How to Seduce a Vampire (Without Really Trying) (Love at Stake) Read Online Free PDF Page A

“Actually, I thought it was very clever of me to find you.” Even if it had taken him eight hundred years. “I have some questions, you see, regarding an arrow—” He glanced toward the rocky outcropping where he’d left the arrow and froze.
    A snow leopard crouched on the rocks, ready to pounce.
    Slowly, never taking his eyes off the wildcat, Zoltan eased off the young woman and reached for her sword. “When I stand, back away. Then run home as fast as you can.”
    “You intend to protect me?” she asked. “Why? I was trying to kill you.”
    “Yes, but you failed.” He glanced at her, giving her a wry smile. “Don’t worry. I won’t hold it against you.”
    Her eyes widened and she lay very still, staring at him.
    Maybe he’d shoved her around too hard. She seemed stunned. He gave her a little shake. “You should go home now, okay? I’ll take care of this.” He’d protected people for almost eight hundred years, so it wasn’t something he questioned anymore. He simply did it.
    He straightened, facing the pile of boulders with the sword clenched in his hands.
    The snow leopard hissed.
    “You’re very brave,” the woman said behind him.
    “Seemingly,” he muttered, lifting the sword. “Now back away slowly.”
    Pain exploded in his head as something slammed into the back of his skull. He fell forward, dropping the sword. Why? The word skittered around his aching brain just before everything went black.
    “G ood kitty.” Neona rubbed the young snow leopard’s ears. “Although I should fuss at you for breaking that twig. You ruined my surprise attack.”
    The eight-month-old leopard butted its head against her leg.
    “Well, you did make up for it, so you’re forgiven. That was very clever of you, pretending you were going to pounce on us.” She smoothed a hand down Zhan’s spotted back.
    The snow leopard had become her companion after she’d found him seven months earlier while on guard duty. She’d taken the kitten home, where two of the women had been able to communicate with him. Zhan’s mother and littermates had been killed by a pack of wolves, and he had managed to survive by crawling into a rabbit hole.
    Even though Neona didn’t possess the gift of communicating with animals, Zhan clearly preferred her to the other women. Probably because she was the one who had rescued him and nurtured him back to health. She suspected the cat still had enough wildness to dislike the other women’s ability to read his mind.
    Right now, she wouldn’t object to having someone to communicate with. She had to decide what to do with the man who called himself Zoltan.
    He was still lying on his stomach, unconscious. She winced at the size of the goose egg on the back of his head. She’d hit him hard with the blunt end of her knife, suspecting he possessed an extrahard head.
    Her gaze drifted past his broad shoulders, down his back and legs. He had a powerful build, yet he was nimble on his feet. The way he had evaded her attack was amazing. He was an excellent specimen, as Winifred would put it.
    Gently Neona turned the man over, and her heart squeezed in her chest. She’d called him fair of face, but that had been a huge understatement. She’d never seen such a handsome man in her life. Nor a man this fast and strong. The men who lived near their territory were either poor farmers or Buddhist monks, not the type of man who could sire a daughter who needed to be a warrior. And since the area was remote and snowed in half the year, outsiders were rare. A man like this Zoltan was extremely rare. Strong, fleet of foot, and incredibly handsome. When he had smiled at her earlier, she’d forgotten how to breathe.
    What a beautiful daughter she could have. If only she dared. The daughter could inherit this man’s courage, too.
    Kneeling beside him, she placed a hand on his broad chest. “He wanted to protect me even though I attacked him. He has a noble heart.”
    The snow leopard butted her hand away