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He bit back a groan. She had no idea how he longed for a taste of her life’s blood, he thought, as his gaze moved to the pulse throbbing in the hollow of her throat. But he only shook his head.

While she ate, they talked about the play, which managed to be a comedy and a love story all in one. Kadie bubbled over with enthusiasm, declaring that the music had been wonderful and the cast amazing, especially the actor who had played the Pimpernel.

Kadie was feeling relaxed and happy as they left the café and made their way around the corner to the parking lot.

Saintcrow had just opened her door when two men in dark clothing, with hideous masks covering their faces, attacked him, one from the front, the other from the back.

A third man, similarly dressed, wrapped his arm around Kadie’s neck, trapping her scream in her throat.

Terror washed through her, leaving her immobile when he laid the point of a knife under her left eye.

“Quiet, now,” he warned. “I’d hate for this here knife to slip and mess up that pretty face.”

Helpless, she watched the two men attacking Saintcrow.

Moonlight glinted on the blades of the wicked-looking knives in their hands.

The man in front lunged forward, his knife arrowing for Saintcrow’s heart as the other man drove his blade into Saintcrow’s back.

They struck again and again, until he was covered with blood.

Oh, Lord. they were killing him! Was she next?

Fear drained the strength from her legs.

She was wondering how much longer Saintcrow could continue the fight when the battle suddenly shifted.

In a move almost too quick for her to follow, Saintcrow wrapped his hands around the neck of the man in front of him and gave it a quick twist. The man sagged in his grasp and Saintcrow tossed the body aside as if it weighed nothing at all.

She stared, transfixed, when Saintcrow’s eyes turned red just before he whirled around and buried his fangs—fangs! —in the second man’s throat.

The word vampire whispered through the back of her mind.

She stumbled forward when the man holding her pushed her away and ran for his life.

A moment later, her world went black.

Saintcrow swore softly as he lifted Kadie into his arms, locked the Viper, and transported the two of them to his lair in Morgan Creek.

Damn , damn , damn . Of all the bad luck.

Bad luck that turned worse when he laid Kadie on the sofa. Her eyelids fluttered open. She took one look at him and let out a scream that could have been heard in Cheyenne. She bolted upright, darted toward the fireplace, and grabbed the poker.

Saintcrow blew out a sigh. No doubt he looked like something straight out of hell, covered in his own blood, his clothing torn, his eyes still showing a trace of red, the blood of the man he’d bitten still on his lips.

Vampire.

She lifted the poker when he took a step toward her, though after what she had just seen, she wasn’t sure it would be any defense.

“Don’t come any closer!” Clutching the poker in both hands, she took a tentative step toward the front door.

When he made no move to stop her, she took another.

And another. Jerked open the door. And fled into the night.

Kadie ran as if she had wings on her feet, ran toward the house he had given her until she couldn’t run any more. She glanced over her shoulder to see if he had followed her. But there was no sign of him. Breathless, she paused, one hand pressed to her side.

When her breathing returned to normal, she walked the rest of the way as fast as she could.

She paused when she reached the front door.

She didn’t have her keys. They were inside, along with her handbag.

She was about to run down the hill to the hotel and rent a car when the front door opened as if by magic.

Once she was inside, she locked the door even though she knew it wouldn’t keep him out.

She drew the curtains across the windows, turned on every light in the place, and huddled in a corner of the sofa, clutching the poker to her chest.

Tomorrow, she thought. Tomorrow morning while the sun was up and he slept in his coffin, or wherever vampires slept, she would take the Corvette and leave this accursed place just as fast as she could.

Saintcrow showered, pulled on a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans and returned to Casper to pick up the Viper.

The two bodies were gone. Damn fools. A quick brush of their minds had let him know they had intended to rob him, assault Kadie, and steal his car.

Well, they had picked the wrong man to mess with.

A deep breath carried the scent of the third guy.

Saintcrow stood there for a long time, debating whether or not to kill the man for laying his hands on Kadie.

In the end, he slid behind the wheel and drove back to Morgan Creek, wondering what Kadie’s reaction would be when she tried to leave in the morning and discovered she couldn’t cross the bridge.