Night's Surrender by Amanda Ashley Read Free Book Online Page A

overreacting just a little? I haven’t been with Nick since I met you.”
    â€œDo you think it’s just coincidence that he met Abbey? How do you know he isn’t stalking her to find you?”
    â€œDon’t be ridiculous.”
    â€œIt’s not beyond the realm of possibility,” Logan insisted. “Most of the vampire community knows about your close relationship with the Cordova family. If he couldn’t find you, all he had to do was find one of them.”
    â€œTo what purpose?”
    â€œHow the hell should I know?”
    Suddenly thoughtful, Mara stroked a finger across her lips. What if Logan was right? What if Nick was looking for her?
    She had a sudden flashback to the nights she and Desanto had spent together. When they’d parted centuries ago, she had banished him from her mind, refusing to think of him. She had driven him so completely from her thoughts that it hadn’t occurred to her to mention him in the story she had written about her life. Save for Logan, she had never told anyone about Nick. Only Logan knew that she and Desanto had once been lovers, but that was all he knew.
    What quirk of Fate had brought Nick into her life again?
    And what was she going to do about it?

    It was a question that lingered in Mara’s mind long after Logan had fallen asleep beside her. She had never loved anyone the way she loved Logan Blackwood. He was the other half of her soul. The better half. He was an honorable man, and far too good for her. It never failed to amaze her that, in spite of all he knew about her, in spite of the callous way she had treated him in the past, he still wanted her. Still loved her.
    And she loved him. So why did the thought of seeing Nick again fill her with such excitement? Such trepidation?
    Niccola. He was the first man she had seduced after being turned by Dendar. She had taken Nick while she was still a young vampire, still confused over what had been done to her. Filled with anger and a burning need for vengeance, she had taken Nick for her lover, kept him against his will, venting her anger on him one moment and seducing him the next. And when she started to care for him, she had left him without a word or a backward glance, just as she had left so many others after him.
    And now he was here. Was it truly coincidence that her old lover had met her goddaughter? Or was Logan right? Had Nick somehow discovered her ties to the Cordovas and followed Abbey here, hoping Abbey would lead him back to her?
    Which led to the nagging question—why?
    And why now, after all these years?

Chapter Nine
    Abbey woke late after a mostly sleepless night. She had met a man she liked, but both her father and Mara were convinced that Nick had some ulterior motive for asking her out. What if they were right? More importantly, what if they were wrong? What if Nick was exactly as he seemed—a nice, sweet, sexy guy.
    Who just happened to be a stalker? A vampire who had stolen her blood while she slept?
    Try as she might, she couldn’t ignore the little voice in the back of her mind that said if he was on the up-and-up, he would have knocked on the front door instead of lurking in the bushes, spying on her.
    After showering, she ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast, washed it down with a cup of coffee heavily laced with cream and sugar, and went out the back door, heading for the barn.
    She quickly fed the stock, then spent a few minutes scratching her mare’s ears before going to the cottage. It was time she settled in. She needed to unpack her clothes, do a little dusting, vacuum the rugs, change the linens on the bed.
    The same bed she had imagined sharing with Nick.
    She rounded the corner of the cottage, let out a shriek when she saw him standing on the front porch.
    She stared at him a moment, then whirled around and sprinted back up the gravel path, shrieked again when his hand closed on her shoulder, bringing her to an abrupt