Free HeatintheNight by Margaret L. Carter Page B

when she outgrew the ability to digest meat.
Still, she’d had a lot to learn when Bron had tracked her down, just at the
stage when she’d begun to need human blood and life-force.
    He’d lavished endless patience on her without showing any
contempt for what others called her “weakness”. They’d developed an unusually
close friendship for their solitary species. She would have reveled in taking
him for her first mate.
    Which is exactly why I won’t do it. Sex between
vampires was supposed to serve purely biological functions, relieving lust and
begetting offspring. Emotional attachment had no place in the frenzy of mating,
a fact Morella had emphatically impressed on her. Ingrid wouldn’t shame herself
by exposing her emotions to Bron at this vulnerable time.
    After packing a change of clothes, she started the drive
northeast before the sun had fully set, eager to meet this Leon person and
discharge the pressure building in her loins. Even with dark glasses and the
tinted windows of the car, she developed a headache from the fading light. Or
maybe the pain behind her eyes was another symptom of her heat rising to its
height.
    Dark had fallen by the time she headed into the San
Bernardino Mountains and finally reached Big Bear Lake. She followed a winding
road through the woods to the cabin described in the directions. A black sports
car was already parked in the driveway under an overarching tree. She pulled in
behind it, her pulse accelerating and a trickle of wetness welling between her
thighs. She didn’t care how Leon looked or what he thought of her as long as
her scent made him hard enough to fill the hollow place within her.
    Although the cool air of the May evening refreshed her
flushed skin, she didn’t pause to enjoy it. She grabbed her overnight bag and
rushed up the porch steps to the front door. Finding it unlocked, she flung it
open and dashed inside.
    The moment she stepped into the wood-paneled living room
with exposed ceiling beams, a fireplace and pseudo-rustic furniture, a familiar
scent wafted to her. Cool and metallic with a hint of masculine musk, as she’d
anticipated, but not the spoor of a stranger. Her nostrils flared. No, it
can’t be.

Chapter Two
     
    The last man she’d expected strode into the room. Five
inches taller than her own five feet nine, he had the same alabaster skin as
all their kind but flame-red hair in contrast to her black. In the near
darkness the centers of his silvery eyes glinted crimson. Glowering, he grabbed
her shoulders and loomed over her. “I see you’ve dressed up for the occasion.”
    His hands seared her skin through the light cloth. “Bron!
What the hell are you doing here? I was supposed to meet someone named Leon
Marcato.”
    “Leon.” He practically spat the name. “As soon as I learned
Morella chose him for you, I contacted him and told him to forget about it.” He
shifted his grip to her bare upper arms and dug his fingers into her flesh.
    An ache spread between her legs. Fighting to ignore it, she
said, “What made that your business? How did you even find out?”
    “You thought I’d forget you’re almost thirty and ready to go
into heat for the first time? Or I wouldn’t hear about it when Morella starting
looking for a stud? I got her to tell me what she’d arranged.”
    “But why?” Ingrid’s head was spinning from his aroma and
touch. She couldn’t surrender to the stimulation until she got this puzzle
straightened out.
    “Why didn’t you ask me first?” he countered. “Aren’t we
supposed to be friends?” He reached around her to pull down the zipper of the
dress.
    Cool air from an open window whispered over her exposed
skin. She wore no bra, not needing one with her small, firm breasts. “That’s
exactly why not.” She caught herself panting and drew a deep breath to steady
herself. “I didn’t want to complicate things. You’re my friend and mating isn’t
supposed to involve emotions.” Hardly aware she was