Page 2 of The Vampire’s Temptation

“Good luck,” he said, hugging her as if this were goodbye for real. Stone Haven was as small a town as it got, however, and there was no doubt she’d run into him at least once a week. Here at Murphy’s or walking down their only Main Street. But the employer-employee bond they’d had was now over, and for that she felt a pang of sadness.

“Thank you,” she replied. “For everything.”

He smiled, saluted to the rest of the group, and left.

“Another round of shots,” someone called out. “To summer . . .”

She was so not doing another one. They gave her a pounding headache, and Alessandra had promised herself she would run in the morning. Or at some point tomorrow. She’d been putting it off for a week, and a day after indulging in bar food and too many drinks was the perfect time to get her butt in gear.

“They’re just getting started,” Toni said with a grin, lifting her glass in the air. “To new beginnings,” she said with a not-so-sly glance at the other end of the bar.

Alessandra followed her gaze.

He was gone.

Shrugging, she lifted up her bottle and clinked glasses, grateful for good friends and a summer with nothing to do but prep for her classes in the fall.

“To new beginnings.”

* * *

Lawrence was here.

Taking a sip of a gin and tonic, Kenton stared out into the distance from the second-floor balcony of his new home. A train’s whistle broke the blessed silence, though “silence” wasn’t truly silent for him, and hadn’t been for some time. In still moments, he could hear shop owners in town putting out their trash and preparing to close for the evening.

Even so, the view was relaxing—the line of trees across from him was broken by only one discernible building, the courthouse that stood guard on Main Street. The downtown area of Stone Haven was lined with brightly colored Victorian homes and townhouses. He’d considered purchasing one of the latter, only to dismiss the idea.

Too confining.

Now, it would seem, the decision had been a good one. If his senses were accurate, and they always were, his temporary lodgings were located just next door to his nemesis. Purchasing the mansion had attracted attention, but no matter. He would be long gone as soon as the deed was done.

He sat, making a mental note to request that his maidservant purchase cushions. Apparently the previous owner had not found wrought iron as uncomfortable as he did.

Kenton took another sip of his drink as darkness fell. The maid he’d hired from the previous staff—the mansion had been a bed and breakfast when he purchased it—appeared around the balcony to his right. She’d not spoken yet, but Kenton could hear her breathing.

“Send him up,” he said without turning toward her. “But from the outside entrance,” he added. “He may not go inside. Ever.”

Whether the woman was startled by his knowledge of her presence—because he already knew a guest waited below—or because of the vehemence of his request, Kenton wasn’t sure. Nor did it matter. What did matter was the man who even now made his way up the winding outside staircase.

As Lawrence entered the room connected to the balcony, it struck Kenton that he’d made a critical error. He should have killed the girl—woman, more precisely—before Lawrence had arrived. Now his purpose in Stone Haven would be more difficult to fulfill.

“Beautiful, isn’t she?” Lawrence asked, walking around to stand just next to him. He didn’t need to ask who. The man wasn’t talking about his elderly maid.

“I’d offer you a drink, but regrettably, you’re not staying.”

“How long have you known about her?” Lawrence Derrickson had the sole honor of being the only person to almost make him lose his temper in over seven hundred years, and it would seem he still had the ability to get a rise out of him.

“Longer than you, apparently.”

He knew the barb would hit its mark, and it did.

“Yet you haven’t killed her?”

“Regrettably not.”

“Why?”

Knowing it would anger Lawrence, Kenton took a slow sip of his drink and looked down at the town below them.