She also smelled of sweet magnolias and woman.
It had been over two hundred years since he'd last had the pleasure of a woman's body. And it was all he could do not to bend his head and bury his face against her soft, tender neck and inhale the scent of her. Feel the softness of her skin against his hungry lips as he tasted the supple flesh there.
Oh, to have her lithe body pressed up against his, preferably while they were both naked...
But then-given her first reaction to his presence-he didn't think she'd react much better to being mauled by him.
Pity.
Danger swallowed in sudden trepidation as she looked at the man before her. He was just as Stryker had foretold... right down to the white cashmere coat.
It's all true. All of it.
He was Acheron's personal destroyer who had come to kill them for questioning Acheron's authority. She felt the sudden need to cross herself, but caught herself just in time. The last thing she needed to do was to let him know she feared him.
Her extremely superstitious and Catholic mother had always told her as a child that the devil wore the face of an angel. In this case, it was most certainly true. The man before her was without a doubt one of the choicest examples of his gender. His dark blond hair held golden highlights and brushed the top of his collar. He wore it in a casual style that was swept back from a perfectly masculine face. His well-sculpted cheeks were covered with two days' growth of whiskers that added a savage, fierce look to him.
Like hers, his eyes were the midnight-black of a Dark-Hunter and yet she sensed that he wasn't one of them. For one thing, he didn't drain her Dark-Hunter abilities.
There was an aura of extreme power and lethal danger emanating from him. It rippled and sizzled in the air around them and made the hair on the back of her neck rise.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, forcing herself not to betray anything other than nonchalance. Although the earlier dagger throw had most likely tipped him off that she wasn't exactly ambivalent to his presence.
Yeah, that had been a really smart move. It was all she could do not to roll her eyes at her swiftness in betraying her knowledge of him. She only hoped she didn't live or die to regret it.
His smile was wicked and disturbing. "You invited me."
Was that a play on Ash's being a Daimon? No Daimon could enter someone's home without an invitation.
Or was he just making an idle comment?
Either way, she wasn't ready to welcome him... not yet. "I invited Ash here. Not you. I don't even know who you are."
He didn't hesitate to answer. "Alexion." His voice was deep and well cultured. There was only the faintest trace of some foreign accent, but she didn't know what nationality it came from.
"Alexion... ?" she prompted, wondering what his surname was.
He wasn't forthcoming with it. "Just Alexion."
Keller rose from his chair and joined them. "Ash sent him here for a couple of weeks to check into what you were saying about a Rogue Dark-Hunter."
She arched a brow at Keller. "Is that what Alexion told you?"
He tensed as if he realized he might have done something wrong. "Well, yeah, but then I called Ash myself and he corroborated it."
Good boy that he hadn't taken the man's word. "Did Ash say anything else?"
"Just to trust Alexion."
Yeah, right. Like she'd trust an agitated cobra at her bare feet.
Danger sheathed her dagger before she addressed Alexion again. "Well, it appears I spoke too soon. I was checking into the Rogue thing myself tonight and everything's fine so you can feel free to return to Ash now."
Alexion's dark eyes narrowed on her. "Why are you lying to me?"
"I'm not lying."
He dipped his head so that he could speak in a low tone just for her hearing. His nearness was disturbing and intense. It actually raised chills over her body as his breath fell against her skin. "For the record, Dangereuse, I can smell a lie from nine miles off."