Taken by a Vampire (Vampire Queen) - By Joey W. Hill Page 0,70

Once, Niall had felt Evan’s presence while he was making love to his wife. He could feel the male’s heated regard through his own eyes as he looked down on Ceana’s heavy breasts and the plump pleasure of her sex, the silky curls wet with her arousal and his seed. He pulled back so abruptly, Ceana blinked at him in confusion.

“I need to take a piss,” he explained. Ignoring the chamber pot, he stalked out into the frigid night in the altogether. You’re no more welcome to be ogling her than any other man. That’s my wife. My wife. She’s nae part of our agreement.

I never said she was. The voice was cool, but amused enough to put Niall’s teeth on edge. I wanted to see how you touch her, how you feel with her. What pleasures you . . . and how you pleasure her. It’s different than when you’re rutting on a male, isn’t it?

I’ve never done that, and ye damn well know it. Now bugger off. I’ll be up at dawn slopping pigs if you want to feel that.

She’s a lovely girl, Niall. You’re a lucky man.

He’d have thought it empty flattery, but by that time he knew vampires never wasted flattery on a human. Ceana looked like an average village girl with a nice figure, unless one noticed the softness of her dark hair, the generous mouth and kindly, thoughtful look to her brown eyes. In the weathered lines of her too-thin face he could see the physical appeal that more food and less difficult childbearing would have lent her.

But to him, Ceana was beautiful, and Evan had seen that through his eyes. At the time Niall hadn’t thought much about it, but within the first few decades of traveling in his footsteps, he realized the vampire saw beauty in full spectrum—not just where every one else saw it, but where it actually existed, the true layers of beauty below the surface.

The restraint that Evan demonstrated with Niall until Ceana’s passing hadn’t been the usual thing for vampires. Niall had quickly learned that in his service. It was one of many unusual traits the artist had that separated him from his own kind, but it had made a lasting impression on Niall. Coming back to the present, he thought again about Evan’s decision to shelter Alanna. She was beautiful as a sunrise, no question, but like Ceana, there was something far deeper to her. Her brown eyes had the same depth and poignant understanding he’d often seen in his wife’s eyes, limited as her world was.

But Alanna’s world was pretty limited as well, wasn’t it? Though Ceana had been bound by poverty, and Alanna by servitude, they both lived in a heavily restricted world. They’d also found a way to live in that box, and make the most of it. Ceana’s last words to him had proven it.

It’s been a fine life, husband. Your love and the wee ones . . . I couldnae have asked for more . . . except more time. And that’s God’s realm, not a woman’s.

Though God took her from him first, sometimes he wondered if his decision to bind himself to Evan had somehow been a catalyst for everything that followed after. Soon you’ll be free to go your own way, and I know you were meant for that. I’m glad to have had such a bonny man . . .

He’d wanted to die with her . . . but not enough. Her acceptance of her fate echoed Alanna’s. It roiled in his gut, goading a rage he’d long ago dispelled. He was glad that Sheila had died after her mother, so Ceana hadn’t had to bear that.

Ach. It is what it is. Looking up, Niall was surprised, but not displeased, to find Alanna perched on a log. She had her feet drawn up, hands linked over her knees, the skirt modestly folded over everything. He wished she was still wearing her jeans so he could see that pretty arse and the intriguing terrain between her thighs exposed by the position, but she was still a picture. She seemed quiet, not expectant. Just seeking another’s company, he supposed. Or being ready to serve him . . . as Evan had required. He pushed away how good she’d felt sitting on his lap. He wasn’t going to jump on the offer like an impulsive boy in short pants going after a jar of candy.

Figuring out how her mind worked was more