Aureliann turned in his arms to look at him. "Is it really a castle?"
Valdemar smiled at the awed tone of her voice. That was one of the many things he loved about her.
Aureliann was unpretentious. She said what she thought and her words were not measured as if she was scared of what others would think of her. That"s how he wanted to rule his world. And with her by my side I will.
That she believed he was who he said he was made everything so much easier.
"Yes, and we"ll be happy there." Valdemar kissed her lips, savoring the taste of her. He longed to taste the life force of her blood but he would wait until she was ready to permit him that privilege.
"We?" Aureliann looked at him in confusion as she started to sit up. "What do you mean?"
Wasn"t it obvious? "You"re going to marry me, lovely, and live with me in Serawych."
Chapter Five.
"Oh no I"m not." Marriage? Living in a fairytale land? Aureliann pushed away from him. The loss of his body heat was like a reality check to her.
"You have to marry me." Valdemar made it sound like there was no other way.
Sentences with "have to" in them always irritated Aureliann. She was not someone who took kindly to anyone arranging her life in accordance with what they wanted from her. "Why?"
"What do you mean why?" He looked at her in puzzlement. "We love each other."
"Says who?" Aureliann sat up and grabbed at a nearby cushion and used that to cover her body from his gaze. It was a little too late for that of course but the direction of this conversation required focus on the facts at hand and not the body parts that were to hand.
Valdemar raised up, totally oblivious to his naked state. "Are you serious?"
"Are you?" The concern in his voice scared her. Calling out his name and him turning up was one thing.
Marriage and castles were entirely another. "Look, prince, we had s.e.x. I don"t know how it works in your world but it doesn"t mean the whole "I do" thing naturally follows."
"What does it mean?"
"Okay, I actually accept you"re a prince from a faraway land. I accept you"re a vampire but I"m not marrying you or anyone because I don"t want to." Marriage was not something Aureliann had ever contemplated. That was for other people.
He looked at her in amazement. "I don"t believe this. You called me. Thomas said that you would-"
"Oh right, Thomas is your mentor, isn"t he?" Aureliann remembered him from the book. She would have liked to have met him. He sounded like an interesting man. "How is his arthritis by the way?" She recalled reading that it had slowed him down from a once active lifestyle.
Valdemar raised his eyebrow in disbelief. "You"re more interested in discussing Thomas?"
That was because Thomas wasn"t there in front of her all hot and naked and now cranky looking.
Aureliann wondered if many people disobeyed Valdemar. Just because he was royalty didn"t mean she was about to bow and sc.r.a.pe and fit in with his whims. "Well, he"s an old man."
"So it"s safe to be interested in him and not me?" Valdemar growled the words out in frustration. "Scared of giving yourself, Aureliann? Scared of grown-up emotions?"
Yes. "Oh bite me." Aureliann wasn"t about to allow herself to be bulldozed into anything by a bossy vampire prince.
"I would love to," Valdemar responded, his eyes hot and pa.s.sionate on hers as he moved toward her. "I crave it. I need to taste you fully."
Aureliann wiggled backward on her a.s.s, clutching the cushion to her for protection.
"You put fang marks in me, prince, and I"ll kick your royal b.u.t.t." She was in a dangerous situation. He was a man who could quite easily overpower her and do whatever he wanted and it would probably turn out to be something she would enjoy. But agreeing to anything in the throes of pa.s.sion was not something she wanted to chance. "I"ve read the book, remember. I know what happens when you bite me." Valdemar would lose his immortality and she would be bound to him for life. It was way too soon to be thinking about any of that.
"Do I mean anything to you?"
When he looked at her with such soulful eyes she wanted to agree that he meant more to her than she could ever imagine anyone ever could. But Aureliann also needed time to think. In a matter of hours she had gone from dreaming of him to the reality of him and she wasn"t at all sure what her own reality was at that moment.
"I just frigging met you." Her head was spinning from him.
"So you would do this with any man?"
Aureliann snorted. "No, but that"s not the point."
Valdemar ran an agitated hand through his hair. "What"s wrong with you, Aureliann?"
"Me?" She was affronted he was arrogant enough to suggest she was somehow to blame for whatever this was between them. "You knew I was hot for you because of that book. You deliberately planned to sweep me off my feet because you thought I would be desperate and grateful enough." Admittedly it took very little to seduce her. He was so d.a.m.ned s.e.xy and she had fallen in love with him as a character in a book. But reality, such as it was at that moment, did not have her about to declare love for him and to willingly fall in with whatever his plans were.
Valdemar looked angry. "There was nothing deliberate about it. We were meant to be together. It was fate but you"re too stubborn and stuck up."
"Fate, my a.s.s," Aureliann snapped out as she maneuvered herself to stand up. "And you can call me whatever names you like, my lord, but I"m not marrying you just because you say so." She pulled the cushion from her body. Let him look. It was the last time he would be allowed to. "I don"t know what women in your country are like but we Brisbane girls don"t follow orders. And you may be as s.e.xy as h.e.l.l but even I"m not that desperate."
Valdemar"s eyes roamed her body before stopping to rest on her face. "Weren"t you?"
"What? You don"t learn manners at prince school?" Arrogant sod. Okay, yeah, maybe he was right. That was what p.i.s.sed her off. There had been an element of desperation but it was tacky for him to bring it up.
Aureliann knew Valdemar had just said it to annoy her.
He smiled. "And here was me thinking you were sweet." "I am but just to people I like."
"I think you"re a coward, Aureliann O"Neal." Valdemar"s words were direct and to the point.
"And I think you should haul your tattooed a.s.s out of here, your highness."
Valdemar did not move, instead crossed his legs. "I"m not leaving."
"Well, floor or sofa then?" Aureliann smiled over-sweetly when he swore under his breath. When he rose up to his full height, it took everything she had not to back away from him. Prince Valdemar was one h.e.l.l of a man and naked he was mind-boggling.
"This was not how my ancestors had mated surely." He s.n.a.t.c.hed up his trousers. "I need to go out."
"Who"s stopping you?"
"Certainly not you." Valdemar disappeared.
"b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l what am I doing?" Aureliann slapped her forehead. One minute she could not get enough of him and the next she was kicking him to the curb. This was the man she wanted and dreamed of, yet she was scared that he was finally there in her life. It was one thing to want from afar but another to be up close and personal talking about commitment. That"s what marriage was to Aureliann. Maybe celebrities could meet someone and get married the next day but she was not like that. Marriage was for life. Before her parents died she experienced that. They would have grown old together if not for the car crash.
The problem was Aureliann liked the idea of forever when it was a faraway concept that was unlikely to touch her world.
"I don"t want him, yet I want him." She blew out a sigh and put her head in her hands. "That"s real rational, Aureliann."
Valdemar was as angry as h.e.l.l. She didn"t want him. No woman had ever denied him. He was a prince, a n.o.bleman, a vampire. Women in his own country l.u.s.ted after him. He was a prize, a catch. He could marry any woman he wanted. He did not have to follow tradition. That some pipsqueak of a woman told him "no"
maddened him. Who was she to deny him what he wanted? He stopped and thought about Aureliann. You put fang marks in me, prince, and I"ll kick your royal b.u.t.t.
Valdemar smiled as he remembered her words. No woman had ever said that to him and as much as it irritated him, he also liked it. Aureliann was no pushover. She did not want him because of what he was-a prince or a vampire. In her eyes he was just a pushy man and she was not going to play by his rules. She was hot, feisty and he wanted to turn her over his knee and spank her then make love to her until the only answer from her lips was, "Yes, Valdemar, I will marry you". He loved her. He did not doubt that. He now had to make her believe that life and love could come from the pages of a book.
While Aureliann was a realist, she was also a dreamer. That she had avidly read the book told him that.
"So how do I make her believe her dreams can come true?" Before he could think further, a high-pitched scream of terror broke into his thoughts. Valdemar walked swiftly in the direction of the cry. Whoever it was sounded like they were in great distress. He turned a corner and saw a man beating a woman up. Men in his country did not act this way. They had more honor.
Valdemar launched himself at the man, pulling him from her with one heave. "Are you okay?" he asked the woman. The man charged him. Valdemar smacked him in the jaw and knocked him down. The woman nodded, staring in amazement at the half naked man with the flowing hair. "Leave us," Valdemar told her. He watched as she hobbled away, looking back only once as if amazed at her luck. Valdemar deflected another blow the man aimed at him. He knew this type of man. He was a lowlife who used and abused for his own gratification.
"Who the f.u.c.k are you?" the man asked as he reeled under the blows.
"That"s not your concern." Although Valdemar could the feel the waves of evil coming from the man, he was useful to him. He needed blood and Valdemar never took anyone innocent. He grabbed the man by the neck.
"What are you doing?"
Valdemar allowed his fangs to appear. He saw the fear in the man"s eyes. It would have been a similar fear to what his female victim would have felt. "I"m going to use you and discard you without a backward glance. I believe it will give you some idea of how your victims feel." As his teeth sunk into the man"s jugular, Valdemar forgot whose throat he sucked as the life force of blood rushed through his body, revitalizing him once more.
Victor did not have to go inside the woman"s house to know that his cousin was f.u.c.king the woman senseless. It was exactly what he would do given the invitation from the curvaceous Ms. O"Neal. Victor could have slipped quietly into the house and watched but he knew his cousin would have felt his presence if he got too close.
"Though he would be stupid to think I am not following him." And he knew Valdemar was anything but.
He was surprised when his cousin appeared suddenly outside, half-naked, hair abound, as if he had stormed out in a rush or been thrown out. It was funny to think that a woman would deny his cousin. Few did.
"Interesting." Valdemar looked p.i.s.sed off. The woman clearly wasn"t as enamored of him as he was of her. But then Valdemar always was the romantic one, throwing his heart and soul into everything. Victor smiled as his cousin disappeared just as quickly. He knew he would be needing blood, especially if he had been s.h.a.gging that woman. It gave Victor an idea.
"h.e.l.lo," he greeted the woman as he appeared in her home.
Aureliann looked at him. "What are you doing back here?" She had put on a robe and was sitting hunched up on the sofa.
"I could not leave things as they were."
"No," she agreed as she stood up.
"Come to me, Aureliann." Victor held his hand out to her.
Aureliann looked at the hand that was reaching for hers. The veins stood out harsh and gnarled on the pale skin. The fine hairs on the back of her neck p.r.i.c.kled in awareness that something was not right. She looked up into the green eyes that stared back at her. Aureliann saw no love or pa.s.sion within. Those eyes were dead. Though this man was almost the spitting image of Valdemar, he was not the prince she knew.
"Victor." The evil cousin. Cue the dramatic music. It was like she had walked into a soap opera.
He smiled. "Very good, my dear."
It was exactly how she expected a snake to smile. "Where is your cousin?" If he was here and Valdemar wasn"t then that didn"t bode well. The thought that Victor could have done something to Valdemar made Aureliann angry. While it was true that she found Valdemar"s presumptions arrogant, she did not want him out of her life just yet. There were things about him that she needed to get her head around.
"Hmm, let"s see," Victor murmured as his eyes raked her body with an insolent glare. "You threw him out."
"As I will you." Aureliann re-tightened the robe around her body. The way he leered at her made her sick.
Victor laughed at her words. "Oh, I"m not my soppy cousin who allows himself to be pushed out the door.
I plan to stick around and have some fun."
Aureliann knew what that look meant and if he touched her she would fight like a woman possessed.
"You can"t have me. I belong to your cousin. We bonded."
"There are no marks on your neck." He started to circle her like a predator looking for weaknesses. "You may be bonded by s.e.x but not blood. That"s a big difference."
She made sure she did not have her back to him. Where was Valdemar? How the h.e.l.l do I deal with this pretentious p.r.i.c.k? In her mind she called to Valdemar. Surely if we are connected he will come to me.
"Touch me and I will scream and I can scream really loudly." She looked at him in distaste as he laughed at her words. "Maybe that won"t save my life but it"ll give you a really bad headache."
Victor looked amused at her threat. "Deny me, woman, and I will make you suffer."
"And I will kill you." Valdemar appeared suddenly in the room.
Aureliann did the girly thing and ran to him. She had been worried about his safety and his strength renewed her own.
Valdemar arched his eyebrow as he pulled her to his side for protection. "So you want me now, lovely?"
"Shut up." She was glad to see him but he still annoyed her. "How did you know I needed you?" Had the mind thing worked?
"We are linked and nothing can break that." He turned to his cousin. "What do you want, Victor?"
Valdemar"s voice was harsh.
Victor laughed in contempt. "Cousin, you know what I want. I want everything you have, including the woman."
"Oh puke," Aureliann muttered in disgust. ""Like I"d go for sloppy seconds."
"b.i.t.c.h," Victor snarled.