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She glanced over her shoulder to find Saintcrow watching her intently.

Their gazes locked and myriad images suddenly flashed through her mind—crossing the bridge to Morgan Creek the first time, learning that the town was a haven for the Undead, meeting the vampires who lived here and the people they had imprisoned to feed on, her fear of Saintcrow the first time they’d met. Falling in love with him.

She glanced at him over her shoulder. “I remember!” she exclaimed. “Rylan, I remember everything!”

“Kadie!” Catching her in his arms, he swung her around in a circle.

“I remember!” She laughed and cried as memories unraveled in her mind.

Wriggling out of his embrace, she pressed her hand against the cross on the tapestry until it hit the wall and heard a familiar grinding sound as the door behind the tapestry swung open.

Walking behind the hanging, she stared into the darkness.

A spiral staircase led down to the long tunnel that led to his lair.

There was no light but she knew the way. She had been there a million times.

Taking her by the hand, Saintcrow led her down the staircase, then lifted her into his arms and carried her swiftly down the length of the narrow tunnel, which ended at a large wooden door crisscrossed with thick iron straps.

It had no lock and no handle. At a word from Saintcrow, it swung open. Another word lit a dozen fat candles.

He set her on her feet, letting her body slowly slide down his. “Do you remember this place, too?”

A smile and a nod confirmed it. She had redecorated the room, replacing the old four-poster bed with a king-sized one.

She had replaced the blue carpet with a soft gray, but hadn’t changed the French blue paint on the walls.

She hadn’t replaced the antique mahogany wardrobe, either, but had persuaded Rylan to add a walk-in closet.

He’d had to wipe the memory of the place from the minds of the workers to keep his lair secure and …

She froze as another memory jumped to the front of her mind.

Saintcrow muttered an oath as he read her thoughts. She had remembered something else.

“I was a vampire,” she said, her voice filled with accusation and disbelief. “You turned me into a vampire.”

“You were dying.”

Dying … Because her father had shot her.

Not on purpose, of course. It was shocking to remember that her father, a respected physician, had also been a vampire hunter.

He had come to Morgan Creek hunting vampires.

When he took aim at Rylan, she had thrown herself between the two men she loved and taken the bullet meant for Saintcrow.

She sat on the edge of the bed as the memory of that night unfolded in her mind. She had been on the edge of death. She remembered the pleading note in Rylan’s voice, the fear …

“ Kadie. What do you want me to do? ”

“ Do? ”

“ I can save you. ”

“ Be … like you? ”

“ Yes, but you need to decide right now. ”

“ I … don’t want … to be … vampire. Don’t … want … to leave you. ”

He’d taken her hand in his. “I love you, Kadie. I should have told you that sooner, and often.”

“ Love … you. Want to … stay … with you. ”

“ Are you sure? You know what that means? ”

She hadn’t wanted to leave him and so she’d told him to turn her. It was the last thing she remembered from that night. When she woke again, her life as she had known it was over and she had been one of the Undead.

Saintcrow watched the play of emotions on her face as she recalled that fateful night, and the next. She hadn’t wanted to be a vampire, but, all things considered, she had handled the transition pretty well once she got used to the idea. “So, darlin’, where do we go from here?”

“Do you still love me?” she asked.

“You know I do.” His gaze searched hers. “Do you still love me ?”

She nodded slowly, then glanced at the bed, recalling the nights she had lain there in his arms, the times they had made love until sunrise, the nights they had talked into the wee hours of the morning, the laughter they had shared. He had shown her the world.

Looking up, she met his gaze and knew he was remembering the same things. His hands were fisted at his sides, his eyes smoky with desire.

“Kadie.”

Just her name, but it was filled with longing, the same longing that surged through her as memories of loving Rylan and being loved in return continued to unfold in her mind.

She didn’t know who moved first, all she knew was that between one breath and the next, she was in his arms, and he was whispering that he loved her, would always love her.

Their clothing disappeared and she lost herself in the joyful wonder of discovering him all over again.

His body was beautiful, his muscles taut, his dark eyes filled with desire.

How could she ever have forgotten what it was like to be in his arms, to touch and taste, the growl in his voice as he rose over her and made her his all over again?

Later, sated and complete, bodies still entwined, they lay side-by-side facing each other.

“You have no idea how much I missed you,” Saintcrow said, his hand lightly stroking her thigh. “I was so afraid I’d lost you forever.”

“I knew when you were with me,” she said. “Even when I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, I could sense your presence, but there was no way to let you know. It was awful. You have no idea.”

She ran her hands over his chest. “So many scars,” she murmured, as she traced the shiny white scar that ran from his shoulder to his navel.

“You said the same thing the first time we made love. Do you remember?”

Nodding, Kadie kissed the scar on his cheek. “You got that one from a knife.” She ran her finger from his shoulder to his navel. “And this one from a sword.”

His back was a spiderweb of scars from his shoulders down to his waist, some so faint they were barely visible.

She had still been his prisoner the first time she had seen them.

She had been complaining about being in prison, declaring that if he’d ever been imprisoned, he would be more sympathetic to her and the other women.

I’ve been locked up, Kadie, in a hole so deep and dark no light penetrated it, he’d said, and then he’d showed her his back, the large, ridged scar that ran the length of his spine.

“The past is past, sweetheart.”

“Not all of it was bad.”

“Ah, Kadie, in the beginning I never thought you would be mine. I knew you wanted me as much as I wanted you, but I never thought I would win your love.” He rained kisses on her cheeks, her eyelids, the sweet curve of her throat.

A deep breath carried the fragrant scent of her hair, her skin. Her life’s blood.

He remembered scenting her blood for the first time as if it was yesterday, remembered the effect it had had on him. It had changed his whole life. And hers, too. His desire to taste her now drove every other thought from his mind. “Kadie?”

She heard the desperate longing in his voice, saw it in the familiar, faint red glow in his eyes.

“Kadie?” He ran his fingers ever so lightly up and down the side of her neck. “Please, Kadie?”

Vampire. She remembered the first time he had tasted her blood.

She had been his prisoner then, terrified of him, of what he was, of the desire he had aroused in her with just a look.

When he drank from her, she had expected to feel disgust, revulsion.

But his bite had filled her with a delicious warmth that had pooled deep inside her, culminating in a rush of unexpected sensual pleasure. Would it still feel the same?

Suddenly curious, she swept her hair behind her ear and turned her head to the side.

Murmuring, “Ah, darlin’, I love you,” he bit her ever so gently, and nothing else mattered but the heady sense of coming home at last.

Kadie woke with her head pillowed on Rylan’s shoulder.

They had made slow, sweet love last night until the sun came up.

For a moment, she lay there, basking in the memory, thinking how right it felt to lie in his arms. Surely there was no other lover in all the world like the amazing man resting beside her.

Turning on her side, she admired the masculine beauty of his face and form, the width of his shoulders and chest, his six-pack abs, his arms and legs corded with muscle. She sifted her fingers through his hair, traced the scar on his left cheek.

He loved her, of that she had no doubt.

And she loved him. But things were different now.

She had never wanted to be a vampire, but it had been the best alternative at the time.

Gradually, she had grown used to being awake only at night, to consuming only blood, accepted the fact that she would never have children or grandchildren.

Sure, there had been good things. She had never been sick or had so much as a headache.

She hadn’t aged a day since he turned her.

It was exhilarating, having great strength, being able to transport herself from place to place, to see and hear things mortals could not.

But that was all in the past. She would age now.

The thought sent a chill down her spine.

She would grow old while Rylan would always be as he was now, handsome, strong and virile.

Still, people weren’t meant to live forever.

Being a vampire was a life against nature.

Thanks to the healing power of the Medallion, she had been given a second chance at a normal life.

“Is that what you want?”

“I don’t know.” She had forgotten Rylan could read her mind.

She glanced at him now and found him propped on one elbow, watching her intently.

She had been a vampire for a long time. Given the choice, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be one again.

She bit down on her lip, then shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“The choice is yours,” he said, lightly stroking her hair, her cheek. “You don’t have to decide now. There’s plenty of time.”

Time, she thought. If she chose to remain human, it was her enemy. She could get deathly ill, struck by a car, take a bad fall. Humans were fragile creatures. A single tear slid down her cheek. She felt a rush of love for Rylan as he gently wiped it away.

“Don’t be sad, Kadie,” he murmured, wrapping her in his warm embrace. “I won’t let anything happen to you. And I will love you all your life, no matter what you decide.”

His tenderness, his understanding, only made the tears come faster.

He rained feather-light kisses on her cheeks, her brow, the tip of her nose, before claiming her lips.

His words, the welcome touch of his hands gliding over her, drove everything else from her mind.

There was only Rylan, holding her close, taking her to realms of ecstasy that felt new and yet were oh, so welcome and familiar.

She held him close, cried his name as his body melded with hers and the rest of the world faded away.