore, his chest heaved as though he’d just run a marathon.

  Or as though he was sexually aroused.

  Her gaze jerked back to his face, and she sucked in an audible breath.

  Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

  Pure need had chiseled his features into brutally hard planes and angles. It blazed from his dark eyes and escaped in
gusts from his still parted lips.

  And deep in her belly, a dark, matching excitement unfurled.

  Oh, God.

  He’d said it was pleasurable for a woman. Intensely so. She’d doubted it then; nothing about her own experience had been anything but horrifying. Of course, that had been an assault, an act of violence, the equivalent of a rape. This would be different. Her blood thrummed with the certain, inborn knowledge that Delano Bowen could bring her pleasure beyond imagination.

  Her skin tingled. His breath on her flesh was a caress. Beneath the man’s shirt that Eli had procured for her, she felt her nipples tighten and her stomach muscles contract. Oh, God, yes.

  She let her eyelids drift down, let her head fall back, tilting it to the right to expose her neck. Trembling with the force of a raw and unfamiliar need, she waited for the searing kiss of his teeth.

  His grip on her wrist tightened to the point of pain. She gasped. Her eyes flew open, but he’d already released her. Once again, he stood on the other side of his study, this time with his back to her, shoulders tight and tense.

  “Delano?”

  “That was nothing personal.”

  She blinked, watched him dispose of the spent blood bag in a bio-hazard waste disposal unit mounted on the wall. Calmly, he took a paper towel from a dispenser, wiped his mouth, then disposed of it, too.

  “Excuse me?”

  He turned to face her, his face once again composed and controlled, though his voice was slightly thicker than normal. “It’s just the bloodlust. It’s awakened when we feed.”

  She blanched. This happened to all vampires when they fed? “You mean all those males who came to the clinic…?”

  “I’m afraid so.” An apologetic smile curved his lips. “And perhaps more than a few of the females. Which is why we offer them a private, safe environment for their infusions. It takes a few moments to regain complete control afterward.”

  Great. Her face burned. He’d had what amounted to a basic physiological reaction that would have happened with or without her presence, and she’d practically leapt on him. She closed her eyes again, this time in utter humiliation.

  “Lighten up on yourself, Nurse Crawford. You may not have known about vampires and the delights of blood-sharing, but your primitive brain does.”

  She blinked. “My primitive brain?”

  “The primitive arousal center of your brain, yes. It knows, Ainsley.” His voice was like velvet brushing against her skin. “It’s as deeply embedded in your instincts as the fear of serpents or saber-toothed tigers or lightning. Don’t punish yourself for what it remembers.”

  No. Un-uh. She wouldn’t have reacted the same way had this happened with any of the clients she’d processed in his clinic. Not even the one who bore a strong resemblance to Alan Rickman, right down to the voice, and she adored the hell out of Alan Rickman. Truly, madly, deeply adored him. But she was happy to take the out he offered.

  “Well, that’s a relief. I was beginning to think—” Omigod! Her words trailed off as another thought occurred to her. That’s why he hadn’t wanted to draw her blood that time. But she’d pushed and pushed until he relented. That’s why he’d practically fled afterward. What might have happened if she had but looked into his eyes?

  “Ainsley?”

  She blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “You didn’t finish your thought.”

  “That’s because I had another one.” Feeling off balance and not liking it one little bit, she went on the offensive. “Is there anything else I should know at this juncture?”

  His expression did not change perceptibly, but somehow he was closing up on her. Damn him! He had no right—

  “Ask me whatever you would.”

  Huh? “Really?”

  He extended his hands, palm up. “Really.”

  I’m an open book, the gesture said. But gestures could lie, or speak partial truths. Time to see how much he would tell her.

  “Who attacked your house?”

  His left eyebrow shot up. “I thought Eli told you that much.”

  “He did. Now I want you to tell me.”

  “Very well.” He pushed a strand of long hair back from his forehead. “The assault was launched by a vampire, a rogue by the name of Radak Janecek. He knows the nature of my work — the search for a vaccine to inoculate the vulnerable. Clearly he fears I am getting too close, and chose to make a preemptive strike. Fortunately, he destroyed nothing that can’t be reproduced.”

  “So you plan to resume your research?”

  “As soon as possible.”

  “When your house is repaired?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “That will take months. I’ll set up a clinic here immediately.”

  Her jaw dropped. “Here? In Montreal?”

  “Yes, here.”

  “But it can’t be as easy as that. Surely you can’t just literally drop from the sky in your helicopter and open a clinic? What about the local health authority? What about the Quebec government? What about Health Canada?”

  He smiled. Not the polite, automatic social smile, not the apologetic one, not the rueful one. A real honest-to-God amused smile. It was, she thought, just the second real smile she’d seen from him. It flashed suddenly and was gone, further proof of its sincerity.

  “I’m afraid this particular clinic is going to be an unsanctioned one. It would take far too long to get approval from the proper channels. But you may be certain the clientele won’t betray us.”

  “Us?” She took a half-step backward. “You expect me to go back to work, then?”

  “Ah, you have concerns about your safety.”

  Ainsley lifted her chin. “After the last twenty-four hours, I’d have to be a fool not to have concerns about my safety. And I assure you, Dr. Bowen, I am no fool.”

  “Indeed not, Ms. Crawford. Nor am I a fool. We shall have security worthy of a king. The clinic itself will be underground, and therefore there will be no official paper trail to lead my friend Janecek to it. That will buy us some time.”

  “Underground, like the cavern in St. Cloud? Or underground, as in illicit?”

  He shot her a reproving look. “The latter, although I prefer to think of it as unsanctioned rather than illicit.”

  She nodded. “Is that it? You’re going to rely on hiding it?”

  “That’s part of the picture, but hardly all of it. We will move it around, alternating locations. And before you ask, no vampire who would patronize our clinic would breathe a word to a rogue. He will not find us quickly, and when he does, we will be prepared.”

  “When he does? Not if he does?”

  “As passionate as I am about creating this vaccine, that’s how determined he is to prevent it. He won’t stop until he destroys the research.”

  Ainsley felt a cold frisson of fear skitter along her spine. “And you.”

  “What about me?”

  She shot him a reproving look. “You know what I mean. He can’t rest until he’s eliminated you, too. He knows the research won’t die until you die.”

  “I was rather planning on not letting that happen, but yes, that sums up his intentions quite fairly, I should think.”

  “But all he needs to do is find out where you’re staying, right? He can launch another military-type attack and take the top floor of this high-rise right out. Probably the entire building, if he wanted.” In her mind, she saw a replay of the Twin Towers collapsing.

  “No.” Delano shook his head decisively. “He won’t use the same approach again. Even if he were inclined to, by the time he finds us, he’ll know we’ll have sophisticated anti-aircraft capability in place.”

  “Anti-aircraft capability?”

  Those heavy eyebrows drew together again in a fierce frown. “He won’t catch us napping again.”

  Oh, man, was he for real? Probably. After all, he owned a freaking stealth helicopter. And she hadn’t even known such a thing existed. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “S
itting on an oil well, are we?”

  “An oil well?” His eyebrows drew together.

  “It’s an expression, Del. An idiom. I was alluding to your seemingly bottomless pockets.”

  “Ah.” His frown cleared.

  “So, is there no limit to your resources?”

  His eyes glinted with humor again. “There’s a limit to everything, Ainsley, but I’m happy to say not even I shall live long enough to exhaust my resources.”

  “Shut up!”

  He laughed. “Ah, another idiom. I know that one.”

  “No, I mean shut the hell up! That’s appalling. You’re saying you have more money than you can spend in a century? Centuries? Omigod, that’s obscene.”

  Again, he laughed. “When one has a surfeit of time and a sufficiently long look at human behavioral trends, you’d be amazed what the markets will yield. Oh, and yes, I am sitting on an oil well. Or twenty.”

  It was her turn to laugh. Dammit, she was supposed to be grilling him, but she couldn’t help herself. “Why does that not surprise me?”

  His smile faded. “Not much throws you off stride, I’ve noticed. You’re very … resilient.”

  She sobered too. “Resilient, yes. Bulletproof, no. I don’t like this, Delano.” She held up a hand when it looked like he might interrupt. “I don’t have nine lives like you appear to have. Maybe I should go back to St. Cloud, look for more conventional work. Or maybe I could pack up my stuff and go west. Pay scale’s much better in Alberta or British Columbia. Or maybe south of the border, although that would take paperwork…

  “That sounds like a very reasonable plan.”

  His easy acquiescence was like a blade, slicing into her with no forewarning. He was going to send her on her way just like that, with no protest?

  “But not quite yet, I’m afraid,” he continued. “There’s still the matter of your possible infection. Beginning a new job for a new employer in a new city is not where you want to start getting all toothy around a bloody trauma case.”

  “Oh, right. That.” She glanced away. “Surely it won’t be much longer.”

  “A few weeks, I should think. If you’re not evidencing antibody activity by then, I think we can declare you unscathed from your adventure.”