Before he could decide, applause, then a husky laugh like lust draped in fog floated into the passageway from a lecture hall, distracting him. Intrigued by the siren sound, Gabriel walked over to the open door and peeked inside. The room was set on two levels, with raised auditorium-style seating. From his swift perusal, he figured at least a hundred students had crowded into the class. Every eye was fixed on the owner of the sultry laugh.

Gabriel eased into the classroom, drawn despite the fact that Gennie was waiting for him. Years of training had taught him stealth and obscurity. Looking down at the podium on the first level, he firmly decided that the sexy-sounding professor had at least taken lessons in the second. She earned excellent marks. If he hadn’t heard the laugh for himself, he’d never have guessed it came from the dowdy waif at the lectern.

Boxy brown swathed the woman from shoulder to midcalf. The ill-fitting mud-colored tweed was out of place in the spring and positively stifling in the weeks leading up to a New Orleans summer. Awful brown shoes encased her feet, and if he wasn’t mistaken, misshapen hose bunched a bit at the ankle.

His eyes traveled higher. Glorious black hair had been twisted into a mockery of style. Caught somewhere between bun and ponytail, the length of black silk hung in a defeated hank at her slender neck. To complete the picture, spectacles perched on the bridge of a proud nose, one with surprising character. Her lips were drawn to a permanent pout and her cheekbones could etch stone. Then she angled her head. She was extraordinary, Gabriel thought, as heat shot through his gut and tripped up his pulse. A face to match the voice. Delicate warred with fierce and resulted in dazzling. And, Gabriel realized, the beauty was looking straight at him.

Though she had not stopped speaking, he could tell by the tilt of her head that she was examining him as carefully as he had her. He knew what she saw.

Jeans strained at the knees and a black T-shirt that had seen better days. He kept his curly brown hair from reaching too far down his neck and his face clean. He’d inherited his father’s slightly square jaw and his mother’s long, romantic mouth. He was an attractive man, teetering on the precipice of handsome, and comfortable with the balance.

Watching the professor watch him, Gabriel held her eyes. Her ability to keep speaking—and his to keep breathing—while she dissected him impressed. And, if the jut of her chin was any indication, she was none too pleased by what she saw. Amused by her irritation and freed by the reaction, Gabriel grinned broadly and winked. With an impudent nod, he strolled back outside.