"My sister is to wed on the morrow," she reminded him. "Say you'll come with me to the wedding."
"If you wish." He no longer seemed to have any will of his own, he thought with wry amusement. She spoke, and he yearned only to obey.
"I do." He looked up to see her smiling down at him. "You are most agreeable, my lord."
"It seems I can deny you nothing."
"Nothing, my lord Rayven?"
"What would you have now, Rhianna? A chest filled with sapphires to rival the color of your eyes? Gold to match the color of your hair?"
"What I want is of infinitely more worth, my lord."
"I cannot imagine what it might be."
"Can't you?"
She was flirting with him, he mused. And quite brazenly, too. "Tell me, my sweet, and it's yours."
"A kiss," Rhianna said, drawing out the word until it was a caress. "One kiss."
"Only one?"
"Or two."
"Or twenty?" Rayven murmured, covering her mouth with his.
Rhianna made a low sound of assent deep in her throat as she wrapped her arms around his neck. This was what she wanted, she thought as his touch drugged her senses. To be here, in his arms, for the rest of her life.
Time ceased to have meaning as his tongue stroked her lower lip, as his hands slid up her rib cage, his thumbs lightly stroking her breasts.
"Rayven... please..."
He drew back to look at her. His breathing was ragged, his eyes alight with a fierce inner glow.
"Don't turn me away again," she pleaded softly.
"Rhianna, I want you more than you can imagine..."
"But?"
"I'm afraid I'll hurt you, that..."
"What?"
"Rhianna, I can't always separate my desire from the hunger that plagues me. I'm afraid that, in the heat of passion, the lust for blood will overcome my self-control."
"Does it always happen that way?"
"I don't know. I've only taken one woman to my bed since I was made Vampyre."
"Only one? In four hundred years?"
"The lust for blood has ever been more powerful than the lust of the flesh." Until Rhianna, he thought.
Until she came and threaded hope into the lonely tapestry of his life.
"What happened to that girl?"
"She died in my arms."
Rhianna sat back in the chair, unable to suppress the shudder of fear that skittered down her spine.
"Rhianna, I could not live with the guilt if anything I did should cause you harm."
"Have you... taken nourishment this evening?"
"Yes." Knowing he would see her, remembering what it had been like to hold her while he slept, he had fed, and fed well.
"Are you hungry now?"
He shook his head, the certainty of what was coming next exciting him even as it filled him with a sense of dread.
He needed her, needed her as surely as she needed him. Knowing that gave her the courage to shake off her fear. Rising to her feet, she took his hand and drew him up beside her. "I've waited for you long enough, my lord."
The words were spoken so softly, he doubted a mere mortal could have heard them.
Rayven shook his head. "I cannot, Rhianna. Please do not ask this of me."
"I'm not afraid."
His fingers curled over her shoulders. "But I am."
"Did you love that other girl?"
"No."
"Do you love me?"
He nodded, unable to deny it.
Her smile was as bright as the sunlight he would never see again, as warm as a mother's love.
"You're sure this is what you want, Rhianna?"
For answer, she took his hand in hers and turned toward the door.
Helpless to resist, he followed her up the winding staircase to her room.
Inside, her courage seemed to desert her, and she stared up at him, her eyes wide and uncertain.
"We don't have to do this," Rayven said.
"No, I want to. I just don't know what's expected of me."
"We could start with a kiss," Rayven suggested, hoping it would put them both at ease.
He drew her into his arms, felt the nervous tremors that shook her from head to foot.
"Rhianna." He murmured her name as he claimed her lips.
She was sweeter than honey, warmer than a summer day. It was like standing next to a ray of sunshine, he thought. Holding her in his arms chased away the chill that seemed ever to hold him in its grasp, and he drew her closer, absorbing the heat of her, the softness. Her breasts were crushed against his chest; he could feel the rapid beat of her heart, sense the passion blossoming within her.
She responded to his kiss ardently, pressing herself against him, her arms sliding around his neck. She