by Lilly Gayle
FBI records showed that Amber and Reid had assisted Carl Matheson and his agents locate Dr. Weldon and rescue Axel Travers. Reid and Axel Travers were injured and Dr. Weldon was killed.
In reality, Megan had treated Axel with the vampire vaccine. He was now part of the new breed of vampires Dr. Weldon had boasted about. As long as he avoided direct sunlight, he could remain awake during the day. And as long as he ingested blood taken from the living—whether it was from a willing donor or blood from a blood bank, he was able to eat an almost normal diet.
The vaccine was a miracle as far as Gerard was concerned. A siesta from noon to three in the afternoon seemed to be the only sleep he required. Amber had adopted his schedule and didn’t feel the worse for wear with so little sleep.
It wasn’t exactly a warm acceptance, but she’d embraced her dhampir side for the most part. By doing so, she had to say goodbye to her former life.
“You almost packed?” Gerard asked from the doorway.
Amber looked around. There were few things in her apartment she couldn’t replace. She was leaving most of her life behind. She picked up the suitcase and turned. Gerard took it from her hands.
“This thing weighs a ton.” Not that he’d notice. He could pick up a refrigerator and barely break a sweat.
“Yeah. Right,” she said with a smile. “It’s mostly pictures, jewelry, nic nacs—things with sentimental value that can’t be replaced.”
“Ready?” He sounded hesitant. Then again, he still wasn’t sure if she was just moving from Asheville or if she was moving in with him. Nicolas had made them an offer he claimed they couldn’t turn down. She wasn’t so sure.
What she was sure of was that Gerard wanted her to get to know her “real” father. And she thought it might just be a good idea. But there were loose threads in her life she needed to tie up.
“I’m not going to Austria,” she said. Gerard’s face fell.
“Nicolas is expecting us.”
Nicolas had gotten rid of his house in Germany and the cabin in Cedar Plank. He’d taken Surratt’s advice and was relocating to Austria. He’d changed his last name, taken over the identity of a lost heir who’d actually been killed by a vampire five years earlier, and was moving to Austria to re-open a ski lodge that was abandoned when the heir disappeared. He wanted Gerard and Amber to come with him. Gerard had agreed. Amber was undecided, but that didn’t stop Gerard from assuming.
“You can’t stay here. Claus is dead, but you don’t know if you’re safe. Some other vampire might be working for the Ekimmu.”
“I’m not leaving without telling my father—Greg—good bye.”
“Fine. We’ll go to Florida, say goodbye, and over the years we can send him cards and letters from the tropics or Timbuktu, but he can’t know you’re going to Austria.”
She put her hands on her hips, trying to look tough. Inside, she was shaking. “What makes you think we can make this work?”
“Because I love you,” he said, melting her heart. “Marry me.”
“No!” She backed up until her thighs hit the bed. She dropped to the mattress. Her heart rose into her throat. “I can’t marry you. Connecting your name to mine will endanger your life. Any Ekimmu who knows what I am could come after you.”
“So, you do care,” he said with a smile.
She closed her eyes against the hope she saw in his loving gaze. “Reid’s going to work with Carl Matheson at Project Blue Book. He can help keep the government from killing good vampires—Shedu Utukku—but what if he can’t protect you? Linking your name to mine could be dangerous.”
He sat beside her, taking her hands in his. “Then we’ll live in sin. I don’t care. I just want to spend eternity—or however long dhampirs have—with you. You and you only.”
She met his steady gaze, swallowing the golf ball size lump in her throat.
“What if it doesn’t work? What if you grow tired of me? What if—”
He placed a finger over her lips, cutting off her rambling protest. “À cœur vaillant rien d’impossible—Nothing is impossible with a willing heart, Amber.”
Was her heart willing? Damn skippy!
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with all the love in her willing heart.
A word about the author…
Lilly Gayle is the mother of two grown daughters and lives in North Carolina with her husband. When not writing or working as a mammogapher, she spends time with her husband at the beach.
Embrace the Darkness is the sequel to her 2010 paranormal romance, Out of the Darkness.
Lilly also writes historical romance for The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
Thank you for purchasing
this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
For other wonderful stories of romance,
please visit our on-line bookstore at
www.thewildrosepress.com.
For questions or more information
contact us at
[email protected].
The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
www.thewildrosepress.com
To visit with authors of
The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
join our yahoo loop at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thewildrosepress/