breath bathed his neck as her lips hovered by his ear.
"You're a bit over-dressed, honey," she whispered.
"I suppose I am," he said, and he reached down and removed his shoes. She grinned as her hands worked at his tie, the light playing in her blue eyes. Glava returned her smile. It had been many years since he'd been with a woman like this, and he was determined to enjoy it. He hadn't yet decided if he would take her before or after the copulation. Planning too much ahead could ruin the excitement of the moment.
Her fingers began working at the buttons of his suit. "Ain't much of a talker, are you?"
"Your beauty steals my words," Glava said.
"You quit that," she said, giving him a playful shove. "I ain't putting up with no sweet talking, not even from you. I already got me a cart full of miners in love with me, not to mention a marshal's deputy. Don't need no fancy dandy getting sweet on me, too, or I might just up and leave with you."
"Leave with me?" he asked. "Why would you choose me over any of your other suitors?"
She laughed again, a lilting sound. "Maybe you ain't as smart as you look. Why, you're the fanciest feller I seen come through here in a great while. You even got that fancy way of talking that says you ain't from around here, and you said you ain't got no wife. Why wouldn't I run off with you?"
Glava smiled at her. "You are unhappy with your life here?"
"I reckon I ain't," Annabelle said, laying back on the mattress and spreading her arms above her head. "I guess it's an okay living. I got it pretty good here, or better than some in the trade anyway. Men come in steady, and the madam looks after us proper. I expect it's better than doing some man's wash for him or digging in one of them mines." She raised herself up on her elbows and looked at him. "Still, I reckon it'd be a sight nicer living as your wife, what with your pretty eyes and pretty words. We'd best get finished with our business before I decide to do just that."
The vampire looked her over, taking in her porcelain skin and full figure. To think that he would start his conquest of this tiny little town with so pretty a girl. The taste of such women was exquisite; their vitality and fertility sweetened the blood in a way nothing else could. A whore's life stole such happiness quickly, leaving behind a broken and bitter shell. Glava smiled to himself. Taking her now only proved his capacity for mercy. She would live on forever as his servant, ignorant of the disillusionment that would have devastated her.
"What're you thinking, honey?" Annabelle asked, running her hand along his arm.
"Actually, I was considering your proposal, my dear."
"Quit your funning, now," she said, laughing again. "A gentleman like you don't want no whore for a wife. You could go get yourself some fancy lady from the opera house or somewhere."
"On the contrary," Glava said, "high-society women bore me."
"Is that right?" she asked
He nodded. So did all other women, but saying so might ruin her mood. "Would you accept such an offer?"
She blinked in surprise. "Well," she said, "I don't rightly know. Ain't never got proposed to by no rich man before." She looked around the room. "You would take me away from here?"
"Far away," he said, his eyes gleaming. Mortals were so predictable. "Taking you from this place would only be the beginning."
"Is that right?" Her eyes lit up. "What else?"
"Are you afraid of dying?"
Annabelle wrinkled her nose. "What kind of a question is that to ask a girl you intend to marry?"
"An honest one," the vampire said.
She thought for a minute, then looked back at him. "Ain't never given it much thought. Still, I reckon I'm about as scared of it as the next girl. Don't want it to happen tomorrow, if that's what you're asking."
He grinned at her. "An honest answer," he said. "In the interest of maintaining this wonderful honesty between us, I would like to tell you something."
"How about your name for a start?" she asked. "I ain't marrying no man that won't tell me his name, no matter how fancy he is."
"My name is Fodor Glava."
"That ain't no kind of name," she said. "How about I call you Theodore instead?"