The Merzetti Effect (A Vampire Romance) (39 page)

“I
did
trap you.” Her face burned with embarrassment at having this discussion in front of a stranger, but she couldn’t let that stop her from saying what must be said. “But I swear to you, Del, I didn’t mean to.”

“You are blameless, Ainsley. It would not have happened had I not still been keeping secrets from you. And if you call that a trap, every man should be so lucky as to fall into one so sweet.”

Despite her best efforts to control her breathing, a sob escaped her. “But you have
choices
, now. Choices you didn’t have before.”

“I do. And one of those choices is to embrace the blood-bond again, soberly, thoughtfully, and of my own volition. That’s why I brought Aiden here tonight, to turn me back. It will take a matter of about thirty hours, but my vampiric powers should be restored. We can have it back, Ainsley, if that’s what you want.”

She started to cry in earnest, lifting the hem of her sweater to stem the tide. Delano handed her a handkerchief, which she applied to her cheeks, then used to blow her nose.

“Just give the word, my love, and Aiden will do it.”

“Are you saying you love me still?” She swiped at fresh tears. “That you’re ready to shackle yourself to me, forsaking all others, even though … even though…”
Even though it will literally kill you when I die.
She couldn’t bring herself to say the words.

He grasped her face in his big hands. “Yes, that’s what I’m saying. I love you, Ainsley Crawford, and I am yours as long as you want me. That didn’t change just because of the reversal. Nor did my commitment to the vaccine and my life’s work of turning back the rogue tide.”

Her hands went to his chest, possessed of a mind of their own. “Do you
want
to go back?”

The ambivalence in his eyes raked her raw sensibilities.

“Ainsley…”

“The truth.
Please
, Delano.”

He sighed. “One of my aims all along was to reverse my own mutation, which I saw from the beginning as a vile curse, visited upon me against my will by a vampress who thought that was the path to owning me. All these years, I’ve sought to return to what I was. That’s been my aim for so long, I knew nothing else.”

“And now?”

“Now, I no longer want it. Not at this price. Not without you.”

The tears brimmed again, distorting his precious face. She made no attempt to stem them this time.

“And what if you can have your mortal life back, and me too? Would you choose to have Aiden turn you then? Either way, I will stay with you. And either way, your life expectancy will be constrained.” She brushed back a lock of his hair, which had fallen forward. “I swear, if I could be turned, I would ask Aiden to do it for us both, right now, so that we have eternity together. But we can’t. Not with my blood.”

He pulled her face closer and kissed her eyelids, one at a time. “Then I choose to age with you. You may not see the evidence of the blood-bond, and you may not be able to slip into my mind with the ease you did before, but sweetheart, it’s still there. It
has
to be. Because I feel like I’d die without you.”

The breath she’d been holding rushed out of her. “Oh, me too!”

Suddenly his arms were around her. She circled her own arms around him lightly, mindful of his injured ribs. His mouth closed on hers, kissing her like there was no tomorrow.

When next they looked up, Aiden had left the lab.

“Ainsley?”

She smiled at how thick his voice sounded. “Yes?”

“How ’bout we find Aiden again and get him to turn me so my ribs get better in the next five hours. Then I’ll be ready to make love to you the way I want. All we have to do is lose the condoms, and I’ll eventually turn back again…

She laughed against his neck. “Trust me, Dr. Bowen. Making love won’t be a problem,” she murmured into his ear, before biting the lobe delicately. “I’m a nurse, remember? You’re in good hands.”

“Oh, I know it, Nurse Crawford.” He laughed, but when he pulled back, his eyes sobered. “You want this, don’t you? Truly?”

She smiled up at him, her heart brimming. “Truly, I do. I want to be yours and I want you to be mine. I want to wake up in the same bed with you every morning. I want to have the right to touch you like this. I want to wake up in the night and be able to reach for you.”

His hands tightened on her waist. “We can move back to St. Cloud as soon as my house repairs are finished.”

She turned her attention to his throat again, this time at the juncture where neck met shoulder. “I’d like that.”

“And would you like children?”

Her roving mouth stopped and she leaned back in his arms. “Children?”

“That would be one of the consequences of my reversal. I’ll be fertile again. Well, theoretically.”

“Oh, my God.”

“Or not,” he said quickly. “We can change that whole fertility thing if you want. I know there’s a surgery. Just so we’re clear, I want you for
you
, not for any little Bowens you might produce.”

Her heart thudded in her throat. Did he know what he was saying? “Del, our children … they’d have the Merzetti blood. They’d be in danger from the moment they were born.” Her throat tightened. “I don’t know if I could stand that.”

“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong, my sweet. They’ll be in no danger, or at least no more than the average child. Because by then, we’ll be into mass production of the vaccine. Their blood won’t matter.” He smiled down at her. “They’ll just be adorable girls, hopefully with their mother’s beautiful hair and violet eyes.”

“Girls.” She chewed her lip. “We’d have to tell them about the Merzetti Effect. They’ll need to understand. If we don’t, they’ll do as I did. They’ll get pregnant and reject their daughters.”

He smoothed a hand over her hair. “We’ll tell them, my love. And we’ll tell them about the fearless exploits of their mother and their half-sister Devon and their Aunt Lucy.”

She blinked rapidly. “This could really work, couldn’t it? I could have a baby. I could keep my baby. Our baby.”

“You absolutely could.”

Then, because it seemed far too long since he’d done it last, he kissed her mouth. When he lifted his head, there were no more tears glinting in her eyes. But they glinted with something else.

“We could make a little Bowen right now, couldn’t we?” Her hand went to the placket of his trousers. “Theoretically.”

He groaned, hardening beneath her touch. “Theoretically, yes.”

“Then let’s put your theory to the test.”

A moment later, he lay on their hastily-shed clothing with her straddling his body, the heat of her core pressing against his erection.

He gritted his teeth, trying to hang on to reason. “Are you sure, love? I’ll be just a regular guy. A human. No special powers.”

“Oddly enough,
human
is kind of what I always had in mind for the father of my children.”

He laughed, wishing the state of his ribs would allow him to curl up and pull her down, but as though sensing his need, she bent to him, capturing his laugh with her mouth.

“I love you,” he said when she let him breathe again.

“I love you, too,” she said, and proceeded to show him how much.

Thank you for investing that most precious of commodities – your time – in my book!

If you enjoyed THE MERZETTI EFFECT, I would be thrilled if you could help me buzz it. You can do this by:

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Look for NIGHTFALL, another Vampire Romance,

an excerpt from which appears below.

Coming September 4, 2012 from Montlake Romance:

EVERY BREATH SHE TAKES

Sensual Romantic Suspense

w/Paranormal Element

Also available by this author:

GUARDING SUZANNAH, Book 1 in the Serve and Protect Series

SAVING GRACE, Book 2 in the Serve and Protect Series

PROTECTING PAIGE, Book 3 in the Serve and Protect Series

NEEDING NITA, A Novella in the Serve and Protect Series

(sensual romantic suspense)

As N.L. Wilson (writing partnership of Norah Wilson and Heather Doherty)

The Dix Dodd Mysteries

THE CASE OF THE FLASHING FASHION QUEEN

FAMILY JEWELS

DEATH BY CUDDLE CLUB (Coming Fall 2012)

(funny mysteries in the vein of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series)

As Wilson Doherty (writing partnership of Norah Wilson and Heather Doherty)

THE SUMMONING: Book 1 in the Gatekeepers Series

ASHLYN’S RADIO

COMES THE NIGHT, Book 1 in the Casters Series (coming Fall 2012)

ENTER THE NIGHT, Book 2 in the Casters Series (coming Fall 2013)

(YA paranormal)

Norah Wilson lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick, with her husband, two adult children and her beloved Rotti-Lab mix Chloe. Norah has had three of her romantic suspense stories final in the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart® contest until she sold her first story in 2004. She was also the winner of Dorchester Publishing’s New Voice in Romance contest in 2003.

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A Vampire Romance

A
IDEN
A
FFLACK HUMMED
to himself as he lifted the brass doorknocker to summon St. Cloud Police Chief Weldon Michaels to the front door of his Carrington Place residence. Rapping twice, he stepped back.

What
was
that tune running through his head? It had been with him since he’d risen this evening.

Audioslave? Nope.

Queens of the Stone Age? Un-uh.

Collective Soul? Yeah, yeah, that was it. Definitely. He cricked his neck one way, then the other and felt the satisfying crack.
Ooh, I’m feeling better now.

The curtain in the bay window twitched, but Aiden feigned obliviousness. From inside, he clearly heard Michaels jam a clip into an automatic weapon. Aiden rolled his eyes. Nobody trusted anyone anymore.

“Who are you and what do you want?”

The voice came through the door. A very cautious man indeed.

“I’m a friend of your wife’s,” Aiden called. “Well, more a friend of a friend, actually, but I have a personal message for you, from her.”

“Nice try. Now move on, before I call the cops.”

Aiden thought about knocking the door in. It was solid oak with a good deadbolt on it, but it could have been made from cardboard and paperclips for all the challenge it would present. On the other hand, there was no reason to get messy.

He cleared his throat, did his best to summon a puzzled tone. “Well, hell, I thought you
were
the cops. Do I have the wrong address? I’m looking for Chief Weldon Michaels. Got a message for him from his wife Lucy. Pretty woman, ’bout an inch over five feet, brown hair and eyes? Oh, and a real cute little daughter. What’s her name? Devon? Any of this sounding familiar?”