"I just don't know."

Abby gave a humorless chuckle. "Well, we've nicely determined that we're not Nancy Drew and Hercule Poirot."

"No." She felt him stroke his cheek over her hair, his lips briefly pressing against her temple. "I'm not much of a champion, am I, my sweet?"

She tilted back her head to glare at his ridiculous words. "Don't say that. If it wasn't for you, I would be dead by now."

His lips twisted at her fierce defense. "Instead you're hiding in a cave, no closer to being rid of the Phoenix than when you started."

He shifted, his movement tugging her even more firmly against his hard body. Her heart skipped, kicked, and lodged somewhere near her throat.

Don't think about it, Abby, she sternly told herself. Don't think about those slender, skillful fingers skimming over your bare skin. Or those lips nuzzling at sensitive places. Or your legs wrapped about his waist as he…

Oh hell.

She melted against his hardness, her eyes darkening with the awareness that she was tired of battling.

"I thought you promised that being with you would make this cave a paradise?"

Quite intelligent, despite being male, Dante instantly sensed the change in the atmosphere. The silver eyes darkened to smoke as he allowed his gaze to slowly wander over her face.

"Abby?" he whispered.

Not giving herself time to consider her rash behavior, Abby reached up to thrust her hands into his glorious hair. Her heart was already racing and her breath impossible to capture.

"I don't want to think about demons or witches or all the other horrid creatures that are trying to Mil me."

His arms wrapped about her, togging her easily to straddle his legs so they were face-to-face.

"What do you want?" he rasped, his fingers trailing up the length of her spine.

'You." She kissed him with all the yearning that was burning within her. "I want you."

Chapter 10

She heard his soft groan as his hands shifted to cup her hips, compulsively pressing her to his thickening cock.

"Abby?"

She arched forward, her body already on fire. Hell, at the moment she felt fully at home in this cave. Certainly her urges were as primitive as any Neanderthal.

She want. She take.

"What?" she muttered, tilting back her head as his lips nibbled their way down her throat.

"You know you are not thinking clearly?"

"I don't care."

His tongue ran a searing path along the line of her collarbone.

"I just don't want you to come to your senses and discover some creative spot for that stake that you keep threatening me with," he husked.

In response, she leaned back so that she could pull her shirt over her head. She tossed it aside and quickly followed it with her plain cotton bra.

"I've already accepted that I've gone completely-insane. What is a little more madness?"

His agonized groan echoed through the shadowed cave, his eyes flashing silver fire as his hands moved to tenderly cup her breasts.

"Good madness, I hope," he muttered, clearly distracted as his thumbs brushed over her nipples.

She shivered with excitement. 'Yes."

His head lowered, his lips closing over the tip of her breast.

"And better madness?"

Her eyes squeezed shut as a sharp, gnawing pleasure raced through her.

"Oh… God, yes."

"Bloody hell." Still tormenting her nipple with his tongue, Dante expertly attacked the fastening to her jeans and, with Abby's full cooperation, swiftly had her naked and back in his lap. Pulling her close, he kissed her with a desperate hunger. "I've dreamed of this so long, lover. I need to know this isn't just another fantasy."

"I'm no fantasy," she assured him.

He gave a soft chuckle, his hands trailing down her back and over her hips. "That's a matter of opinion."

"Dante," she whispered.

"You are so warm. I could drown in your heat."

"I think you would be warmer if you got rid of some of those clothes," she daringly offered.

"Much warmer." His movements were jerky as he helped her to remove the final barriers between them.

Her breath caught as she glimpsed his full arousal, a sudden ache clawing deep within her. She wanted to make this a slow, delicious seduction, but the thought of having him buried deep within her made her long to abandon her plan and simply join herself to him in a flurry of pagan heat.

Obviously misunderstanding her hesitation, Dante reached up to gently stroke her cheek. "Are you sure about this, Abby?"

"Yes," she managed to croak, wrestling control over her hot surge of desire. "At the moment it's the only thing I am sure of."

Giving her a long searching glance, Dante slowly framed her face in his hands, pulling her forward to kiss her with an aching sweetness. Abby melted toward him. She had not exaggerated. In this moment there seemed nothing more right than being in this vampire's arms.

Feeling a strange confidence that was usually lacking within her, Abby ran her hands lightly over his muscled chest. His skin was as smooth as silk, inviting a more intimate touch.

Without thought, she lowered her head to trail her lips over his shoulders, delighting in the erotic power that flowed through her blood.

"My champion," she whispered as she continued her persuasive caresses. "Do you like this?"

"Yes," he growled, his hands clutching her hips as he sought to remain in control of his building need.

"And this?" she whispered, moving steadily lower.

"God, yes."

"And this?"

"Abby," he choked as she reached the clenched muscles of his lower stomach.

'Yes, Dante?"

"Keep this up and it will be a fantasy for one," he ground out.

She gave a throaty chuckle as she deliberately rubbed her body back up the length of his chest.

Her every nerve felt alive, sensitized to the point of near pain.

"I'm only trying to convince you that I am no dream."

Without warning, he shifted her farther up his thighs. The air was wrenched from her body as the fierce jut of his erection settled in the damp heat between her legs.

She shifted experimentally, the dull throb in her lower body rejoicing as the tip of him slipped just inside her body. She was prevented from a complete entry, however, as he grasped her hips and regarded her with smoldering eyes.

"All you've done is made more certain this is a fantasy," he murmured.

'You need more proof?" she teased.

"Ah, no, my turn for kisses," he informed her, drawing her toward his waiting lips. "And I want to kiss you everywhere."

With a slow, deliberate motion, Dante branded her lips with a searing kiss. Then moving his mouth over her face, he stroked down the length of her arched neck. Abby's fingers dug into his shoulders as he pulled her relentlessly upward, catching the hardened nipple between his teeth. She gave a soft cry as he tugged and suckled her, her head thrown backward at die insistent pleasure crashing through her. He turned his attention to the other breast, relentlessly driving her need to a fever pitch.

She wanted him within her.

She wanted the powerful thrust of his erection driving her to that wondrous edge and tossing her over.

But even as she sought to bring them together, he was determinedly lifting her ever upward. She found herself on her unsteady feet as his mouth teased the contracted muscles of her stomach, occasionally nipping at the shivering flesh. She moaned in protest, and then her eyes flew open as he lowered even farther, and his seeking mouth found her moist parting.

She momentarily struggled to stay upright as his tongue reached out to stroke the highly sensitive flesh.

There was something utterly decadent about being poised above him as he expertly urged her to the point of no return.

But then sensation took over, and, closing her eyes, she simply allowed him to pleasure her.

With tantalizing care he searched to find her center of pleasure, holding her hips in firm hands. Abby gritted her teeth as he gently stroked the building pressure, so enthralled by the searing delight he was creating that she was nearly too late when she abruptly pulled away from his magical touch.

"No, Dante," she gasped.

As if sensing she wished to have him inside her when she came, Dante guided her back to her knees and positioned her so that he could slowly penetrate her softness.

Abby sighed in relief as she pressed herself ever deeper, knowing that nothing had ever felt so right as having him within her.

For a moment she merely savored the full sense of completion. But as he remained unnaturally still, she reluctantly lifted her heavy lids to send him a puzzled gaze.

"Dante?"

"You started this seduction, Abby," he rasped. 'You can finish it."

With a slow smile, she placed her hands upon his chest and slightly lifted her hips before sliding back down.

Dante moaned, his fingers convulsively clutching her hips. "My God, you are going to kill me. Again."

Abby moved, pulling herself higher before plunging downward. His hips arched off the sand-covered ground, a pained frown forming on his forehead.