Free Microsoft Word - The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance.doc by lesley Page A

aroused me. Apparently, even centuries of experience didn’t stop me from being attracted to bad boys. They   did   give me enough experience to keep myself from acting on those desires, though.
    “I have no intention of killing Jeffrey,” he told me. “He’s  hated me since the first time we met, but even though he hired  you to kill me, I don’t hold it against him. Grief will make men  crazy.”
    “OK, so you’re not going to kill Jeffrey.  What about me?”
    His grin was positively wolfish. “I’d rather fuck you than
    kill you.”
    Frankly, I’d prefer that, too. But since, regrettably, the two were not mutually exclusive, my fangs extended and I prepared for battle. “Try it, and you’ll lose body parts.”
    His eyebrows lifted. “I didn’t mean to imply I’d take you without your consent.” He dropped his arms back to his sides and gave me space.
    I glanced at the door, so tantalizingly close.
    “I’m not particularly vengeful,” he said, taking yet another
    step back. “I won’t kill Jeffrey, because he had good cause to

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    hire you. I’ll merely disappear from his life so that he will not  succumb to temptation again. And I won’t kill   you   because you  cared enough to find out whether I really killed my wife before
    completing your contract. I clearly won’t be releasing an
    indiscriminate killer out into the world if I let you go.”
    I frowned. “And what will I be releasing if I let   you   go?”
    He had now crossed all the way to the opposite side of the foyer, and leaned against the wall. There was no question in my mind that I could beat him to the door at this point, which calmed my fight-or-flight instincts enough to make me stay put.
    “Elizabeth and I met because we were both volunteers for a  hospice,” He said, and his smile was now wry. “Does that give  you a clue as to how I fulfil my needs?”
    I grimaced. “You prey on helpless, innocent victims?”
    “No, I prey on dying, suffering victims. More specifically,
    on suffering victims who would prefer not to suffer any longer.”
    My conscience rolled that one around for a while, but I couldn’t quite figure out what I thought of it. I tentatively decided it wasn’t much worse than what I did, if indeed it was worse at all.
    “And what about Elizabeth?” I asked.
    Something that looked  like it might be genuine grief crossed his face. “Elizabeth had ovarian cancer. She had some particularly brutal surgery, and then she started chemo. The side effects of that form of chemo can be excruciating, and she seemed to have every one. Her future  would have been filled with pain, more surgery and long hospital stays. She’d loved me for quite some time, and I was fond enough of her to want to give her some happiness before she died. So I married her

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    shortly after she was diagnosed, cared for her and  eased the way
    when she was ready to call it quits.”
    I stared at him sceptically. “And convinced her to leave you
    half her estate.”

    He waved that off. “That was her decision, and I didn’t know about it. I’d have stopped her if I had. I don’t need the
    money, and I certainly didn’t need to give Jeffrey any more
    reason to hate me.”
    Call me an old softie, but I believed him. Mainly because of all the bad things he could have done to me by then but hadn’t. I hoped that the fact that I lusted after him wasn’t  any factor in my decision, but I can’t say for sure.
    “So you’re just an all-round nice guy, huh?” I said.
    “Something like that. Now are you leaving or staying?  Because if you’re staying, I’m sure we can find somewhere  more comfortable than the foyer.”
    The glint in his eyes told me just where he had in mind for us to go. Temptation swamped me, though I figured it wasn’t exactly professional for me to sleep with my supposed target.
    A smile curled my lips as a thought occurred to me,
    Blackburn’s eyes widened. “Now   that   is a truly evil