“Tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“About the dream.”
Her brows snapped together. “Why?”
He hesitated before answering. She was already freaked out by being plunged into a world she barely knew existed. The last thing he wanted was to tip her into full-blown panic at the thought that there were demons that possessed the ability to speak, or even attack, through dreams.
“It might be important, querida,” he at last murmured.
“What could be important about a dream?”
“I won’t know unless you tell me.” He studied her stubborn expression. She had her heels dug in and a petulant desire to argue with even the most reasonable request. Obviously a new tactic was in order. With a smile, he shifted to trail his lips down the line of her nose, his hands beginning an intimate inspection of the satin and lace nightgown that had been designed to entice a man’s appetite. And he was definitely enticed. Enticed, beguiled, and suddenly hotter than hell. His fingers flexed in restless need, his lips brushing over hers in a silent persuasion. “Anna, I’m not leaving until you talk to me. However, I can keep myself pleasantly occupied if you prefer to wait.”
Her lips parted to speak and Cezar was swift to take advantage. Deepening his kiss he thrust his tongue into the moist heat of her mouth, his erection throbbing in time to her low moans.
She tasted of fruit, as sweet and rich as a ripe fig dipped in honey. Cezar trembled as his senses roared with life, his entire body taut with the need only she could inspire.
Sucking her tongue into his mouth, Cezar was careful not to nick her with his fangs. Things were spinning out of control fast enough without the danger of his bloodlust being stirred.
His hands smoothed over her shoulders, and then fisted the satin curtain of honey hair. He growled deep in his throat. He wanted to devour her. To take her so completely that he became a part of her very soul.
The heat of her growing desire seared his skin as he untangled their mouths and trailed a line of kisses down the curve of her throat. He could smell her hunger perfume the air, feel her shivers as he thrust his arousal against her stomach.
Anna might not consciously accept that she needed him, but her response proved that nothing had changed in the past two centuries. His touch could still make her body burn with desire.
Muttering his approval, Cezar trailed his fingers through the honey hair before moving them down the length of her back. He took a delicious moment to explore the curve of her hips before inching up the silky material of her gown. His instincts urged him to rip the offending cloth from her body, but his mind warned him to keep this time together civilized. There would be plenty of nights (or days) to take her hard and fast.
Tonight it would be…
“Cezar.” Without warning her hands went back to pressing against his chest, her head arching away from his marauding lips. “No.”
He hissed in frustration, his mouth refusing to obey his will as it dipped down to capture a furled nipple that peeked through the sheer lace. Dios, he craved her like an addict who was in the throes of withdrawal.
“You’re certain?”
She gave a strangled groan before she grasped his hair and tugged his head up to meet her glittering gaze.
“I’m not the innocent fool I was two hundred years ago.”
The edge of bitterness in her voice jerked Cezar out of his sensual haze and he pulled back to regard her with a frown.
What the hell was she babbling about? That night they had spent together had been spectacular. He could still hear her cries of pleasure as he had plunged deep into her body, feel the shudder of her explosive release, taste the potent delight of her blood as it slid down his throat.
Surely to God she couldn’t regret it?
“You might have been innocent, but you were never a fool,” he growled, angered by her attempt to deny what they had shared.
“I let myself be seduced by a complete stranger, didn’t I?” She gave a shake of her head. “I’d call that a quality bout of stupidity.”
“I’d call it destiny,” he said before he could halt the revealing words.
Not surprisingly she blinked in puzzlement. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He wasn’t prepared to go there. Not even in his own mind.
Time for distraction. For both of them.
“Tell me about the dream,” he commanded.
Her fingers, which had unwittingly begun to stroke through the strands of his hair, pulled away with a sharp motion. “God, you never give up.”
He flashed a fierce grin. “Never.”
She briefly closed her eyes before heaving a deep sigh. “Fine. There was a woman.”
Keeping his arms locked about her slender body, Cezar intently studied her face. Anna tended to say far more with her expression than her words.
“What did she look like?”
She gave a lift of her shoulder. “Beautiful, with red hair and green eyes.”
His eyes narrowed, a chill spreading through his body. “What was she doing?”
“She was sitting on a gold throne, and there was another woman there, an old woman who was lying on a red carpet.” She grimaced at the memory. “Her mouth was bleeding.”
“Was she dead?”
“I don’t think so.”
His hands ran an absent path up her back. “Something made you scream, Anna. What was it?”
She shuddered, fear flashing through her eyes. “The woman sitting on the throne…she seemed to be staring straight at me…and then…”
“And then?”
“And then she said she was going to rip out my heart. I believed her.”
She trembled, and pressing his hand to the back of her head, Cezar tucked her close to his body. There could be no doubt the woman in her dreams had been Morgana le Fay. And that the woman was determined to see Anna dead.
Never.
The word branded onto Cezar’s heart. He would kill anything, anyone who dared to harm Anna.
“No one’s going to be ripping out your heart, querida,” he rasped, his voice raw. “That much I can promise you.”
She gave a choked laugh at his arrogant pledge, but thankfully made no move to try to pull away.
“You’re so certain you can protect me?”
“Yes.” His lips brushed her forehead. “But beyond that, you’re a dangerous woman in your own right. I still have the aching ribs to prove it.”
She tilted back her head to meet his smoldering gaze, the fear fading from her eyes. “A dangerous woman, eh?”