Page 1 of Kentucky Nights (Dead Man’s Ranch #1)

Year unknown. Somewhere in the south.

There’s nothing more beautiful than falling in love with a woman under the night sky. The way the moonlight falls upon her skin spells me into a trance. My eyes drift across her face, appreciating the strands of hair that seem to stand out from the glow of the moon.

Her lips even hold the promise of morning, the thin layer of beeswax reflecting the stars, and soon will hold the warmth of the sun.

Everything about a woman is addictive. The way they speak, walk, the softness of their skin, their body, I can’t think of one thing that doesn’t invite me in.

Especially when it comes to this woman.

Audrey Reese. Heiress to the family fortune her father built after founding Reese Railroads.

Audrey is the catch every man wants. The most eligible bachelorette in town, and yet she’s spending her nights with me on a blanket in the middle of a field.

She must be bored out of her mind wanting to pass time with a cowboy like me.

“You ever gonna marry me, Ms. Reese?”

She pushes herself off my chest, staring down at me with a big smile on her face. “Are you asking me to marry you, Mr. Jones?”

I drift my calloused hand down her arm. She probably hates the way my work-worn palms scratch her, but the softness of her skin is the guiltiest of pleasures. I can’t seem to stop.

“Maybe.” I push the chestnut colored hair out of her face and behind her ear. “I can’t think about anything else I’d rather do in this world if I’m being honest.”

Audrey leans down, pressing her finger against my lips. “Do you want to be with me forever, Kentucky?” Her brown eyes are hidden by the darkness of the night. Her nails lightly scratch down my neck, pressing her hand over my heart. “Forever is an awfully long time, Mr. Jones.”

I grin, slipping my arms around her waist and rolling her onto her back. The long grass embraces us, and her long hair is spread out under her like a halo belonging to an angel.

“I’m completely in love with you, Audrey. I know I’m nothin’ compared to the men your father has lined up for you. I can’t offer you the riches you’re used to, but I will always do my best to provide you with a life you deserve. I’m just a cowboy, but I promise, I’m good with my hands.”

She giggles, rolling me onto my back with more strength than I thought she had. “I don’t care about the riches, Kentucky. I think I’d be the richest woman alive if I got to spend every waking moment with you.”

I bolt up, squeezing her hips with my hands as she wraps her legs around my waist.

“Then let’s get married, Audrey. I’ll give you all the kids you want. I’ll be a good father. If you need a bigger house, I can build?—”

She silences me with her kiss, taking my face in her hands, and diving her tongue across mine. My fingers curl into her dress, tangling the material in my hands. Our breaths become gasps as we struggle to breathe, not wanting to miss a second of inhaling one another.

Her lips are as soft as snow falling in the midst of winter. Her kiss is peace, a balm coating the chaos inside my bones.

Her fingers unbutton my shirt just enough so that she can slide her palms under, skimming my chest. I inhale a sharp breath when the cold of her hands seeps into my sternum.

“Wait. Wait. Wait.” She pushes herself away, her lips swollen and abused from our rough kiss.

My cock aches to slip her dress to her hips and slide home, but I am a gentleman, and a man like me won’t ever press a woman to have sex.

“What is it, sweetheart?” I bend down, kissing the edge of her collarbone peeking through the delicate fabric. “Tell me what you need and it will be yours.”

“Your blood,” she whispers, her tongue licking my earlobe.

I rear back and grin, thinking she must be joking. “Blood? You’re already runnin’ through my veins. What more do you want?”

Her nails bite into my scalp as she runs her fingers through my hair. “I’ve been hiding something from you, Kentucky. I need to know if you’re serious about wanting to be with me forever, because I can give you that. I can give you immortality.”

I’m not too sure what she’s saying. The chuckle that escapes me dies when I see the serious expression on her face. I’ve known Ms. Reese for months now. This doesn’t sound anything like her.

“What do you mean, Audrey? You aren’t making any sense. We can stop. I don’t want to pressure you into anything?—”

“—No. It isn’t that. Do you remember what everyone in town is saying?

About the monsters coming out at night? Now all the wives put silver crosses on their front doors to keep those monsters away, along with garlic hanging from the doorframe as if it is mistletoe.

” She rolls her eyes, scoffing at the paranoia that has infiltrated our town.

“Those aren’t anything but rumors. Would you be more comfortable goin’ inside?

If you’re afraid, I’ll keep you safe, but Audrey…

” I cup her face in my hand, my thumb gliding back and forth over the apple of her cheek.

“There’s nothin’ to be afraid of. It’s just you, me, and the cattle out here.

I promise. Okay?” I slip my finger under her chin, needing her to look at me.

Red flames appear in the endless abyss of her pupils and shock me still.

“They aren’t rumors, Mr. Jones. I am what they fear.”

I push her off me, grabbing husks of long grass to pull myself away from the woman I thought I loved.

“I’m not going to hurt you. I could have already. Over all these months, have I ever harmed you?” Audrey stands, lifting her dress off the ground so it doesn’t drag across the dirt. “Have I ever done anything that would make you afraid of me?”

“No, but I am afraid right now,” I admit, my heart hammering in my chest.

She inhales deeply, tilting her head back until she can’t suck in any more air. “Your fear is making me thirsty.”

Faster than I can blink, she pins me to the ground, and air whooshes from my lungs. Her hand presses against my chest, keeping me down with her supernatural strength.

I can’t move.

“You smell delicious.” She buries her nose into my neck, inhaling as if I’m a meal she can’t wait to have.

“Spend the next one thousand years with me, Kentucky. We can travel the world. You’ll never age.

You’ll never get sick. You’ll be stronger than everyone.

We can do what we want, when we want. Doesn’t that sound beautiful?

We aren’t fated mates, but I’ll love you for the one thousand years we will get together. ”

Peering into her blood-ridden eyes, I face the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my years with.

“That doesn’t sound like a life to me, Audrey.

I don’t want to live forever. I don’t want to be stronger than humankind.

I don’t want to wield that kind of power.

I want to grow old one day. I want to die and be buried underneath that big Kentucky Coffeetree in front of my home.

Livin’ for a thousand years sounds more like a curse than a blessin’ to me.

I want a human life. I want the life I have, and I don’t want it to change.

” Her fangs gleam in the light as an iridescent tear drips down her cheek.

With a shaking hand, I wipe it away. “If you love me at all, you’ll respect that.

I can’t be a vampire, Audrey. I don’t want that. ”

She shakes her head, pressing her lips against my palm.

“You don’t mean that. You don’t understand.

That’s just your mortality talking. Once you have lived as a vampire, you will want nothing more.

You’ll wonder how you have lived such a boring human life.

You’ll be faster, stronger, smarter, and you’ll have the ability to mystify.

Some even get extra powers like mind reading, healing, taking away pain, but not me. I’m just your run-of-the-mill vampire.”

“Mystify?” I question.

She bends down, her hand gliding down my chest. “To alter the human mind and make them believe anything you want them to.”

“Have you done that with me?” I dare to ask, wondering if everything between us has been a lie.

Only yesterday were we walking hand in hand in town, popping into the local candy shop to get the saltwater taffy she likes so much. The way she smiled was so human compared to the woman I’m looking at now.

Hungry eyes are the color of a blood moon. Her fangs are sharp and delicate, lethal in a way I’d love to feel them across my skin if she had gone about this another way.

I don’t care that she’s a vampire. I only care that she made me fall in love with her when we want different things. All I care about is the lie that has been woven between us.

She eases the pressure on my chest, and I no longer feel like I’m sinking into the ground. “You’re holding onto a life that is insignificant.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, sweetheart,” I say.

“I do not see my life as insignificant. I love knowin’ all the work I’ve done, the people I’ve met, the wrinkles I’ll gain, and the pain I’ll endure will all be worth it when I’m old and grey.

I would have lived a life filled with all the good and all the bad.

Why would I want an eternity of that? Why would I want to outlive everyone I love?

That sounds like a long time to feel pain, Audrey.

Eventually, the good will blur after so long, and everything will feel bad. ”

She cries, small sobs shake her shoulders, and she cups either side of my face. “Not everything. I’ve waited a hundred years to love a man like you. You made all the bad feel so good, Kentucky. Please, want this. Want me enough to love you for the next thousand years.”

“I don’t understand your sense of time.” I push her away from me and stand, lacing my hands behind my head as I stare up at the sky.

“You’re afraid of me. I can smell it on you.”