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“Oui.She will. But you will remember a different reason.” Though what he could concoct that would explain a woman who said she was going to France for a funeral turning up in ashes in Canada escaped him at the moment.

“Non.I do not permit it.” The contempt was back, harsher than ever. “Do not touch me with your evil magic. I want to remember the truth. Either way, my son is as dead to me as the rest of my family.”

“You can’t mean that, Francesca,” Cassidy said, heartbreak in her face.

Garrett shook his head, but remained silent.

“She means it,” Dominique confirmed. His mother was not one for thoughtless decisions. And she never changed her mind.

Francesca glared at him. “Get out. I can’t stand the sight of you.”

Dominique pursed his lips and verged on turning himself, Cassidy and Garrett invisible on the spot. But he decided against it. He wasn’t about to be that accommodating in providing further proof of his “evil magic.” Let her last memory of her son, the Lord of Night, be as human as possible.

Cassidy came to his side. He put an arm around her shoulder, felt her shake with suppressed emotion, and pressed a kiss to her temple. White-hot heat radiated off her. More than her body, it was her spirit that enveloped him in life and love and light, banishing all the ghosts from his awareness.

Including his mother.

Do we have a place to go?he wondered.

Yes. I took another room for us. She expected to share this one with Geneviève tonight.

And so, she will,Dominique thought with a last look at the bag. He bid his sister a silent farewell and left the ghosts to wail in the past.

56

Forever

Six months later…

“Youlookdelicious,”whisperedthe Lord of Night in a husky voice that sent delightful goosebumps racing over Cassidy’s skin.

She graced him with her most seductive smile. “You like the new dress, do you?” The style was her favorite off-one-shoulder design. It also hugged her torso and waist, and caressed her legs in graceful drapes of blue and green.

Dominique’s hazel eyes danced with mischief. “What dress?”

Amazing how he could still make her blush, still stir her like this, even with their minds so intimately joined. They had renewed their bond only last night and were as close to being one soul in two bodies as ever.

When he held out his hands, she took them and tipped up her face for a deep, achingly tender kiss. The love behind it wrapped around her as his arms would have, if he wasn’t mindful of where such an embrace would lead—and just how much time she had spent on getting her hair into that up-do confection.

They separated with a sigh, their lips clinging for a little longer before Cassidy stepped back and gave him an appraising look. He struck a pose, modeling the suit and dress shirt like the sultryGQcover model he resembled. No tie, collar rakishly undone, eyes burning beneath the dark slashes of his brows. He had cut his hair on the sides and back, adding an air of sophistication, but that thick, rebellious thatch of ebony still fell over his forehead, unless—like now—it was tamed into submission.

“Well, if the maid of honor looks delicious, the best man is downright scrumptious,” she purred and took hold of his offered arm. Dominique winked at her. Together they emerged onto the second-floor landing, overlooking the foyer and living room.

The place was an unrecognizable hive of activity. Early guests milled below, sipping drinks. The catering staff circulated among them, carrying platters heaped with hors d’oeuvres. Heady aromas of roasting meats, strong alcohol, and sweet perfumes drifted in the air.

Most amazing of all, not all the guests were human.

A handful of vampires were in attendance—some by invitation, others current visitors in residence—and they were not skulking the shadows for unsuspecting prey. Isao and his brood saw to that. Cassidy spotted Garrett having a stern word with one of the immortal houseguests who acted a little too interested in a plunging neckline. The vampires carried untouched beverages or sipped goblets of sparkling water as they chatted with the human guests, who seemed to find them fascinating conversationalists.

Cassidy heaved a deep, contented sigh as she soaked up the laughter and life that bounced off the walls, filled the house, and nearly overpowered the upbeat Celtic music streaming in the background. So many people under their roof, enjoying themselves, humming with happy anticipation, celebrating love…Dominique would be punch drunk on it all before the night was through, and she right along with him.

Only a tiny frisson of regret scratched at her heart as they descended the stairs. “Aubrey would have loved this.”

“Oui.He would. Francesca, too,” he added after a pause. His mother had sent her regrets from her new home in Provence. On her way from Canada, she had stopped in St. Barth just long enough to pack up her life and ship it to France. She signed the restaurant over to Étienne the morning she boarded a flight to Paris. Never, she swore, would she set foot back in the Caribbean or the Americas. Her life there was over, all the people in it dead. Her only grandchild, Geneviève’s daughter, would be welcome to visit when she was old enough, but that was all.

No one pointed out that plenty of vampires lived in Europe.

At the front door, Jackson greeted a newly arrived couple who were some of the over two dozen people Dominique had flown in from France for the event. They spoke no English and Jackson no French, but the warm welcome and invitation to eat and drink required no translation.