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"Just because your Master is a clueless idiot is no reason for you to cater to it." He allowed himself a serious smile, touched her face. "It's not unrealistic to expect my love in exchange for your exceptional loyalty, devotion and unconditional service. Help the scientist in me remember that I am man and Master. The man who loves you back."
As he settled beside her, began stroking her hair again, she considered that. Drew equations on his chest. "You asked me why I made the choice I did," she said slowly. "It was based on a faulty hypothesis."
His fingers stilled. "Oh?"
She smiled against his chest, though it was a painful one. This hadn't been an easy journey, for all that it was the most worthwhile one she'd taken in her life. "I thought, 'if I serve him well enough, then he will be everything I hope he is.'"
Every fluffy woman's magazine in the world would have jumped on that for the horrible mistake it was. A woman couldn't change a man's heart, his mind. Only he could do that. She was an intelligent woman, had known it. But she couldn't follow her thoughts. She'd followed her heart, because her feelings had been so irrefutable. A way she'd never felt before.
"You've always put a woman's intuition into your science, and I've never known it to fail. It didn't this time. Despite my best efforts."
Another painful smile. He found it with sensitive fingertips, traced her mouth, his knuckle giving her cheek a light brush before he rested the hand on her hip. She listened to his heart beat beneath her ear, thought some more. She wrote some more random equations on his chest before she spoke again. "So what were you thinking about?"
"Your grandfather," Brian answered, surprising her. "What you told him, about me not looking like a scientist."
He was silent a moment, as if pondering the wisdom of what he was about to say. Then he sighed, gave a self-deprecating laugh, an unusual sound that had her glancing up at his brooding face. "But I am, Debra," he said, meeting her gaze squarely. "While I'm hunched over my laptop, studying tissue samples or running data, I'm rubbing shoulders with vampires who are at the top of the food chain, who fight formidable opponents hand to hand and walk away victorious. Beyond the other reasons I've given you, it's made me wonder, more than once, if you regretted your choice to me. That was why I was jealous of Jacob."
Shock filled her. He seemed relieved to see it, which shocked her further. He pressed a kiss to her temple. Then he nudged her to her back again, putting himself between her willing thighs. As he seated himself between them, her eyes widened at the probe of his stiff cock. The recovery time was exceptional, even for him.
"I plan to be a great deal more demanding with my servant than I have been in the past. Another reason I expect her to get at least three hours of sleep a day." He gave her a stern look, then sobered. She stilled, her lips parting as he eased into her, inexorable in his demand, but being slow and gentle about it all the same. He'd used her hard the past couple of nights, enough she'd felt the effects of it during her work day. She loved it. From the satisfied gleam in his eye, she thought he did as well.
"I don't think of any female but you, Debra. Not since the day I met you."
She drew in a breath as he pushed into her, then withdrew until he stroked her opening with the head of his cock. Then he pushed in again, wresting a moan from her throat as he lodged deep and stilled. His hazel eyes were intent, vibrant.
"Though it doesn't come out sounding complimentary in any way, even that night, with Lady Carmela, was about you. In a terrible way I will never repeat."
At the twist in her heart, he stroked her temples, drawing her eyes back to him again. "I promise," he said.
She gave a quick nod, overwhelmed with feeling. The memory still hurt, but she knew now it would heal, everything they did together from here forward a balm that would turn a wound into a scar, a lesson that had brought them both to this moment. This indescribable moment.
His face reflected an intent Master's pleasure at her reaction. "I've never needed any woman for my pleasure but you, Debra. And when I wish to share my mind, my discoveries, I think of you."
He continued to thrust, forward and back. Her pulse was elevating and he saw it, dipping his head to suck on the artery. She felt the scrape of his fangs as she tilted back her head, asking for that penetration instinctively. His thumb slid along the pounding track.
"I can watch you stare into a microscope, your brow furrowing, the way you press your lips together when you're concentrating, and suddenly I want you under me like this. I want to see that same focus when I bring your climax upon you and make you lose control. It's a deep pleasure to me, watching you surrender yourself to me fully..."
He shoved in hard then, wresting a full throated cry from her. He tangled her hair around his fist, pulled on her scalp as she held his gaze.
"There is no other female I desire, Debra. Do you understand?"
"Yes. Yes, Master. Oh..."
The words branded themselves inside her as the climax overtook her. She held onto him, rode that wild tide safely in his arms, and tightened her grip as he joined her in the churning, pleasurable joy of coming in to shore together.
Usually when a scientist reached the conclusion she most wanted to hear, she did further testing to ensure she wasn't biasing the experiment with her own needs. But maybe when it came to the human heart, a different method made more sense. Where science was replaced with faith.
In the end, her hypothesis had been based not on science or if/then statements, but on the belief that when all the debris was cleared away, she'd find the man who loved her as much as she loved him.
Thank God, she'd been right.
Epilogue
Brian strode down the hallway, his head down as he considered the latest statistics from the Texas visit. He needed several more test subjects. Debra had collected a list of candidates, one of them in Iceland. He'd never been to Iceland, and wondered at the kind of vampire who would choose to settle in such cold. Of course, there was protracted darkness there...
Though there were ethical questions to resolve, what they needed was data on unstable made vampires. Which meant he needed several brought to the lab before they were executed, so he could get live tissue samples, interview them like he had Butch. He didn't relish such unpleasantness, but that was where a scientist's detachment was necessary. Their end would be humane and they would be in a contained, safe environment until that time. He could justify his need with that. It would still be damned uncomfortable, but the wh
ole point of all this was to cut down on the number of made vampires necessitating execution in the future.
Sensing something amiss, he stopped. Jacob stood just past him on the left side of the hall, watching him with an amused look. The servant had obviously moved out of his way rather than be plowed over. "Good thing it wasn't my Mistress again," he said. "She'd have strapped you down and used you as a carpet runner for a week to reinforce the lesson."
"I'm sure you would have gone out and stepped in dog shit just for the pleasure of tracking it across my body."
"My lord, I hadn't thought of it. But thank you for planting the suggestion." Jacob grinned, but then a more serious look came to his eye. "My lady has a friendship with Butch Dorn. He called and gave a detailed account of your visit last week."
"Yes, it was productive. I think the data will be useful."
"I expect it will."
From the spark in Jacob's blue eyes, Brian wondered what Butch had shared during that phone conversation. God knew he'd made some pretty bold assumptions that night which might or might not be supported by Lady Lyssa. As Graham had guessed, he'd bluffed. With great determination.
Brian braced himself, but Jacob merely nodded and resumed his course. After a thoughtful moment, Brian did the same. He'd almost reached the opposite end of the corridor before he heard the servant call to him again.
"My lord?"
Brian glanced back at him. Jacob cocked his head. "Going toe-to-toe with a vampire four times your age, you won't be called a nerd anymore. Except by Gideon."
"One day I will put his head through a wall," Brian retorted. "Right next to yours."
"My lady is far more likely to do that first." Jacob flashed a grin. "Give my regards to Debra. I saw her yesterday and she looked happier than I've ever seen her. No doubt because she's back here, where I can bring her cookies."
