A Candidate For The Kiss Read online

  "Oh, that's right—'The tree of Liberty is watered by the blood of Patriots.' Or however the hell that goes." She dragged open a drawer and searched for a shirt. "Well, that tree has all of my blood it's getting." Dana lifted her head to glare back at him. "You drank it already."

  For a moment, such rage blazed in his eyes that she instinctively hunched her shoulders.

  Seeing her flinch, Archer snarled and spun away. He strode to the door and flung it open, then slammed it shut again behind him. Dana still couldn't find that damn shirt.

  Staggering back to the bed, she collapsed as the tears began.

  Damn her! He took the stairs in a rush, pounding down them, still naked and not giving a damn. She was everything he'd always wanted, always needed, and she'd blown him off, left him to the mission that never ended and the women he could never have for more than a single night.

  Archer stormed into the kitchen for lack of any other destination. The phone rang just as he passed the counter, and he snatched it up.

  "How's the girl working out?" Fleming's rough voice asked.

  "Oh, she's just fucking perfect," Archer snarled. "She'd be a great agent. Unfortunately, she just told me she has no interest whatsoever in having anything at all to do with us."

  "And that stopped you?" The acid sarcasm in his tone made Archer's lips pull back from his teeth.

  "If I did turn her, how the hell would we get her to cooperate? You can't force a vampire to do a damn thing. Believe me, it's been tried on me, and it never worked."

  "I know of at least one cell even you couldn't get out of."

  "I will not let you lock her up and starve her, Fleming."

  "Fine. So convince her. Even after she's a vampire, you'll still be proportionally bigger, stronger and more experienced. Right?"

  He frowned. "Yeah. So?"

  "So we need this girl, Archer. Quit fucking around and bite her."

  Fleming's right.

  The words whispered through his skull, chill and tempting. He fought them, knowing it wasn't right to force her.

  Until a demonic voice asked, But what about the lives that could be saved?

  And he couldn't think of an answer.

  A wave of burning cold washed over Archer—the same deadly psychic frost he felt when he knew he had to kill.

  When he spoke, his voice sounded flat and emotionless in his own ears. "I'll call you when it's done."

  Dana wiped her eyes. He'd be back any moment, and by then she had to have a shirt on and some fragment of self-control. God, she felt wrecked.

  Get hold of yourself Dana. Concentrate on the practicalities. How was she going to even get home? He'd driven. She'd have to call a car rental company and arrange to have them send over a...

  The door opened. Dana whipped around, her arms automatically covering her bare breasts.

  Archer filled the doorway like a Roman god brought to life, all beautiful naked strength. But the expression on his handsome face was cold, closed. Flat. She felt a shiver of unease.

  Summoning her courage, Dana stood up. "I won't reconsider, Archer, so don't waste your breath."

  He didn't even acknowledge her attempt at a preemptive strike, just started toward her in a long, silent stride. Something about the way he moved made her feel stalked, and she took an instinctive step back.

  Archer's pale eyes watched her retreat like a cat focused on a canary. "I just got a call from my boss with my next mission." His tone was soft with velvet menace. "You."

  One instant he was halfway across the room. The next, she was on her back on the bed, his powerful, naked body pinning her down, a superhuman hand gripping both her wrists. His wolf-pale eyes were merciless. "Dana," he told her, his voice emotionless, "you've been drafted."

  Archer fisted his free hand in her hair and pulled her head back to arch her throat. He opened his mouth, revealing the sharp white length of his fangs as he bent to bite.

  And she screamed.

  Archer hesitated an inch from her flesh and looked up as she bucked under him, terror and rage contorting her face, her hands jerking helplessly in his. Pity stirred beneath his mental chill. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "This won't be pleasant. I can't even make it quick."

  He would have to drink from her several times over the coming days, partially draining her before forcing her to drink his blood. What followed would be worse. Archer could still remember the raw agony he'd suffered two centuries ago as his body was reshaped by the vampire virus. And he, at least, had been willing.

  "You have no right to force this on me!" Dana spat, struggling to drag her hands out of his grip.

  "No." He contained her desperate jerks carefully. "But I do have a duty. There've been so many times when I have accomplished things no ordinary man could have. Foiled plots, saved lives. If I die, I want to know there's someone to carry on the work. And there's no one else but you."

  Realizing she was helpless, Dana subsided to glare up at him bitterly. "I thought you were supposed to be invulnerable."

  Archer shrugged. "Not to being crushed, burned, staked or decapitated. Given my lifestyle, the odds that I'll encounter something I can't walk away from are pretty good."

  "I don't give a damn. I will not work for you!" She gritted out the words, her gaze as defiant as a martyr's.

  "Yes, you will." Archer smiled sadly. "You're an idealist. No matter how pissed you are at me, when a crisis comes along, you'll have to help."

  Recognition and despair flickered in Dana's eyes until she squeezed them closed. She took an angry, hitching breath, half sob, half curse. "Do it then, damn you," she spat, "And get it over with."

  Archer started to lower his head just as something glittered on the side of her face. A lone tear, sliding slowly down the fragile curve of her cheek as she sank her small white teeth into her lower lip.

  Something twisted in his chest.

  He had done worse things than this, dammit. Betrayed men who believed him a friend, killed gallant enemies and innocents who knew too much. He'd done whatever his country had demanded. Besides, he was giving her a precious gift—immortality. Freedom from the twin mortal curses of old age and disease.

  In the end, she would forgive him. He'd see to it, spinning a spell of sex and pleasure around her until she forgot her anger. He already knew he was her weakness.

  Another tear beaded on her lashes.

  "God damn it!"

  Suddenly Archer was sitting on the side of the bed, and she was free. Dana blinked at him in bewilderment. His broad shoulders were hunched and knotted as he scrubbed a big hand over his face.

  "Goddamn it," he growled again. "I can't do it. I should, and I can't."

  Cautiously, Dana sat up, confused. "What's happening? What are you talking about?"

  He rose from the bed and strode away from her to brace both arms on the bureau. "I mean you're safe. Now get out before I change my mind."

  She stared at the strong muscled V of his back, blinking at a sudden wave of disappointment. Oh, God, Dana thought, stunned. I actually wanted him to do it. Force me to stay with him, even if it meant watching him make love to other women. Never loving me. "What about all that stuff about duty and country and..."

  He whirled on her, fangs bared as he growled, "I said get out!"

  She should. She should run like hell, and she knew it. But some perverse demon drove Dana to find out why he'd stopped. "Is this another game? The stories you told me... You never walk away from a job, even when it turns your stomach."

  "Which is why you should get the fuck out while you can" "Not until you tell me why."

  He stared at her, bewildered and furious. "You little idiot. Don't you understand what kind of danger you're in? I want to throw you down on that bed, feed from that white throat of yours and keep you. And to hell with what you want. So if you don't want to stay with me for the next three hundred years, you'd better get your tight little ass right out that door. Now!"

  Hope began to expand through Dana's chest li
ke a slow motion explosion. "Why?"

  "Why what?" he roared.

  "Why do you want to keep me?" She rolled to her feet and moved toward him, feeling the cool air against her beaded nipples. Deliberately, Dana arched her back and watched his gaze slide hungrily to her breasts. "For duty? For truth, justice and the American way? For sex? What?"

  "If that was all it was, I'd already have my fangs in your throat. Get out."

  "No" She put a deliberate roll in her hips. "Not until you give me the truth."

  He peeled his lips back from his fangs and growled, "Keep it up, Dana, and I'll definitely give you something. But since you've already said you don't want it, I strongly advise.."

  "Why do you care what I want?" Daringly, she stroked a forefinger over one of her own hard nipples and watched his eyes blaze. "Why aren't we on that bed right now, Archer? I couldn't stop you." His cock was lengthening between his muscled thighs, thickening, tilting slowly upward. "You could tie me down and feast on me, indulge every hunger your keen sense of morality has never allowed you to feed. And you're so good, it wouldn't take you long to make me want it."

  He lifted burning eyes to hers and asked in a seductive purr, "Do you want me to rape you, Dana?"

  "No" She licked her lips.

  Archer watched the movement of her tongue hungrily. "I'm not

  convinced." He took a long, gliding stride toward her, his cock swaying, fully erect.

  Dana stepped back quickly. "I want to know why you didn't take me."

  The sensuous mask dropped, and he drew himself up. "Luscious games notwithstanding, I'm not actually a rapist."

  "You're whatever your country needs you to be, Archer." She dared to step close enough to look up into his eyes. "Including a rapist. Yet you let me go. For once in your immortal life, you ignored your duty. And I want to know why."

  His expression closed, chilled. But his cock was still hard. "Because I've fallen in love with you. And I couldn't stand to doom you to a life you don't want."

  Her heart leaped. "We've only known each other twenty-four hours."

  "It doesn't seem to matter."

  Dana met his gaze with a long, steady stare. "No. It doesn't."

  Archer's eyes widened and blazed with incredulous joy, only to cool into caution an instant later. "What we're feeling could be just a product of truly amazing sex."

  She grinned. "Got a pretty high opinion of your skills, don't you?"

  "I've had a lot of practice."

  "I love you."

  He moved with that astonishing vampire speed again, and she was in his arms, every inch of his muscled body pressed to hers. She cried out in utter joy, both arms going around his broad back as his mouth met hers greedily.

  Dana matched Archer kiss for searing kiss, tongue dancing with his as their demanding hands explored one another, dizzy with love and lust. Until finally she pulled back enough to pant, "Make me a vampire."

  Archer stilled. "But you said..."

  "I thought you didn't really want me, I thought you were just doing a job," she said in a breathless rush. "And why the hell didn't you know that? You're the bloody telepath."

  He gave her a look. "But I can't read you. Where you're concerned, I'm just like every other poor bastard, wondering what the hell's going on in his woman's head."

  Dana grinned. "If it's any consolation, it sounds like you'll have plenty of time to figure it out."

  He smiled slowly, sensually. "Why don't we get started?" Her grin widened. "Oh, yeah. Let's."

  Archer bent down, swept her into his arms, and started toward the bed. "Now where," he purred, "did I put the rope?"

  Dana froze in the act of caressing his shoulders. "Rope?" "What was it you said a minute ago? Oh, yeah. `You could tie me down and feast on me.' I liked that idea, Dana. I really did." "I was speaking rhetorically!"

  "But I'd love to try it."

  She tossed her head, enjoying the game immensely. "Not a chance." He sighed in mock sympathy. "That's the trouble with being a feast. You don't get much choice."

  Archer tossed her on the bed. Dana immediately rolled off it. And the chase was on.

  Just to be polite, he allowed her to elude him for two quick circuits of the bed, slowing down his lunges just enough to let her dart free. Round breasts bouncing as she danced on the balls of her feet on the opposite side of the lake-sized mattress, Dana giggled. "Slowing down in your old age, Archer?"

  He grinned and vaulted the width of the bed, enjoying the way her gray eyes widened when he hit the floor beside her and caught her into his arms. "What do you think?"

  "Archer!" she squealed, as he swooped in for a hungry kiss of her laughing mouth. He kept her distracted with his tongue while he waltzed her backward to the bedside table, pulled open a drawer with one hand and reached inside. When his fingers found the silken coil of rope, Archer grinned against her lips.

  Dana shrieked out a laugh as she felt herself flying through the air to land on the soft surface of the mattress. Before she could even think about rolling off again, Archer was on top of her, jerking her left hand over her head. He tied it to one of the bedposts with a few twists of rope while she playfully pounded at his chest with

  her free hand.

  He ignored her until she sank her teeth into the muscled ribs that were so temptingly close to her face. "Cut that out, you little devil," Archer ordered, stretching out to snap the remaining length of the thick rope so he could tie her other wrist with it.

  "Brute!" Dana accused, trying to sound outraged. "Rapist! Pervert!"

  "You bet your sweet ass."

  As he went about binding her to the bedposts, Dana squirmed, trying to look as tempting as possible as she slowly twisted her half-naked body. The ploy worked; she saw his blue eyes heat as he eyed her struggles. But his hands never hesitated in the task of tying her down. At last she was completely immobilized, arms and legs stretched wide.

  Archer straightened to stand over her, scanning her bound body with an expression of lecherous triumph, his cock at full, magnificent erection.

  "I hate to mention this, but there's a fatal flaw with your plans," Dana observed, swallowing as she stared at his cock. It looked as thick as her wrist.

  "I don't think so" Archer grinned, showing the long points of his fangs. "You're tied up and helpless, ready to serve my every evil appetite."

  "Not in these jeans."

  "Oh, that " He scanned the tough blue fabric, then focused his attention right between her legs. "That's not going to be a problem."

  And it wasn't. Archer reached down, grabbed her waistband in both hands and yanked. The thick fabric tore with a loud rip, splitting right down to her left thigh.

  Stunned by the display of raw vampire strength, Dana blinked, then mustered a grumble. "Great. Now I don't have anything to wear at all."

  "You don't need anything to wear," he told her, and licked his fangs as he reached for the fabric again. "At all."

  Archer shredded the jeans off her body like a greedy boy tearing into a birthday present. In seconds, she was completely nude.

  Wide-eyed, Dana watched him toss aside the shreds of her clothing and rock back on his bare heels to give her a long, hungry stare. The air felt cool on her pebbled nipples and spread, wet sex. She tugged at her bound wrists with a blend of excitement and unease.

  Archer watched the nervous movement like a starving wolf. "Feeling helpless?" His stare flicked back to her full breasts, then down between her thighs. "You look helpless. And you are. I can do anything I like to you" He looked up into her eyes. "Does that worry you?"

  She licked her dry lips. "Should it?"

  "Oh, yeah" Slowly he began to stroll around the bed. "I'm remembering all the wickedly creative things I've done to pretty victims over the past two centuries." His eyes glinted. "Sometimes they were a little reluctant to try this or that at first, but I soon had them begging for more." His voice deepened, drawled. "I'd like to make you beg, Dana."

  She remembered hi
s tongue, spinning spells of pleasure and frustration around her clit. "You have made me beg."

  "True." Archer's grin was white and wicked. "But somehow I never get tired of hearing `Please, Archer!' and 'I'11 do anything, Archer!' Gives me a feeling of power." He stopped by the bedside table and pulled open a drawer.

  "A feeling of power," Dana repeated, watching him dig around. "Yeah, I can see how that's something alien to you. What are you looking for?"

  He pulled out a length of bright red silk. "Ever been blind-folded?"

  "Hey, now, wait..." She tried to jerk her head aside as he sat down next to her and covered her eyes with the scarf. "But I like looking at you!" she wailed as he tied it off.

  "But I want to keep you in suspense," Archer said, laughter in his voice.

  "And since I'm not the one who's tied up, guess who gets his wish?"

  "Rat," she grumbled, staring into the blackness over her eyes. Despite the moment's frustration, she felt her anticipation began to rise as she waited for his hands, his mouth, his first, heady touch. Nothing.

  "What are you doing?"

  The bedroom door closed with a soft click.

  "Archer! Did you just leave? What the hell are you up to?"

  Damn. Frowning, Dana blinked against the blindfold. He'd damn well better not be planning to just leave her here like this. She'd kick his vampire butt clear to Washington.

  Great, she thought. Here I am, naked, bound and blindfolded. And my demon lover leaves.

  Hadn't he?

  What if he was still in the room? He moved so quietly, he could be standing right beside her and she wouldn't know it. He could be standing over her right now, looking at her hard nipples, thinking about where to touch her first.

  Then again, he might be downstairs watching 60 Minutes. She was definitely going to kick his ass.

  Dana stewed behind her blindfold for what seemed an hour but was probably only fifteen minutes before she heard the door open and close again.

  "Sorry to leave you hanging, but I had to get a few supplies," Archer said with disgusting cheer.