Free Silent Bite-A Scanguards Wedding (1001 Dark Nights) by Tina Folsom Page A

stand it when I can’t help you.”
    Ursula reached her arms out to him, and he eased into her embrace, pressing his head against her chest and encircling her with his arms.
    “I’m sorry too. It’s just all so overwhelming. Every day there’s something else that goes wrong.”
    He lifted his head. “Nothing else will go wrong, I promise you. Our wedding day will be the happiest day in our lives.”
    A smile formed around her lips. “Are you saying that after our wedding day we won’t be as happy again?”
    He chuckled. “That’s not what I meant.”
    “What did you mean?”
    “Want me to show you?”
    “Uhm,” Vera’s voice interrupted.
    Darn, he’d forgotten that Vera was still in the room. He grinned at her sheepishly. “Thank you, Vera, for being there when Ursula needed you.”
    “No problem.”
    “What shall we do about your mother now?” Oliver asked.
    “Nothing,” Ursula said. “My mother is getting what she wants with everything else: the wedding dress, the bridesmaids, the wedding date, and the decorations! But I’m not going to compromise on the groom.”
    Oliver grinned. “That’s my girl!”
     

10
    After much crying, Ursula had reached a truce with her mother. As long as everything else at the wedding was arranged so that it compensated for Oliver’s unfortunate date of birth, as she called it, she would look past it and not mention it again. This meant that her mother would include every good luck charm she knew in the wedding decorations, almost as if she thought she could ward off the bad luck Oliver’s date of birth brought.
    Ursula had agreed, not wanting to alienate her mother any further. After all, she was her parents’ only child, and this would be the only wedding her mother ever got to arrange.
    Finally, the day had arrived. In a few hours, she would be married to Oliver. The house was already swarming with catering staff.
    Her mother was still not back from the hairdresser, and her father had decided to take a short nap, claiming he hadn’t yet adjusted to the time difference between Washington D.C. and San Francisco.
    When she heard a soft rap on the door to her room, she instinctively knew who it was. Was she already feeling the special connection that only blood-bonded couples had? She swore she could sense his presence in the house from the moment he’d entered shortly after sunset.
    “Come in.”
    Oliver slid inside, quickly closing the door behind him. “Hey!” He was still wearing jeans and a T-shirt.
    “You’d better not get caught in here or my mother will have a fit!”
    He chuckled and pulled her into his arms. “You’re not wearing your dress yet, so I think it doesn’t count.”
    Smiling, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled his head to her. “Does the bride get a kiss?”
    “Since you’re asking so nicely,” he murmured, sliding his lips over hers and capturing them.
    When his tongue slipped between her lips and started to explore her with long and sensual strokes, she sighed contentedly. She’d missed him during this week, even though she’d seen him every day. But there’d never been a moment for them to be alone. Somebody had always been there.
    Oliver’s hands roamed her body, his fingers caressing her just like his tongue did. Warmth and desire filled her, rushing through her body like a flashflood. Her entire body tingled pleasantly, and the place between her legs hummed, yearning for a touch. His touch. His kiss. She’d never believed that love could be like this: all consuming, passionate, while at the same time comforting and safe. Yet she felt safe, safe with a vampire, the very creature she had once feared. Oliver had made her forget all her fears and shown her that even a vampire could love.
    She felt his love now. It burned brightly and steadily. With every touch and every kiss, she felt it. And tonight, after the ceremony, she would feel it in his bite. His loving bite, how lovingly and silently, he would make her his