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for the pot.”
    As she sat at the cozy wooden table, Sidney couldn’t help thinking how ironic it was—this domestic little scene playing out in a vampire’s den.
    “While the pot is boiling, I’ll search for something you can wear,” the elderly man said, then left through another door.
    She counted to twenty before following.
    The door led down a hallway, which opened into a large room with cream-colored walls and heavy, dark oak furnishings. She’d bet her paycheck the paintings gracing the pale walls were original, Old World art. Despite numerous overhead electrical fixtures, candles were lit in wall sconces and on the mantle above a massive fireplace.
    “A little old fashioned, aren’t you, Mr. Navarro?” Sidney muttered. Where was he? And did she really have the courage to seek a lion in his den? She hated to admit it, even to herself, but she was nervous.
    Moses had said the master was a civilized vamp, but in the end, weren’t they all ghouls?
    She hitched the sagging blanket higher and chose another door, which led into a dark, paneled study. A fire crackled in a hearth, but the room appeared empty. Perhaps the master wasn’t at home after all.
    But his desk might reveal answers to some of her questions.
    With a quick glance back at the living room, she quietly closed the door behind her.
    “Miss Coffey, I think you’ve taken a wrong turn,” a deep, lightly accented voice said.
    Sidney whirled toward a leather armchair hidden in the shadows. Firelight flickered to reveal the outline of a man seated there. She didn’t need two guesses to figure out who he was.
    She drew a deep breath, racking her brain for a good excuse for her presence. “Um…Mr. Navarro. I was looking for you.” She stepped deeper into the room—but the blanket didn’t come with her.
    She grasped frantically for the edges as it parted over her shoulders, but in her nervousness she stumbled forward. The blanket pulled away as she righted herself.
    Her hands flew to her breasts. Good lord, can this evening get any worse? “M-mister Navarro,” she stammered, hoping the dim lighting hid her burning cheeks and everything else. “Um…I seem to have caught my blanket in the door.”
    “Lovely though your breasts are, I think they should leave,” he said, his tone lacking inflection.
    The flatness of his voice, and the fact she couldn’t read his expression in the shadows, left her unnerved. She hadn’t thought through her plan past getting onto the property. Confronting the vamp himself, she realized just how precarious her situation was. He was a bloodsucker after all. Still, he’d asked her to leave—not become a dinner entrée.
    Humiliated and more than a little scared, Sidney decided a hasty retreat was her best option. She turned back to the door and tugged at the knob, but the door didn’t budge. She cursed under her breath and tugged again. Then her shoulders slumped in defeat. “I, uh…I’ve wedged the door closed. Could you help me?”
    He sighed behind her, and leather creaked as he rose.
    Sidney covered her breasts again and stepped aside.
    As he approached, his features were revealed in candlelight.
    Her breath left her lungs in a whoosh. She’d heard the master vampire was handsome—but not one of her sources had mentioned he was downright beautiful—or that his dark gaze could pierce like a skewer.
    She fought the urge to step farther away, but then her fear aroused anger within herself. Sidney Coffey was no mouse. She lifted her chin.
    One black, perfectly arched brow rose, mocking her show of courage. He reached past her and easily pulled open the door. “I trust you can find your way out.”
    The silky tone of his voice sent a shiver up her back, and her nipples drew tight and pointed beneath her palms.
    From terror , she told herself. Certainly not from any sensual awareness. Never mind that this close his height and lean, muscled frame made her feel very small and vulnerable. A sensation that never