She nodded.
“He still wants you, you know.”
“He wants my father’s business.”
“Maybe. But he wants you, too.”
“Too bad for him, then.”
“Do you want him?”
She turned to give him the kind of look a person gives someone who’s particularly clueless. “No, Vincent,” she explained patiently. “If I wanted Dave Harrington, I’d have been fucking him in the shower ten minutes ago instead of you. Happy now?”
Vincent grinned, then leaned down and closed his teeth over her full lower lip before licking away the hurt. “I apologize.”
“Hmph. I don’t need you to protect me, you know.”
“I know that. But I need to.”
She smiled reluctantly. “Vanity, thy name is man, or male, anyway.”
“Naturally,” Vincent agreed.
“Yes, well, now that the entertainment portion of our evening is concluded, we need to start looking for Xuan Ignacio. He’s the reason we’re here, after all.”
“I thought we were here so you could take shameless advantage of me.”
“That’s true. But I thought maybe I’d give you a break. You know, some time to recover your strength.”
Vincent lowered his head to give her a mischievous look. “Is that a challenge?”
She shook her head with a smile. “I’m not that foolish. But we really do have to find Xuan.”
“All right,” he conceded. “We should change hotels anyway. If Harrington found us, others can, too.”
“He’s probably been tracking my cell phone. This is the first time we’ve stayed in one place long enough for him to catch up with us.”
“Another good reason to move. Let’s pack up and get out of here. We’ll get you some food and I’ll make some calls. Xuan’s not the only vampire in Pénjamo. It’s time I reminded the locals of who’s in charge.”
“You mean Enrique?” Lana asked, feigning innocence.
Vincent growled and grabbed her by the lapels, yanking her face up to his and laying a hard, fast kiss against her sweet mouth. “Me, querida, and don’t you forget it.”
“Pfftt. As if.” With that dismissal, she slammed a kiss of her own against his lips, then disengaged his fingers from her robe and walked back into the bathroom, leaving him to wonder how it was that he could be falling for a woman who didn’t seem to need him at all.
Chapter Eighteen
WHILE LANA ATE dinner in the restaurant, Vincent sipped a glass of wine, for appearances’ sake, and made phone calls, beginning with Michael.
“Sire,” his lieutenant answered.
“Mikey, what have you got for me?”
“First off, the ducklings are doing well. Jerry just needed a few good feedings, and he’s already walking patrol with one of the regulars. Salvio’s a bit harder to connect with. He doesn’t seem as blood-deprived as Jerry—”
“He killed a bunch of guards just before we found him. I’m guessing he fed.”
“That explains it. He seems a little uneasy, but he’s starting patrol tonight. I thought to keep the two of them together, but Salvio seemed reluctant.”