Real Vampires Know Hips Happen by Gerry Bartlett Read Free Book Online

you?”
    Oh, great. Was I supposed to tell him he’d still been licking his wounds because I’d been unfaithful? Not going to happen. Not when he needed to process one piece of info at a time. First, our relationship. Which was complicated enough.
    “We had a bit of a falling out. A misunderstanding. Which is why I’m here. To clear things up. I found out somethings that should make you feel better about our relationship.” I looked around the living room. Angus had disappeared. I guess to give Jerry and me some private time. Great. I owed him.
    “I still don’t understand how I could be with the same woman for hundreds of years and not marry her. It’s a sin, Gloriana, living like that. I should have made an honest woman of you long ago.” Jerry looked really earnest as he took a seat beside me on the couch.
    I hid a smile. Sinning had never concerned the Jeremiah Campbell I’d met in London all those years ago. He really had regressed into someone I wasn’t sure I knew at all. But I had to like him. He was so obviously worried about how he’d treated me.
    “It was me, Jerry. I wouldn’t marry you. You did offer.” I put my hand over his.
    “Not want my name?” He jerked his hand away. “Why not?” He stared down at my exposed legs. I kept forgetting the short skirt was screaming “slut” in his sixteenth-century brain.
    “I didn’t understand it at the time, but it had something to do with my background. I was reluctant to commit to one man.” Uh-oh. I saw a look on his face that could only be described as distaste.
    “Stop it. I wasn’t a…a whore.” I hurried on. “Times have changed dramatically since those that you remember, Jer. People no longer have to marry to be a happy couple or to live together publicly and be accepted in society.”
    “You can’t be serious. What does the Church think of this?” He eased back so that he was as far away from me as possible on the three-seater couch.
    “Doesn’t approve, of course. Some things never change.” Oh, great. That made him frown even more fiercely. “Come on, Jerry, you were never a churchgoer, not since I’ve known you.” I sat back. I wasn’t making headway, far from it. Obviously, rebuilding our relationship wasn’t going to be easy, and I was tired. Dawn was pulling at me.
    “No, you’re right. I never let a disapproving priest stop me from my pleasures. Mara reminded me of that. A child. That was a surprise. Have you met her?”
    “Lily? Of course. She’s beautiful and looks a lot like you, truth be told. But she has her mother’s nature. She and Mara don’t get along.” I was suddenly exhausted and had a feeling the fog had done a number on my hair. I was ready to escape to my bedroom.
    Jerry just stared at me and I could almost see him trying to find me in the dark recesses of his memory. He finally shook his head. “Are you all right?” He reached out and brushed a wild curl back from my cheek. “You gave me a good bit of your blood tonight. Perhaps you should rest.”
    “Yes, I need to. I’m worn out, physically and mentally.” I grabbed his hand. “I know you are too.” I was going for it. Maybe a new memory would stir the old ones. “Would you like for me to come to bed with you? If…if we lie together, maybe it will help. I hope—”
    “I won’t deny I’m tempted. There is something about you…” He looked into my eyes, searching for our connection again. I knew it the instant he came up empty. But he kept eyeing me. The heat of his gaze as he took in my deliberately low-cut top, the short skirt and the length of my legs, scandalous to an ancient male, gave me hope that he’d at least give lust a chance. “No. I won’t use you that way.”
    “Will you at least kiss me? What could one kiss hurt? Maybe it will stir some memories for you. The past is there somewhere. I know your daughter. Your father has vouched for me, Jer. We have been together intimately more times than I can count.” I took