“Do you seriously believe that I can burn down an entire floor of a hotel while engaged in lovemaking with you, and not want you? Gabriel, it’s taking every ounce of strength I possess to keep from flinging myself on you and licking every square inch of your really incredibly hot body.”

Animation returned to his face as he considered that for a moment. “Why would you not wish to fling yourself upon me? Have I done something to offend you? Are you upset because I asked Maata to accompany you to Italy?”

“No, although I’d like to point out that we would have been just fine on our own. And you haven’t done anything to offend me. It’s not you at all . . . it’s me.” I took a deep breath, dreading what I had to say. “Gabriel, I can’t have sex with you anymore.”

“If you are worried about Magoth—” he started to say.

“No, I’m not worried about him. Well, that’s not strictly true, I am a bit concerned about what he’s up to that he feels he can’t have Sally around to see. Not to mention why he suddenly gave your people the slip.”

“I told you that I would find him again. You must have faith in the silver dragons—we might not have the innate tracking ability of the blue dragons, but we are not stupid. He cannot hide from us for long.”

“I know you’ll track him down again, and I’m not worried in the sense you mean. This doesn’t have anything to do with keeping you safe from Magoth.”

“Then what has caused this change in you?” he asked, a rough edge to his voice. “Yesterday, you could not get enough of me.”

I was silent as I slowly straightened up. “That is the reason why, I’m afraid.”

He frowned. “I admit to being completely confused. Your physical attraction to me is not a good thing?”

“My physical attraction to you is a very good thing,” I corrected. “But my inability to control myself around you isn’t. Haven’t you noticed anything different the last couple of times we made love?”

“Well . . .” He grinned. “You seem to have lost your ability to control my fire. And you seem a bit more . . . intense.”

I brushed a tiny speck of dragon scale off my knee. “You had to have noticed the fact that I shifted into a dragon form.”

“I did.” His grin faded when I didn’t answer it with a smile of my own. “Is that what is concerning you, little bird? The fact that you shifted? You bear a shard of the dragon heart. As I explained before, it is that which caused you to shift.”

Something about his expression, some glint in his eyes, confirmed what I had suspected. “You liked it when I shifted, didn’t you?”