Holiday with a Vampire: Christmas Cravings. Caridad Pineiro

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СКАЧАТЬ sounded tired. And she could understand that. Nearly going up in flames was bound to take a toll. Even from across this distance, she saw the scorched, burned flesh on the backs of his hands and on his face. He had to be in terrible pain, but he showed no sign of it.

      And despite the evidence in front of her, Tessa argued with the only possible conclusion. She fixed her gaze on him and found the tattered threads of her courage. “Vampires don’t exist.”

      “Not if you don’t want them to.” He leaned against the empty shelving and blew out a breath.

      “If you are one, and I’m not saying you are,” Tessa hedged, “why didn’t you bite me before?”

      He gave her a long, thoughtful stare. “Thought about it.” His gaze lowered to the base of her neck. “Still thinking about it.”

      Her stomach turned over and fear quickened within only to dissipate a moment later. He’d had ample opportunity to kill her, but he hadn’t. Instead, he’d warned her off. Tried to make her leave him alone. And right now, he was trying to scare her into backing away.

      “You’re lying again.” She shook her head. “If you’d thought about biting me, you would have.”

      “No,” he said with a smile that curled her toes. “I’m not lying. I wanted to drink you.”

      She sucked in air like a drowning person and felt the world tilt at a weird angle. As he stared at her, she could almost feel his mouth at her throat and a part of her wondered desperately what that would feel like.

      Was he making her feel like this?

      “Why didn’t you then?”

      Wincing, he rubbed one hand with the other and shrugged. “You were trying to help. Seemed ungrateful.”

      “A polite vampire?” Why did that sound so much weirder?

      He laughed shortly, used the toe of his boot to pull out one of the ancient chairs and dropped onto it as if he didn’t have the strength to stand any longer. Bracing one arm on the table, he leaned back, kicked his feet out in front of him and crossed them at the ankles. “Let’s say old habits are hard to break. Good manners being one of them.”

      “I can’t believe this is happening.”

      “I told you to leave me alone.”

      “You didn’t tell me this though.”

      “You wouldn’t have believed me anyway,” he pointed out.

      “True.” She wouldn’t have. If he’d been honest with her, she’d have thought he was crazy. She could hardly believe his truth now, and she’d seen the evidence with her own eyes. He had fangs, for Pete’s sake. Sunlight had burned him. Another moment or two and he would have died. But, could someone already dead actually die again?

      Who would ever have guessed she’d need the answer to that question?

      “So now what?” she asked. “I mean, now that I do know, what’re you going to do to me?”

      “Nothing,” he muttered and slapped one hand against the table.

      “Why should I believe that you’re not planning to bite me?”

      “Because I give you my word.”

      “Uh-huh…” Her disbelief colored her voice. She’d heard promises before. And in her experience, promises weren’t worth the breath used to make them.

      “Stay in the sunlight,” he told her. “Then you won’t have anything to worry about.”

      “Until night.”

      He speared her with a look. “Look. I’m tired. I’m hungry.”

      She flinched.

      He saw it. “You’re right to be careful. I’m a vampire. Definitely not to be trusted. But you’re safe from me, Tessa. I won’t harm you. And I’ll leave.” He closed his eyes. “Just as I told you I would. Right after sundown.”

      Strange, but that assurance didn’t make her feel any better. Oh, she believed he wouldn’t bite her. She wasn’t sure why she believed, but she did. It was his promise to leave that she didn’t like. She wasn’t sure why, but the thought of him disappearing from her life was not something she wanted to think about. Staring into his eyes, she saw pain and resignation and regret and felt those same emotions tugging at her.

      He didn’t speak again. And Tessa studied him. Without the fangs, he looked like any other man. Better-looking than most though, even with the patches of raw, angry skin on his face and hands.

      Every instinct she possessed told her she could trust him. Foolish? Maybe. But she’d learned the hard way to trust her instincts.

      They’d kept her alive when her would-be boyfriend had tried to kill her. Those same instincts had led her to this tiny town in Wyoming where she’d found this place and some small semblance of peace. And, they’d led her into the early morning snow to save this vampire’s life.

      There had to be a reason for it.

      Before she could change her mind, she turned for the kitchen, grabbed the first-aid kit and headed back to where she’d left him. His eyes were open…those dark, penetrating eyes that seemed filled with a strength and a loneliness that drew her to him in spite of his warnings.

      Deliberately, she took a step out of the sunlight and into the small room that was filled with shadows and the powerful presence of a wounded vampire. His eyes narrowed on her as she walked closer to him.

      “I can’t decide if you’re foolish or brave,” he said at last when she stopped alongside the table. “You’re taking quite a chance, Tessa.”

      She held up the kit before setting it onto the table. “You’re hurt. I can help.”

      “Why would you want to?”

      Good question. Her fear was still rattling inside, twisting her stomach into tight knots. But here she stood, alone with a vampire. “Because I’ve been hurt and alone.”

      His gaze narrowed. “You should get the hell away from me.”

      “Yeah, you said that already.”

      Quicker than she could see, he shot out one hand, grabbed her arm and curled his fingers into her skin. The move was so startling, she jerked back despite her best intentions. He saw it and released her.

      “You’re afraid. I can smell it on you.” One corner of his mouth lifted and fell in a blink. “To a vampire, that scent is compelling.”

      Her arm tingled where he’d grabbed her. His eyes caught and held her and while she watched, the darks of his eyes bled into the whites until all she could see was her reflection shining back at her from the depths of twin black pools.

      “You’re a tempting package, Tessa.” His gaze swept up and down her body with the intimacy of a touch.

      “Now СКАЧАТЬ