How To Marry A Millionaire Vampire (9 page)

It was a shame mortals needed so much blasted light to see. Roman closed his eyes against the glare of the overhead lamp. He was stretched out flat on his back in the dental office with an infantile bib around his neck. At least, so far, the mind control was working. He could hear Shanna moving about with robotlike efficiency. As long as he kept everything calm and controlled, the procedure should be a success. Nothing could be allowed to jolt Shanna out of what she thought was a dream.

“Open.” Her voice was quiet and monotone.

He felt a sharp prick in his gums. He opened his eyes. She was removing a syringe from his mouth. “What was that?”

“A local anesthetic, so you won’t feel any pain.”

Too late. The shot itself had caused pain. But Roman had to admit that dentistry had come a long way since his last encounter with the profession. As a young child, he’d seen the village barber wrenching out people’s rotten teeth with his rusty pliers. Roman had done his best to keep his teeth healthy, even though his toothbrush had consisted of a frayed twig. But he’d made it to the age of thirty with a full set of teeth.

That was when his new life, or death, began. After the transformation, his body remained unchanged for the next five hundred and fourteen years. Not that his life as a vampire had been peaceful, quite the contrary. He’d suffered cuts, slashes, broken bones, even an occasional gunshot, but nothing that he couldn’t heal himself with a good day’s sleep. Until now.

Now he was at the mercy of a female dentist, and the extent of his control over her was unknown.

Shanna snapped latex gloves onto her hands. “It will be a few minutes before the anesthetic takes effect.”

Laszlo cleared his throat to get Roman’s attention, then pointed at his watch. He was worried they’d run out of time.

“It’s already dead.” Roman pointed at his mouth. Hell, technically his whole body was dead. He’d certainly felt dead for a long time. But tonight it had hurt like the devil when she’d kneed him in the groin. And he’d almost blown a fuse in the car. Now that Shanna was in his life, he appeared to be coming back to life. Particularly below the belt. “Can we get started now?”

“Yes.” She perched on a little chair with wheels and rolled over to him. As she leaned over him, her breasts pressed against his arm. He stifled a groan.

“Open.” She stuck a finger in his mouth and probed along his upper gum line. “Do you feel anything?”

God, yes. He fought an urge to clamp his mouth around her and suck the damned latex off her finger. Take that glove off, sweetness, and I’ll show you what I feel.

Frowning, she removed her finger from his mouth. She looked at her hand, then started to pull the glove off.

“No!” He touched her arm. Damn. She was more connected to him than he had thought. “I didn’t feel anything. Let’s continue with the procedure.”

“All right.” She tugged the glove back on.

God’s blood, he couldn’t believe it. Mind control with mortals was always a one-way street. He planted his instructions into their heads and read their minds. They couldn’t read his. A mortal couldn’t possibly read a vampire’s mind. Roman watched Shanna warily. How much could she actually pick up from him?

He would have to be very careful with his thoughts. Only think about safe subjects. No more thoughts about his mouth and which of her body parts would fit inside. No. None of that. He’d think about something completely different. Like her mouth and which of his body parts would fit inside. His groin stiffened. No! No sex. Not now. He needed his damned tooth fixed.

“Do you want me to implant your tooth now?” She tilted her head, frowning a bit. “Or shall we have oral sex?”

Roman stared at Shanna. Good God. Not only had she read him like a book, but she was apparently willing to have sex with him. Amazing.

Laszlo was gasping for air. “My God, how did she come up with such a—an outrageous—” He narrowed his eyes, switching his gaze to Roman. “Mr. Draganesti! How could you?”

How could he not, if Shanna was willing. Oral sex with a mortal? Interesting. Mortal sex in an examining chair. Very interesting.

“Sir!” Laszlo’s voice rose an octave. He twirled a button with his fingers. “There isn’t enough time for—for two treatments. You must decide between your—your tooth or your…” With a grimace, he glanced at Roman’s swollen jeans.

My fang or my yang? The latter strained against his zipper, as if it wanted to leap out and shoot its mouth off. Pick me, pick me!

“Sir?” Laszlo’s eyes were wide with panic.

“I’m thinking,” Roman growled. Damn. He looked at Shanna. She was standing nearby, her eyes dull, her face deadpan, her body exuding all the vitality of a mannequin. Shit. This wasn’t even real to her. It would be like having sex with VANNA. But even worse, for Shanna would hate him afterward. He couldn’t do this. As much as he wanted Shanna, he would have to wait. And make certain that she came to him of her own free will.

He took a deep breath. “I want my tooth fixed. Will you do that for me, Shanna?”

She gazed at him, her eyes unfocused. “I am to implant a tooth. An ordinary tooth,” she repeated his directions from earlier.

“Yes. Exactly.”

“A good decision, sir, if I might say so, myself.” Laszlo kept his eyes downcast, apparently embarrassed by the recently proposed change of plans. He inched toward Shanna and handed her ajar. “The tooth is inside.”

She unscrewed the top and removed an inner sieve. In the sieve lay his fang. Roman held his breath as she removed the tooth. Would the sight of his fang snap her out of his control?

“It is in excellent condition,” she announced.

Good. In her mind, it was an ordinary tooth.

Laszlo glanced at his watch. “Five-fifteen, sir.” With a final tug, the button came off in his hand. “Oh dear. We’ll never make it.”

“Call Gregori and find out the exact time of sunrise.”

“All right.” The chemist dropped the loose button in his coat pocket and removed a cell phone. He paced across the office as he dialed.

At least it gave Laszlo something to do. The man was out of coat buttons, and that left only his shirt or his pants. Roman shuddered at the thought.

Shanna leaned over him. Once again her breasts pressed against his arm. His pants grew tighter. Don’t think about it.

“Open.”

If only she meant his fly. He opened his mouth. Her breasts were firm, but soft. What size bra? he wondered. Not too big, but not too small, either.

“Thirty-six B,” she murmured as she selected an instrument off her tray.

God’s blood, could she hear everything he thought? How much could he hear from her? Testing, testing. What size clothes do we need to buy for you?

“Ten. No.” She grimaced. “Twelve.” Too much pizza. And cheesecake. God, I hate gaining weight. I wish I had a brownie.

Roman felt like smiling, but his mouth was already stretched to the max. At least she was being painfully honest. So, what do you think of me?

Handsome… mysterious… strange. She went about her work. Intelligent… arrogant… strange. Her thoughts were distant and fuzzy, though she still managed to stay focused on her hands and what she was doing. Horny… hung like a horse…

That’s enough, thank you. Hung like a horse? Did that mean she was disgusted or she approved? Damn, he shouldn’t have asked. Why should he care what a mortal thought of him, anyway? Just fix my damned tooth. And why did she think he was strange?

She sat back suddenly. “This is very strange.”

Yeah, strange. That was him.

She peered closer at one of her instruments. It was a long chrome stick with a circular mirror on the end.

Oh no. “It must be broken,” he suggested.

“But I can see myself.” Frowning, she shook her head. ‘This doesn’t make sense. Why couldn’t I see your mouth?”

“The mirror is broken. Proceed without it.”

She continued to stare at the mirror. “It’s not broken. I can see myself.” She lifted a hand to her brow.

Dammit, she was about to snap out of the dream.

Laszlo returned with the cell phone pressed to his ear. He took in the scene. “Oh dear. Is there a problem?”

“Put the mirror down, Shanna,” Roman ordered quietly.

“Why doesn’t it show your mouth?” She gave Roman a worried look. “I couldn’t see you at all.”

Laszlo winced. “Oh dear.” He whispered into the phone, “Gregori, we have a problem.”

That was putting it mildly. If Shanna broke free of his control, Roman knew his fang would never get fixed. She would see the tooth as it really appeared and refuse to implant it. And that was only the beginning.

She might figure out why he had no reflection.

Roman focused on Shanna. “Look at me.”

She turned toward him.

He trapped her in his gaze and tightened his grip on her mind. “You are to implant my tooth, remember? You wanted to do this. You wanted to conquer your fear of blood.”

“My fear,” she whispered. “Yes. I don’t want to be afraid anymore. I want to save my career. I want a normal life.” She set the mirrored instrument down on the tray and picked up his fang. “I will implant your tooth now.”

Roman exhaled with relief. “Good.”

“Oh God, that was close,” Laszlo whispered into the phone. ‘Too close.”

Roman opened his mouth so Shanna could get back to work.

Laszlo cupped a hand around the phone, but he could still be heard. “I’ll explain later, but for a while there, it looked like our dentist was going to turn into Dr. No” He moved closer so he could watch. “Now it’s quiet again. Too quiet.”

Not quiet enough. Roman groaned inwardly.

“Turn your head a little.” Shanna nudged his chin to the left.

‘The train is back on track, now,” Laszlo whispered. “Full speed ahead.”

Roman felt the fang being slipped back into the socket.

“The dentist has the item in her hand,” Laszlo continued his play-by-play commentary over the phone. “She’s returning the bird to the nest. I repeat, bird is in the nest.” There was a pause. “I have to talk like this, Gregori. We have to keep the… the fox in the house, but the lights turned off. She came awfully close to flipping a switch a while back.”

“Aaargh.” Roman glared at Laszlo.

“Mr. Draganesti is unable to speak,” Laszlo continued, “which is probably for the best. He was too tempted to abandon the plan when the dentist made an outrageous offer.”

“Grrr!” Roman glared at the chemist.

“Oh.” Laszlo winced. “I—I better not talk about it.” He paused to listen.

A litany of curses careened through Roman’s mind. No doubt, Gregori was drilling Laszlo for more information.

“I’ll explain later,” Laszlo whispered, then raised his voice. “I’ll pass the information on to Mr. Draganesti. Thank you.” He slipped the phone into his pocket. “Gregori says dawn will break at precisely six-oh-six. He’ll call at six o’clock, or we can call earlier if we’re finished.” Laszlo glanced at his watch. “It’s twenty minutes till six now.”

“Aaargh.” Roman made a sound of acknowledgment. At least Laszlo was off the phone now.

Shanna lifted his upper lip to examine the replaced fang. “Your tooth is back in, but it will need a splint to hold it in place for two weeks.” She kept working. It wasn’t long before he tasted blood. She gasped, her face growing pale.

Good God, don’t faint now. He stared at her, channeling his strength into her mind. You will not flinch. You will not hesitate.

She inched closer to him. “O-open.” She took a hoselike tool and sprayed water into his mouth. Then she stuck another hose in his mouth. “Close.”

The blood and water mixture was sucked out of his mouth.

This process was repeated several times, and each time Shanna saw blood, she reacted a little less.

Laszlo paced back and forth, constantly checking the time. “Ten minutes till six, sir.”

“There,” Shanna murmured. “Your tooth is wired into place. You’ll need to return in two weeks so we can remove the splint and perform a root canal.”

The wire splint felt huge in his mouth, but Roman knew it could be removed the following night. His body would complete the healing process while he slept. “Then we’re done?”

“Yes.” She slowly stood.

“Yes!” Laszlo punched the air with his fist. “And we beat the deadline by nine minutes!”

Roman sat up. “You did it, Shanna. And you weren’t afraid.”

She peeled the gloves off her hands. “You should avoid hard, sticky, or crunchy food.”

“Not a problem.” Roman watched her expressionless face. What a shame she didn’t realize this was cause to celebrate. He’d show her his tooth the next evening, and tell her how she’d braved her fear of blood. Then she’d want to celebrate. With him, he hoped. Even if he was strange.

She dropped the gloves on the tray, then closed her eyes. Slowly she swayed to the side.

“Shanna?” Roman stood. He caught her as her legs gave out.

“What’s wrong?” Laszlo grabbed for a button, but there was none left. “It was all going so well.”

“It’s fine. She’s sleeping.” Roman laid her on the dental chair. He’d done this to her, telling her that once the job was finished, she would sleep soundly for ten hours.

“I’d better call Gregori.” Laszlo withdrew his phone from his pocket and headed for the waiting room.

Roman leaned over Shanna. “I’m proud of you, sweetness.” He brushed her hair back from her brow. “I shouldn’t have told you to fall asleep afterward. What I really wanted was for you to throw your arms around me and give me a passionate kiss. That would have been so much better.”

He ran a fingertip along her jaw. Ten hours she would sleep. That would make her wake up around four in the afternoon. No chance of his waking her with a kiss. The sun would still be up.

With a sigh, Roman stretched. What a long night it had been. It felt like a week. He examined the mirrored tool that had caused Shanna so much confusion. Damned mirrors. Even after five hundred and fourteen years, it still unnerved him to stand in front of a mirror and see everything reflected but himself. He’d had all the mirrors removed from his house. Why be reminded that he was long dead?

He watched Shanna sleep. Beautiful, brave Shanna. If he had any honor left in his wretched soul, he’d leave the poor girl alone. Put her somewhere safe and never see her again. But for now, he was almost out of nighttime. The best he could do, before the sun caused him to fall asleep, was to ensconce her safely in one of his guest rooms.