Immortals After Dark 12 - Lothaire

readying from the mere thought. “You miss my blood—admit it.”
    “No!” she gasped, pressing her lips together.
    Voice gone hoarse, he said, “Then why are those sexy fangs of yours so sharp?” Raising his gaze to her darkening eyes, he rasped, “Gods, I am going to do depraved things to you back at our castle.”
    She swallowed. “I-I haven’t agreed to go with you.”
    “Then tell me where I may do those things to my Bride. If we remain here, we’ll break this flimsy bed, possibly this entire conveyance.”
    Chin raised, she said, “You need to apologize for how you treated me.”
    She’s wavering. He checked a look of victory, saying honestly, “I am sorry, Elizabeth. I tried to go back in time with the ring, intending to treat you like a queen from our first meeting.” Then he frowned. “You should always tell me whenever I need to apologize.”
    “Just till you should be gettin’ the hang of it!”
    “Ah, you’re agreed, then? So let’s be off.” He sat up, going still. “Am I wearing a wife-beater, Lizvetta?” He gaped down. “Oh, come on!”
    “I suppose now’s not a good time to give you your Skoal hat?”
    “Your retaliation is unspeakable. For this alone, you must forgive me for my treatment of you.”
    “Still high-handed?”
    “I literally risked my neck just now to say that in front of you.”
    He saw her lips quirk, but she schooled her expression.
    “I told Nïx that I would go to the grave again if it would make you love me. I went to the grave in that mine, ergo . . .”
    “Are you trying to make me feel guilty so you can manipulate me?”
    He blinked. “Of course. Now, tell me you love me.”
    “I do, Lothaire. For some reason, I truly do love you. And I will give this a chance,” she said. “If you stay here with me.”

    Ellie had already made up her mind that she’d try living in Lothaire’s castle and being a queen of the vampires and all, but this was too funny an opportunity to pass up.
    Lothaire swallowed, his gaze flickering over the Beanie Babies on the windowsill and the stuffed animals.
    “You could like it here, Lothaire, I just know it!”
    With a pained expression, he said, “Those stuffed animals horrify and repel me.” He shuddered. “And the aura of pathos in this place is inescapable. You don’t . . . you can’t want to live here . Not instead of a castle with servants to wait on your every need?”
    “Sure I could! And then you wouldn’t need all those fancy clothes of yours.”
    He squirmed. “I don’t think I can live here. I really don’t, Elizabeth.”
    And because she was so attuned to him, she could feel something akin to panic inside him. “Don’t want to even give it a try?”
    “Actually, I can’t even be here for much longer.”
    She patted his hand. “I know, baby, I know.”
    “If you know I can’t be here, and you won’t come with me . . .” His eyes reddened ominously. “You believe we’re living apart ? I tried that; I detested that!”
    Then he made a clear effort to calm himself. He opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it. At length, he grated, “I’m purchasing this mountain and the adjoining ones for you.”
    A breath left her. “Lothaire, I don’t even know what to say.”
    “Come with me back to our kingdom, and I will have a mansion built here for your mother.” With great effort, he said, “We could visit, if infrequently.”
    She leaned down until their faces were inches apart. “We’ll visit every weekend, holidays, and NASCAR, vampire.” She pressed her lips againsthis, sighing from the rightness of it, from the certainty that her life was with him.
    Oh, Lothaire, you’re not even gonna know what hit you. . . .
    Between kisses, he told her, “If you agree to only Sundays and holidays, I will buy all your brethren homes.” Against her lips, he said, “And you knew NASCAR was pushing it, Bride.”

EPILOGUE
    SOME TIME LATER . . .
    W e’d snickered behind your back,” Stelian told Lothaire in a dazed tone, “amused by how such a young female was managing you.” His expression was thunderstruck.
    Lothaire knew that look, wore it often himself. “But you understood nothing of which you spoke?” he said, gazing at Elizabeth across the den of their castle apartments. She sat before a hearth fire, laughing with Hag and Kosmina, the royal hound at her feet.
    “Correct.” Stelian swigged a deep drink of blood mead. “How did she just get me to agree to her