She forced her lips into a little pout. “But, Tanner, tempting you would be so much fun,” she drawled. “Surely you know it’s my favorite sport? Tempting otherwise good men to be bad boys.”
“I’m already a bad boy,” he growled, suddenly looming nearer. “Of the worse sort. You don’t want a piece of me; you wouldn’t be able to handle it.”
“Oh, a dare.” She teased him, actually enjoying the repartee. “If I weren’t on such a tight schedule, I’d be sure to take you up on that.”
“And actually let an animal f**k you?” he asked. “Why, Miss Tallant, your father would have a stroke.”
If only that were true.
“All men are animals, no matter their birthright,” she assured him, fighting to hold back the bitterness. “Don’t worry, I’d never let that affect my decision.”
He leaned closer, his lips suddenly at her ear, caressing the fragile shell as he whispered, “Pretty girl, you’ve never had me. I could show you what being with an animal is really like. I could make you beg for more.”
She had no doubt in her mind. If the state of her body were any indication, begging for him would not take long.
“You’d have to actually get me in a bed first.” She moved her lips until they touched his ear as well, allowing her tongue to peek out, to flick over the tough earlobe. “And I make it a rule to never f**k men who hate me. That counts you out, Mr. Reynolds.”
He held himself perfectly still, his hands at her hips, barely touching them, his body tense, ready, as though scenting danger.
“I never claimed to hate you, Scheme,” he finally whispered, nuzzling her hair aside, his lips suddenly at her neck, his incisors raking a burning path across the vein at her neck. “But one of these days, you will f**k me. Unless I kill you first.”
He nipped her neck, causing her to jerk back in surprise, her hand flying up to the smarting skin as she frowned back at him with a spurt of anger.
“That was uncalled for.” She hardened her voice as she straightened her shoulders and glared back at him. “Don’t you know the rules, Tanner? You don’t bite on a first date, let alone a chance meeting in the dark. The mark of a civilized male is his control.”
“Who said I was civilized?” He was laughing at her now. The flash of a smile, his wicked incisors gleaming in the dark. “That was just a warning, pretty girl. Once I get my dick inside you, you’ll be begging me to bite you.”
Yeah, that was what she was afraid of now. Dangerous. Very dangerous. She was playing with a fire hotter and with a greater potential for destroying her than the one she had been playing with for the past ten years.
“In your dreams.” She scoffed him with much more confidence than she felt. “And if you will excuse me, as entertaining as this little adventure is, I really must be leaving. It’s getting late.”
She moved to pass him, only to come to an abrupt stop against the chest suddenly blocking her way.
“You’re running away,” he accused, one broad hand reaching up, his finger running down her cheek. “Do you think I conspired to get you here just so you could get away so easily?”
“I think I’ve had enough of your charming company.” Her body was begging for more, but hell, it didn’t have the good sense to pick decent lovers, so why should she begin paying attention to it now?
“I’m going to have you, Scheme. Fighting it isn’t going to do anything but prolong the battle.”
“And I’m just shaking in my shoes.” She rolled her eyes before moving to the side and, this time, succeeding in skirting around him. “Haven’t you heard, Tanner? The chase is half the fun.” Actually, she had found it was the only fun, but it wasn’t considered an intelligent move to insult the male ego. Let alone a Breed male. “And you will have to excuse me now. I’ve had enough of the party and the witty sexual innuendo. It’s time I leave.”
“Miss Tallant,” he murmured as she walked back toward the party. “It has definitely been a pleasure.”
Tanner watched her walk from the garden, the light from the house spilling around her, causing the scarlet dress to blaze on her slender frame and darken the lush fall of sable hair.
He ran his tongue over his teeth. No swollen glands there. For a moment, just a moment, he had tasted something so unfamiliar in his mouth that his heart had tripped in suspicion. Could Scheme Tallant be his mate? The woman he had been plotting to kidnap for years, watching with an almost fanatical fervor, held a fascination for him that no other woman ever had.
The signs of mating heat were firmly established within the Breed community now. The swollen glands, the unusually vicious sexual heat that gripped the mind and body. His hunger for her was ripping through him, stronger than anything he had ever known. But none of the physical signs of the heat were making themselves apparent.
“She’s leaving the party,” he reported, knowing the team on the other end of the earpiece would receive the transmission.
“So we heard,” Cabal growled in response.
Tanner’s lips quirked. Despite his sexual abandon in private, Cabal was rarely comfortable with public flirting.
“Follow her,” he ordered, heading back toward the party. “I want to know when she arrives at the house and whether or not she’s alone.”
“Are you certain this is the best course of action, Tanner?” Cabal asked. “Following a snake into its den is never smart.”
“That’s lion,” Tanner informed him with a smile. “Just make certain the house is clear.”
“We swept it for bugs before heading here,” Cabal responded. “Evidently Daddy dearest doesn’t trust his little princess. Every room in the place is wired.”
Tanner grimaced. “Have a jammer ready for me. I don’t want this recorded.”
“Ready and waiting.” Cabal sighed. “Covering your ass on this one isn’t going to be easy. You’re damned lucky Jackal has a perverted sense of humor when it comes to these games of yours.”
Jackal snorted in the background. He was one of the few human enforcers within Sanctuary.
“He was just bored this week.” Tanner smothered his laugh as he neared the patio. “I’m out. See you at the castle.”
The castle. The princess’s town house in the middle of D.C. had been searched from end to end over the past few days. They found the bugs and little else. Strangely, the princess had no intimate family photos other than a simple four-by-six of her dead mother that sat by her bed.