They leave.
Stella crosses her arms. “Fine. What is it?”
This is not going as I imagined. By this point, Stella was supposed to be gazing at me with total adoration. I remember the importance of the close heart-to-heart talk between partners and gesture for her to sit with me on the stairs.
Once we’re settled side by side, my heart beats in rhythm with hers. My mate, if only I could make her understand my love is sincere. “Stella, I have offered to buy your family’s vineyard and run the combined vineyards as equal partners. Your parents have happily accepted my offer.”
Her hand flies to her mouth, her eyes watering.
“It is my sincere grand gesture so that you may know that I take care of those my mate loves.”
She drops her hand. “Oh, Boz. I’m overwhelmed by your generosity and so thankful, but…” She swallows audibly. “The mate part. I’m not sure I’m ready for what that entails.”
She needs more from me, so I continue from the heart. “I did everything properly and received your parents’ approval to ask you to marry me.”
She blinks.
I gaze deeply into her eyes. “I love you. I didn’t realize it until we met, but you are the one thing I have been missing from my life, the one woman capable of filling the dark void in my chest with sunshine. No one could ever come close to your beauty, your kindness, your pure soul. Only you could have broken the curse.” I take her hand and brush my lips across her fingers. “Stella, you are my destiny. I do not expect you to be anything but you. I would only turn you if you chose it, when the time is right. I am immortal. I can wait as long as you need.”
She sighs. And when I lower her hand, she leans close, her lips meeting mine. A surge of triumph goes through me at contact. I frame her face with both hands, deepening the kiss, keeping my fangs in check. She needs a slow seduction, my sweet virgin.
When I release her, she’s breathing hard, staring at my mouth. “I don’t see fangs,” she whispers.
“I can control when they emerge. Stella, I would never hurt you. Only bring you pleasure.”
She shivers. “This kind of love was never in my plan.”
I smile. She’s seeing her way to a different kind of love with me—fanged love. “Let me see your planner. I have something to write in it.” She is quite fond of her plans.
Her lips twitch, and then she goes upstairs to get it. When she hands it to me, I step away to write my most personal grand gesture for tonight before handing it back to her. She must meet me halfway. I want her willing.
“Now it is up to you, my love.” I brush a kiss over her lips, just enough to tempt her for more. Seduction is my strong suit.
I turn and walk out the door to the sweet sound of her sigh. She will be mine.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Stella
Boz is gone in a flash, his movements supernaturally fast. I open my planner and read his note written in elegant script: Meet me in the ballroom of Castle Sangria. Wear your gown.
It’s so romantic. I missed the ball I’d so been looking forward to at the wine competition because of my total meltdown, and now he’s offering to recreate the moment just the two of us. I could love this man. I’m just not sure I can join him in his world. It’s so different. And my family—
My family! I hurry to the kitchen.
My parents beam at me. “Did you say yes?” Mom asks.
My sisters rush in. “Oh my God, Boz proposed!” Mabel exclaims. “I love him!” She blushes. “Not like that.”
“Congratulations!” Eliza exclaims.
“I didn’t say yes,” I explain.
Everyone’s faces fall.
“He caught me by surprise, okay?” I take them all in, looking so disappointed. “I didn’t say no either. I just wasn’t expecting this.” I am still getting used to the fact that he is a vampire.
Mom walks over and hugs me. “None of us were expecting what would happen when we opened our hearts to someone who seemed so different from us. I’m only sorry we weren’t friendlier with our neighbors from the start. We were put off by how eccentric that place was, made assumptions about the people in it, but you were right all along, it was his willingness to follow his own path to happiness that made him the success he is. We all love Boz and, if you love him too, we’re happy to welcome him to the family.”
My dad nods. “I understand the hungry looks he gave you. He was in love with you. Poor guy had it bad.”
Mom laughs and elbows him. “Sounds like someone I used to know.”
He kisses her hair. “I was a goner from the start. Thank God she married me.”
“What will you do?” Mabel asks.
I hold up my planner. “He invited me to a private ball and says I should wear my gown.”
Mom sighs. “Such a romantic. Do you love him?”
I take in the family I love, so happy together, able to keep their beloved home and vineyard, working as equal partners with my love. My heart pounds. My love. If I love him, shouldn’t I love all of him, even the parts that aren’t human? Only one way to find out. I must go to him.
“Excuse me, I have a ball to attend,” I say.
I rush from the room to get ready for my handsome prince as their cheers fill the air.
Boz answers the door himself, looking impossibly gorgeous in a black tux. “You look beautiful, Stella.”
“Thank you. You look handsome.”
He offers his arm and guides me to the ballroom, which is at the far end of a long hallway. I didn’t even know he had a ballroom until today. Sconces light the way, lending romantic candlelight. It feels like a dream that I’m wearing a beautiful red gown on the arm of a handsome prince in a castle. This could be my home. I would be a princess.
“What are you thinking of, love?” he asks.
“Silly stuff.”
“Please tell me.”
“I was feeling like a princess.”
“As you should.” He smiles at me, love shining in his silvery eyes. I let out a swoony sigh.
Once in the ballroom, he uses his phone to play ballroom dance music, saying, “I have discovered a wonderful way to find all types of appealing music. This is my ballroom playlist. I have learned the most romantic of dances for you, my love—the waltz.”
His formal speech appeals to me. I can get used to the courtly manners of an eight-hundred-year-old gentleman who looks like a hot vampire of thirty. Nerves skitter over my skin. Vampire.
He sweeps me into his arms, taking the lead in the dance, his hand on the small of my back. It’s wonderful. I get caught up in the music, in his heat, his sexy scent. All of it. I never want it to end. We dance to song after song until the playlist ends.
He executes a formal bow to me. “I very much enjoyed our private ball. I was looking forward to it in France, but this is even better. Just the two of us.” His eyes search my expression for a long moment, and then his arms wrap around me, holding me close.
I rest my head on his chest, listening to his heart beating. Wait, I thought vampires were dead.
I lift my head. “You have a beating heart.”
“It beats for you.”
I suck in air, overwhelmed by all I’m feeling. I suddenly realize that this is the love I’ve dreamed of all my life. This connection of ours, this feeling in my chest that tells me he’s my destiny, this…desire that won’t ever fade. He’s changed me somehow, and he’s changed my family’s fate too. All for the better. Simply put, parts of me still might feel afraid of this—of the unknown—but a bigger part of me knows I couldn’t ever walk away from him. Not now. Not ever. I’m in, sunk, fascinated, and completely smitten by this man, and the fact he’s not like me—human—won’t change that.