by Denise Agnew
His gaze blazed hot with grief, an intense hurt and longing. Luck wasn’t with us, colleen. Evil was. The village outside the castle was plagued by a vampire, and I wanted to marry Fenella as soon as I could and bring her into my protection. We were going to marry on a Monday. I remember the day like it was yesterday. But then…
Yes?
One night the vampire came to her home and killed her mother and almost finished off her father. Her father urged her to run for the castle and safety. When I went looking for her the next day I found Fenella on a path near some bushes where the vampire had dragged her. She didn’t even make it out of the village but she was in sight of the castle walls. Her throat was…she was dead. And so was my heart.
Clarissa’s soul clenched as she experienced his regrets and sorrows like daggers to the stomach. Pain manacled her soul, and she allowed her tears to fall.
She became a vampire? she asked in her mind.
No. He’d drained all her blood. A vampire is only made when the sire doesn’t take too much.
“Sire? The vampire who killed her?”
“Yes.”
Then Clarissa saw something she never expected in a million years. First one tear, then another trickled down Ronan’s face.
Her throat tightening, she managed to say, “Oh Ronan. I’m so sorry.”
She stood and reached for him, twining her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest. She wanted to sob for Fenella, for the woman who’d first loved this man and lost him. More than anything, she wanted to do whatever it took to erase the ache ablaze inside him.
His arms went around her shoulders and he buried his face in her hair. “She was beautiful, Clarissa. Beautiful inside and out and she didn’t deserve what happened to her.”
“Of course she didn’t. I wish I could…I wish I could remove the hurt.”
He rubbed his chin over the top of her head in a slow gesture of comfort. “You can.”
“How?”
“Be simply being here. You’re the only person I’ve told the whole story. Lachlan and Sorley know the half of it. They think my first encounter with the ancient one was during the American Revolution.”
“You didn’t tell them the real truth because it hurt too much.” Her heart lurched at the implication. “You must trust me, then.”
“I trust you with my life.”
Warmth stole into her where moments before only pain resided. Moved by his sensitivity, by emotions she never suspected lived inside his hardened exterior, she reached up and palmed his chest. She felt the strength under her fingers and the beat of his immortal heart. His body trembled once.
“Was it the ancient one who killed her?” she asked.
“I didn’t know it at the time, but yes, it was.”
“What did you do after Fenella was killed?”
“I heard rumors about the vampire. That he lived in caves and the forest not far from the castle. I hunted him, but he always eluded me. I traveled throughout Ireland until I ran into a vampiress in Derry. At the time I thought all vampires were evil.”
“What happened when you ran into her?”
“We fought in a room in the inn. It didn’t take much for her to pin me down.” A sardonic smile tilted his lips. “She tied me to the bed.”
Her eyes widened, imagining him struggling with a woman more powerful than him. Then her mind made an erotic leap. “What did she do after she tied you to the bed?”
“She could have killed me,” he said. “But she didn’t. We talked and she explained that she, too, looked for the vampire I sought because he was evil. She called him the ancient one and said no one knew his real name but all other vampires knew he was the oldest vampire still alive. She’d heard rumors that he’d killed Fenella.”
She lifted one brow. “And then she slept with you, I suppose.”
His hands traveled to her hair, where he plunged his fingers into the long mass. “Believe it or not, she didn’t want my blood, even thought she wanted my body. But when we made love, I begged her to make me a vampire. I told her that all my travels amounted to nothing if I couldn’t hunt down the ancient one. And how would I do that if my life gave out?”
As jealousy did a spiral through her again, she pushed the useless emotion aside. To give herself some distance, she gently extracted from his arms. “She was your sire.”
“Yes.”
“How old were you?”
“Thirty-two.”
“That’s how old you are now.” She spoke knowing the truth and not expecting him to confirm.
“Thirty-two I’ll remain forever, unless someone or something takes my immortality from me.”
As her body quavered with a combination of dread and sadness that he could be taken from her, she realized his story wasn’t concluded.
“When I found my mother and my brother in Limerick again they rejected me. They were horrified.”
“I can only imagine how that must have felt.” Clarissa had to know more. “What was it like to become a vampire?”
“Darker and more horrible than anything I’d experienced. It’s not something I’d wish on anyone.”
“Tell me.”
He shook his head, adamant. “Another time, if at all.”
Seeing she would no longer press the issue, he pulled his gaze from hers and looked at the floor. “I’ve traveled around the world again, this time to many exotic corners of the world until I heard that he might be in the New World.”
“America?”
“Yes. I traveled to the Colonies and met Sorley.”
“How old is the brat anyway?”
He chuckled. “Three hundred years.”
He paced the room, a restless marauder with an agonizing story to finish. “What happened during the Revolution?”
“I made friends with another woman, this one in her late fifties. She was a vampire hunter who’d been turned into the undead four hundred years before. Her name was Anna and she was originally from England. She explained that she needed someone to take up where she’d left off. She said the ancient one was coming for her and she didn’t believe she possessed the strength to fight him any more.”
Clarissa feared what he’d say next, yet she must know. “What happened?”
“I told her we could fight him together. Over the years I’d learned a lot about warfare with other vampires.” He stuffed one hand through the thick fall of his hair, then stopped pacing. He turned back to her with gloom making new shadows in his eyes. “I was a fool.”
She stood and walked toward him. When she stopped close, he gazed down at her with the eyes of the condemned. “You could never be a fool, Ronan Kieran.”
“I could. And I was.” The determined, hard line of his mouth said he wouldn’t take any argument. “We traveled together for a short while until the war broke out. She settled in Maryland.”
She frowned. “You couldn’t fight as a soldier, right? You would have to be out in the sunlight.”
“You’ve got that right. I had to keep my whereabouts incognito so there was no pressure for me to enlist. I ran into Sorley one night. He was being plagued by a soldier in an alley and Sorley’s patience with mortals was very thin at the time. I kept Sorley from killing the man.”
She put one hand to her mouth. “I thought Sorley was a good vampire, like you.”
His smile touched sardonic, then slid to warm. “Sorley and I have done things we’re not proud of…long ago when we were first turned immortal. From that point forward Sorley and I were friends. He decided that learning to save mortals was more gratifying than taking their blood.”
She almost couldn’t make herself ask. “How do you maintain your…your blood habit?”
“Right now it’s through a special supplier who gets blood for me whenever I start to run low. It’s kept in a freezer until I’m ready for it. Once a day is all I need.” His gaze searched hers, as if uncertain she could envision him drinking blood and accept his presence. “Does that repulse you?�
��
She expected to feel revulsion but whatever it took to keep this man alive was all right with her.
With a flash of insight Clarissa knew that she could no longer deny what she felt down in her deepest heart. She might have known him a short time, but he’d managed to wend his way into her mind and soul so overwhelmingly she couldn’t bear not to see him, touch him, and be with him. All the apprehension she’d suffered when first learning of his vampire state faded into nonexistence.
“Nothing about you could ever repulse me, Ronan.”
He tugged her closer, his body rock hard against her softness, and his masculine scent building a craving inside her. His gaze told her one thing.
He wanted her now.
“There’s only one way we can defeat him. There’s only one way I can get revenge for Fenella and everyone else whose life has been destroyed by the beast. Make love with me, Clarissa.”
Chapter Thirteen
Make love with me, Clarissa.
His words whispered again, this time in her mind.
Not fuck me or take me.
Make love with me.
She thought them the most beautiful words to part his lips.
Clarissa saw Ronan’s need written across his haunted eyes, a desire to take her to new heights and make an imprint on her haunted soul. A big part of him had stolen into her and would never leave, and if she didn’t love him now, she would regret it with everything inside her.
“What will happen if we…?” Her words faded, then she gathered courage again. “If we make love, did Yusuf or the seer say exactly what would happen to us?”
“No.”
Plain. Stark. Ronan’s gaze captured and held hers in that strange golden light.
She couldn’t look away.
Wild desires lanced through her, warning Clarissa if she didn’t have his touch now, she never would. His fingers trailed down her back and hovered on the rise of her butt cheeks. This man would drive her insane before she made it to her next birthday with his unrivaled strength and mysterious, beyond-gorgeous eyes.
He smiled. Dance with me.
She glanced around. There’s no music.
Suddenly she heard a soft click and a small radio near the windowsill came on. Static poured from the speakers. He glanced behind him and the tuner adjusted, obeying his mental command as it turned until a smooth jazz tune slid into the air.
She laughed softly. “That’s amazing. Can the others do that, too?”
“Lachlan can, although it’s a strain on him if he does too much. I don’t know about Jared yet or Micky.”
Throbbing music instantly worked on her libido like he’d known precisely what music would enhance her sexual needs.
“Wow,” she said.
A low, seductive chuckle left his throat and caused a new avalanche of desire to pulse low in her stomach. He drew her closer, pressing into her. His body felt like refuge and home. As his body nudged hers she felt his erection pressing hard, thick, and long against her stomach. Oh, yeah. He was ready to love her, all right.
No more boundaries or waiting.
No more fear or ambiguity.
Ronan thought he’d died again, this time with Clarissa’s softness taunting him and begging him to seduce. Though he felt a heat blaze and build at her center, he knew she needed sensuality and a soft, gentle wooing now that feelings flowed more easily between them.
In the elevator he’d almost taken her with his ravenous sexual appetite. And while he saw fast, hard sex in their future, he knew drawing out the explosion would lead to the greatest lovemaking they’d experienced in their individual lives. Other encounters with women would be erased from his mind like they’d never been.
The knowledge staggered him, and he drew a deep breath to regain equilibrium. He’d never imagined in a thousand moons he’d meet a woman like her or would soon be buried deep inside her soul, and not just her body.
If it took sex to save Pine Forest from destruction, he would have their memory of it be pure. Nothing greedy would surround them, nothing hollow or unsure. Sex, whether mortals knew it or not, defined a human at the nucleus. Sex showed a mortal’s heart, the authenticity of spirit and the naked truth of their desires both inside and out.
Ronan knew what they both needed to make life triumph over death.
Only pure, raw, primal sex.
Edges would feel sharp, softness would be feather gentle, kisses would be deep and long and imbibed with every passion imaginable. He would build, with all his vampire strength, from soft lovemaking into the most exquisite feast imaginable between two people. This act felt sacred, holy in every aspect.
He threw back his head and groaned quietly as hot wires of desire darted into his cock. He looked down on her again and saw her eyes widen as he pushed his hips against hers.
“Ronan,” she whispered softly.
“Mmmm.” He couldn’t manage another syllable.
He closed his eyes and started to sway to the music, and her arms went around his neck. She laid her head on his shoulder and he pressed his cheek to the side of her head. Drawing her womanly soft rose and lavender scent into his body, he dined upon her wishes, dipping into her soul to see what she wanted.
Inside her mind he delved into the darkest of her wishes, the most archaic of her sexual requirements. When he saw her deepest need he smiled.
Oh yes, Clarissa. We’ll do that, too.
God, Ronan. Her whispery, fluttery tone held the tiniest embarrassment mixed with delight that he’d discovered what she wanted and would give it to her.
He turned them into a slow dance as the music grew in power, the saxophone wailing, drums thudding and pumping. He brushed his hands up her back as he slipped his hands under her sweater. Her body quivered as he palmed up to her shoulders, then caressed downward. He cupped her rounded ass with one hand and drew her tighter against his hips so she could experience the solid, heavy column of his arousal. Her breath drew in sharply and he smiled.
Movement smoothed into movement as his legs brushed hers, solid column of thigh to thigh. Warmth melted and swirled until he felt she might be one with him in spirit before their bodies came together. He tried to remember the last time he felt this out of control, this glimmering with a sexual energy that seemed to erupt from his gut.
Despite his normal reticence about talking when having sex, he knew the ideal seduction. Tell her precisely what he felt. He’d never spoken of feelings while having sex.
Somehow he knew this must be different.
“I’ve never felt this with another woman.”
Her lips parted, her eyes widening a little.
He continued, “I feel like drowning in your body, in your mind, in the promise of what will come between us tonight. Beyond this minute, this hour, I couldn’t care less about what happens to me. Only your happiness, your welfare means anything. Whatever befalls me in the days leading up to Halloween, I can withstand it if you live.”
Clarissa’s lips parted, as if in wonder.
He smiled, filled with a roaring, overwhelming thirst to love her. As her body slid against his again, he savored the heat and shape of her breasts, her curved hips.
Music throbbed, the beat going silky and smooth as a lover’s touch.
As he twirled her, she giggled, and the unexpected humor made him grin. She continued to smile and he kept his gaze on her as the fever rose. He felt it surging inside him, demanding a release. Clarissa’s smile faded, replaced by her own glittering, possessive expression.
“Mother of God, by everything that is holy,” he whispered, “I want you to feel me in your blood and bones. Nothing matters but your acceptance.”
“Ronan.” Her soft response choked with emotion.
Emboldened by her positive reaction, he continued expressing himself. “I can’t get enough of looking at you.” He brushed his fingers over her cheek. “Your rounded cheeks, your perfect, small nose, and the rosy glow in your skin that compliments the copper penny red ha
ir.” He kissed her nose. “Your blue eyes sparkle like crystal and are more pure than the waters of the Caribbean. You’re so damned beautiful.”
Moisture touched her eyes and for a second he thought he’d made a terrible mistake. Then she smiled. “Thank you. I don’t know what to say, Ronan. I’m…”
He kissed her lips softly, brushing over them. “Then just listen.”
Her lips touched his chin, then traveled to his throat. Shivering under the tentative brush of her lips, he slipped one hand into her hair and gently tugged her head back so she would look into his eyes. He luxuriated in the sensation of her hair cascading over his hand and the way her lips parted as if waiting for a kiss.
Clarissa saw the change in him and his eyes went supernova. Dazzling light sparkled like stars in his irises. She felt Ronan in her mind, aware he searched for an opening, a vulnerability that would make her all his.
God, yes, she wanted it. His sweet words had disarmed her.
She’d never expected this tough-as-rawhide man to speak so gently, so openly of his feelings. She wanted to surrender at the same time she conquered, wanted to give at the same time she received. No other man could do this to her, make her feel like diamonds and starlight and infinite space all wrapped into one. As she danced with him, she couldn’t imagine another world but this one in the future.
She would be with him, or with no man at all.
Her stomach clenched as he brushed his cock against her, and she ached with the deepest longing to take him high and hard straight into her center. Her touch traveled over his shoulders, caressing the hard musculature that cradled her so tenderly. Such a big, powerful man, and he treated her like fragile glass.
Oh, yes. They would come together tonight, and when it happened the fireworks might incinerate all in its path.
As her breath quickened and her pulse sped up, control departed. She didn’t know if she’d be able to handle this rampant sensuality, this tantalization much longer. Potent waves of desire swamped her.
Doubt did one last dance. She’d always done the practical thing since she’d left Pine Forest all those years ago. Always played things safe to keep pain away.
