The Vampire's Mail Order Bride(48)

“Whatever it is,” she assured him, “it’s okay. Let’s go home and talk about it.”

Still no response.

“Or not.” She pulled her hand back.

He grasped her wrist. His gaze dropped to the dragonfly around her neck, and pain took the place of anger in his eyes. “I killed her. I’m the reason she’s dead.”

She blinked. “You killed your wife.”

He nodded.

A thousand scenarios played out in her head, all of them starring Hugh as the out-of-control vampire and his late wife as the victim. She shivered. She couldn’t really buy Hugh as a brutal killer, but she’d only known him a few days. Maybe he was a vampire Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. “You need to explain exactly what you mean by that.”

Because staying here in Nocturne Falls no longer sounded like the best possible option. Even compared to Rastinelli and his gun.

He let her hand go and dropped his head into his hands. “I tried to save her from the plague.”

“You mean by turning her into a vampire?”

He nodded. “I tried. She…didn’t make it. The turning killed her.”

More scenarios, this time Hugh clamping down on an unknown woman’s neck and draining her until she died. Another tremor ran through Delaney.

Hugh turned his head to see her. “You’re afraid of me now.”

“No, I—”

“It’s not a question. I can hear your heart pounding. The increase in your breathing.” He moved away from her a few inches. “I would never hurt you, Delaney. Never.”

Her heart broke a little for him. She went after him, sliding toward him on the sofa to close the gap he’d created. “I know.”

And the truth was, she believed that. “How did the turning kill her? Did you…drink too much from her?”

His brow furrowed. “You think I…no, that’s not how it works. She just didn’t survive the process.”

She blew out the breath she’d been holding. “Then you didn’t really kill her.”

He stared at her. “If it wasn’t for my insistence, she never would have attempted the turning. I’m the reason and the cause of why she died.”

“Hugh.” She shook her head and put her hand on his shoulder. “The plague took your parents. What makes you think it wouldn’t have taken her too?”

He shifted his gaze to the floor. “She could have survived it.”

She took her hand off his shoulder. “And maybe she wouldn’t have. It’s been nearly four hundred years. You can’t let this guilt color the rest of your life.”

That brought his gaze back to her. “That’s easy to say, but what if I kill another woman? I cannot live with that.” His mouth set in a hard line. “I will not.”

Delaney wanted to tell him everything would be all right, but platitudes weren’t going to cut it. “I can understand why you’d be hesitant to plan a future with another woman, but if it’s her decision to go through the process and she understands the risks, then what’s wrong with that?”

No answer.

“It’s too late, you know.”

He looked at her. “For what?”

She took a breath, hoping her confession might bring him around. “For me to stop what I’m feeling for you.”

A muscle in his cheek twitched. He stood. “We need to go home.”

And just like that, the conversation was over.





Hugh had done more than enough talking for one night. Delaney made a little small talk in the car on the way home and tried to engage him, but when he didn’t answer, she went silent. He wanted to think and she understood that he needed some time to deal with her confession and his memories and get his head straight.

Before they arrived home, she’d fallen asleep, reminding him that she was still very much human. He parked in the garage, then carefully opened her door, lifted her into his arms and carried her into the house.

She turned into him, snuggling her face against his shoulder. He fought not to kiss her, not to bury his nose in the bend of her neck and inhale her fragrance, not to indulge any of the urges that he no longer felt he had the right to. He’d shut her off after she’d declared she had feelings for him.

There would be repercussions for that. She might leave after all. And he would have to let her go because responding in kind, even if it was the truth, would only end up hurting her more. He couldn’t offer her a future. Not the kind of future it seemed that she wanted. One that might lead to her willingly undergoing the process of becoming his vampire bride.

He carried her into her bedroom and laid her gently on the bed. Her cat was nowhere to be found, but she’d left her door open. No doubt Captain was exploring the house.