In Blood And Worth Loving

The door of the master bedroom to the Mountain Retreat opened.

Brandi Knight, standing in front of the full-length mirrors mounted on the closet doors, had a clear view of the door.

A tall, handsome man with the high cheekbones of a Native American male filled the doorway. He had short dark hair silvering at the temples. His face was unlined. He appeared to be what she considered the perfect age for a lover—just over forty. He had wide shoulders, a narrow waist, and long legs. His dark pullover, opened at the neck, revealed an enticing glimpse of his massive chest. He projected an air of mystery and danger. Brandi could easily imagine him bare-chested with the sun glinting off his blue-black hair, astride a horse galloping across the Plaines eager to return home to ravish his woman.

His woman. She savored the thought of being his woman. Was this just another fantasy? Her constant struggle to be a good girl had ended a year earlier with the death of the aging grandparents who raised her. After her parents' death, they had sought to impress upon her the need to carefully choose her boyfriends. Eager to please them, she had only dated men of whom they approved. With the sharp edge of grief dulled, her years of pretending she didn't prefer bad boys to good ones were over.

She was finally about to reap the reward for the years of dating safe and dull men who left her emotionally untouched and sexually dissatisfied. This weekend she would get to be the lucky woman the handsome bad boy, Adrian, teased and pleased.

She flashed him a quick, tentative smile.

"And just who the hell are you?"

The obvious displeasure in the deep, sexy baritone with the hint of a southern drawl diminished some of her excitement. She moistened her lips. "My name is Brandi."

His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. "Brandi?"

She nodded. "Yes. Brandi with an I."

"You're Brandi Knight?"

"Yes."

"You're Rayna's co-worker?"

"Yes." Having seen his picture on Rayna's desk at the library branch where they both worked, she knew who he was. As Rayna had promised, he did not disappoint. "And you're Adrian."

"Yes. I'm Adrian."

She gave him another tentative smile in the mirror. "We have all weekend to get to know each other."

"All weekend?"

Why was he repeating everything she said? "Yes."

"Oh, hell, no!" He slammed the door shut.

A sudden air of menace permeated the room. In the act of turning to face him, she froze. Ok, Brandi, maybe agreeing to this weekend was not one of your brighter ideas.

He took a slow deep breath. It didn't seem to help. In the mirror, she saw him clench and unclench his right hand. He leaned back against the door, staring into the mirror at her.

If her research was accurate, the fact that he cast a reflection indicated he wasn't evil. But he sure as hell was mad. Brandi could almost feel his fury as he allowed his steel-blue eyes to rake along her back. She suspected he didn't like the view. What now? What did a good girl who wanted to be bad do when her chosen bad boy didn't want to be bad with her?

"Tell me this is a belated April Fool's joke that you and Rayna are having at my expense."

Oh, Rayna. What did you tell him about me? He didn't look like a male with a preference for full-figured black women. "April Fool's was last month," she reminded him.

"I said belated. So you're telling me this isn't a joke?"

Brandi hesitated. Each of her answers seemed to increase his anger. "No. It's not a joke."

"It had better be."

Oh, great. He was definitely not amused or interested. "I—"

"If you think for one minute that I'm going to spend the weekend here with you, you…" He pushed himself away from the door.

She froze and sucked in a breath. Whatever misstatements Rayna might have made to him, she hadn't misled Brandi. The male stalking across the room towards her with bared incisors was clearly the real thing. After years of fantasizing about spending her birthday with a man capable of validating her belief in the supernatural, she'd made a fatal error in her attempt to be bad. She was alone in a remote cabin with a vampire she hoped wasn't angry enough to kill her.

Book Reviews

• "If you like a story with two strong characters who practically revel in a stormy relationship, then I strongly urge you to check this story out." ~ Kathy, Dark Diva Reviews

• "...a strong, heart felt story of two people coming together even after the hurt, anger and disappointments. Well written, emotional, sweet and erotic all at the same time." ~ Annette Stone, ParaNormalRomance.org

• "This very erotic vampire tale was tumultuous and fun." ~ Shawn Weisser, You Gotta Read Reviews