“Oh.” She could hear the unmistakable relief in his tone. “I’m glad t’hear it. I don’t have an explanation except…I don’t want you to think I go around biting just anybody. I just…lost myself in you.”

“That, and you wanted to mark me,” she added drowsily. Ah, even with that obnoxious light on, she was going to be able to get to sleep quite nicely. Take that, bedside lamp! “It’s all right. I don’t mind wearing your mark for a while.”

“What did you say?”

“Marked me.”

“What?”

“Arked-may E-may! Jesus, for a guy with heightened senses, you’re really slow.”

“What?”

“Don’t yell, I’m right here. I forgot werewolves were so touchy.”

“Oh my God.”

“Steady, pal.” Concerned, she sat up. He looked like he was going to pass out. “Hey, it’s okay. I said it was, right? You marked me so another werewolf won’t take it into his head to jump me. Theoretically, they’ll see your mark and steer clear. Or lose their minds and decide, of all things, to fight for me. Ha! Like that’d happen.”

She saw him lurch into the chair—sitting down before he fell down. Very wise. “You know? About me?”

“Sure. Not right away,” she added comfortingly, because he looked so shattered. “Took me a while to figure it out. But come on, you’re a little too quick and too strong for a guy in his—what? Early thirties?”

“Thirty-one,” he said absently.

“Plus, your stamina between the sheets was—was really something.” Was she blushing? After what they had just shared? You’re obviously overtired. Go to sleep, Giselle. “I’ve never met one—a werewolf—but my mom used to work for Lucius Wyndham.”

He was staring at her with the most priceless look of astonishment on his face. “Your mother worked for the former pack leader?”

“Will you stop with the yelling? Yes, she managed his stables for him. ’Course, he couldn’t come near any of his horses without them going crazy trying to get away from him. He finally had to tell her the truth, because she thought he’d abused them and was getting ready to sic the ASPCA on him.

“Well, of course he wasn’t hurting them. It’s just instinctive for horses to stay the hell away from werewolves. So he told her, and proved it to her, and she liked the horses, and liked him, and stayed on. ’Til she married my dad and moved to Boston. But she’d seen a lot by then. My mom,” Giselle added with satisfaction, “tells the best bedtime stories. I figured you out a little while ago. I said so…remember?”

He was shaking his head, his mouth hanging open. “I just can’t—all night I’ve been trying to figure out if I should just kidnap you t’Scotland and tell you the truth over there—”