“There’s something I neglected to tell you,” Io said with emphasis, and with a quick glance back at him hurried Imogen off.

Are you plotting something? he asked, mentally gnashing his teeth at the sensation of being left out of the discussion. Are you planning on asking my daughter’s permission to ravish me as I deserve? If so, please take heed when she informs you that I am lonely and need a woman in my life. She’s been nagging me for the last five years to find one.

In your dreams, bat boy.

Bat boy? What the devil did that mean? He was making a note of it in his notebook when Rolf jostled his arm, sending the tip of his pencil deep into the paper of the notebook.

“We need to speak to you about this situation,” Rolf said, shooting a glance down the hallway into which the ladies had disappeared. “Privately.”

“What situation?” Nikola put the notebook away, irritated by all number of things—his brothers’ presence, the fact that Io was being so determined to not be seduced, and this air of mystery that clung to her and Imogen, to name just a few items. The last thing he wanted to do was to spend time closeted with his two annoying brothers.

“The one we told you about,” Rolf said, struggling to hide his exasperation. “The one involving a grave threat to you.”

Mostly it was Io who claimed his thoughts. Why was she being so insistent that they not give in to their mutual desire? She acknowledged that it existed, so logically it made sense for her to allow him to seduce her.

“We must speak with you, but it is too dangerous to do so here.”

And yet, the sad truth was that things had progressed much further when she was seducing him, rather than vice versa…. Nikola froze, the whole of his attention arrested by that sudden observation.

“Aye, Rolf speaks the truth. There are some here who should not be trusted, some who are very close to your bosom,” Arnulf added.

What if he let Io seduce him again? It would solve all the problems, since it would allow her to be in control—women always liked to feel they were in control of situations, especially those regarding lovemaking—not to mention it would take care of all her notions about having to know him for some unspecified length of time before they could proceed along natural lines of engagement.

“We must speak to you somewhere away from the castle, where we can’t be overheard.” Rolf leaned in close to him. Without thinking, he shied back. “Somewhere we can tell you all that we know.”

Engagement. He frowned as that word echoed in his head. Was that the reason Io was so hesitant to engage in lovemaking? Was she saving herself for marriage?

“How about that woods where we found that stag a few winters back?” Arnulf suggested. “The one halfway between the town and here.”

No, that couldn’t be. She admitted she had lovers in the past—he spent another few seconds mentally grinding his teeth over that irksome fact—which meant her innocence was long gone.

“Aye, that would be a good spot,” Rolf agreed. “Excellent suggestion, Arnulf. Do you know the place, brother?”

Perhaps, though, she was seeking a husband. Women did that. Would she expect him to make her an offer of marriage? Personally, he had been in Io’s company enough to know that he wouldn’t mind spending the next fifty or so years with her at his side, but he had buried one wife, and didn’t know if he could go through the pain of watching another woman he cared for die.

“You know the spot we’re talking about, don’t you, Nikola? There’s a clearing in the center of it, from what I can remember. We could meet there and tell you the truth about those closest to you. What’s the name of the woods? Sauber? Sauston?”

“Zauberwald,” Nikola said without thinking, his mind busy on the conundrum that was Io. The second the word was spoken, however, his attention shifted. He ought to know the spot—it was where thirty or so years ago he had run into a demon lord, and been cursed into his present state.

“Yes, that’s the spot, Zauberwald. The so-called enchanted forest.” Arnulf smiled before adding, “Although I’ve never seen what was supposed to be so enchanting about it.”

Nikola frowned as he eyed the two men before him. “What about it?”

“It is the ideal place for us to have a meeting, dear brother. One that will, I’m afraid, open your eyes to the true nature of those who are around you.”

“What the devil are you talking about now?” he demanded.

Rolf laid a finger on his lips, glancing over Nikola’s shoulder to where the footman had just entered the hall. “Tonight. Shall we say midnight? In the Zauberwald, at the center. All then will be made clear.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to refuse, since he had hopes that at that time of the evening Io would be in the middle of seducing him, but there was a slight chance that she might not yet understand that he was no longer pursuing her.

“As you like,” he said, turning on his heel and heading toward his study. “I have business to attend to. You will no doubt entertain yourselves.”

“Of that, you can have no fear,” Arnulf called after him as he left the hall. There was a slight tone to his youngest brother’s voice that rubbed him the wrong way, but now, he told himself as his boot steps echoed in the side hallway that led to his study, was not the time to worry about such mundane irritations. Now was the time to focus on alerting Io to the fact that she was free to seduce him at her convenience.

How very hungry I am, he projected to Io an hour or so later, as he worked on his automaton. He allowed the red, biting sensation of the hunger to claim him for a few seconds, knowing that she would feel that, as well. I shall need to find sustenance soon.

I said I would feed you later. I’m busy with Imogen right now.

Busy with what, may I inquire?

None of your beeswax, she said curtly, and closed her mind to his before he could attempt to broach it and see just what it was she was doing in such secrecy.

His steward brought work that demanded his attention then, with concerns of the estate, following which he was obliged to visit the stables and attend to Old Ted regarding one of the mares due to foal at any moment.

Have I mentioned that I dislike intensely women who adopt an air of mystery in order to captivate a man?

Have I mentioned that I dislike intensely men who barge into women’s heads without at least knocking first?

Knock, knock.

Oh, very funny. There was a slight pause. I’m not trying to captivate you, Nikola. I just want to… Her voice trailed off in his head.

What? he inquired, curious.

The echo of her thoughts came to him so faintly, he wasn’t absolutely certain he heard it. Save you.

Save me?

What? The word was spoken with a sense of Io being startled.

You said you wanted to save me.

I did not!

I heard you. “Save you,” you said, and since you can speak only to me in this manner, you must have meant that it was me you wished to save.

You’re imagining things, she said somewhat desperately, followed immediately by another echoed thought, this time of an oath.

And now you just swore at me. I heard that, too.

Argh! she yelled in his head. Stop talking to me!

Why?

Because I’m busy!

Doing what?

Argh, she yelled again.

I dislike this sense of mystery you insist on having around me, he pointed out.

I know you don’t like it, and I don’t really care, so just mind your own business and leave me alone.

You should care. You’ll never seduce me if you don’t pay attention to the little hints I have been giving you about how best to tantalize and entice me.

Seduce you? Are you insane? I just got through telling you, numerous times as a matter of fact, that I don’t want to have sex with you. Why on earth would I want to seduce you?

From what do you wish to save me? he asked, congratulating himself on neatly turning the conversation back to that subject. My own lust? If so, I must tell you that the only way to save me from that is to apply your nubile, smooth body to mine.

That’s it, it’s official, you’re completely bonkers. Now stop talking to me so I can figure out how to keep the future from being destroyed.

That seems an odd pastime, but since you are determined to seduce me at your own pace, I will allow you to get on with it. But you should be aware that I will be busy for the next few hours, and thus will be unavailable to perform those sexual acts about which you are even now thinking.

Silence followed that statement for the count of twenty. She hadn’t been thinking of anything erotic, at least not that he was aware, but the second he mentioned it, she did.

He smiled to himself.

I’m not thinking of any sex acts! she protested, but it was a feeble protest, and they both knew it. Dammit, all right, I am, but only because you’re putting them in my head. Stop putting your smutty fantasies in my head, Nikola!

I have done nothing of the kind. You are thinking about how you wish to touch and lick me, and to sit astride me and take me into yourself. Although I’m quite willing to allow you to do those things to me, they are not my fantasies. These are my fantasies. He let her see some of the things he wanted to do to her.

You bastard, she swore, and immediately pushed him out of her mind.

He laughed, delighted and charmed by her personality as much as the way her mind worked, and, of course, by that luscious body that by now he was convinced was created just for his enjoyment.

By the time he had attended to some overdue correspondence, taken a stroll out with the gamekeeper to discuss the current stock of wildlife on his lands, and avoided his brothers’ company, dinner was upon them.

“Why, Robbie,” he asked as he stood in his bedchamber, clad in only a dressing gown, “is the water not hot?”

“Is it not?” The footman pursed his lips and looked thoughtful as he stood at the end of the squat metal bathing tub.

“I’m sure it is not sufficiently hot. You know I desire my bathwater to be very hot. I have told you that every week for the last four months, since you insisted on taking up the duty of bringing my bathwater. I have told you that I wish for it to be boiling before it leaves the kitchen, so that it will be a suitable temperature for bathing by the time the tub has been filled.”