Forever Valentine (4 page)

She stopped dancing to pull back and look up at him. “How did you know about that? Did you guys have me investigated? How did you get my medical records? I thought those were sealed!”

“Whoa, hold on,
cara mia
. I was guessing. But I’m right, aren’t I?”

All the fight went out of her. “How did you guess? I thought I hid my problems pretty well.”

“Perhaps from most people, but I’ve been around a long time and I’m trained to be observant.” He stroked her hair, soothing her with his touch. She found herself burrowing into his chest, seeking his strength.

“A long line of my ancestors had the same problem I do. At least that’s what my mother says. She’s got it too and she’s lived longer than most, but she had me very young and has always been a bit healthier than I am. Most of the family tree I’ve been able to trace didn’t live past about thirty-five, so I’m starting to worry about the future.”

Ian wanted so badly to reassure her. If she truly were demi-vampir, he knew his brethren would do all they could to protect her and prolong her life. Such had been done in the past when creatures had been discovered who lived with one foot in both the mortal and immortal worlds. It was a cruel twist of fate that would allow a full vampire to find his mate, only to have a child that was not fully either mortal or vampire.

Most true mates underwent the conversion before having children. Only once in a rare while, tragedy struck, leaving the child and all their children for generations—as might well be the case with Jena—half and half.

But Ian needed to know for certain before he raised her hopes. He had to taste her blood. It was a deep-seated desire, both to satisfy his curiosity about her origins and perhaps offer protection, but also because he desired her more than any woman he had ever met in all his long years. She intrigued him on so many levels and had since the moment he’d first seen her.

“So what gave me away?” Her voice was small, her head resting just under his chin, against his chest. She was tired and wrung out emotionally after the rigors of the night, he could tell. He wanted nothing more than to ease her sadness and bring her joy. But first he had to convince her. He would force nothing from her. She would give—and give freely—he swore it by all he still held holy.

“The aversion to silver, the fair skin that probably burns easily. Your penchant for working the night shift. The lights on in your house at all hours of the night. Your excellent taste in wine.” He rattled off the list, injecting a bit of humor into his voice. She needed a friend right now, but she would know how much he wanted her beneath him before too much more time had passed. He would choose his moment though, to ease her into the idea of becoming his lover. Such things had to be finessed in this day and age.

She chuckled and he felt it against his heart. Contrary to legend, Ian did have a heart and it still beat. His skin wasn’t cold. No, his base temperature was actually a little hotter than a normal human, thanks to the changes that had been made to his blood and tissues on a cellular level when he’d been turned. The blood that flowed in his veins now was laced with a substance some claimed was not originally of this earth. It gifted him—or cursed, depending on your point of view—with immortal life and certain limitations, such as an inability to walk in the sun, eat food, or touch silver.

“You really want to get a taste of my blood?”

Ian sucked in a breath as she leaned back to look deep into his eyes. Slowly, he nodded.

“All right."

Was she saying yes?
So much for finesse. It looked like the direct approach worked after all with this spectacular, unpredictable woman.

“But I want something in return.”

Ian’s exuberant joy was tempered by her words. He would give her anything, agree to any terms, if he could just have her essence, and with it her delectable body.

“What do you desire?” He knew the fire that flared in his veins flickered in his eyes as she touched him. She moved her hands up around his neck and into his hair, tugging downward.

“I want the fairytale, Ian. At least for tonight. I want this Valentine’s Day to mean something more than disappointment and disillusionment. I want to make love to you all night long and feel like you really want to be here, with me, in my bed. I want to believe…just for a little while…that a man like you could actually want a girl like me. Just once, before I die.”

Her words drilled into his core and nearly broke his heart. Ian drew her close against his chest, hugging her, and dipping his head to nuzzle her ear.

“I can give you that,” he breathed into the delicate shell, “but
cara mia
, it won’t be an illusion.” She gasped as he bit down gently on her earlobe before trailing his lips down her neck. “I’ve wanted you since the moment I first saw you.” He used one hand on her lower back to pull her softly rounded hips into his body, pressing his hard cock against her, rubbing insistently. “Feel what you do to me? It’s been like this since the moment I first breathed in your delicate scent. You enchanted me that first night,
cara
, and I’ve dreamed of this every moment since.”

“Ian,” she gasped as he licked her throat. “Ian, kiss me. Please.”

He growled low in his throat. Satisfaction tore through him at her breathy moan.

“Your wish,” he dragged his lips up to hers, “is my command.”

Careful of his lengthening incisors, Ian claimed the kiss he’d waited weeks to initiate. Never before had he wanted to drink in a woman and never let her go, but he felt that way with Jena. She was special to him already, and her taste flooded his senses with unbelievable fire. She was sweet and delicate, her shy tongue dueling with his after a little coaxing, setting him ablaze.

When his teeth nicked her lip, he drew back at her gasp.

The sight of the little red droplet forming on her plump inner lip was nearly his undoing, but he managed to control himself long enough to lean forward and lick it away with his tongue. He just couldn’t resist.

That tiny taste was enough to send him reeling. She was a feast for the senses, her essence flooded him with power the likes of which he had never known before. Ian staggered back as her beautiful face scrunched up with concern for him.

“Ian?” Her hand went to his elbow, supporting him while she walked him into the living room. “What’s wrong?”

He stopped her when she would have pushed him down to rest on her pretty flowered couch. He tugged her back into his arms, where she belonged, but allowed her concern to wash over him like a healing balm.

“Are you okay?”

“I’ve never been more alive,
cara mia
, not even since before I was turned.” He knew a grin was splitting his face, but he couldn’t contain his joy. Just that little taste told him all he needed to know about her origins. Her blood contained trace amounts of the substance that made his own blood so different—just in a slightly different form and in much lower concentration. She was truly half in his world and half in the mortal realm.

“Why are you looking at me so strangely?” She had a hesitant smile on her face that he longed to kiss away, but he had to share his good news with her first.

“It’s your blood.” Her hand immediately went to the scratch on her lip, her delicate finger tracing over the tiny wound. “Even from that tiny taste I can tell you are what we call demi-vampir, Jena. Somewhere in your family tree is one of my kind who mated with a mortal and produced one of your ancestors. It doesn’t happen often, but every once in a while, something prevents true mates from completing the bond and even rarer, a child results who is like you, demi-vampir.”

“What?” Ian could see the thoughts racing behind her eyes, her scientifically trained mind trying to grasp what he was saying. “Are you sure?”

“As certain as I can be. Jena, honey, this means that you won’t have to fear dying young any longer. I, and my brethren, will protect you and nurture you. We can help you live a normal mortal life span, if that is your wish, or you can be easily changed. Legend even holds that a demi-vampir, once turned, still retains some ability to walk in the sun, among other things.”

Her eyes narrowed in thought. “I don’t know if I want to be a vampire, Ian. I mean, it’s okay for my friends—they have someone to share eternity with—but for me alone? I’m just not sure about that at all.”

“Well, you don’t have to decide anything now,
cara
. All this means is that you can stop worrying about your future health. We know what afflicts you now and we can take steps to see you through the rough patches.”

Ian was thrilled by the way she clung to him, burrowing into his chest as if she wanted to take up residence. But there were other things to see to this night. Pleasure being chief among them.

“Where’s your bedroom, sweetheart?” He kept his voice pitched low, letting her know it was still her decision, giving her an out should she decide to withdraw.

Jena’s beautiful eyes mesmerized him as she drew back to meet his gaze. Very deliberately, she looked to the doorway on his right and then back. Then she smiled a sexy, engaging smile as she pulled slightly back from him and led him by the hand to her room. She barely had the door closed behind them before he had her back in his arms.

Chapter Four

Jena could hardly believe what Ian had just told her. First, to learn that he truly desired her had been a naughty dream come true. If she were being brutally honest with herself, she’d admit that Ian had made her cream her panties the moment she first saw him…and every time since.

Then to feel his amazingly hot kiss. That kiss had nearly knocked her right off her feet. But she wouldn’t have minded that at all, as long as Ian landed on top of her. She had to suppress a giggle of pure excitement as she led him into her bedroom. This was her inner sanctum, her place to retreat from the rigors of the day and dream of a man like the one who stood before her now.

She knew she couldn’t keep him, but Ian was the stuff dreams were made of. His body was hard muscled and his gaze followed her every movement with an intensity that made her heart pound and her breath catch. It had been like that from the first. Ever since she’d met him, he’d starred in all her erotic flights of fancy. And tonight she would live them, one by one, for as long as he would allow it. This was her night. She vowed to make the most of it.

The bombshell he’d just dropped about her blood had nearly floored her, but Jena didn’t want to think about it just then. It was enough to know that there was hope. Ian had given her that. He’d given her hope that her condition wouldn’t be fatal quite as soon as it had been for her ancestors. And perhaps there was hope now for her mother as well. If the vampires were willing to help her, they would probably also be willing to help her mom. She’d have to ask Ian—later. First, there was the much more pressing matter of fulfilling a few dearly held fantasies.

“I want you so much, lass.” Ian’s dark voice breathed into the hair at her nape as his lips and tongue caressed her neck. “I want to hear you scream my name in pleasure as I come inside you and drink your sweet essence. I want to put my mark on you so you’ll never forget me. Ever.”

“Damn, Ian. When you play a part, you really take it all the way, don’t you?” Oddly she felt a little cheated that his ardent words were just part of the fantasy she’d demanded from him. Suddenly she wished her words unsaid. She should have just let events unfold as they would. By asking for the dream, she’d made herself unsure if anything he said or did was real. She’d wonder all night, and for years to come, if the things he was saying were what he was really feeling or just what he thought she wanted to hear.

Jena stepped back, tugging out of his arms.

“What is it?” Immediately his hands cupped her shoulders, not allowing her to step away. “What’s wrong?” His gentle voice sounded through her heart, cracking it open and finding its way within.

“Can you forget what I said earlier? I don’t want you saying things tonight that you don’t mean. I thought I did…but…I don’t. Can we start over?”

Ian tugged her closer, his unexpected strength making her stumble just a tiny bit, but he was there to catch her with his hard body. He demanded her attention as fire leapt visibly in his eyes.

“I don’t have to start over,
cara,
because I haven’t said anything to you tonight that I didn’t mean. I have never, and will never, lie to you.”

“But—”

He placed one long finger over her lips, stilling her words. “You wanted me to pretend, but what you’re getting is real. I don’t have to pretend because I do want you—more than any woman I’ve ever known. I want to fuck you and feast on you ‘til the sun parts us and then I want to come back for more tomorrow night. You’d better rest up and eat your Wheaties because you’ll need your strength. I’m giving you fair warning right now.”

“But how can you—?”

His lips stilled her worried words this time and when he drew back, she was his to command. His magnetism had always drawn her, but now focused on her exclusively, she could barely control herself. She was beyond caring if his words would prove false in the harsh light of morning when she was alone once more. For this moment, and the hours to come, she would suspend disbelief as much as she could and just enjoy the wonder of him.

“Make love to me, Ian.”

He swept her up into his arms and placed her gently on the bed. Luckily it was large enough for both of them, though he was a tall man. The bed in his home was larger still, and he would introduce her to it as soon as possible, but for tonight, this first time, he would take her here, amidst the lace and frippery of her feminine retreat.

Another man might’ve been intimidated by the womanly surroundings, but Ian delighted in the idea that he was conquering her pretty rose colored bedroom just as he conquered her soft pink flesh. He wasted little time on her clothes, pulling her top off over her shoulders and tugging at her skirt. The front closure on her lacy bra gave way under his questing fingers and the thin cotton of her panties was no match for his decisive pull.