Taken by a Vampire (Vampire Queen) - By Joey W. Hill Page 0,85

practices.”

“So did you kiss a lot of other girls in training? Or only lads?”

“Both.” She arched a brow. “Would you rather hear about my experiences kissing the other girls?”

“As often and in as great detail as ye wish,” he assured her.

She bit back a smile, shook her head. “You said you’d tell me about your first kiss.”

“Eat those potato chips first.”

She gave him a look. “You’re just trying to make me softer.”

“You’ve not eaten since I left.” Picking up another chip from his plate, he extended it. “Open up.”

When she did, he brushed his fingers along her lips, making her think about tasting the salt and grease on his lips with her own.

“A bonny lass named Ainsley,” he said. “She was eleven and I was twelve, fancying myself quite a man. Until she had me behind her croft. When she put her wee hands on my shoulders and pressed her lips against mine, I near fainted. I lost my balance, grabbed her waist, and toppled us both in the mud, which is where her two older brothers found us. They thrashed me within an inch o’ my life and sent me home with my tail between my legs. But Ainsley smiled at me behind their backs. She always kept a sweet spot for me, since I was her first kiss as well.”

She looked down, hiding her smile again. “I can’t imagine anyone thrashing you.”

“Well, I was scrawny as Evan then. Hadn’t hit my growth spurt.”

“Do you remember it so vividly? The things that happened long ago?”

“Aye. Of late.” Her head rose at the briefness of the answer. He was staring into space. “It’s odd, how that goes. The far past becomes more vivid, whereas the recent things become less remarkable, no matter how remarkable they truly were. Until Evan, I had little knowledge of anything beyond my own small world, but reading about the history you’ve lived, a lot of it is pure bollocks. Kings and politics. The things a man truly remembers and history forgets are home and family. That first kiss.” A faint smile touched his lips.

When he was done with his meal, Niall went to wash off with the outside spigot while Alanna considered the task he’d left her. She intended to attack the slides right after doing the dishes, but the spigot was outside the window, the distraction of it slowing her task at the sink. Niall had stripped off his shirt to splash water along his chest. He dunked his head in a bucket, straightening to toss his hair out of his eyes, smooth it back with his hands. Realizing he hadn’t taken a towel, she went back to his bedroom and found one. When she came outside with it, he met her at the door.

“You’re a handy thing to have around,” he admitted. “Or were ye just worrit I’d drip on the floor looking for one?”

As he flashed a grin at her, he took the towel and stepped back in the yard. When he covered his head with it, vigorously rubbing, she was caught by the beautiful play of muscle on his upper body. She wanted to reach out, touch, so instead she hurried back inside. How many times today was she going to be reminded how her control was slipping, how low she was sinking in the InhServ standards? Perhaps Stephen was just the catalyst for a weakness that had been there all along.

The rest of the day, she worked on the slides. Niall stacked wood, repaired a few other things around the house, settled in to read newspapers he’d bought from Henry. When the trapdoor opened right after sunset, Alanna felt a loosening in her chest, anticipation at seeing their Master.

As she turned toward the vampire, there was no sign of the earlier lethargy. In fact, he had a rather determined spark in his eye, a set to his jaw that Alanna wasn’t sure how to interpret. Niall rose, so she looked to him for cues, but he had an inscrutable expression, giving her nothing.

“Good evening, Master. Can I—”

She bit back a startled noise as Evan caught her chin, jerking it up so that he brought her to her feet. “Alanna, what did I expressly tell you not to do?”

“Not to . . . devalue myself.”

“What have you done today, except find yourself lacking?”

Her flesh warmed under his hand. “I apologize, Master. I will do better.”

“Yes, you will. A punishment will help your memory. Niall?”

Evan didn’t even glance at his servant. He