Free Bound by Blood (Vampire Romance) by Tara Manderino Page A

believe how difficult it was to speak of her having a lover. It nearly choked him to get the words out. Certainly not the reaction he should be having while on a case, and definitely not with a mortal, and not with this woman.
    She was shaking her head before he finished the first sentence and continued shaking it until he finished. He was forced to rest his weight on one hand and use the other to grasp her chin, making her look at him.
    “What part does not have merit?”
    She put her hand up to his, as if to force it away, but left it where it rested. Her skin was cool in spite of the fire, but still felt warm to him. He eased his grip fractionally.
    “It all is plausible,” she told him, “but none of it is true. “I don’t have a lover now. I haven’t.”
    He released her chin. That didn’t sound right, but he was relieved nonetheless. She had to have at some time. That was one thing that seemed to be a given in this century; these decades. Earlier times there was a clearer division among the different types of women. Regardless, her eyes couldn’t disguise the hurt, the disappointment she suffered somewhere along the line.
    “Tell me.”

 
     
    Chapter 8
     
    His voice whispered across her nerve endings. This close she could see the streaks of dark gray in his blue eyes. They were brilliant, not dull as she would have expected. Until now she would have said blue eyes were insipid. At this moment she found them utterly compelling. She wanted to tell him, wanted to tell someone the hurt she had experienced. Which was ridiculous. It was far in the past. Besides, she didn’t know this man. He was a detective working on a case, and she was someone who held a clue, small as it was.
    She looked away for a moment, then gathering her resolve looked him in the eye. She didn’t matter to him, so whatever she would say would be the same as a stranger in the park; a voice over the phone.
    “It’s not a new story,” she told him, hiking her shoulder up. Not so much a shrug as it was defense. She wished she could hide behind it. But she had held her head down too long.
    “I got pregnant at too early an age,” she said. “Sixteen,” she tacked on before he could ask.
    He leaned back, and she wasn’t sure if it was to give her breathing room or he was repelled by what she had said.
    “I wasn’t married, and the baby’s father didn’t see any need for us to marry.”
    “That is not exactly a crime,” Alex said. “It’s not the best story, but not unusual.” His voice grew unexpectedly husky.
    Lisa dropped her gaze, and let her fingers pleat the end of her sweater. “It is when you’re the vicar’s daughter.”
    Alex stood, but rather than moving away as she expected, he moved closer and sat on the edge of the armchair. He stretched out his arm and put one hand on her shoulder, rubbing it gently, offering consolation, before letting it drop. It was as if he had some idea of what she had gone through.
    “That would be difficult for your father.” His eyes held compassion. Was it his cop training, or had he been through similar treatment?
    “You have no idea,” she scoffed. Her voice dropped to a whisper.
    She didn’t look at him. “He threw me out of the house. The…the things he said. I could not believe he was a man of God saying them, not to me.” She covered her face with her hands for a moment, waiting for the stab of resentment to pass. She thought she was long over it. “There was no forgiveness.”
    Alex reached across the small space separating the chairs and caressed her head. She hadn’t let anyone get this close to her in years. She knew he was soothing her, doing his job, but it felt right. With this kidnapping, she felt more vulnerable than she had in ages. She needed to lean on someone, and Alex was proving willing.
    “My mother agreed with him.” She moved her hands and looked at him then. His hand still held the back of her head, but she faced him now. “That hurt almost more. I