He nodded. “From what you’ve said, it seems like Airmid didn’t want to involve Sparkle or the rest of us. She waited until she could get you alone. So you’ll make sure you’re never alone again until things get settled.”

“You’re a bossy man, did you know that?” Her smile took the sting out of her comment.

But all Dacian heard was the word “man.” She couldn’t be thinking of him as a bloodsucking horror and call him a man, could she?

Her smile faded as she continued, “Don’t forget that you have your own problems. I haven’t forgotten.”

His good feeling faded along with her smile. She was right. He might pose as much of a danger to her as Airmid. And what if Airmid struck at the same time Stephan launched one of his attacks? Fat lot of good he’d do her then. He pushed the nightmare away. He’d deal with the here and now for as long as he could.

He nodded. “Wait while I get some clothes on, and we’ll go to your greenhouse.”

She watched him as he grabbed some clothes from his closet and headed for the bathroom. The towel rode low on his hips and with every stride her breaths came a little faster. Drop the damn towel. It was like reading a book with the best pages missing. His wide shoulders tapered down to a strong smooth back and then… missing pages. Moving along, she could see the lower part of muscular thighs, and then his strong legs. But she couldn’t get past the missing pages. She could only imagine his firm round butt. And if he turned around…Well, she’d save that for a later time.

While he dressed, she pushed her thoughts past his delicious body and what she’d like to do with it to concentrate on Airmid. How could anyone fight a goddess?

But Cinn didn’t have a chance to come up with any solutions before Dacian emerged from the bath-room. Even wearing just jeans and a T-shirt, he was breathtaking.

At what point had his vampire status ceased to stand in the way of her full appreciation of him as a spectacular man? She didn’t know, but it had.

He took her hand as they left his room and climbed the stairs to the great hall, where Eric stood with Holgarth and Kyla. Cinn figured there was no way to avoid talking to them.