Today, I'm giving you something a little bit different. This is an excerpt from Dark Love, my paranormal m/f romance. Samantha Kane works at the McHenry House of Horror and Museum of the Supernatural, and is an expert in the Tarot and vampires. Eric Vargas is the museum's wealthy European investor, newly arrived to see his investment - and he's also a vampire. This is their first meeting. Enjoy!
Eric
turned to gaze up the steps at the front of the building. The sign over the entrance read McHenry House
of Horror and Museum of the Supernatural.
On the glass doors were posted the hours of operation as well as all
admission fees, except for private performances such as séances, tarot readings,
etc., in which case the prices were available upon request inside. “Come, Raymond, let us meet these McHenry
brothers,” he started to say, but the words were immediately forgotten in the
next breath as he stared in amazement at the most beautiful girl he had ever
seen – and that was saying a great deal, for he had seen many beautiful women
over the course of his long life – come hurtling through the front doors.
She
seemed to be annoyed, although that might well be an understatement. Her eyes were blazing a bright blue and her
brows, which were of the same gorgeous red-gold hue as her hair, were drawn
together over her nose in a fierce scowl.
She was paying little attention to the path which her feet were taking,
intent upon some inner monologue, and it was with some surprise that she walked
head-on into Eric just as her feet left the steps of the Museum for the city
sidewalks before her. Just as he planned
it in the split second after sighting her.
Samantha
looked up into the blackest pair of eyes she had ever seen, her mouth dropping
open to form an o of astonishment. She
hadn’t recalled seeing anyone in front of her, but perhaps she had been too
distracted to notice. She felt like a
clumsy fool. The man gripped her arms
closely in his efforts to keep her from falling to the pavement. “Are you all right?” he asked concernedly,
knowing full well that he had done her no actual harm.
“Yes,
yes, I’m just fine. What about you? Are you okay?
I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I
could have been looking at.” She
couldn’t keep from babbling like a blasted idiot and she cursed herself
mentally for her stupidity.
He
laid one slender finger upon her lip in a gentle motion. “Not to worry,” he assured her, “I am
fine. Now.” And the implication in his voice was so
apparent that it caused a deep rose flush to suffuse Samantha’s cheeks. She gazed up into his impossibly dark eyes
and felt as if she could drown in their impenetrable depths. She took a deep breath. It required some effort to remove herself
from his firm grip, for a part of her didn’t want to let go of him. Her pulse was racing and all of her senses
seemed to be overloading in a way that was unfamiliar to her. She knew that she shouldn’t be standing here
with this man, especially with her fiancé so close at hand. “I must go,” she mumbled, sliding reluctantly
from his grasp.
“Please,”
he pleaded with her, “I have just arrived and …” But she allowed herself to
listen no further, for even the sound of his voice was setting off alarm bells
deep within her soul. She shook her
head, not trusting her voice not to betray her, and walked quickly away,
leaving him standing on the sidewalk looking longingly after her.
“We
shall meet again,” he murmured softly, although she was much too far away to
hear him. That was a promise, he vowed
to himself. When he turned back to the
van, Raymond was waiting patiently for him, a hint of a smile on his normally
implacable visage. “Back to the business
at hand,” Eric concurred and gestured toward the front door which he was sure
now would lead to his new life.
Now see what is happening in the rest of the hop!
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