Read Stealing Magic (Vampire Primes) for Free Online Page A

gave only a cursory glance at the woman walking on a path across a small pond from her. The woman walked with a cane. Grace thought she might be one of the women from the dower house. The woman didn’t notice her and soon took a side path around the wooded hill where Grace was headed.
    The structure Grace walked toward was known as a folly. She could see the place in her mind’s eye, a faked ruin of a miniature Greek temple, including the statue of a naked goddess. There was a lot of naked statuary around the McHeath property.
    “Very instructive,” Grace murmured.
    The folly was located at the very top of the hill at the end of a path. She paused for a moment at the entrance, wanting to be here, wanting to run away. Her thoughts might be confused, but she lifted her skirts and walked up the stairs and into the dark folly.
    A moment later a breath brushed her ear. Julien whispered, “Hello, my dearest dear.”
    “You don’t know if I’m a dear at all, let alone yours,” she answered, but instead of the sharp reply she intended the words were a breathless rush. Because he kissed the back of her neck as she spoke.
    His arms came around her waist. Her bones very nearly melted when he pulled her closer, her back to his chest, her thighs against his.
    “Oh, dear….”
    “Does that mean I am your dear, too?” He kissed the back of her neck again, then turned her to press his lips against hers. Her mouth opened beneath his. She was amazed at how well their bodies fit together.
    And this was with their clothes on!
    She wanted this, and more, to go on forever, but Julien broke the kiss and held her at arms length. “We need to talk.”
    No, they didn’t.
    He led her to a bench and they sat. He kept his arm around her waist, holding her close to his body.
    “I am sorry you saw me in the brothel today,” he said. He kissed her temple.
    His touch was light, but dizzying to her senses. Her heart raced while she fought to keep her wits about her.
    “I’m sorry you had to be in that house,” he went on.
    She was sure many of the women there didn’t particularly want to be prostitutes, but this wasn’t the time to discuss morals. She was a hypocrite enough as it was, considering what she was here to do.
    “I was only doing my assigned duty,” she said. She couldn’t stop the jealous barb, “While you, my lord—”
    “Was performing my assigned duty, my dear.”
    Grace turned in his embrace to face him. Dark as the folly was, she could make out his smiling features. She touched his cheek, traced his jaw and moved on to touch his lips. He kissed her fingertips and drew them into his mouth. She instinctively wanted to find the sharp point of fang, but he took her hand away.
    Julien kissed her palm. “Not yet,” he said.
    Yet.
    Grace fought to get her sanity back. She shouldn’t long for him to taste her blood at all. She needed to make physical love to him. Not only because she wanted to conceive a child but because it was a deep physical and spiritual necessity .
    “There is something you need to know about me, copper girl.”
    It pleased her so much that he called her copper girl. “I’ve never had a nickname.” And she shouldn’t have one from him. She didn’t deserve any endearment. “My lord, you shouldn’t—”
    “Care for you because you’re a servant? I know I will be gone in a few days, but that doesn’t mean I take our meeting lightly.”
    She certainly couldn’t take her assignment lightly, but she had not thought she would care for him.
    “How can I care for you?” she blurted. “We only met yesterday.”
    “Because we are alike, as you told me, and I agree. I am drawn to be with you.”
    “And I you,” she said. Baring her heart was stupid, but Grace couldn’t stop the words.
    “When thoughts meet, souls can become entangled.”
    “Bodies entangled is what is on your mind, my lord. And on mine,” she said.
    He laughed, and pulled her into a long, deep kiss. She was sitting on his