THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

effectively AB positive, the universal blood recipient, but God only knew what his original blood type was, pre-mutation.
    “Ask your question.”
    “You got carried away with Reina because you’d been celibate too long, correct?”
    “A long time, yes.”
    “But why? I mean, if it’s as wondrous as you say — and I have no doubt it is — why would you cut yourself off from that? From what I’ve observed, you don’t seem to have any particular hang-ups about sex.”
    Her voice grew slightly husky as she delivered that last comment, and he almost groaned. Man, he had to get through this and get her out of here before they wound up horizontal on the bed again. Or maybe in some other position…
    He cleared his throat. “I married the woman I loved, and wanted no other.”
    Her mouth softened. “You stayed true to her until the end?”
    “Of course.”
    “Even though she aged while you stayed young and virile?”
    “When I looked at her, I saw only the woman I married.” He dropped his gaze to contemplate his left hand, which still bore the very slight indentation from the wedding band that now sat in the jewelry box on his dresser, with Gitta’s. Like the length of his hair and the beard stubble on his face, it would persist, no matter what. He could take the scissors to his hair, shave his face clean, and plump that wedding band hollow with collagen, and look like a new man. For a single night. Because with one day’s sleep, all would be restored to its original state.
    “To the end, she was beautiful to me. I appreciate that might be hard to comprehend, in a culture bent on turning adults back into teenagers, but it’s the truth.”
    She made a little noise, one of those “awwww” sounds that women made when they saw kittens or puppies. “Delano, that’s just about the most wonderful thing I’ve ever heard.”
    Wonderful, indeed. He was now on par with a puppy.
    He glared at her. “She stood by me when this affliction was foisted on me. The vampress who turned me counted on Margitta rejecting me in horror, but by some miracle she didn’t. You think I’d repay that kind of loyalty with the most base of betrayals?”
    “Of course not. She sounds wonderful. I’m sure I would have liked her.”
    She would, he realized. And Gitta would have liked Ainsley. The thought was oddly comforting.
    “Yes, you would have liked her. Everyone did. She was very strong, and incredibly brave. Can you imagine what courage it took for her to confront what had happened to me? To accept me?”
    “It sounds as though she helped you accept yourself.”
    “She saved me. Had she turned me away, I think I would have walked out into the next sunrise, to perish.”
    Ainsley took his hand. Oddly, he didn’t feel the need to wrench it back.
    “But she didn’t turn me away. She sheltered me. She told the townsfolk I suffered debilitating migraines by light of day, allowing me to practice medicine under cover of night. Which in truth suited many of my patients.”
    “I can imagine.”
    “And she nourished me. Between the blood she freely gave me and the blood I collected from patients seeking venesections, I survived quite handily, without harming a soul.”
    “Blood letting! I’ve read about it. Was it as widespread as historical accounts suggest?”
    “Fortunately for me, yes. It was especially prevalent among the wealthy, who practiced it as a preventative measure. Of course, it looks barbaric in this day of molecular medicine, but at the time, it reflected medical thinking.”
    “So you remained faithful to her until she died?”
    “And well beyond.”
    “And then?”
    “Then I succumbed to the blood lust. When Reina sought me out … well, you know the rest.”
    “Omigod!”
    “What?”
    “She was the first, after your wife died?”
    “Yes.”
    “And since then?”
    “Since then, I keep to myself.”
    She leapt up, clapping a hand to her chest to hold the knotted sheet in place. “Delano, you can’t be serious!”
    “I warned you I’d win the celibacy contest, hands down.”
    “But why? I mean, after that experience, I’m sure you would have exercised better control.”
    “Possibly, but I wasn’t prepared to bet an innocent life on it.”
    “So, just now…” Her gaze drifted to the bed. “That was the first time since Reina?”
    “And it wouldn’t have happened had I not been in the middle of the twilight sleep.”
    “Twilight sleep?”
    “A transitional stage between the day