Midnight Lover. Rosemary Laurey

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      “DEAR TOBY.”

       SHE LEANED IN EVEN CLOSER.

      It needed a tougher man than he to resist the invitation.

      His mouth came down on hers and he’d have gasped—if he could. He settled for pressing his lips against hers, and taking her passion and sweetness into his soul. He sensed her breath catch and her heart rate speed up as she kissed him back, her mouth opening to his. Before he could taste her tongue, she found his, caressing with her woman’s passion and mortal need.

      He kissed on, stroking her tongue with his, meeting her need, driving his own higher.

      He paused to let her catch her breath. She restarted the kiss, running her hands up and down his back, until she reached under his shirt and her healer’s hands caressed his skin.

      He almost came there and then. What had happened to his vampire control?

      Who cared as long as he held Laura in his arms? No more furtive visits as she slept. She wanted him, desired him, and soon, very soon…

      The Novels of Rosemary Laurey:

      KEEP ME FOREVER

      BE MINE FOREVER

      KISS ME FOREVER/LOVE ME FOREVER

      Anthologies Featuring Rosemary Laurey:

      TEXAS BAD BOYS

      IMMORTAL BAD BOYS

      ROSEMARY LAUREY

      MIDNIGHT LOVER

      ZEBRA BOOKS

       Kensington Publishing Corp.

       www.kensingtonbooks.com

      Contents

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      Chapter 11

      Chapter 12

      Chapter 13

      Chapter 14

      Chapter 15

      Chapter 16

      Chapter 17

      Chapter 18

      Chapter 19

      Chapter 20

      Chapter 21

      Chapter 22

      Chapter 23

      Chapter 24

      Chapter 25

      Chapter 26

      Chapter 27

      Chapter 28

      Chapter 29

      Chapter 30

      Chapter 1

      There was something decidedly sneaky about skulking about the house in the middle of the night, but Toby Wise was hungry.

      Really hungry.

      Hungry for the sweet warmth of her mortal blood and the glorious scent of her skin.

      Too bad his overactive conscience was giving him such a difficult time. He was vampire. He fed off living mortals. He never harmed them and made certain they had no memory of the event. He’d managed quite nicely for the past century and a half or so. Taking mortal blood for sustenance was what vampires did.

      Why was Laura Fox any different?

      Because she was.

      Damn.

      He paid her very well, along with the other nurses who took shifts to care for Piet Connor. The seemingly straightforward plan had been to feed off each of them in turn—necessary since in Oregon he lacked the connections to maintain a constant supply of blood bags. His scheme worked brilliantly until Laura Fox arrived.

      After a vampire lifetime of detachment from his food source, Toby Wise had fallen hard and fast. If he had any survival instincts left, he’d replace her. Obviously survival wasn’t as high a priority as it used to be. He couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing her. He grudged her every day off and had to rein in his predatory urges to feed off her every single night she was in the house.

      It had been four days, an extraordinarily long four days, and tonight he would indulge, sate his unruly self on the joy of her blood, delight in her soul, inhale the very essence of her being, satisfy every vampire instinct, and be consumed with guilt again at the end of it all.

      Damn and double damn. Why in the name of Abel did she affect him this way?

      He wasn’t sure he wanted that one answered. He’d seen what happened to his colony fellows: Kit Marlowe, Justin Corvus, and Tom Kyd. One by one, they’d fallen in love and settled into domestic bliss—or at least the nearest vampire equivalent. Yes, they were very content, obviously happy, and delighting in their respective women. Heck, even ice lady Antonia had found herself a worthy mate.

      He, Toby Wise, was thrilled for them, but that sort of lifestyle just wasn’t his cup of tea. He’d been a loner since he was seven years old, the day his owner had thrown his mother to the ground and dragged a terrified Toby from her arms. Two days later he’d been sold and shipped off to a plantation in the low country of South Carolina. He’d never seen his mother or seven brothers and sisters again.

      No, good friends he had aplenty, but close emotional connections were not for him.

      On the other side of the smooth teak door, heartbeats measured two mortal lives. The slower pulse marked Piet Connor’s grasp on his sadly limited existence. The other was strong, steady, and vibrant: the heartbeat of a healthy young woman. Toby listened; there was no movement inside. He waited, just to be sure, and slowly opened the door.

      Laura was dozing in an easy chair across the room. The shaded light on the table beside her cast a pool of light that highlighted the glints in her auburn hair and cast odd shadows on her hands. She’d been reading a magazine when she nodded off and right now it slid over the smooth white fabric of her uniform. Toby crossed the room and caught the magazine before it hit the ground. No point in letting unnecessary noise disturb anyone. As he placed her copy of Cosmopolitan on the table, he smiled. Not exactly sedate reading, but much more fun than the tabloids Nurse Watson favored.

      Not that Toby felt for efficient, friendly Nurse Watson a hundredth of the desire the mere thought of Laura stirred. A whisper of breath from her slightly parted lips caressed his hand. Her long eyelashes fluttered, brushing her cheeks. Her skin was the color of rich cream and the texture of silk.

      He placed his hand on her head, willing her into deeper sleep, resting his fingers on her auburn curls until her breathing changed. Her hair felt different tonight, firmer somehow. Maybe she used one of those sprays or mousses they were always pushing on TV. A pity—he preferred her curls soft and silky so they curled around his fingers.

      Yes, all very well, but he could hardly request she pick her shampoo and hair products to suit him! He did, however, permit himself to run his fingers through her hair before tilting her head to one side and loosening the top button to open her collar and expose the smooth, pale column of her neck.

      The scent of skin and her firm, steady pulse had him ready. Very ready. His gums itched as his blood