Gabrielle rolled her eyes. "Celeste, we have it every year. If you've seen one, you've seen them all. Games, shows, rides. I feel like I am getting too old for it all."

Her sister laughed again. "You were born too old for it all. I have more fun every year." Celeste bounced along. "I am riding every ride, and getting Beau and John to win me lots of stuffed animals."

"The attic had to be cleaned out of most of Mother's things to make room for all your stuffed animals. You do not need any more. Besides, Beau and John do not seem like suitable companions for you. I think they want something in return."

Her sister winked. "Who says I won't oblige them?"

"You will not! Not while I am--"

Celeste broke away and jogged ahead a few steps. "I know, I know. Not while you are alive. You really shouldn't say things like that, Gabrielle. Someone might decide you need to die."

At her sister's words, Gabrielle shivered, and for no reason at all turned to gaze over the crowd around them. The sun had gone down just forty-five minutes ago and the crowd attending the festival had thickened as if on cue. A man a few inches over six feet, broad-shouldered with dark hair and eyes that pinned her in place, stood leaning against the coin toss booth. While passersby blocked him from her view intermittently, the intensity of his gaze did not lessen.

"Oh, my!" Celeste exclaimed, walking up beside her. "I am going to find out who he is."

Gabrielle barely managed to catch her sister before she was out of reach. "No!" She pulled her silly sister, back, but Gabrielle could not take her eyes off the stranger. She'd never seen the man's face clearly that called to her sister each night, but something told her this was him.

On a whim, she opened her mind to listen. As usual, she picked up her sister's thoughts without effort.

"Wonder what he would look like naked. Better than John, I'll bet. Maybe a bigger..."

"Celeste!" Gabrielle squeaked in shock.

"What?" Celeste cast an innocent look in her direction.

"Stop thinking," Gabrielle commanded. Her sister rolled her eyes and began looking around for something else to catch her attention. Gabrielle focused on the man, but as hard as she tried, she could not penetrate his thoughts, not that she'd ever been able to control her mind reading before now.

Gabrielle heard a shout nearby and flicked her gaze to search it out. When she turned back to the man, it was to find him standing over her, looking down into her eyes. His eyes, she saw upon closer inspection, were as black as his clothing. His hair, cropped short, was tussled all over his head. Gabrielle longed to run her fingers through it, while pressing herself against his hard body.

At her thoughts, she blushed. A brow flicked upward as if he read her thoughts. He grinned, revealing straight white teeth. "Isn't that interesting?" he asked.

"What?" she whispered. She should look around to make sure Celeste hadn't wandered into anything, but she could not look away from the stranger.

"That I find myself wanting only to look at you, to even taste those pink lips of yours when it should be her."

Gabrielle's eyes widened. She knew what he meant. For two weeks, he had been calling to Celeste. Why? "I do not know what you are talking about, but I do know that you've been trying to get my sister, and you cannot have her! I'll kill you before you get your hands on her."

He laughed, "Truly? Hmm, how will you do that? You are so small."

Her back stiffened. She was ready to tell him what she thought of his opinion of her height when he covered her mouth with his own. Gabrielle hesitated not more than a second before her lips parted and his tongue darted inside. Without thought, her body had molded itself against him. The hardness of his erection pressed into her stomach, making her ache for more.

When his hands slid to her rear, squeezing gently and lifting her slightly off her feet, Gabrielle came to her senses. They were in public and she did not even know this man. Besides that, he could be some kind of murderer. She pulled back, struggling in his arms. "Let me go."

The stranger took his time setting her on her feet. His fingertips lingered on her bottom, sliding across it and sending tingles all over her body. "Ah, a little fun?" he encouraged.

She frowned, stepping back. "I do not know you."

He gave a small dip of his head and shoulders. "Andre Rousseau." Her heart skipped a beat at his pronunciation of his name with a French inflection he hadn't used before in his regular speech. Like lightening, she imagined him speaking with that same delicious accent while he made passionate love to her. Gabrielle flushed for the second time. Andre winked.

"I-I have to go," she muttered, stumbling backward.

"You would leave me without giving me your name?" The heartbroken look on his face was hardly credible. Yet Gabrielle found she wanted to hear him repeat it.

"Gabrielle."

"Gabrielle," he intoned with the same romantic French inflection. Chills raced over her neck and arms. Andre's gaze dropped to her breasts, as they were rising and falling at a ridiculous rate. The man had her on fire. "Of course, I already knew it. Gabrielle Contento, daughter of royalty."

She wrinkled her nose. "Centuries in the past, several times removed. We are no one special now."

"Your father has some holdings."

"Then you want my sister for her money? If so, you've been misinformed. My father struggles just like anyone in this recession. We, my sister and I, do not come into any inheritance from my mother's side until we're both twenty-five and even then we have trustees that control everything."

Andre chuckled. "Tsk, tsk. So jaded, beautiful woman. Ask anyone who knows me. I have enough money of my own. I do not need your inheritance or your sister's."

Gabrielle would not be put off. Something was drawing Andre to Celeste and she would find out what. I am not jealous!

"There you are, Gabrielle!" She stiffened at her father's voice.

"Father, I ... this is..." She turned to face her father for an instant then back to face Andre, but he was gone. She swung back and forth, searching the crowd, but he was nowhere in sight. Bitter disappointment rose in her chest. "No one."

"Well come on, honey. Please follow your sister closer. She exhausts me. I do not know why I did not just hire someone to keep you two safe while I stayed home."

Quiet, Gabrielle followed her parent back to where he'd left Celeste, down a ways, but in sight. All the while Gabrielle's thoughts were filled with Andre. She wanted nothing more than to kiss him again, and do other things she'd only dreamed of. Just reading Celeste's thoughts earlier told her, her sister had experienced a lot more. For the first time, Gabrielle was beginning to think forgetting all responsibility for a night would not be all bad.