atching her face, knowing he was hurting her but having no other way to make her see she was surrounded by people she loved who had reasons to betray her. even he had a hidden agenda, one she would not like but he knew was necessary.

antonietta felt the twist of pain in the region of her heart, but she kept her chin up. she could feel the weight of his stare, knew he registered every small nuance of her expression. she didn't want him to know he'd scored a hit. she had an acute sense of smell. more than once she had been certain paul was in the room when he hadn't been. she realized his scent must have been on justine. "my assistant is entitled to any relationship she chooses to have. and that includes paul."

"even if that divides her loyalty?"

"i trust justine. she's been with me for years. i might point out i have known you only a short while."

again he laughed softly, his response unexpected. he didn't seem to take offense but was amused by her reaction. "i think you have a built-in radar for people who are allies, which is one of the reasons your grandfather prefers to have you in on every major deal."

"if you think that, byron, then it is unnecessary to tell me things about my family and the people i regard as family." in spite of her intention to keep her tone neutral, she sounded faintly haughty, even to her own ears.

"oh, but your family is an entirely different matter. you refuse to listen to your warning system."

"i have a warning system?"

"absolutely you do. i suspect you have other gifts as well that are an asset to you." his hand on her shoulder still held her in place, preventing her from rising as his intention was to examine her body for the aftereffects of drugs and to see if she had the same poison in her body as her grandfather.

it was a measure of how byron managed to mesmerize everyone and everything that she didn't protest his pinning her to the bed. she would never allow anyone else to dictate her movements, yet she couldn't manage to voice a protest. and how could he know such things? "who are you, byron?"

there was a small silence. the room seemed filled with the fragrance of flowers. she inhaled the scent, took it deep into her lungs. several candles were burning, she could tell by the faint odor of the wick along with an unfamiliar aroma.

"right at this moment, cara, i am your healer."

antonietta lay all the way back against the pillows at his urging. she couldn't help but put her hand over her eyes.

"why do you do that?" byron gently removed her hand and stroked her eyelids, stroked around her eyes.

for one heart-stopping moment she was certain he was tracing the lines of her scars. she didn't dare breathe. the earth stopped spinning in just the way it had when he kissed her. she reached up to catch his wrist. "i don't like people to stare at my scars."

"scars? you mean these small, thin lines one needs a microscope to see?" byron shifted closer to her, leaning down so that his breath was warm on her face. she knew he was peering at her eyes, but all she could think about was how close his mouth was to her skin. "i have scars much worse than those. do physical imperfections bother you?"

there was silence. his lips, velvet soft, brushed her eyes. brushed the corners with exquisite tenderness. for a moment she couldn't find her voice. she forced air through her lungs. "no, of course not, how could any physical imperfection possibly bother me? i can't see, byron." she hated that he might think she would be so shallow as to care about someone else's scars. "i know my face is a mess from the accident." she shrugged, trying to look casual. "it happened a long time ago, and i've learned to live with it."

byron settled his weight on the bed beside her. he was beginning to understand. "someone told you that you had scars." he didn't want to think how difficult it would be for a little girl to lose her parents and her eyesight and be told she had terrible scars.

"i wanted to know." she excused her cousin.

"she lied to you. you do not have to tell me who told you such a lie. i know who it was. tasha has a malicious mouth on her when she thinks another woman is getting too much attention. i can see that she would have a difficult time with you. you are beautiful and talented and unafraid of hard work." his fingertip brushed along her skin again. "you have several very thin white lines along the outside edge of your right eye. the lines are not at all noticeable unless you are looking for them. around your left eye, you have several small white lines, again barely visible. there is one larger scar running from your temple to the corner of your eye. it is not unsightly, but it is wider than the other scars." byron deliberately kept his tone clinical. he had a sudden urge to go to tasha's room and bare his fangs, allow her to see what could make an unattractive scar. he traced the longer line, showing antonietta the slight curve. "in some countries, when an item is made for a home, a small flaw is added because it is believed that if something is too perfect, evil will be drawn to the maker."

antonietta smiled. "i'm hardly flawless, byron."

"perhaps others do not share your opinion."

she wasn't touching that. "what do my eyes look like?" she didn't know whether to believe him or not about the scars. he had such a way of speaking, it was nearly impossible to think he could lie, even to make her feel better. but would tasha keep up a lie for years? antonietta never asked her grandfather about her face after tasha had screamed in alarm, crying out that the scars were hideous. "i was told the plastic surgeon hadn't fixed the damage to my face." a lump formed in her throat at the painful memory of that outburst.

"you have large, very black eyes. your eyelashes are an extraordinary length. i am particularly fond of your eyelashes." byron studied her enormous eyes, trying, without success, to be clinical. "you have high cheekbones and a beautiful mouth. i have had my share of fantasies about your mouth."

antonietta's entire body blushed. she grew hot with the thought of him fantasizing over her mouth. "why are you suddenly telling me these things?"

byron shrugged, uncaring that she couldn't see. "maybe because you scared me tonight. maybe because there should be honesty between us, and my silence could be construed as a form of deception. in any case, i cannot be with you during the days. i would very much like you to consider hiring a personal bodyguard."

antonietta stiffened. byron's hand moved from her silky hair to her shoulder with exquisite gentleness. "before you protest, hear me out. you are capable of doing research and finding a bodyguard yourself. if you do not want to go to the trouble, allow me. i have a few connections. i am willing to spend my evenings and nights here with you, watching over you, but i cannot possibly be here all the time. if you do this, it will go a long way toward alleviating my worry."

antonietta knew instinctively he was not telling her everything. there was a warning note in his voice. something she couldn't quite put her finger on. she was a scarletti, and scarlettis had a way of seeing things others did not. byron was delivering an ultimatum. he didn't like doing it, but he was resolved on some path she couldn't fathom. and one she was certain she wouldn't agree with.

she lay quietly, feeling the weight of his body as he leaned over her. feeling his heat. "you aren't quite human." the words slipped out before she could censor them. before she could stop herself. a challenge. a demand. a mistake.

the silence lengthened. grew. she knew it was deliberate, a reprimand for her audacity. her dark poet didn't like questions. outside the windows the wind blew against the stained glass. whispered ominously. always sensitive to vibrations, a chill swept through her.

antonietta curled her fingers in the bedcovers but kept her expression serene. she was unshakable. she had no regard for authority or threats. she was a law unto herself. let him glare his disapproval.

"you are a scarletti. i doubt if you are entirely human either. what are you?" his hands slipped to her throat, stroked her rapid pulse.

his touch was mesmerizing. it dazzled her, threw her off balance when she needed to keep her senses about her. "well, there is the tale told to all of our children," she replied, trying to introduce a lightness to their conversation. she wanted to believe the howling wind rattling with such persistence at her windows caused her chill. "perhaps you would care to hear that explanation. there are some carvings in the hidden passage and obscure references in the diaries, enough to make it seem a grain of truth might be in the absurd tale." she hoped to distract him. hoped to keep him with her just a bit longer. and she was revealing things she shouldn't.

"tell me this tale."

"are you going to let me sit up?" let him think it an amusing bedtime story.

his hand remained resting on her throat, his fingers splayed wide. the heel of his hand rested on the soft swell of her breasts. the lace was stretched over her breasts, barely covering them, and she could feel the heat of his hand with every breath she took. it was becoming difficult, nearly impossible to breathe.

"no, i am going to kiss you."

the words were said against the corner of her mouth. she felt his warmth, the anticipation, the clenching of her muscles and the thousand butterfly wings suddenly brushing at her stomach. her breath caught in her lungs, was trapped there. was she really going to lie there like a sabine captive and wait for his mouth? wait for him to take possession of her heart and soul? instinctively she brought both hands up to push at the wall of his chest. her palms touched him. felt hard muscle. felt heat.

there was no way to push him away. her strength was gone in an instant, her body melting with desire so intense she shook with it. she wanted him with every breath she took. the hunger rose up out of nowhere to consume her, to take away her every good sense and replace it with need. she made a single sound of protest. or a plea for his dark embrace. she honestly didn't know which it was. she only knew she was born for him, born to be in his arms. he was forbidden, just by nature of who she was, what she was. by who and what he was. but it didn't matter. there in the dark of her bedroom, with the wind shrieking a protest, antonietta simply gave herself into his keeping. and took what she wanted.

she turned her mouth into his neck. tasted his skin. inhaled his scent. her mouth trailed, featherlight over his neck, over his throat. daringly, her teeth nibbled on his chin. she felt his body's reaction, hardening, thickening against her, molded as they were together.

his hands tightened on her, caught in her hair and dragged her head up to his. "are you sure this is what you want?" he demanded the truth from her. compelled the truth. "there is no going back, antonietta. i will not give you up. i refuse to go back to being your grandfather's friend and sharing only polite conversation with you."

"i want you to kiss me, byron," she said, more certain than she'd ever been of anything else in her life. "i dreamt of your kisses." and god help her, she had.

his mouth was hot and hard and possessive. it was everything she had ever dreamed of. perfect heat. a perfect fire blazing through him, through her. he devoured her, kissing her as if he would never get enough of her. she could lose herself in his smoldering passion. she knew she could. simply go up in flames and rise into the wind and clouds and night sky where she would soar free from the daily intrigues and dramas in the palazzo.

"byron." she whispered his name into the silken heat of his mouth, her hands in his thick, long hair, tangling there, every bit as possessive as he.

his hand closed over her breast, and flames licked her skin, seared her belly, and drove the breath from her body. his mouth left hers, trailed little kisses to her throat. his tongue swirled over her pulse, while his palm cupped her breast through the fine lace and his thumb stroked her nipple into a hard, aching peak.

antonietta gasped with pleasure, with excitement. how long had she dreamt of him? longed for his touch? from the first moment she heard his voice, she knew he would be a perfect lover. be an instinctive lover.

his mouth roamed lower, his tongue replacing his thumb, laving her nipple, until her hands gripped fistfulls of hair in reaction. his mouth was hot and wild, suckling strong at her urging. she heard her own moan, a soft whisper of need that spread from her aching breasts inside her body, thickening her blood. hunger and need were sharp and terrible, so much so that she was afraid. she had never been so on fire, her body ruling her mind. she couldn't stop herself from thrusting deeper into his mouth, from making the small, urgent noises that escaped her throat.

his mouth left her breast, and she cried out with bereavement. his arms tightened around her, pulled her fully into his arms. his heartbeat was strong and fast. her heartbeat followed the rhythm of his. she cried out with longing when his teeth began to scrape teasingly back and forth over the telltale pulse beating so frantically in her neck. desire pounded through her blood when she felt the tiniest of nips. she had never expected such a thing to be so erotic.

he whispered to her. antonietta could not catch the words, but she felt them. she was restless and edgy, her body ached for relief. for the possession of him. she moved in his arms, unable to be still when every inch of her was inflamed. still, he took his time, his mouth roaming lower until he reached the swell of her breast. she felt his teeth again, and a thousand butterfly wings fluttered in the pit of her stomach. hot liquid desire trickled along her thigh. her muscles clenched.

then there was white-hot lightning, a flashing pain that gave way to sheer pleasure. instinctively she cradled his head to her, feeling as if she belonged to him. as if they were two halves of the same whole, and they were merging, skin to skin, blood to blood. she heard his voice whispering in her head, soft words in an ancient dialect she couldn't place, although she spoke several languages. the actual words didn't matter to her, just the sound of his voice as it slipped past her guard and branded his name on her heart. on her soul.

she didn't want his name on her heart. she wanted a lover with no strings. the terrible enchantment he cast was wrapping her up in something she couldn't afford. for a moment she did her best to struggle, to come up for air, to find a way for her melted brain to function again.