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.It s the love between us that heightenseverything when we come together. He kissed her softly, lovingly. Let s takethat shower, then spend the rest of the day in bed. Oh, I like that plan. She pecked him on the cheek, then turned in hisarms as he stepped back to allow her to open the bathroom door.But she d forgotten the window.The bathroom window was wide open.And the sunlight was streaming in,dappling the sunny yellow shower curtain and sending shafts across thematching bath mat and towels in the towel rack.She heard a gasp from behindher and moved to shut the door, but Ian stayed her arm. Ian? She turned to look at him.He was frozen in place, his eyes watering,but whether in pain or something else, she wasn t sure.She felt within to see ifshe could use their new connection to learn what was going on, but all shecould sense was shock and wonder laced with agony. Ian, let me shut thedoor. No.It s okay. But it s hurting you! He pulled her into his arms. Only a little. He kissed her cheek. Only alittle.My God! He squeezed her tight and she felt the wetness of his tears rollover her skin as he held her close. My love, you ve given me the greatest giftanyone could ever give.After eight hundred years of darkness, you ve given methe light. Chapter SevenWith some experimentation, they discovered that Jena s blood gave Ian theability to withstand some small amounts of sunshine, which was more than hed ever been able to do before.He was like a child, wanting to see and doeverything testing his limits at every possible moment.Jena had to hold himback, often distracting him with sex as a way to keep him out of danger andsafe in her bed.Where he belonged.It was a good trade off.She knew he was aware of her ploy, but he humoredher and pleasured them both in the process.It was a truly win-win situation.The only difficult part for her was when they visited Kelly and Marc LaTour shome the night after they d first joined.Kelly was one of her best friends, ofcourse, but Marc had always been a little frightening to her.He was the MasterVampire of the region and had held that position for quite a long time.The manwas so imposing, the only time Jena saw his icy demeanor thaw at all was whenKelly was near.When his new wife was nearby, it was clear how much he loved her and thatmade him somewhat more human, though he was still a little scary.Jena knewshe was welcome in their home, but in truth, she hadn t visited too many timessince Kelly and Marc s wedding.Kelly had been turned in a very violent way,but it was clear Marc loved her with every breath in his body.When Ian and Jena stepped over the LaTour s threshold that night, theirhosts seemed to know right away that something was very different. Good Lord. Marc s calm voice cut through the tense silence as all four ofthem faced each other. And then there were four. Ian burst out laughing atMarc s cryptic words while the women shared confused looks.Ian settled his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close to his side. Jena is my One, but that isn t the end of our news.We ll require the privateroom to relay the rest. That serious? Marc s aristocratic eyebrow rose.He d been an Englishnobleman before being turned to vampirism and he still reverted to his oldmannerisms every now and again.Ian nodded grimly as the four of them moved off toward the back of thehouse.There was a set of stairs leading downward and Kelly took Jena s handfor a quick squeeze as Marc led the way downward to a room Jena had neverseen before.He flicked a bunch of switches and sealed the heavy door shutbefore speaking again. Okay.We re secure.Now what s so earth shattering that we had to come allthe way down here? Marc turned on them, all business, but with just a tinyglint of humor in his dark eyes. Jena is demi-vampir and this morning I saw sunlight for the first time in eight hundred years. The silence in the room was deafening. Good Lord! Marc collapsed into a chair while Kelly stared, probablyreceiving information by taking a walk through her mate s memories, Jenarealized.Jena started to feel very uncomfortable at being the center of suchattention, but Kelly reached out, coming over and giving her a big hug.Kellywas a good friend and that hadn t changed after she d been turned.Kelly stillhad a generous heart and probably always would.It was just the way she waswired. I m so glad you ve found love, sweetie.I wish Ian and you every happiness. Thanks, Kel. Jena truly loved her friend and was glad she was there.Shehad so many questions to ask her now that they each had a vampire mate incommon.There was so much to learn. Now what about your mother? Kelly pulled back with a friendly smile. Ibet she s like you, huh? There s another one? Marc s voice sounded behind Kelly.Ian nodded, filling Marc in on the particulars.Marc s decisivenessimpressed Jena as he immediately made plans with Ian to see to her mother ssafety.It turned out, they both knew a very experienced enforcer named Julianwho was near enough to her mother s home in New York to go and watch overher.Marc made the call from a secure phone and set the wheels in motion,swearing the enforcer to secrecy.Both men vouched for Julian when Jenasought their reassurances, but Ian s word was good enough for her.She took a moment to sift through just a few of his memories a skill shewas getting better at as time went on to get a better idea of what this Julianguy was all about.One thing she was able to learn from Ian s memories wasthat Julian was a very handsome man.Her mother would have to watch outwith a hunk like that watching over her every move.Marc asked Jena to call her mother and warn her about Julian s arrival.Jena didn t really relish the idea of breaking all her news to her mother in frontof witnesses, but she knew the phone line, at least on this end, was secure.There was no real reason to think her mother might be in danger& yet.But ifsomehow word got out about her demi-vampir state, that could change in ahurry.The idea truly frightened her but Ian reached out and squeezed one ofher hands, pouring comfort and confidence through their link and she feltreassured as she dialed her mother s number.The call went about as well as could be expected.Jena s mom, Lillian, had akind of radar where she was concerned and wanted to hop the next flight out tosee her, but Jena convinced her to stay put.She told her about Ian andJulian s imminent arrival and Lillian jumped to all sorts of motherlyconclusions that had her laughing out loud.That seemed, perversely, toreassure her mother and they rang off with a promise to call again the nextday. Well? Kelly wanted to know as Jena hung up the phone, still smiling andshaking her head.She looked up at her friend and chuckled. My mom is now convinced that I m mixed up with the mafia. Chapter EightOver the next week or two, Jena managed to convince her mother that Ianwas not a member of the Cosa Nostre.Apparently the handsome Julian hadmore influence than Jena would have credited
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