As Twilight Falls

Kadie smiled faintly, amused by the archaic term. “Why? Would it have made a difference?”

“I would not have touched you had I known,” he said, a faraway look in his eyes. “I saw too many women ravaged during the Crusades, and later, in other wars in other places. I vowed then I would never take a woman against her will.”

“You didn’t take me against my will unless . . . Did you make me want you tonight, the way you made me kiss you?”

“No. Whatever you’re feeling for me is real.”

She nodded, wondering if she should believe him.

“The attraction between us is genuine, Kadie. I swear it on my honor as a knight.”

She ran her hands over his chest. “So many scars,” she marveled. “Were you in a lot of battles?”

“So many that I lost count.”

She traced the thin white scar on his cheek. “How’d you get this one?”

“Knife.”

She ran her fingertips over the shiny white scar that ran from his shoulder to his navel. “And this one?”

“Sword.”

She grimaced, thinking such a wound must have been terribly painful. “I can’t imagine what it must have been like, fighting with swords. Shooting someone seems much easier than skewering your enemy with a sword, feeling the blade penetrate his flesh,” she said, shuddering.

Saintcrow chuckled. “Your idea of pillow talk is a bit unusual. Most women want to hear promises of undying loyalty and affection.”

“Women,” she remarked, then bit down on her lower lip, refusing to ask the question now demanding an answer.

Raising himself up on one elbow, Saintcrow brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. He didn’t have to read her mind to know what she was thinking. Lowering his head, he cupped her cheek, then kissed her gently. “There haven’t been as many as you might think.”

“One would be too many,” she retorted, surprised by her jealousy. He was a man who had lived a very long time, not a monk.

“I’ve never truly loved any woman,” he said. “Does that make you feel better?”

“It would, if I believed you.”

“You don’t?”

“You’re over nine hundred years old, and you’re gorgeous. I’m sure women throughout time have been throwing themselves at your feet.”

“Well,” he said, grinning, “I can’t deny that.”

“You’ve never been married?”

“Once. It was an arranged marriage, as most of them were in those days. Eleanor died in childbirth and our daughter with her. I joined the Crusades shortly after that.”

“And then you became a vampire.”

He nodded. “And marriage in the traditional sense was no longer an option.”

“You could have married a vampire.”

“Perhaps. But very few vampires marry. A mortal union that lasts seventy years is a rarity. A vampire marriage could last for centuries.”

“But if you loved someone, wouldn’t you want to be with her forever?”

“I’ve never met anyone I wanted to spend eternity with.” His gaze moved over her, leaving silky frissons of pleasure in its wake. “Until now.”

Kadie blinked at him. She needed to say something, she thought. But what? He hadn’t said he loved her, but maybe that was a given, if he wanted to spend forever with her. Of course, that was impossible. She didn’t have forever. Did she want to spend the rest of her life with a vampire? Not that it made any difference. At the moment, she didn’t have any other choice. She was his for as long as he wanted her.

“It’s late,” he said. “I need to feed, and you should get some rest.”

“Is something wrong?”

“No.”

She lifted a hand to her neck, a question in her eyes.

“I need more than I want to take from you,” he explained.

“You’re going to drink from one of the other women here?” The thought sent an unexpected bolt of jealousy clean through her.

“No. I stopped drinking from the women here years ago.”

“But they said you take women home with you, and that those women are never seen again.”

“It’s only a rumor, Kadie. I don’t know where it started, but you’re the only woman I’ve ever brought here.” The only woman he had ever wanted to share his home and his life.

“So, if you don’t drink from the women here, where do you go?”

“Wherever I want,” he said, his eyes twinkling.

“Right. You’re the boss.”

“Exactly.” But these days he never went far from Morgan Creek.

Scooping Kadie into his arms, he carried her into the shower and turned on the water, then proceeded to wash her, ever so slowly, from head to foot.

“My turn,” Kadie said, and taking the cloth from his hand, she returned the favor. She should have known what the results would be, she thought, laughing softly when he took her, soaking wet, there, on the bathroom floor.

Sometime later, Saintcrow left Kadie sleeping in her bed. He needed to feed, but had business with Lilith first.

He found her in the tavern, alone.

She looked up when he entered. The guilt in her eyes was all the proof he needed.

“Where are the bodies?”

“I buried them, up on the mountain.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t keep the man.”

“I thought about it, but it’s been years since I’ve been able to satisfy my thirst, to take it all. So, what are you going to do about it?”

“Don’t do it again. I don’t want any killing in my town.”

“Unless you do it.”

“That’s right. Don’t make me tell you again.” Turning on his heel, he left the tavern. The natives were getting restless, he mused as he drove to the nearest town. He could have gotten there faster using his own preternatural speed, but he enjoyed being behind the wheel, listening to the purr of the engine, being in control of a powerful machine.

He had left Kadie in bed, asleep. It had been hard to leave her, but he hadn’t fed for a few days and he was afraid he might take too much. He was surprised by the depths of his feelings for her. In all his life, he had never truly loved a woman. He had not loved Eleanor, though he had grown fond of her. Since then, there had been no one in his life he loved or trusted, no one he wanted as he wanted Kadie Andrews. Making love to her was like nothing he had ever known. The fact that she cared for him was nothing short of a miracle. And miracles had been few and far between in his long existence.