He blinked, shaking his head to clear it. His eyes continued to fall toward her neck so she pinched his chin.

“I’m serious. I’m exhausted, and I just had a verbal fencing match for the last two and a half hours. So calm your fangs, and tell me what the heck is going on.”

“Sorry,” he muttered as he stepped back and cleared his throat. “My apologies, Beatrice. Let’s get in the car and I’ll fill you in on the interrogation and the…biting.”

Beatrice nodded, sliding down the side of the car, taking care not to scratch it. She paused before she got in when she noticed the side of his head.

“You singed some hair off again,” she said. “What happened?”

He frowned and felt the bare spot behind his ear. “In the car. Let’s get on the road and I’ll tell you.”

Giovanni drove back to the house since she was exhausted. If there hadn’t have been news to hear, she probably would have fallen asleep.

“One of Ernesto’s people is working for Lorenzo,” he said. “Baojia discovered it last week, but he wanted to tell me in person because he’s still not sure who it is.”

“One of Ernesto’s children is working for Lorenzo?”

He shook his head. “That’s highly unlikely, since your connection to him is well known. It would be almost unheard of for a child to defy their sire like that.”

She couldn’t help but remember Giovanni had plotted his own sire’s murder, but she didn’t bring that up.

“But only a small portion of the vampires you saw tonight are his children,” he continued. “Many are business associates, employees, or others who have connection to him and claim his protection.”

“So Bao—whatever his name is—doesn’t know who it is?”

“He’ll be able to find out fairly quickly with the information I gleaned from the Greek. He was most talkative after a short time with me,” Giovanni smiled grimly. “I wouldn’t worry about it, tesoro.

“So what was up with the biting thing? Just feeling possessive?” she asked him with a curled lip. “You could have at least warned me.”

“The bite on the veranda was a public display. I’m sorry I couldn’t warn you, but for me to feed from Ernesto’s granddaughter in front of him, and on his own ship, made a very strong statement, and since we don’t know who it is yet—”

“I get it, I get it. You did the caveman dance, and we’ve covered our bases. Everyone knows who I ‘belong’ to.” She rolled her eyes.

“Exactly,” he said with a smile. “And, I’ll confess, my blood was running after the interrogation. If I was human, you could say it was an adrenaline rush.”

“Okay then,” she cleared her throat. “Next time go punch something instead of biting me.”

“I just had,” he said in a hoarse voice.

“Oh.”

“Yes, ‘oh.’”

“So…” she hesitated. “Is the guy who attacked Mano dead?”

He paused before she heard his satisfied voice. “Ashes in the Pacific.”

They exchanged a look Beatrice didn’t want to think about too closely before he changed the subject. “So…how was your conversation with Ernesto?”

Her head fell back against the seat and her eyes drooped. “That was exhausting.”

Giovanni smiled. “You did extremely well for your first small taste of vampire politics, Beatrice.”

“That was a small taste?”

He chuckled and reached for her hand, stroking the back of her palm with his thumb. “A small and rather friendly dip in the shark pool.”

“Okay, well, it was interesting, but I could go on a vamp politics diet for a while, if you know what I mean.”

“Fair enough. There’s no reason I can think of for us to go back in the near future.”

Beatrice must have dozed in the car, because when she woke Giovanni was lifting her from the passenger’s seat and carrying her into the kitchen.

“What time is it?” she asked with a yawn.

“Around four in the morning.”

“Good thing I don’t have to work tomorrow.”

He walked through the kitchen, still carrying her in his arms. Beatrice curled into his chest and thought of the first ride she’d made into Cochamó when he’d held her for hours in front of him on the rocking horse.

“Gio?”

“Yes?” He turned down a long hall she knew contained the guest bedrooms.

“If I stayed with you tonight…could we just sleep?”

His steps faltered, and she heard his heart give a quiet thump.

“If that’s what you want.”

“I miss you,” she whispered as her eyes closed again. She burrowed toward the comforting smell of his skin. “I miss how warm your arms always are.”

He paused in the hallway before he turned and walked up the stairs.

Beatrice didn’t remember much except for his hands as they removed her shoes, the low buzz of his skin brushing against hers, and the comfort of being enveloped in his scent as he pulled the sheets around her. She heard him moving around the room before his long arms enfolded her and he nestled behind her in the bed. He whispered in her ear as she faded to dreams.

“I love you, Beatrice.”

Chapter Nine

En route to Houston

December 2009