The Vampire's Mail Order Bride

“I’m not making a scene,” Piper snapped back, her diamond stud earrings flashing. “I’m just telling my replacement what to expect.”

She looked around Hugh at Annabelle. “If you think he’s going to marry you, he’s not. Ever. If you don’t believe me, ask half a dozen other girls in this town.”

Annabelle put her hand on Hugh’s arm and eased him back a step. “You’ve got me confused with one of those women who needs a ring on her finger to feel complete. I don’t put those kinds of expectations on men. And I’d say I’m sorry things didn’t work out between you and Hugh, but based on your current amount of crazy, I’d say he dodged a bullet.”

Piper’s jaw dropped.

Annabelle gave her a nod. “You have a good night now.” Then she started walking.

He didn’t need any coaxing to join her. He waited until they were out of Piper’s earshot before speaking. “That was bloody brilliant.”

She pulled him into an alley and turned to him. “I’m glad you enjoyed that, but you don’t get to kiss me and just walk away. Not after we had the whole no strings attached talk.”

He faced her, aware of the tourists milling by and peering down the alley at them. The small crowd that had followed them. “You’re right. But I’d rather not explain here.” He pointed to the street behind him. “Let’s keep walking.”

Thankfully, that seemed to be all right with her because she fell into step with him as he left the alley. She didn’t link her arm through his as she had on Main Street, but he was okay with that. Touching her at this point might take him down a more dangerous path.

As they left the crowds behind, they walked without speaking, without looking at each other. It gave him time to cool off and find the words to explain himself. “I apologize if I startled you or if my advance was unwelcome. I was feeling…very affected by you, and the urge to kiss you became overwhelming. I gave into it.”

She was silent for a few seconds longer than he would have liked. Long enough for him to think his kiss hadn’t been welcome. “You’re a strange man. Not strange, exactly. Curious.”

He’d been called worse. “Why so?”

She cut her eyes at him. “We’d just made a pact about no strings, and then you freak out and kiss me. You don’t think that’s curious? Not to mention the whole encounter with your ex, who is, wow, very pretty. That was fun. And yes, I know you had no control over that.”

“I did not freak out.” Three-hundred-and-seventy-seven-year-old vampires did not freak out. “I just felt like I was feeling something and wanted to be sure.”

Amusement danced in her eyes. This was not supposed to be funny. “You felt like you were feeling something? Oh, men slay me.” She stopped walking. “And?”

He came to a halt beside her. “And what?”

“Did you feel what you were feeling?”

He frowned. “Now you’re mocking me.”

“Not mocking. Just trying to be sure.” She crossed her arms. “Or maybe you need to kiss me again?”

The idea stirred his blood and raised heat in his belly. Perhaps because it was a brilliant idea. He clamped his jaw shut. Not brilliant. Awful. “No, I don’t need to kiss you again.”

Her brows lifted and her mouth pursed. “Okay, good to know.” She started walking again, leaving him to catch up. “I guess we should get home then.”

Delaney yawned and blinked at the bright light coming through the bedroom windows. Sleep had taken forever to come last night. After feeding Cappy, she’d lain in the big four-poster bed, her body on fire and her head a jumble of thoughts involving Hugh, his ex, and the kiss. Well, mostly Hugh. And the kiss. The only thing that was clear this morning was that the trip into town with Hugh last night had taken a very unforeseen turn.

She fluffed her pillow. Captain Underpants was firmly ensconced on the other one, having declared that side of the bed his. She rolled over to scratch his head. “A man kissed your mother last night and you don’t even care, do you?”

Not even a yawn.

“Philistine.”

She rolled back over and listed the things she knew for certain about her current situation:

Hugh was a horrible liar.

But an excellent kisser.

She would be willing to kiss him again.

She was in big trouble.

How was she going to last another twenty-eight days? She sat up abruptly. She’d been so distracted by Hugh’s mouth she’d gone to bed without checking the news at home or Googling the real Annabelle Givens. She grabbed her laptop off the floor beside the bed and fired it up, checking the same local news sites as the day before. Nothing about the shooting or about a missing man or anything.

Her phone vibrated. She set the laptop aside and picked up her phone off the nightstand. Two waiting texts.

First one was from Samantha, a friend and fellow server at Rastinelli’s. Where u at? Boss is going to call the cops if u don’t show. Says he’s worried about u.

Anthony Rastinelli was going to call the cops on her? She doubted that.

The second text was from Russell. She rolled her eyes before she even read it. Hey babe. Thinking about u. Missing u. Call me.

That was also not going to happen.

She was about to toss the phone on the bed when she checked the time. Almost one in the afternoon. Working the dinner shift had made her more of a night owl, but she hadn’t slept that late in a while. She started to get out of bed when someone knocked on the bedroom door.