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more deplorable than your driving.” She yanked her harness off and after a quick peek over her shoulder, slouched facing him. Her fingers clutched the seat’s edge like she was prepared to rip it from its hinges and hurl it at any ambushing orgeels or vertaglions.
    Guilt bloomed in his chest. His hand curled around her knuckles and pried them loose. “The most dangerous creature found in these mountains is a Gromache toad.”
    â€œReally?” With her cheek scrunched against the seat, she blinked at him. “I can handle a toad.”
    He rubbed her stiff fingers before brushing each knuckle with a soft kiss. A feathery sigh drifted from Mara.
    â€œYou two done yapping?” Piper muttered beneath the napkin. “Some of us are trying to sleep.”
    Mara’s gaze met his as they shared a chuckle. The corners of her eyes crinkled in an adorable way. Like it possessed a mind of its own, his other hand lifted and stroked the side of her face. The softness of her skin fascinated…beckoned.
    She closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek against his palm. Her unexpected response staggered him and he almost dropped his hand from her face. The intimate brush lasted less than two seconds, but it was enough to fire an ache deep in his gut. Deep in his soul.
    He battled the primal urges surging to the fore, those pathetic cravings for hearth, home and family. This woman was a means to an end, nothing more, and he damn well better remember it.

Silent Blade
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    Ilona Andrews
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    Old hatreds die hard. Old love dies harder.
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    On Meli Galdes’ home planet, the struggle for power is a bloody, full-contact sport—in business and on the battlefield. For years her lethal skills have been a valuable asset in advancing her family’s interests. She’s more than earned her right to retire, but her kinsmen have one last favor to ask.
    Kill the man who ruined her life.
    Celino Carvanna’s razor-sharp business acumen—and skills with a blade—won him the freedom to do as he pleases. There’s only one thing he can’t seem to control—his reaction to the mysterious woman who tantalizes his senses. Her eyes alone set his blood simmering, stirring ridiculous adolescent fantasies about breasts and honey. With a few words she dissects his soul. Who is she? And how does she slide so easily under his well-guarded skin?
    It’s almost too easy to draw Celino within the kill zone. Meli plans to revel in him. Drink him in. Wring every drop of pleasure out of every moment.  
    And when she’s sure he belongs to her, she will finally repay a decade’s worth of pain—in a single, brutal dose of reality.
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    Warning: Contains a heroine who excels in moving targets, a hero who can’t get into her pants fast enough, and implant-enhanced sex (no, not that kind of implant…).

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    They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.
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    This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
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    Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
    577 Mulberry Street, Suite 1520
    Macon GA 31201
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    Silent Blade
    Copyright © 2009 by Ilona Andrews
    ISBN: 978-1-60504-574-0
    Edited by Angela James
    Cover by Natalie Winters
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    All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
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    First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: June 2009
    www.samhainpublishing.com

 
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