She laughed at him, a soft inviting sound that felt like fingers playing over his skin. He was beginning to feel desperate. She lay in his bed, her body lush and tempting, her silky hair spilling around her head like a halo. He wished it were just the allure of her body. That would at least make sense to him. He hadn’t been with a woman in a long time. Womanly curves, soft flesh, heat and the fragrance of the forest were a heady combination and he could be excused for his body’s fierce reaction to her. But it was far more than that. Knowledge of her body. Memories of her laughter. Whispers in the night, a secret world they shared. His mind and heart reacted to her. And damn it, if he were a man who believed in such nonsense, he would think his soul recognized hers.

“Didn’t you?” Rachael persisted. “You found some baby kittens and you brought them home and bottle-fed them.”

“I don’t believe in skinning animals,” he said tersely.

She watched the dull red creep up his neck into his face. The man wasn’t in the least embarrassed about traipsing around in the nude but he turned red admitting to an act of kindness. She found that blush endearing. “Why are you always running around with no clothes on? Did I stumble into a secret nudist colony? Or do you think I enjoy staring at you in the buff?”

“You do enjoy staring at me.” Rio smiled in spite of himself. She was very open about her appreciation of his body.

Rachael answered him with her usual candor. “Well, I’ll admit you’re beautiful to look at, but it’s beginning to make me uncomfortable. Why do you do it?”

His eyebrow shot up. “It makes it so much easier to shift into leopard form and go running in the forest.”

She made a face at him. “Ha ha, are you always this funny? I suppose you’re never going to let me live that down. I think it’s perfectly logical to have nightmares over men turning into vicious leopards after what happened.”

“Vicious leopards?” He rummaged through a small wooden closet and came out with a pair of jeans. “Leopards aren’t vicious. They might be natural predators, but they aren’t vicious.”

“Thanks for making that distinction. I had no idea there was a difference. It felt the same when they were chewing my leg off.”

“That was my fault. I was focused on the idea of someone waiting to kill me.”

“Why would someone want to kill you?”

He laughed softly. “Now don’t you think it seems more logical for someone to want to kill a man like me than a woman like you?”