Free The Perfect Kiss by Amanda Stevens

Time was of the essence. Money was definitely a factor. He could please his conservative board, keep his father off his back, and everyone would be happy.
    So why couldn’t he just forget he’d ever met Anya Valorian and move onward with his campaign?
    Because the lady was unforgettable, that’s why. Because Zach didn’t like to take no for an answer. Because, deep down, he liked a challenge.
    But, challenge or not, there was no way he would callher again. No way he would continue the pursuit. She’d made her decision, and no matter how much it galled him, he had to respect her wishes.
    The next move, if there was one, would have to be hers.
    * * *
    Anya needed money. Desperately.
    She stared at the telegram in her hand. How like Dr. Traymore to communicate in such an old-fashioned, dramatic way. In many ways, he still lived in the past with his archaeology background and his passion for rare and antique books, but perhaps that was why he had been so willing to accept what she’d told him years ago. Why he’d been so anxious to help her.
    The modern world would find her situation hard to believe, to say the least, but to Dr. Traymore her revelation had been a fascinating discovery, a confirmation of suspicions he’d had for years.
    Anya’s fingers trembled so badly she could hardly hold on to the paper. Dr. Traymore’s words blurred before her eyes, but she already knew them by heart: “Anya. Victory at last. Will need the money ASAP for purchase. Love, L.T.”
    “Anya?” Freida’s voice drew Anya’s gaze across the room to where the housekeeper stood just inside the doorway. “Is it good news?”
    Anya held out the paper to Freida, and quickly the housekeeper crossed the room. She scanned the telegram, then lifted her blue eyes to meet Anya’s. “Oh, Anya! He’s found it! He’s found the book! Now you can truly be saved—”
    “It could be legend, nothing more, Freida,” Anya interrupted, trying to control her own growing excitement, her desperate hope. “We won’t know until Dr. Traymore has the book in his possession and can study it carefully. Eventhen, it could take months, years, to decipher the meanings.”
    “Dr. Traymore is a brilliant man,” Freida insisted, folding her arms over her thin bosom. Her excitement thickened her German accent, even though she’d been in the States for the last ten years. “He will find the answer now. I know it.” She glanced at the telegram again, and her eyes suddenly clouded. “The money. Anya, where can we get that kind of money so quickly? Your modeling fees are sizable, but not nearly as much as he’ll need. What can we do? What if Gershom is following Dr. Traymore? What if he finds out about the book? What if he obtains it before we can get the money?”
    Freida put voice to the same questions that had been tormenting Anya ever since she’d received Dr. Traymore’s telegram. Lately, she’d been sensing Gershom’s presence so strongly. Her dreams were plagued with images of him. What if he somehow found and destroyed the book before they learned the answers? She would never be free of him then. She would be doomed to an eternity of darkness. Of loneliness. She would never know love.
    Anya turned away from Freida and walked to the window. Dusk was falling, and a full moon hung low in a sky as clear and fragile as blown glass. She took a deep breath, feeling her senses sharpen in response. But the coming darkness held no excitement for her. Only torment. Another long night of endless yearning.
    She closed her eyes, remembering that first night, the awful beginning of her nightmare. She had waited for Gershom by the river, and he had come to her in darkness….
    When it was over, she’d stared down at the blood on her fingers, not yet realizing the full horror of what he had done to her. She’d lifted tormented eyes to Gershom, and he’d laughed down at her.
    “One perfect kiss, Anya, and already you and I are inseparably linked. You are mine