“You’re perfect for me,” he assured her. “You’re beautiful, sexy, smart, brave . . .” He shook his head. “You’re all I could have wanted and more, Valerie. I’m happy when I’m with you. I love you.”

“Oh,” she sighed and rested her head on his chest, admitting, “Lucian thinks I love you too.”

“Great,” Anders said dryly. “But what do you think?”

Pulling back, she met his gaze and said solemnly, “I think he’s right. I love you too, Anders.”

He closed his eyes briefly, as if savoring the words, then opened them again and asked cautiously, “So you’ll agree to be my life mate?”

“Apparently I already am your life mate,” she said wryly. “But if you mean will I agree to be turned, and marry you, and spend the rest of our very long lives together, than yes. I agree.”

She caught a glimpse of the grin that claimed his face, but then gasped when he scooped her up and started to walk, saying, “Come on, Roxy.”

“Wait! What are you doing?” Valerie cried, clutching at his shoulders.

“I’m taking you to my—our house,” he corrected himself and then reminded her, “I promised that if you said yes, I’d rip your clothes off and make love to you until you couldn’t stand and I intend to keep my promise. But not here.”

“No, definitely not here,” Valerie agreed, flushing. She wasn’t exactly quiet when he made love to her. Besides, she liked the idea of having him all to herself.

When Anders paused beside his SUV, Valerie grabbed the door handle and opened it for him.

“See, you’re perfect,” Anders said with a grin as he set her on the passenger seat. “I didn’t even have to ask. We’re a good team.”

Valerie just shook her head and laughed.

Smiling, Anders stepped back, and glanced down, saying, “In, Roxy.”

The dog jumped up at once, settling on the floor between Valerie’s legs as she had when they’d brought her back from Cambridge. She was smiling at the dog when Anders’s face suddenly appeared before her as he leaned in. His lips brushed hers, then he whispered, “Seat belt,” before closing the door.

Valerie did up her seat belt and watched him walk around to get in beside her to do up his own seat belt and start the SUV.

Anders reached for the gearshift, but paused when he saw that she was simply sitting there smiling at him. Tilting his head he asked, “What?”

“You know this is madness, right?” Valerie asked cheerfully. “We’ve only known each other a handful of days.”

Anders pulled his door closed, and eyed her uncertainly. “Scared?”

“A little,” she admitted.

“Second thoughts?”

“Oh, no, definitely not,” she assured him with a laugh.

Relaxing, he leaned across the open space between them to give her a quick peck, but when he started to straighten again, she caught his face in her hands and whispered, “I do love you.”

“And I love you,” he assured her, and then kissed her again, this time a slow, soft, sweet kiss that left them both hungry for more. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, “Home?”

“Home,” she agreed.

Anders shifted the SUV into gear and Valerie turned to peer out the front window and toward their future . . . together.

Keep reading for a peek into the Argeneau world . . .

from the very beginning!

All available from Avon Books

A Quick Bite

That hot guy tied to Lissianna Argeneau’s bed? He’s Gregory Hewitt, the doctor her mother hopes will help cure her phobia of blood . . . because that’s an especially annoying quirk for a vampire. But is Greg the answer to her troubles, or will he be just a good meal?

“Let’s get this off you,” she suggested as she worked at the bow around his neck.

He sighed as it was removed, relaxing on the bed a bit, and Lissianna decided to discard his tie as well.

“There, isn’t that better?” she asked, sliding the silk cloth from around his neck.

The man started to nod, then caught himself and scowled instead as she undid the top three buttons of his shirt. “It would be better still if you untied me.”

Lissianna smiled with amusement at the way he was struggling with himself, then tried to distract him by running her fingers lightly over the bit of chest she’d revealed. Much to her satisfaction, a shiver went through him as her long nails grazed gently across his naked skin. This education business was turning out to be easier than she’d feared.

“Untie me.” He was trying to be firm, but it was obvious his heart was no longer wholly behind the desire to be free.

Smiling knowingly, Lissianna scraped her fingers lightly down to run along the cloth just above his belt. The provocative action sent his stomach muscles galloping and his breath came out on a little hiss of air.

“What the hell,” he breathed. “There are worse things than being a sex slave.”

Love Bites

Etienne Argeneau’s three hundred years of bachelorhood comes to an end when, to save the woman who saved him, he turns her into an immortal. But all Rachel had really wanted was just to get off the night shift in the morgue. Now this man says she’s a vampire? At least the look in his bright silver eyes said they’d be spending a lot of time together.

“Why you won’t come to me?”

Rachel glanced back at the corpse. He wasn’t making much sense, but then who said hallucinations had to? She tried to reason with him. “Why would I come to you? You aren’t real. You aren’t even sitting up.”

“I’m not?”

“No, I just think you are. In reality, you’re still really lying there dead. I’m just imagining you sitting up and talking.”

“Hmm.” He grinned suddenly. It was a nice grin. “How do you know?”

“Because dead men don’t sit up and talk,” she explained patiently. “Please lie back down now. My head is starting to spin.”

“But what if I’m not dead?”