Holiday with a Vampire 4: Halfway to DawnThe GiftBright Star (Harlequin Nocturne) Read online

  Her shoulders dropped a notch as she sighed. “I’m sorry. You just caught me off guard. So, what kind of test are you talking about?”

  “I’ve come to grant you a wish.”

  Angelica stared, then let out a mirthless burst of laughter. “You’re not some reality-show producer, or fairy godfather or genie, or something, are you?”

  Cullen simply smiled. “Or something. It is true I’ve sought you out because you hold something very powerful. The locket. And I’m prepared to grant you a wish in exchange for it.” He flicked his gaze upward, locking it unflinchingly with hers. “What I am is a vampire.”

  Angel leaned back from him, folding her hands tightly together on the countertop. “Vampire.” She rolled her eyes and sighed. “You know that pickup line is for someone half my age, don’t you?”

  “Not from where I’m standing. Being two hundred years old can warp your sense of age slightly. And it does not change the matter. I can offer you your fondest wish. The man of your dreams and a lifetime of good fortune or immortality.”

  “Immortality without love sounds pretty...empty. And just because I like someone doesn’t mean it would work out between us, but a lifetime of good fortune sounds good.” She paused for a moment, nibbling her lip in a most distracting manner that caused Cullen to wonder what it would feel like to kiss Miss Angelica Edwards perfectly senseless. “What if I’m not interested in either?” she said quietly.

  Cullen kept his face neutral although he felt like frowning. “Everyone around you is striving to stay looking young. Diet. Exercise. Are you absolutely sure you wouldn’t like to just have all those things, endless youth and beauty, with all the cheesecake you could want and without a gym membership?”

  Angelica bit her lip, her even white teeth sinking into the fleshy, rose-colored softness. Temptation, even more encouraging, hope, flared to life in her eyes. “And in exchange I sell you the locket, is that it?”

  “Are you willing to trade?”

  Angelica’s eyes narrowed slightly. She tucked a strand of her glorious chestnut-colored locks behind the dainty shell of her ear, stirring the air with her scent. Honeysuckle and the silky spice of warm, female skin. Thirst gripped Cullen with a raw need.

  “Trade, huh?” she said, her tone faraway, as if she were deep in thought.

  Cullen smiled and took a sip of his coffee, the warm, fragrant brew swirling over his tongue. It did nothing to abate the parched sensation in his throat. He should savor this moment. He’d never gotten as far as this with the others, but it was difficult when his concentration was slipping. Angelica distracted him on more than one level.

  “And what do you get out of this deal?”

  Her question took Cullen off guard. He smiled, hoping to distract her as much as she was distracting him from his mission. “Who says I’m in this for me? Perhaps I’m just fated to find you. Perhaps the locket is your lucky charm.” From the curiosity sparking in her cinnamon-colored eyes, perhaps he had a chance at victory after all.

  Chapter 4

  There was no way Angel believed he was a vampire. They didn’t exist. But he was gorgeous, obviously well-off, and he was at least interested in antiques, unlike Alex. She smothered the urge to burst out laughing at the absurdity of his offer. Eternal youth. A relationship with the man of her dreams. Good luck. No one could offer such things.

  It wasn’t that she was a glass-half-empty kind of person. It was more that she was simply practical. Life was what it was. It wasn’t going to get better. Her mother wasn’t going to come back. If she were lucky, in ten, maybe fifteen years, she could save enough to do some of the traveling she’d always dreamed of, but dreaming beyond that was foolish.

  She peered up at the man across from her. He’d purchased more antiques than she normally sold in a month, and he was trying to get her to believe he was something out of this world. Offering her things he couldn’t possibly deliver to get her attention. Why?

  Even with her mother’s note, Angel was skeptical. People just didn’t drop out of nowhere offering you things without wanting something in return. “First things first. I don’t believe in vampires. And even if you were a vampire, the answer would still be no.”

  He pinned her with a gaze that held her immobile like a rabbit too stunned to move in the presence of a predator. “And what if you’re wrong? What if vampires are real?”

  “It would take a lot of convincing, and I’m a bit on the practical side.”

  “And if I could convince you?”

  Angel cupped her hands around the warm cup of hot chocolate she’d left on the counter and stared down into the soft brown depths, swirled with the remains of white whipped cream. Her mother had warned her about Cullen, without naming him. A man will come asking for the locket. He’ll offer you a choice of a lifetime, but whatever you do, don’t give him the locket. It’s your key to keeping the good luck he’ll grant you... She peered up at him, masking her features so she wouldn’t betray herself. “I don’t think you could.”

  “That sounds like a challenge.”

  Angel pulled his receipt out of the receipt book and handed it to him. “It was nice meeting you, Cullen. Give me your address, and I’ll make sure everything reaches you safely by next week.”

  He drew his dark brows together. “Wait. I’ve scared you, haven’t I?”

  Not hardly. If anything he’d scraped along a raw nerve. She had a taste of being truly alone and didn’t like it, and then out of nowhere comes a guy who’s not just perfect but too perfect. As if someone had carved out the thoughts in her brain and sculpted them into the person standing across from her. Angel shrugged. “No, really. It’s more that I just don’t believe in fairy tales. You’re not a vampire, a genie or Prince Charming. And I’m just not that lucky.”

  It was time for him to go. The more time she spent with Cullen, the further she sunk into an impossible fantasy where she could see herself with someone like him. She pushed back from the counter and walked around it, making a beeline for the front door, but Cullen grabbed her hand. That electric arc of awareness she’d experienced when he’d shaken her hand shot up her arm again, this time more powerfully as his skin touched hers. Angel gasped, then locked gazes with him.

  “Who are you? Really?”

  * * *

  With the force of a lightning bolt, Cullen realized something. Angelica wasn’t going to give him the locket in exchange for a gift, nor was she going to make her wish. He was going to have to do something he’d never had to before.

  He was going to have to woo her.

  Marie’s words echoed in the back of his skull. When de time come and you can truly love in return, you’ll have but one chance to make tings right, Cullen.

  Perhaps he’d been going about this locket business all wrong for generations. He’d thought getting the woman to fall in love with him had been his key. But then, that didn’t make any sense. To regain his soul, Marie expected him to fall in love? Was that even possible? For so long he’d been fixated on getting the last remaining vestige of his soul back from the locket that he hadn’t contemplated an existence beyond that moment.

  Cullen pulled Angelica closer. “If I can prove to you I’m speaking the truth, and it’s not just some elaborate pickup line, will you reconsider my offer?”

  Angelica pulled her hand from his grasp and tucked it in the crook of her arm as she crossed them over her chest. “You’d have to be pretty convincing. I’m not promising anything, but I’ll at least think about it.”

  He stood and held out his large hand to her. “I’ll need to hold your hand.”

  Angelica peered at his hand for a moment. Cullen’s chest contracted with discomfort, unsure of her response. He could think of only one thing that would convince her thoroughly and gain her trust. He was going to have to show her what it meant to be a vampire.

  She glanced around, but they were completely alone in her shop. Angelica uncrossed her arms and put her hand into his. Their palms touched, her skin wa
rm and dry against his. Cullen reached down to his core to gather the power to transport them.

  The world became a blur around them as they moved. A flash of panic crossed her features. It had been such a long time since he’d transported a mortal, he’d forgotten how unsettling the experience could be. He quickly pulled her into his chest.

  “Close your eyes for a moment. It’ll help.”

  She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and shivered against him, placing her cheek against his chest. Even through the bulk of her jacket he could feel the curves of her female form pressed against him. The scent of honeysuckle, intense and alluring and utterly feminine, drifted up from her hair just beneath his chin. His gut contracted in response and his fangs throbbed.

  It was a damn good thing transporting only took mere moments. She was already breathing hard and he didn’t want her to hyperventilate before he’d even got to show her around. He couldn’t wait to see her reaction.

  “You can open your eyes now.”

  * * *

  Angel blinked. It took only an instant to realize they weren’t at Elegant Artifacts anymore. Hell, they weren’t even indoors any longer.

  Over the mirror surface of the dark water rippled the pale image of a nearly full moon. Dark trees crowded in on either side of a low bank, and the grass—or was it moss?—was springy beneath her feet. The air was warm, almost balmy, and filled with the fetid smell of verdant foliage, stagnant water and damp earth. The chirping chorus of insects was far louder than the crowd at the coffee shop had been earlier. Angel pushed back from him, and rather than maintain his hold on her hand, he let it easily slide from his loose grasp.

  Her head spun as she looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. How had he moved them so quickly to a place that clearly wasn’t home? Had he somehow drugged her hot chocolate? It had only seemed like less than a few seconds. Angel balled her hands by her sides and glared at him. “Where are we?”

  “You demanded proof.” He held out a hand and gestured to the bayou night. “This is the start of our tour. We’re in Louisiana. Welcome to Belle Eau, my ancestral home.” He gave a slight bow from the waist.

  “Loui-Louisiana?” she stammered. The light-headed feeling came back in a rush and Angel reminded herself to slow her breathing down. “You abducted me.”

  “You did demand proof. I could hardly reveal myself as a vampire in the coffee shop or at your shop without causing a scene or having you calling the authorities, now, could I?” He peeled off his long, heavy wool coat from his shoulders and folded it neatly over his thick forearm. “I’ll be happy to take you back as soon as we’ve finished with the tour.”

  Perhaps she ought to take her coat off, too. “How?”

  “The same way we arrived here, unless you really want to take a plane back.”

  She stood up and waved her hands around. “No, how did we get here?”

  “We transported. One of the more banal of my skills as a vampire, I assure you, but useful.”

  “You can just zap from place to place?” The second the words were out of her mouth, she felt ridiculous. Of course he could. He just had with her in tow. Angel shook her head. “This isn’t real. None of this can be real. I must have passed out or be dreaming or this is a hallucination.”

  “We can only transport to places we’ve been before.” He took a step toward her, his hand extended.

  Angel immediately backed away a step.

  He laughed. “I’m not going to hurt you. I merely wanted to show you what you’d be giving up if you didn’t take my offer of immortality.”

  “You were serious about that?”

  “Deadly,” he said with a million-watt grin that made her knees weak all over again. “Now, give me your hand. Among other amplified senses, I can see better in the dark than you can, and I’ll help you avoid any rodent holes in the field until we can get to the big house.”

  “Rodent holes?”

  “Nutria. Persistent things. Massive orange teeth. Look like a beaver with a rat’s tail.”

  Angel shuddered and took his hand. The last thing she needed was to twist an ankle or get bitten by a beaver-size rat thing. It was pitch-black as they moved away from the edge of the bayou. On the dirt road, the oaks overhead formed a massive canopy, their large branches swathed with hanging hanks of Spanish moss.

  Beyond the swamp odor of the bayou, she picked out the scents of wet wool, from his coat and her own, and the spicy, aromatic hint of cloves. Angel glanced at him. While he hadn’t asked her permission to bring her here, she had asked for proof. And while Cullen was a stranger, she felt herself compelled to hold on to him in the unfamiliar surroundings.

  “Belle Eau. Sounds old.”

  Cullen chuckled. “It all depends on who you’re talking to. To me, it’s simply home. My family plantation.” He glanced at her, his eyes bright twin sapphires in the dark of the night. “To you and the local historical society, yes, it’s old. Since you were kind enough to show me your shop, I thought you might enjoy viewing my collection.”

  Deep in her chest, a warmth unfurled. He’d been thinking about her interests when he’d chosen to bring her here. Her interests weren’t even on Alex’s radar. Cullen didn’t think antiques were just old junk. He understood her passion and shared in it.

  They strolled along the dirt road in the moonlight, the white shell path crunching beneath their feet. A light breeze ruffled through the leaves and tousled the edges of his neatly cut hair. He didn’t look like a vampire. Far from it. But then, there wasn’t any way she could explain how he’d zapped them from one place to another, so she was willing, at least at this point, to reserve her judgment.

  “Have you lived here your whole life?”

  He nodded, holding his coat over his arm and placing his other behind his back as they walked. “Well, nearly my whole life. We only came here during the summers at first, but once my nurse took sick with yellow fever, we remained here.”

  “Were you alive before the Civil War?”

  He smiled. “Oh, yes.”

  “And you don’t have a problem with me being a Yankee?” she teased.

  He laughed softly. “Time gives you the luxury of learning which things are important. Right now you’re neither Yankee nor mortal to me, but simply my beautiful guest for the evening.”

  Perspiration gathered on her skin, and Angel realized she was far too warm. She pulled off her wool jacket and tucked it over her arm, just as he had.

  Curiosity won out over trepidation. “So, what else can vampires do?”

  Cullen slid a gaze in her direction and gave an enigmatic smile. “Now you believe me?”

  Angel shrugged. “Not completely, but I’m willing to consider it a possibility. It explains the...” She flitted her hands about. “You know...beam-me-up-Scotty thing.”

  He chuckled. “You’re very much a see-it-to-believe-it person, aren’t you?”

  She twisted the chain holding the locket around her fingers. “Let’s just say I don’t trust everything people tell me.”

  “Other powers...” he mumbled as he kicked a rock and sent it skittering down the road in front of them. “What kinds of powers were you thinking of?”

  Angel swiveled her head, gazing at the dark woods around them. “Well, obviously you got us here. That’s not in the movies. So, what else can you do?”

  “We can flux.”

  She frowned in confusion.

  “Turn invisible for a time.”

  “How?”

  Cullen shrugged. “We blend in with the air around us. Really that’s about as technical as I can be.”

  Well, that was no help at all. She still didn’t see how he’d done it. “But what do you do—is it some sort of spell or something?”

  He shook his head. “Frankly I discovered it myself quite by accident. A fire-and-brimstone traveling preacher came at me with a stake, and I simply fluxed and stepped out of the man’s way. I looked down to see that I couldn’t view my own hands or any of my own
body, for that matter.”

  “I can see where that might come in very handy, especially if you were trying to sneak out on a girl the morning after a one-night stand.”

  Cullen stopped midstride and pressed a hand over his heart. “I’m crushed you think so little of me.”

  Angel slid him a sideways glance. She might have believed him if it weren’t for the coy smirk that played along his well-formed mouth. “I doubt that. If you’re as old as you claim to be, I’m sure you’ve had a fair share of women trailing after you.”

  Regardless of her words, Angel decided to just go along for the ride, however short or long it lasted. For once, she would try to enjoy herself.

  Chapter 5

  They rounded the bend in the road and the massive front of the plantation house came into view. Two-story and square, its row of columns formed stark white bones. The dark windows looked out from the red brickwork—almost like empty eyes with no soul.

  “It looks frighteningly beautiful to you, doesn’t it?”

  His words echoed her thoughts. Angel stared at him for a moment. How had he done it?

  “I’m not frightened,” she lied. It was more of a half-truth, really. She wasn’t frightened, just wary. Cautious. Who knew if the floorboards were too rotten to walk on and might give way or if the old lath-and-plaster ceilings would cave in? No. That wasn’t what scared her. No one knew where she was. He could do anything to her, and no one would ever know. A full-body shiver traveled from her head to her toes, and she slowed down.

  “You’re shivering.”

  “Temperature change,” she muttered. “Are you sure it’s safe?”

  He laughed. “I assure you, my home is hardly in disrepair. In fact, once I light a few candles, you might find it quite—”

  “Romantic?”

  His eyes sparkled. “I was going to say endearing, but if you prefer romantic, I’ll go with that.”

  As they mounted the wide set of steps leading to the portico, the double doors swung wide open on their own. Angel gasped.