Behind her she heard movement. “I am a hunter, Arnaud,” she whispered. “So is Remy. Only you saw that in us.”

“We’ve got him now,” Gage said. “Move away from him. The ambulance is here as well for Remy, Bijou. Just back away.”

“Give me the knife, Arnaud,” she said as gently as possible. “Don’ hurt him. He doesn’t understand what he’s done.” She glanced back at Gage in warning.

“Bijou, back off,” Gage ordered.

Arnaud put the knife in her upturned palm. His fingers stroked her wrist. “I understand, Bijou. It just doesn’t matter the way you all think it does.”

Gage reached down and pulled Bijou to her feet. She looked around her at the roomful of policemen, all with guns drawn. Arnaud didn’t even struggle. He actually smiled at her. Calm. Serene. Forgiving.

Tears running down her face, she caught at Remy’s limp hand and brought it to her heart as they waited for the police to give the okay to the paramedics. His green eyes locked with hers and she felt herself tumble into him. Right where she belonged.

“Don’ look so sappy,” Gage warned in a whisper. “He’s goin’ to have lots to say to you about this when he can talk again.”

20

THE wedding was supposed to be small and simple. Bijou realized Cajuns just didn’t work that way. Not the Cajuns who lived along the swamps and had big noisy families and could shift into leopards. At least there were no reporters, although picture taking was at an all-time high.

Remy swept her into his arms and they floated around the dance floor, surrounded by laughter and the sound of ice cubes tinkling in glasses. She stared up at his face. Remy. There never had been anyone else, and there never could be.

“You know this doesn’t change anything,” Remy said suddenly, bending his head to kiss her fiercely. Possessively. Something he did often since he was out of the hospital.

She kissed him back just as fiercely, uncaring they were surrounded by his brothers and she’d be teased something terrible the moment they could pounce. When he lifted his head she did a little eyelash batting and tried for innocent and puzzled. “Do you mean we’re not really married? I don’ understand.”

“I told you to get out of there.” His eyes went glacier blue, always a bad sign. “You could have been killed. I know you heard me. Maybe not out loud, but you knew I wanted you out of there, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” she admitted complacently. She snuggled closer to him.

“Gage told you to stay the hell out of there, to wait for backup, didn’t he?” Remy insisted. “And you heard him.”

She looked up at him. Met his beautiful cat’s eyes. “Yes, I did.” Totally unrepentant.

“And you ignored all of us.”

She smiled at him. “Of course. Did you really think I’d leave you with him? He’s a genius, an amazing creative artist, but he’s totally insane. The FBI is taking over from here. They’ll put him in a hospital for the criminally insane.”

“Bijou, you didn’t even have a weapon. Not even a gun.”

“He would have cut out your eyes just to try to capture a way to reproduce them. Or maybe he would have tortured you to try to get you to look like the hunter again. Whatever he planned, Remy, I wasn’t about to leave you there alone with him.”

“You took a hell of a chance. He could have killed you.”

Bijou wasn’t going to back down or apologize, or even give him reassurances that it would never happen again. She loved Remy. He was hers. Her family. She would protect him just as fiercely as he protected everyone around them. She realized how difficult it must have been for a man like him—a man of action—an alpha leopard—to lie helpless and see his mate put herself in harm’s way for him. But he had to understand and accept who she was.

“I’m probably the only person in the world who was safe from him. He saw me as a person, as real. Not one of his life-forms.”

“That’s not the point.”

“No, it isn’t. Even if I knew he’d try to kill me, I would have gone in after you and I would have done the exact same thing. Stall. Get into a position to attack him if he made a move against you, and I would have done it.”

He huffed out his breath. “You’re in so much trouble. The minute I get you alone.”

She laughed softly, happily. “I’ve been in trouble every night since you got out of the hospital. Your . . . um . . . punishment is kind of sexy.”

Immediately she felt his reaction. His body moved more tightly against hers, his thick hard length pressing into her through their clothing. He groaned softly. “Don’ say sexy. We have to get through the celebration and be civilized for a little while here.”

“You brought it up.”

He bent his head to her exposed neck. Her hair was up in an intricate do that made her look more elegant and very much the lady, out of his class. He couldn’t wait to start removing pins and letting all that soft silk fall all over his skin. His teeth teased at the vulnerable spot between her neck and shoulder.

“As a warnin’, Bijou. I need to spank you a little bit harder to get your attention.”

She laughed, winding her arms around his neck, trying to melt into his body. “You have my attention, Remy Boudreaux. You’ll always have my attention. I’m madly, crazy in love with you.”

“I know,” he said complacently.