THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

tears.
     
     

 
    Chapter 16
     
    GOD HELP HIM, tears. Delano suppressed a groan.
    “I need to find my clothes. I’ll get dressed and get out of your way.”
    “Ainsley, come here.”
    She dashed tears from her cheeks as she continued to search among the strewn bedclothes for her nightwear. “Dammit, where are they?”
    Whatever the circumstances, she’d just given him the incredible gift of her body, her passion, herself. At the memory, the blood lust clawed at his insides again, hot and urgent and vision-dimming. He forced it down.
    “I said come here.” He took her hand and tugged her to his side. She held her body stiffly away from him, but he exerted enough force to pull her into his arms. For a fleeting moment, she continued to resist. Then she leaned into him, her arms going around him in a fierce grip. It made his heart threaten to crack right open.
    “I’m sorry for yelling at you,” he said.
    She sniffled against his chest. Something told him his silk robe was never going to be the same, but he couldn’t care less. Unable to do anything else, he ran his hands over her back soothingly.
    “I’m sorry, too,” she mumbled into his chest. “I can’t believe I put you at risk. I just didn’t think.”
    “Just so you know, Ainsley, I wasn’t the only one at risk.”
    She leaned back in his arms. “But you said I couldn’t become … I don’t understand.”
    “I’m not talking about infection, which I assure you is out of the question.”
    “Then what?”
    “If I’d taken your blood, I might not have stopped in time.”
    “What do you mean, in time?”
    Her face was wet, her nose was red, and she looked perfectly lovely. He guided her over to the edge of the bed and urged her down on it, then sat down beside her.
    “I’ve been celibate a long time.”
    “Me, too.”
    He laughed.
    “What? It’s true. Which you must know, from your very thorough investigation.”
    “Not as long as me.”
    She lifted a corner of the sheet she was wearing and dabbed at the wetness on her cheeks. “How long are we talking?”
    “Let’s just say transfusion medicine was not what it is today the last time I lay with a woman.”
    “Omigod. That’s a long time.”
    “Indeed.”
    “Any particular reason you’ve tied that event to transfusion medicine?”
    “You’re very astute.”
    “What happened?”
    “It had been a long time. Many years, in fact. I lost control, took far too much blood.” He looked down at the carpet. “There was no saving her with the medical science available to me at the time.”
    “She died?”
    He glanced sideways at her. She’d gone very still. There but for the grace of God go I . He could practically hear the thought. And she was right to think it. He returned his attention to the carpet, where he noticed a long blond hair lodged in the fibers. He resisted the urge to bend and pick it up.
    “Delano?”
    “She would have died, had I not turned her.”
    “Oh, Del. You made her into a vampire?”
    “Yes. The one thing I swore I’d never do to another human being. But what choice did I have? It was that or leave her to die. I didn’t even know if it would work, but it was the only way I knew to replace some of the blood she lost. And I knew the healing properties of the vampiric blood would take root quickly, if I could keep her alive long enough.”
    “It worked?”
    “Spectacularly.” He shot to his feet. “So, now you know.”
    Her hand darted out to grab his arm. “Hold it. You said you’d answer all my questions, fully and honestly.”
    “I can’t imagine what more you’d want to know about that.”
    She arched a brow. “Can’t you?”
    He scowled. Dammit, it was times like this he’d trade a decade — hell, a century — to be able to throw back a shot of bourbon and feel it hit his stomach like a fireball, soothing his nerves.
    “So, why did it work spectacularly?”
    “It takes only a very small amount of blood to do the job. Rule of thumb, 15 ccs will do it. Any more than 25 ccs, you’re asking for trouble.”
    “What kind of trouble?”
    “The more blood you use, the more powerful the vampire you create will be. And the problem with creating a vampire more powerful than you is that often their first act is to destroy their maker.” 
    “Was she very powerful?”
    “More so than any vampire I’d ever seen, before or since.”
    “Did she try to destroy you?”
    “No.”
    She held his gaze. “But you wished she would