Adored By The Rancher: Mail Order Brides Box Set

by Dreams, Brittany

  Not spotting Michelle anywhere, Sarah decided just to go looking for a washroom herself. Her stomach wasn’t cooperating but likely a break away from the music and the noise would help just as much. If that didn’t work… Sarah wanted to be near somewhere were vomiting wasn’t going to make a huge mess.

  Sarah spotted a staircase over to her right. People were crowded all around but no one was on the stairs. She wondered if there was a bathroom up on the second floor.

  Slipping through two men wearing tuxedos who were laughing and talking about sports, Sarah made her exit up the grand staircase. It was made of stone, or marble. Something like that. She wasn’t quite sure as currently it was blurred almost beyond recognition. She swayed when she climbed each stair and had to grab the cold stone banister for support. Overhead was a giant crystal chandelier. Sarah could only imagine how much these things must have cost.

  She finally made it to the top of the stairs. She was surprised to find it was quieter up here. In fact, no one appeared to be up on this floor at all. She stared down a long hallway. The floor glistened, reflecting the light of the overhead chandeliers, set high above. Marble. It had to be marble.

  She made her way down the hallway, swaying as she walked. She tried the doors on either side as she passed but they were all locked. Oh god. This was exactly why she didn’t every do this kind of thing. Her stomach was now rolling full tilt and she was afraid she was going to deposit everything she had drunk on the marble floor at her feet.

  There was one more door. The odds of it being unlocked were slim, and a bathroom, even slimmer. Sarah tried the handle, which was not a normal handle at all but some large iron contraption. To her surprise, the heavy wooden door creaked open. It was not a normal door. Not even close. It was probably twelve feet tall and likely weighed three hundred pounds.

  The room was pitch black and not a bathroom at all. Sarah did see, on the far end, a window. Praying that it had a sash or a crank so she could open it and maybe be sick outside rather than in, Sarah walked towards it. She pressed her hands against it, searching for some way to open it and found none.

  From the other side of the room she heard the door slam shut. There was the sound of a latch being put in place. Had someone just locked her in?

  The hair on the back of Sarah’s neck stood on end. Oh god. Someone had trapped her in here. Someone was going to rape her or kill her or both. Fear made her palms slick and she wiped them on her gown.

  “Hello….” she stammered. “Is there someone there?”

  All at once, the room was illuminated by the glow of hundreds of candles. They flickered over the marble floors where they sat, bathing the room in an orange glow. Sarah could see that the room was huge and surprisingly poorly furnished. There was a huge black shape off to the side which was probably a couch and not much else.

  A man dressed all in black stepped out from the shadows and Sarah jumped. She let out a shriek of surprise. Backing herself up against the wall by the window, she stared at the stranger who approached her. Was he the one who had locked her in?

  It was only a moment until he stood in front of her. Sarah gulped. Her palms were wringing wet, beads of perspiration rolled down her chest and she actually felt drops of sweat trickle down her thigh. She realized it was half from fear that she was sweating and half from the heat of all the candles in the room.

  “What are you doing up here?” The stranger asked the question without any force or violence. His voice was smooth, buttery, and rich.

  “I… I was looking for a washroom.”

  “Yes… and you didn’t realize that you shouldn’t be here. That there was no one else up here.”

  “I did notice but… well… I felt like I was going to be sick and I’m really drunk… I didn’t think really… I’m sorry.” She hated that now she was stammering full on. She cringed away from the man before her, until her back was right up against the cold stone wall.

  His eyes glistened dangerously bright, even in the darkness of the room. They were a beautiful blue, but cold, like ice. Sarah’s eyes took in the stranger, trying to gauge how much trouble or danger she was in.

  His face was square, his jawline well defined, his cheekbones high and jutting from his face. His brow was deep, giving his eyes a sunken in look. No, not sunk in… aristocratic. His long blonde hair was swept back into a perfect queue at the nape of his neck. His was a tall, well-built man with broad shoulders, huge barrel chest, and muscular legs. He was a handsome man, Sarah realized. She cursed herself for thinking such a stupid thought at the present moment. Her next thought was that his suit must have been tailored to him because he was so large she was sure he wouldn’t find one that fit right off the rack. Another stupid thought.

  “Do you like what you see Sarah?” The man’s voice was melodic. She looked into his mesmerizing eyes.

  “How… how do you know my name?”

  “You told me.”

  “I did not! When did I tell you?”

  “Just now.” The man reached out and stroked her cheek gently. His touch was surprisingly cool. He had barely grazed her but a thousand fires burst up within Sarah’s body. Her stomach trembled, and not because she was feeling ill. In fact, she felt completely fine now. Not even drunk. Which was really, really strange. She must be the only person on earth who could go from being totally drunk to almost completely sober in the space of five minutes.

  Sarah leaned into the stranger’s touch. His brought both hands to either side of her face. She closed her eyes for a moment, savouring the strength and the coolness of his large hands. A strange ache spread throughout her body. She felt, for the first time in her life, the stirrings of pure, raw, sexuality. Sure she had found men attractive before, but never had she felt this primal need. Her blood pounded just below the surface of her skin, raging, on fire. It danced with desire and sang a song that seemed to speak a thousand words to the man standing before her.

  “Look at me Sarah,” the stranger commanded. She opened her eyes and did as he commanded. She gazed into his ice blue depths, eyes that were as deep as the sea and just as powerful. “You have no need to fear me. You have no need for fear in this room. Do you understand me? Everything I am going to tell you is true. You will not question me because you will inherently understand that it is fact and not to be questioned.”

  “Yes,” Sarah whispered, unable to do otherwise. Her head felt heavy, foggy, as if she were suddenly back to being drunk again.

  “Good.” The man released her face but she still felt as if her mind were in a fog, or perhaps a trance. She had tried meditating to deal with the stress of school. But no, it wasn’t like that… it was more like when she had been put under to have her wisdom teeth taken out. She had been given gas and knew she was conscious but it had felt like a dream. A bad dream at that, but a dream in which her mind was alive but her body paralyzed from the drug. This felt like the exact opposite. Her body was surging with pure energy but her mind was in a daze.

  Sarah shook her head and took a deep breath. She felt slightly better. Like she could focus now. Strangely the room seemed homey. She had no fear of the man before her. He could have been an old friend. No, not that. An old lover.

  “What is your name? You know mine.”

  The stranger hesitated, then his lips slowly turned up in a smile. “Do you know, no one has asked me that for a very long time.”

  “No?” Sarah thought that was even stranger. Maybe he didn’t meet new people often.

  “Calder.”

  The name rang through Sarah’s head like a siren. Calder. She felt that it was somehow familiar. Old. Had she met him before? No, she would have remembered that.

  “Calder,” she said gently, trying his name on her tongue. Sarah found she liked the feel of it very much.

  “You look beautiful Sarah,” Calder exclaimed, his voice husky.

  Sarah looked back into his blue eyes. His gaze was so intense she was momentarily lost. She felt as if she were standing right here,
but somehow floating away. He was standing only inches from her and when he reached out and took her hand, she didn’t pull away. She somehow understood he was going to do this before it even happened. She wanted him to touch her. The thought didn’t surprise her like it should. The image of his hands on her body, on her naked skin, tasting her, thrilling her, bringing her to a screaming, writhing climax, made her shiver. It had been such a vivid imagining she could almost have sworn it was real.

  Calder brought her into his arms. She stepped against his chest, the top of her head barely rising to his breast. He held her there for a second before he turned her round so her back was pressed tightly against the granite muscle of his chest. Slowly, Calder ran his hand up her arm, across her bare shoulder. He ran it down, over the plunging neckline of her gown, before he moved the red fabric aside and trailed the flesh below. She gasped when his fingers found her breast. She was on fire, and his touch was like cool, saving water. Except that instead of dampen the flames of her desire all it did was bank them higher. Calder’s hand grazed her nipple. Sarah squirmed against him with a moan, arching into this touch. He fingered the pink bud until it was hard and aching.

  It never registered with Sarah that she shouldn’t be there. She should be wary of this man touching her, this man who was a complete stranger. She should be running for the door, or at least pushing his hand away in indignation, not writhing under his touch. Her body shouldn’t be burning with lust it should have been rigid with protest. It never registered with Sarah that something was off. No, she only had thoughts for Calder, thoughts of how he could satisfy the growing ache inside of her. She thought of him and was strangely at ease, like she would have been with someone she had known for a lifetime.

  Calder moved his cool hand back up Sarah’s chest. He trailed his index finger over her collarbone. Sarah’s breathing hitched, becoming erratic. Desire pooled low in her belly, and even lower, the juncture of her thighs became wet. Calder lifted her jaw then stroked the long, pale column of her neck.

  An image flashed through Sarah’s mind, vivid and startlingly erotic, of Calder biting her. She imagined him suckling at her neck, taking in long, hard pulls. She saw her own face, eyes closed, lips parted, captivated by the rapturous sensation that flowed through her blood.

  Sarah moved her hand away, surprised to find it sticky and wet. She brought it to her lips and tasted the sharp tang of her own blood.

  “What? Calder?” When she turned and looked at him, Sarah saw that his lips were red, hot and thick with her own vitality. She sucked in a breath and took a haltering step back.

  Calder stared at her like she had grown a second head. Funny. He had bitten her like an animal. Why should he be the one to look at her askance?

  “How…. Sarah… Do you remember when I told you that you were not to question me? That this was intrinsically acceptable to you?” His blue eyes glowed in the candlelight again, drawing her, in sucking her into the void.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes. I know what you are Calder.”

  “What am I Sarah? Go on, you can tell me. It’s alright. Have no fear of me.”

  “You… Calder… you’re a vampire.”

  Chapter 4

  “Yes, Sarah, that’s right. I am a vampire. A very old, ancient vampire. One of the last of my kind. That’s what we are Sarah. A different species. Like a dog or a cat or a lion or a bear.”

  She giggled at that and stole her gaze from his to look out the window. The moon was shining brightly in the night sky. She could make out small, dark forms of people mulling about below but they were strangely quiet. The walls, the glass, must be terribly thick. Come to think of it, she couldn’t hear the noise from downstairs either. It was as if she and Calder were alone in the world.

  She had looked into his eyes when he told her what he was. Yet, she had already known. She had no fear of him because she felt as though she had known him somewhere. Perhaps in a past life? But no… he was giving her these suggestions. Giving her them with his mind. It was his eyes that sucked her in, held her captivated and hypnotized. Those otherworldly blue orbs were her drug.

  “Are you lonely Calder?”

  He laughed, a deep, rich, melodic sound. He was about to shake his head but then stopped and stared at her. “I’ve never met anyone like you Sarah. Are you normally so resistant to hypnotism?”

  “I don’t know, I’ve never tried.”

  “You have an unusually strong mind.”

  “Some people do say that I’m stubborn.”

  Calder chuckled again and Sarah found that she very much liked the sound. Her mind was clearer, like the fog had lifted. However, she still did not think it strange in the least that she should be here, with him. He, another species, a fearsome species. He must have put that suggestion there. It was like a cloud that refused to move from behind her eyes when she closed them. Like a door she could not open. She could feel him, there, in her mind.

  “That’s right Sarah. You can feel me. I am keeping your fear and your hesitancy and all everything you have been taught to this point that would keep you from giving of yourself… that door is locked. Your rationalization, your reason, they are still there, but shall we say, numbed.”

  Sarah liked that. She felt, for a second, like she shouldn’t, but then the feeling dissipated as quickly as it had come. She felt, in its stead, the pure bliss of freedom.

  “That’s what it’s like to let it all go,” she whispered. “I did mediation a couple times. It never felt like this. But I think that’s what they were talking about.”

  “Sarah… Sarah…” Calder stepped forward. “You are exquisite. You are a unique human. You are wondrously and purely woman. You are sensual and sultry. You’re also… kind. Smart. Witty. You have a great empathy about you. I can sense this most of all.”

  She felt her mind open, felt images of her nursing training come to the fore. She realized, with a start, that he was pulling them from her. Purposely she thought of Calder, lying naked on the floor, spread out under her, the candlelight reflected off their naked, writhing forms.

  She glanced up; saw the surprise reflected in the depths of his blue eyes. “Yes Sarah. You asked if I was lonely. Yes. And I know you are too.”

  Calder opened his arms and without hesitation, Sarah stepped into them. He said he had numbed her resistance, her fear, her fight and flight receptors, as it were. Certainly he must have for she never would have felt so safe, nor such a heady rush of desire.

  Sarah placed her face against the wall of Calder’s chest. He was not warm as he should have been, and now she knew why. She was sweating in the heat of the room and he had not an ounce of perspiration. She listened for his heartbeat. It was there, so slow. Not more than one beat per thirty seconds. Her rational battled and bucked, trying to outdo whatever hold Calder had over it. She couldn’t believe that this was real. That he was really a vampire. That he was alive.

  “Shouldn’t you have no heartbeat? If you’re a vampire?”

  “No Sarah. I am a living being, just like you.”

  “You… bit me… does that mean… that I’m going to become a vampire too?” Because her panic receptors had been dulled, Sarah felt only a slight ache at this question.

  “No. Never. Vampires must be born.”

  “Could you… if we… I mean… could I have a child?”

  “From being bit? Sarah, I thought you were a nurse. Surely you know how a child is conceived.”

  “No. Not from being bit Calder. From…”

  “No Sarah. I am one of the last of my kind. I have lived since the age of the Vikings. I have wealth beyond imagining, beyond understanding. I have this house, I have the night. But I have no children and I have no mate. Nor will I ever. I could not impregnate you or any other human female. I could not turn you into a vampire with a single bite. The process is much more complicated than that and often fails.”

  Calder sounded very sad at this, and of course he would. He was lonely. Totally alone. Sarah’s hea
rt began to ache, a very different kind of ache than what had spread through her body. It was irrational but she wished that she could do something to help him, to make him happy.

  “Why do you throw such strange parties? One a season Michelle said.”

  “Yes, one a season. I choose someone, each season to feed from. It only takes a few moments. Then I never have to leave this house. I am ancient and only need a small amount of blood now and then to sustain me.”

  “Calder… I feel…. Badly for you.”

  He chuckled again. “You mean you feel sorry for me. Don’t Sarah. I am neither happy nor unhappy; I am just a thing, a thing made to endure the years. That is the curse of immortality.”

  One lone tear trickled down Sarah’s cheek. She went to wipe it away but Calder stopped her. He bent his head and tenderly kissed it away. His lips were cool, like the rest of him but his mouth was wet, his tongue a whisper on her flesh.

  A wave of hard, hot desire washed over Sarah. The fierce need that had consumed her body roared back. Her blood hammered, pounded in her veins. It was calling to him, she realized. Her blood screamed his name. Every beat of her heart was meant for Calder.

  Chapter 5

  “If I asked you to make love to me, would you?” Had she really just said that? It was like she had no filter. Either he had blocked that as well or the onslaught of desire rushing through her made her bold.

  “Yes Sarah,” Calder whispered. “You already knew I would for you’ve seen it, in your mind.”

  “I… I’ve never… had relations with a man before…. I.. I’m a virgin.”

  “Yes. I know. I tasted it on you, your innocence.”

  Oh god. The way he said it made Sarah die a little inside. Calder was pure, raw, unadulterated sexuality. The way he looked, the way he moved, his body that was made of the stuff of legend, his touch, his taste…

  Sarah imagined stripping off his black suit, undoing his black silk shirt, running her hands along the hard, cool, ridges of his flesh. Undoing his pants and taking his cock into her hands…