Enraptured by Brenda K. Davies Page A

the bar and
sat it on top. Normally he preferred whiskey, but this was a
tequila kind of night. He poured himself a quarter of a glass,
glanced up at her and then filled the tumbler. He swirled the clear
liquid in the glass before downing it one gulp.
    Lowering the drink, he wasn’t surprised to
see her attention finally on him. Her mouth pursed, but she had an
interested glint in her eyes as she watched him pour another. “A
drunken vampire, what a delight.”
    “Don’t worry, it would take more than both
of these bottles to get me drunk,” he assured her.
    She turned to stare at the crackling fire
again. The flames danced and played over her skin and lit her
vibrant eyes. “There’s some rum back here if that’s more to your
taste. No Schnapps though.”
    A ripple of annoyance slid down her back.
“What, because I’m a woman I’d prefer Schnapps?”
    Ian grinned as he finally got more than a
bored response from her. “No, because you’re so sweet I’d assumed
you’d prefer Schnapps.”
    No matter how freaking adorable he looked
with that smile and dimple in his cheek, she didn’t appreciate his
teasing. “Jackass,” she muttered.
    “There’s some of that sweetness now.”
    She gave him the finger. “I don’t drink
Schnapps.”
    “Rum then? Bourbon? Perhaps some Scotch or
Gin?”
    She frowned as he downed his second glass of
tequila. “That really won’t make you drunk?” she asked
doubtfully.
    “Fast metabolism,” he replied. “There are
many things that would have a negative result on a human, but not
on me.”
    “Including screwing anything with a
pulse?”
    He released a snort of laughter, but he
could feel his anger rising. “Ouch,” he tried to keep his tone
light and casual as he slapped his hands over his heart. Despite
his airy demeanor, he resented she knew anything about his history,
and she seemed determined to remind him of it every chance she got.
“I don’t get diseases either.”
    “Fortunately, for all of those women.”
    Ian could feel his patience fraying. “Would
you like a drink or not?” he asked crisply.
    She bit her bottom lip before replying,
“Scotch.”
    “That’s not what I would have pegged for
you.”
    “And what would you have pegged for me? Oh
that’s right, Schnapps.”
    He studied her for a minute. “Now I’m
thinking more like a lemon drop.”
    She glowered at him. “I’m not sour.”
    “Oh no, you’re as sweet as a gumdrop.”
    “You’d be sour too if you were a
prisoner.”
    Ian’s hand tightened around the glass so
forcefully it shattered within his grasp making her jump in her
seat. Her gaze flew to the blood dripping from his hand before
shooting up to his face. He didn’t feel the bite of the glass in
his flesh as he focused on her.
    “You’re not a prisoner,” he grated. “You’re
not behind bars, you’ve only lost a bit of your freedom for a very
short time, and as soon as everything is sorted out, you will be set free.”
    He grabbed a towel from behind the bar and
pulled out the pieces of glass embedded in his palm. Placing them
on the bar, he hastily wiped his blood away and wrapped the towel
around his hand. He could feel the stretching of his flesh and a
tingling in the tissue knitting back together as the gashes
repaired themselves. Picking up the trashcan, he tossed the pieces
of glass into it. When he was done, he grabbed two new glasses,
poured each of them a drink and walked over to hand hers to
her.
    Paige glanced at the towel wrapped around
his hand. Specks of blood marred it, but she couldn’t tell the
extent of the damage he’d done to himself. Maybe she should be
frightened by what had happened, this was the first time she’d seen
him show any sign of frustration or annoyance, and she was alone
with him, but for some reason she didn’t think he would hurt her.
It made absolutely no sense to her, she knew what he was. However,
she couldn’t shake the feeling. When he handed her the glass, he
was in complete