The Vampire’s Mail Order Bride by Kristen Painter Read Free Book Online

play her part.
    Stanhill brought out two covered plates. He smiled as he set hers in front of her and lifted the lid. Steak, whipped potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts. Her stomach growled its approval, but the blood pooling on the china was a little off putting. She bit her lip.
    “Something wrong, miss?” he asked as he delivered Hugh’s plate.
    “I hate to say anything—” She really did. “But I think my steak might be a little underdone for my taste.” Pink was one thing, mooing when she cut into it was another.
    “I’d be happy to put it back under the broiler for you.” He took her plate and disappeared with it.
    Which meant Hugh was now waiting for her food to return, even though he had a full plate in front of him. He poured more wine for them, seemingly unfazed by the waiting.
    “Eat, please,” she urged. “Your food will get cold otherwise.”
    “That wouldn’t be very gentlemanly.”
    She shrugged. “You can open a door for me later.”
    He smiled. “You’re different than what I’d thought you’d be. Not that I had any real idea having only just found out about you.”
    Music to her ears. “What did you think I was going to be like?”
    He stared at his wine glass for a moment before answering. “If I’m honest, desperate. You don’t strike me as desperate at all. And certainly not a woman whose only thoughts are finding a husband.”
    “So not a bridezilla?”
    He laughed. “Not at all.”
    What he didn’t know was that she really was desperate—desperate to stay alive. Desperate to get married? Not so much. “That wouldn’t be a very healthy existence, would it?”
    “No.” He lifted his glass. “I like you, Annabelle Givens. After Didi told me what she’d done, I was furious.”
    “Didi is your grandmother?”
    He nodded. “It’s her nickname. Her real name is Elenora.”
    She lifted her glass to return his toast, and they both drank. The crystal was paper thin and glistened like a prism. She set it back down carefully. “I can understand being upset with someone else making life decisions for you. Why did she do it? Because she wants you to get married and have grandbabies?”
    He nodded “Exactly.”
    “So why did you agree to it? You’re a grown man. You could have said no.”
    His mouth thinned almost like he was embarrassed. He covered it by drinking his wine.
    A second later, Delaney figured it out. He was a wealthy man who didn’t seem to have an actual job and whose family had rebuilt the town of Nocturne Falls. The picture was as clear as the goblet she was drinking from. “She threatened to take away your inheritance, didn’t she?”
    Hugh choked on his wine. “Something like that.”
    “So what’s the deal? You agreed to put up with me for a month and make a good show of it in exchange for what? Keeping your name in the will?” It was Anthony Rastinelli and Little Tony all over again, except Anthony had only ever threatened to take away Little Tony’s Cadillac Escalade if he didn’t “fall in line.” She had a much better idea of what that line was now.
    Hugh set the glass down and stared at her. “Are you psychic?”
    She laughed. “No, I just work for a big family, and I know how those kinds of things play out sometimes.” Then her humor faded. Once again, she’d said something that might not be true of Annabelle.
    Fortunately, Stanhill returned with her food at that moment. She kind of wanted to kiss him for it. “Thank you!” The words came out with a little more enthusiasm than she’d intended.
    His brows lifted slightly. “You must be hungry.”
    Sure, let’s go with that. “Starved.” The steak did smell incredible. She picked up her knife and fork and looked at Hugh. “Shall we?”
    “Absolutely.”
    Around bites of food, she kept the conversation directed at him, asking him questions about the town, his family, the house—anything she could think of to keep herself out of trouble. She learned he had two brothers, a little