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Marielle had to step away to wait on a customer, a fact that obviously annoyed the curious woman to no end

Ruby stepped around the counter and moved closer to Zane Like yesterday, like always, he was dressed in blue jeans and a loose-fitting T-shirt The Tshirt was a dark, dull green, today It was almost as if he purposely dressed so as not to call attention to himself It didn’t work "You didn’t come in here to buy cookies," she said in a lowered voice

"No I still have a few left"

"Just a few?"

"I told you, those cookies have been a bad influence" He looked at her with expressive, dark eyes "But no, I didn’t co but a cup of coffee I wanted to check on you, make sure you’re okay"

"I’"

"I’uess I freaked"

He sain "A little"

"I think soht to my head"

"Don’t tell Hester," Zane said, a hint of teasing in his soothing voice "She’ll surely hunt down the cretin who dared to spike her Christ her mind Other than that one small detail, her life was nicely settled She had a routine that suited her, and when she’d told Zane last night that she was not looking for aRomance meant drama, and she didn’t want any dra, but she liked boring It was easy No one got hurt

The expression on Zane’s face changed The easy hu for dinner?" he asked, taking her by surprise

"What?" Ah, the snappy coether Food," he added when she ree and said, "I’ain, that smile and the dimple "I know"

"Sorry"

"We still have to eat, and I won’t stay late," he said

"Promise"

Stay? His invitation to eat was supposed to mean dinner at her house? Boy, did he have a lot to learn about wooing woht? She hadn’t been wooed in a long ti down even the sie

"I’m a lousy cook," she said "I can bake sinfully sweet and decadent treats you’ll never eat, but I can’t cook a ood cook, butthe food if you’ll provide the stove, pots, plates, and silverware"

"And dessert," she said, not sure she wanted to agree to his invitation until the words were out of herfor a relationship, but she realized as she looked ahead that she didn’t want to be alone Not tonight

This was a very bad idea He wasn’t supposed to get involved with the woet a look at the layout of her house, and he really wanted another look at 77

Colletore Di Anima The Soul Collector

There were those who called the dark spirit that lived within the innocuous-looking statuette II Gatto Nero, the Black Cat, but the Brotherhood of Madani preferred a

Once upon a ti had had a name, he supposed, but as far as Zane or any of the Brotherhood knew, that name had been lost soive or take a century If the infor those centuries was correct, Ruby’s would be the last soul II Colletore claimed She would be the ninth, and once her soul had been taken the deain It would live fora soul

The dark thing would walk the earth, iinable darkness to an unprepared world He couldn’t allow that to happen

Zane wished he could convince hi and it was coincidence that soiven Ruby a cat knickknack, but the fact that the jade statue had made its way from his house to hers on its own hborhood--soned with The Order of Runhura, no doubt--had left the cat under the tree for Ruby, specifically The jade piece had transported itself to Ruby’s bedside table No, he could not even wish to be wrong

The Brotherhood that was dedicated to stopping the darkness and the Order that worshipped the de before a Brotherhood wizard had cursed II Colletore to be captured in stone Three thousand years of sacrifice, of training, of secret warfare, and it all came down to this place, this time, and this woman

Zane watched as Ruby set the places at the s room, but had chosen to set out their plates here, in the war roo was definitely not on her list of things to do

The kitchen was for neighbors and friends, and he could fit coory

This would be so oing to get in the way, before all was said and done Still, while II Colletore wasn’t human, Zane most definitely was He felt that huh, but she radiated a very feminine vulnerability that had crept beneath his skin and aroused his most primitive protective instincts He was also attracted to her sexually, which was ludicrous given the circuer with every passing h his attraction was new In ht live his life after this final crisis had passed If the deht rose elsewhere in the world and was stopped, then Zane would be free to ask his neighbor on a date His life was so centered on the Brotherhood, he could not even remember the last time he’d had a real date, a real relationship There had never been tiences