Sarah McCarty by Slade Page A

she would have greeted it with a smile and a big virtual hug—she loved mornings—but if she was gonna buy into all this vampire crap, and she really didn’t see how she couldn’t, the sun was her enemy. It had the power to do the one thing the fang-bearing Sanctuary monsters couldn’t. It could kill the man who was her protector. Not a good thing.
    Not that maybe she couldn’t find somebody else to help her, but it had always been her philosophy that a bird in hand beat the heck out of two in the bush. And Slade was one heck of a bird.
    The comparison immediately struck her as wrong. Birds were lively, gentle, fragile creatures. Slade was passionate intensity simmering between layers of fake calm and poised anger. Pure sexy bad boy, and in any other environment she might just have succumbed to the temptation he posed. The last time she’d had a red-hot affair with a man like Slade, had been, well, never. She sighed. Might as well face it: men like Slade didn’t come along too often, and when they did, they were usually candidates for scumbag of the year, not the heroes of fairy tales.
    She glanced toward the backseat again. But Slade had hero written all over him. He’d risked his life for her. Bled because of her. As recommendations for trustworthiness went, that was the best she’d had so far. He might even make relationship material. Not that she’d had too many of those, either. As always, when she got to the end of a research project the thrill of an approaching solution consumed her mind and left little time for dating. Heck, half the time, she forgot to eat. Men weren’t even on the agenda. Now, before she could even turn the hormones back on, here was Slade. She’d been interested in him when he’d been a blip on her computer screen, a rare enough occurrence in itself. Any red-blooded woman would be interested in him after meeting him in person, but what unsettled her was the feeling that there was more than hormones at work here. Why or what, she didn’t know, but there was chemistry between them. Even, maybe a ... connection. Good God, she was running for her life in a race against time to protect research she never should have pursued. She didn’t have time for a connection!
    The pavement came to an abrupt end. She hit the brakes as the car bumped down off the pavement into a series of ruts that threatened to vibrate the powerful vehicle right off the side of the road.
    “What’s wrong?”
    Sure, now he woke up. “Tell me, if the sun touches you what does it do?”
    “Beyond hurting like hell?” His voice had a shadow of its normal timbre.
    “Yeah. Beyond that.”
    “It’s probably the equivalent of pouring a bucket of acid on human skin.”
    Acid burned through tissue in seconds. “Do you keep a blanket in here?”
    “No.”
    “What about that energy blanket thing? If you get that over you, will it block the sun?”
    A pause. “Probably.”
    “Then put it on.”
    There was a rustle of leather and material. “You like to give orders, don’t you?”
    “I find it’s easier than arguing.”
    “That really works for you?”
    Up to the left was a clearing. A house sat back from the road, listing to one side, so she assumed it was abandoned and might just do as a place to get Slade out of the sun. “With sensible people, yes.”
    “Are you implying I’m not sensible?”
    “Maybe just a little. Remember, I saw you throw yourself in front of Fang and company.”
    “That, sweetness, was the smartest thing I ever did.”
    She turned into the drive of the deserted house. “Then I guess that makes you either stupid or a genius.”
    “Genius.” The word reverberated strangely, sounding louder in her head than to her ear.
    “You just go right ahead and keep believing that.” There was an even more dilapidated barn to the right of the house. She pulled up in front of the double doors. “I think we can hide you here.”
    “Hide?”
    “That tightness in your voice tells me you’re in