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Neighbors here didn’t bother to say hello, much less welcome new arrivals with cake and cookies.
    He wouldn’t be here long enough to make friends anyway. After this job was over, he would go back to his apartment in Philadelphia—hopefully dating Ellie.
    Though the largest Etruscan community in the States lived in and around Reading, Antonin liked being just another face in the crowd in Philly.
    Here everyone seemed to know him or know of him. Here he was the second son of Tana and Lucumo de Feo, the brother of Camillus, Teodoro and Valerio. The one born with the bassadone spell woven into his genes.
    There were only a handful of bassadone in the world, only a few male linchetti whose very essence was a powerful aphrodisiac to women. A few women were naturally immune for whatever reason. Not many though. Some women had been so susceptible they had tried to tear his clothes off before he could introduce himself. It’d made for some interesting dates when the power had first manifested itself at age seventeen.
    Over a hundred years later, he wished it wasn’t so easy sometimes, that a woman would want him for his brains and personality instead of his bred-in-the-bone attraction.
    Yeah, someone was going to revoke his guy status someday for thinking that.
    Still… Ellie sighed in his arms as he climbed the stairs to the second floor, her soft breath brushing against his neck. Sensation shivered through his body and he tightened his arms around her.
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    Stephanie Julian
    Reaching his room, which was still dark due to the drawn shades, Antonin blew a stream of magic at the small light on the bedside table. He had perfect night vision but he didn’t want Ellie to wake up and be terrified because she couldn’t see. Laying her on the king-size bed, he let himself look at her…and looking made him want her.
    Her cheeks and chin were softly rounded, her lips full and dusky pink. Strands of hair had loosened from the braid and fell like streams of moonlight over her shoulders.
    Antonin reached for them, pulling a few tresses through his fingers. They felt like ribbons of soft silk. His hand drifted to her cheek, touching the warm skin. Then he let his fingertips brush her thick lashes.
    Ellie moaned in response, barely a whisper of sound, and twisted on the bed, making his cock harden. His gaze drifted down, taking note of her sweat-dampened clothes. He should wake her so she could change. She’d be much more comfortable without them. Grasping her shoulder, he shook her gently and watched her lids flutter open.
    Her beautiful violet eyes looked at him in total confusion.
    “Where am I?”
    His voice was calm and patient as he phrased his answer. “You’re in my house in Reading, Ellie. I’m Antonin de Feo, remember? I brought you here from Nolde Forest.
    I’m a friend of Justin’s. Do you remember what happened?”
    He watched her digest his words, watched as she sorted through her memories and came up with the right ones—watched the wariness come back into her eyes as she sat up abruptly.
    “That man in the forest,” Ellie said, eyes narrowed at him, “what did he want?”
    “To kidnap you.”
    He could see her muscles tense. “Justin really sent you here to protect me, didn’t he? From that man?”
    Antonin nodded. “And others like him.”
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    Seduced in Shadow
    She paused, her eyes assessing him. “And how do I know that for certain?”
    He held up one finger. “Hang tight for a minute.”

    Ellie watched Antonin—what kind of a name was that anyway?—get up and walk out of the bedroom.
    She thought for a brief second about running but knew he’d catch her before she got out of the house. Besides, she didn’t sense any meanness in this man. She sensed only warmth. And strength.
    Not like the ranger at Nolde. That one had completely creeped her out.
    Still, she didn’t know exactly where she was. Antonin had said they were in Reading and she believed him. But someone had just tried to kidnap her.