Dark Legend Page 0,16

going to invite that man into your house."

"That man is my friend," she pointed out. He didn't blink. Not once. He just watched her. Francesca found it very disconcerting. He was as still as a statue, looking lazy yet dangerous, and the longer he stood there, the faster her heart beat. He had some kind of power over her. It was because he was her lifemate. She was still Carpathian enough to realize his soul cried out to hers. So did his body. She could feel it, the hunger, the desire washing through her with a slow molten burn. Carefully she averted her eyes, staring at the carpet beneath her feet instead of at his fascinating body.

"Francesca." He said her name softly. Gently. His accent was very Old World and produced an unfamiliar fluttering in her heart. His voice was so beautiful and pure, she felt a compulsion to look up at him but she kept her eyes cast resolutely downward.

Intellectually, Francesca knew Gabriel was an extremely powerful being. His voice was compelling, his eyes mesmerizing. Because he was her true lifemate, it would be even more difficult for her to resist him, but she had no choice. "I have lived my life, Gabriel. I no longer wish to continue my existence. I certainly do not want to start over with an entirely different lifestyle. I've been alone, made my own decisions all these long centuries. I could never be happy being dictated to by a male. You can't ask me to change what I've become by your own decree. Tell me, will you still devote yourself to destroying your twin?"

"That is my duty, my vow to fulfill."

Francesca sighed with relief. She was extremely tired, her body once again feeling the enervating effects of the sun as it began to climb. "We have nothing further to discuss."

"If I had not aided you while you healed that child, you would never have had the strength to make it out of the sun." He said the words as he said everything, with no inflection, yet she felt the weight of his censure.

Deliberately she shrugged, a careless movement of her shoulders. "It didn't matter in the least to me whether I did or didn't. I have said it more than once and I don't wish to repeat myself continually."

"You leave me no choice but to bind you to me." Actually, he had intended to do so from the moment he'd realized she belonged with him. For two thousand years he had not

lived, he had merely existed in a dark, ugly world. It was completely different now. Everything. Emotions. Colors. Francesca. He had thought to court her first, she certainly deserved that much. But if her life was at risk, he would wait no longer.

She looked at him, her eyes like black opals, beautiful and glittering. "It won't matter, Gabriel. I won't hesitate to go to the dawn. I won't be responsible for your life. If you make the decision to bind us, it is your decision alone. I refuse to be a part of it. If you choose to follow me when I go, so be it. But my life will be my choice."

Gabriel touched her mind; her resolve was genuine. She meant every word she said. "Francesca, tell me about your relationship with this doctor. How far has it gone?"

She curled up in a deep cushioned chair. "I'm not sure what you want to know. I haven't slept with him if that's what you mean. He wants to. I think he'd like to marry me. I know he would like to marry me." She hesitated a moment before admitting the rest. "I've considered it."

His eyebrow shot up. "And you allowed a human to develop such a strong attachment to you?"

"Why not? My lifemate rejected me and later I believed him to be dead. I had every right to find affection if I desired it," she replied without remorse.

"What do you feel for this human male?"

There was a soft growl in his gentle voice, just enough to send a shiver along her spine. She would not be intimidated by him. She had done nothing wrong. She would not feel guilty because he had come back from the dead. She owed him absolutely nothing.

Gabriel, remaining a shadow in her mind, could read her thoughts easily. He accepted that he was to blame for her solitary existence. He believed she had every right to feel as she did. He also could see her point that