The Vampire's Mail Order Bride

Confusion clouded her pretty green eyes. “Did you not know what Eternamate was when you signed up for it?”

“I didn’t know Eternamate existed.” He smiled as best he could given the circumstances. “And I didn’t sign up for it. My grandmother arranged all this on my behalf.” Didi might not be fond of being referred to as grandmother outside family settings, but seeing as how she was responsible for Annabelle being here in the first place, all bets were off.

Annabelle’s eyes widened, then she snickered. “You poor thing.” The joy left her face a second later. “I suppose you want me to go, then.”

“No, actually. I don’t.” He wasn’t about to explain that his grandmother had threatened to take the amulet that allowed him to daywalk, either. It was bad enough Annabelle knew he was a vampire. Those amulets were a family secret shared only by his brothers, his grandmother and Alice Bishop.

She made a face. “You don’t have to pretend to be nice to me. If your grandmother set this up, why would you want me to stay?”

“For that very reason. She arranged this and I love her dearly, so for her sake, why not see what happens?” That was convincing, wasn’t it?

Annabelle frowned. Perhaps not as convincing as he thought. “You’re willing to let me stay because of your grandmother?”

He nodded. And hoped he looked sincere. It wasn’t entirely a lie. He very much needed her to stay because of Didi. Preferring the darkness of night was one thing, being eternally confined to it was another.

Annabelle pushed the door open a little wider and walked back into the room. “For her sake, then.”

With his relief, his smile became sincere. “Excellent.”

A small cow walked toward him and meowed. “What on earth is—Stanhill mentioned you brought your cat. He failed to mention the creature is the size of an SUV.”

She gave him the side eye. “His name is Captain. Don’t worry about getting to know him, he doesn’t like men.”

Captain continued his stroll toward Hugh, then wound around his legs like a furry snake. “Yes, I can see how much he loathes me.”

“Traitor,” she hissed.

Hugh gave Captain a scratch on the head. The beast was surprisingly silky. “I’m forgiven then?”

She tossed a pink, stuffed mouse across the room and the animal gave chase, leaving Hugh’s legs untangled. She tipped her head to one side as if considering her options. “For now.”

She gave no quarter. He kind of liked that. For a woman who knew exactly what he was, she certainly wasn’t intimidated. Maybe Didi knew what sort of woman worked for him after all. He grinned. “Good enough. I’ll see you downstairs then.”

She nodded. “Maybe you can give me a tour of the house then. Except for the basement, of course.”

He blinked at her mention of his lab. Stanhill must have said something. He recovered quickly, and smiled. “My pleasure.”

He headed back downstairs with the shocking realization that he actually meant what he’d said. Getting to know the curious Miss Givens might not be the worst thing that had ever happened to him.

Delaney shut the door, then leaned against it, closed her eyes and exhaled the nervousness she’d been tamping down since Hugh had knocked on her door. She was so thankful she’d showered and put on a little makeup before going downstairs. Looking presentable had given her the courage to act exactly the way she thought Annabelle would in this situation, although some of the hurt had been real.

What if Annabelle had found out this guy never really wanted her? Kinda funny to think that here she, Delaney, had been so worried that he was going to send her away, when come to find out, he wasn’t even responsible for bringing her here.

Which maybe explained why the man was kind of an ass. Built like a superhero, stupidly beautiful and, okay, willing to apologize, which was more than she could say for Russell, but still an ass. Speaking of, she hadn’t gotten a good look at Hugh’s backside, but it was probably just as gorgeous as the rest of him. Dark hair, stare-right-through-you ice blue eyes with the body of an Olympic swimmer and a dash of dangerous thrown in on top of his bone-melting English accent. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but there was something about the guy…something dark and a little feral.

And undeniably sexy.

Her eyes widened. She’d just moved in with James Bond. That was about as close as anyone could hope to get to a real-life superhero.

It wouldn’t be difficult spending time with a guy like that, but the best part was he didn’t plan on marrying her.

The relief of that coupled with the idea that he wasn’t being completely honest with her about something—maybe whatever was going on in the basement—made her feel slightly better for using his house as a hideout. Not that he owed her any kind of honesty. They’d known each other all of five minutes.

Still, it was a strange way for him to start a relationship with someone who could end up being his wife. If that was even what he was thinking. But he probably wasn’t. He hadn’t invited Annabelle Givens here, after all. If not for his desire to appease his grandmother, he might already have escorted her out the door. To avoid that happening before she was ready to leave, she needed to embrace her role as his prospective fiancée. The best course of action was to be sweet and nice and make him the focus of her attention. Basically, pretend he was a customer she was waiting on at the restaurant. She could do that. All. Day. Long.