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Shanna shrugged. "A few. None in the bedrooms, of course."

"How about the basement?"

"I don't know. Maybe." Shanna gave her a curious look. "Are you all right? You seem awfully pale."

It was bad enough that Angus MacKay had watched her kiss Carlos in the garden at Romatech, but now she had to wonder. Had she performed in an R-rated sex video for Howard? She cast a wary look at the camera. "Does that red light mean it's turned on?"

"Yes." Shanna tilted her head, her eyes narrowed. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm hungry!" Tino announced as he attempted to lift one of the tote bags.

Shanna rushed over to grab the bags. "Let's go to the kitchen then." She smiled at Caitlyn. "I hope you like chicken."

In the kitchen, Caitlyn helped her sister set the table and pvy up the food. The whole time, she wondered if there was a camera in the basement, and if so, was it turned on?

She sat and stared at the grilled chicken thigh and coleslaw on her plate. She had to know. Now.

"Excuse me." She stood and eased toward the door. "I'll be right back."

The children paid her no mind, but Shanna gave her a worried look.

Caitlyn dashed downstairs to the exercise room in the basement. She halted, her heart lurching in her chest. There was a camera. And the exercise mat where she'd rolled around with Carlos appeared to be in its range of view.

She stepped closer, examining the camera. No red light. It wasn't turned on.

For now, but what about that morning? She swallowed hard, then wandered up the stairs to the kitchen.

"Are you okay?" Shanna asked.

"Sure." Caitlyn sat at the table and stared at her food. Maybe Carlos would know.

She jumped to her feet. "I think I'll take some food up to Carlos." She heaped chicken and mashed potatoes on a plate. "He's on the fifth floor. Apparently there's an office up there."

Shanna smiled. "That's Roman's and my old room. It's a long climb. Why don't we just call him to join us?"

Sofia nodded, her mouth full of potatoes. "I like Carlos."

"He's...busy." Caitlyn tossed a biscuit on the plate. "I'll be right back." She needed to talk to him in private.

She dashed up the stairs as fast as she could, then stopped outside the fifth floor office, gasping for air.

Carlos opened the door and looked her over. "Are you having a heart attack?"

She glared at him. Her heart was already breaking, thanks to him. She marched into the office and plopped the plate down on the desk. "I brought you supper."

"Thank you." He shut the door and approached her slowly. "How are you doing?"

She pressed a hand to her chest. "I'll catch my breath soon."

"I meant...about earlier."

"Oh?" She raised her eyebrows. "Are you referring, by any chance, to the most humiliating rejection of my life?"

He winced. "That would be it."

"Do you really care?"

"Yes, I do. I hate causing you pain."

"You have a strange way of showing it. You've been avoiding me for hours."

He raked a hand through his loose black hair. "I have good reason. But you don't need to worry about it ever happening again. I asked Toni to take over your training."

Ouch. She lifted the plate. "Chicken."

He arched an eyebrow. "Are you calling me - "

"If it looks like chicken and tastes like chicken - "

"Yes, I'm afraid." He stepped toward her, his eyes glittering with anger. "I'm afraid of endangering your life. I'm trying to protect you, Caitlyn."

She plunked the plate down on the desk again. "Protect me from what?"

He gritted his teeth. "There are things you don't know - "

"Then tell me!"

"I am telling you! I'm dangerous for you."

Frustration seethed in her. "Why should I believe you when it feels so right? Don't tell me you don't feel it!"

"What we feel doesn't matter - "

"It's all that matters!"

He closed his eyes briefly, his forehead furrowed. "Catalina, I cannot bear to hurt you anymore. Please go."

Tears stung her eyes. Rejected twice in one day. That had to be a new record. She walked to the door. She was halfway out when she remembered the reason why she'd come. "Was the camera on in the basement this morning? Did we give Howard a show?"

He looked back at her, his eyes glimmering with pain. "No, menina. No one knows what we did."

That was a relief, although it did little to soothe her aching heart. She trudged down the stairs as tears threatened to fall. Dammit. Why was she letting him get to her? She'd known him a total of three days.

But somehow the last three days seemed like half of her lifetime. Her world had turned upside down, and vampires and shape shifters had tumbled out. She'd found her sister, acquired a nephew and niece, and discovered her father was a mind-controlling monster. She had to be too confused and disoriented to know if she was genuinely attracted to someone.

She paused on a landing. Her attraction to Carlos had been immediate, the first time she saw him, and that had happened before she knew about vampires and shifters. Everything she'd found out since - that he'd rescued the were-panther children and adopted them, that he was trying to save his species, that he was helping the Vamps defeat the evil Malcontents - it all added up to a man who exuded strength and honor. Face it. You're falling for him.

A tear rolled down her cheek. He felt the attraction, too. She knew it. He'd kissed her and touched her with a sense of awe and reverence. She hadn't imagined it.

She wiped her cheeks and proceeded down the stairs. She wasn't giving up. Love was too rare and valuable. She hadn't given up on her sister. She wouldn't give up on Carlos.

Chapter Fourteen

"What's going on?" Shanna whispered to Caitlyn as she finished loading the dishwasher.

"Nothing."

Shanna stashed the leftovers in the fridge. "You didn't eat, and you're as jumpy as a jackrabbit."

"I'm not hungry right now. I'll eat later." Caitlyn dried her hands and smiled at the children. "How would you like to see my treasures?"

Tino's eyes lit up. "Do you have pirate treasure?"

"Sure. Come on." She waved for the kids and Shanna to follow her upstairs to her bedroom. She'd spent most of the afternoon unpacking, so the bookcases were now full.

"Oh, how pretty!" Shanna smoothed her fingers along the yards of embroidered silk that Caitlyn had draped over the canopy frame of the queen-sized bed. "You brought this material back with you?"

"Yes." Caitlyn had turned her plain canopy into an exotic rainbow with a different color of silk cascading down each corner of the bed, tied to the bedposts with silk scarves.

Tino glanced at her bed, clearly unimpressed. "Where's the pirate treasure?"

"Here." Caitlyn removed a carved rosewood box from a bookshelf. "Inside, you'll find coins from countries all around the world."

"Cool." Tino set the box on her dresser and opened it.

Caitlyn separated one of her Russian nesting dolls so Sofia could see the hidden doll inside. "You keep opening them until you reach the baby."

Sofia's eyes widened. "Can I do it?"

"Yes." Caitlyn handed it to her, and a sudden thought occurred to her. For years she'd hoarded her treasures as if they were her family. She had a real family now, so she no longer needed empty substitutes. "I missed your last birthday, Sofia. Would you like to keep the doll?"

Sofia's face lit up with a grin. "Yes! Thank you!" She hugged Cait, then ran to the dresser next to Tino. "Look!" She lined up the first two dolls. "This is the daddy, and this is the mommy." She opened up the second doll. "This is the big brother, Tino."

Constantine frowned at the third doll. "That's not me. That's a girl."

Sofia ignored him and kept opening dolls. "And this one is me, and this one is my baby!"

"Thank you," Shanna whispered. She sat on the bed and motioned for Caitlyn to join her. "So are you going to tell me what's going on?"

Caitlyn climbed on the bed and winced. "I am so sore. Carlos nearly killed me this morning." In more ways than one.

Her sister gave her a sympathetic smile. "I know how it is. Roman insisted I learn some self-defense, too." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Is Carlos behaving himself?"


Tags: Kerrelyn Sparks Love at Stake Fantasy