Free The Vampire With the Dragon Tattoo (Love at Stake) by Kerrelyn Sparks Page B

underground lair.” Wasn’t that what vampires did?
    His mouth twitched. “I’m fresh out of underground lairs.”
    He’d said “oot” again, but she ignored the way it made her heart flutter. “I don’t trust you.”
    “I understand. Ye doona know me.”
    No, she didn’t. And if she refused to stay at this job, she might never get to know him. And that suddenly seemed like a terrible shame. How old was he? When and where had he been transformed? Why did he look at her like he was starving, and not just for blood?
    Would it hurt to stay in New York while she made her decision? Would it hurt to even try the job for a few days? It might be the most interesting work she’d ever find. What if she could actually help these people and save lives? Maybe her own life would seem more like an adventure. Maybe, for the first time, she would find a place where she could actually make friends. These people would never consider her a freak, not when they were abnormal.
    She took a deep breath. “I think I’ll stay here and give the job a try.”
    Emma clapped her hands together. “That’s wonderful! Thank you!”
    Abby rushed forward, grinning. “I’m so excited! It’s going to be great working with you.”
    Leah smiled. “It should be interesting.” She cast a nervous glance at Dougal, who was watching her with a fierce gleam in his green eyes. Was he excited or angry? She couldn’t tell. “Are you going to be here?”
    “Aye.” He shrugged his shoulder, and his gaze grew more intense. “I’m in charge of security here. I’ll be keeping you safe.”
    A shiver pebbled her skin with gooseflesh. He would be keeping her safe? He presented a bigger danger than anyone else.
    To be honest with herself, she knew that she’d based part of her decision to stay on him, so in an alarming sense, she was flirting with danger. And even more alarming, she was looking forward to it.

Chapter Seven
    L eah woke with a jolt, sitting up in bed. For a second she felt disoriented, then she remembered where she was—a guest bedroom in Roman Draganesti’s townhouse in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. More memories from the night before flooded back. Vampires, shifters, hybrid children, and him . Dougal.
    With a shudder, she pulled the blanket up to her chin. He had given her a chance to escape, but then he’d also become a major reason to stay.
    She shook her head, not comfortable with that thought. In truth, she had many reasons to stay. She was intrigued by this new supernatural world, challenged by the work, and honored to have a chance to save lives. Those were legitimate reasons that made her decision sound much more noble than the way her heart pounded whenever he looked at her.
    Even so, he was the one who dominated her thoughts. When would she see him again? Where was he now? Light filtered in around the curtains, so it was daylight outside. He would be sleeping or whatever happened to vampires during the day.
    To her surprise, the bedside clock read a few minutes past noon. She jumped out of bed and headed to the shower. As she washed her hair with her favorite jasmine-scented shampoo, she let her mind wander back to the night before. After her decision to stay, she’d gone back to the lab with Abby to study the two remaining blood samples.
    Abby was right. Tino was basically human. But the third sample, taken from a soldier for Master Han, had shown an alarming number of mutations. Changing him back to a normal mortal would not be easy, but it was a challenge she was looking forward to.
    By two in the morning, she’d been exhausted, so Gregori and Abby had driven her back to the townhouse before going on to their own place. Abby had promised to pick her up at 3:30 p.m. so they could return to Romatech and get what she called an early start. Leah supposed these strange hours would become the norm for her now that she was working with vampires.
    She was too hungry to mess with her wet hair, so she towel-dried it, threw on