Page 100 of Midnight Enchantment

Claret let out a sigh of pleasure as she licked Quill’s blood from her lips. “A pleasure, as always,” she murmured. “Give my love to Callie.”

“I think not,” Quill said dryly.

Claret’s laughter hung in the air as she vanished from their sight.

Raedan shook his head. “Well, that was the damnedest thing I have ever seen. A Hungarian vampire willingly giving his blood to one of my kind. Will wonders never cease?”

Quill glared at him.

“I have heard that your blood is like catnip to my kind.”

“Have you?”

“Indeed. Is it as addictive as they say?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“It certainly seems that way. Perhaps one day you will give me a taste?”

Quill bared his fangs. “I wouldn’t count on it, if I were you.”

Raedan threw back his head and laughed as Lily’s father turned and headed back to the house, hands tightly clenched at his sides, his back rigid.

It was her wedding day. Or night, Lily amended, as she bounded out of bed. In a few hours, Raedan would be hers and she would be his. Things would have been perfect if not for her brother and father both taking her aside late last night for private chats where each of them, in his own way, tried to convince her she was making a huge mistake. She couldn’t blame them. They loved her, they worried about her marrying a man they considered an enemy, but nothing they said had changed her mind. No marriage was perfect. If she yearned for a child in a year or two, they could always adopt a baby. Raedan preferred to rest during the day, but he could be awake if he desired. She could stay up later at night, sleep longer in the morning, thereby giving them more time together. He didn’t eat, but that was no big deal. She was a witch. She could conjure a meal wherever and whenever she wished. It would all work out.

The family gathered around the table for breakfast. The men didn’t say much. Her mother, Ava, and Maddy gave Lily marital advice—be sure to turn on the light in the bathroom at night—men tended to leave the toilet seat up. Men hated to ask for directions. They left their socks wherever they took them off. They rarely made a bed or washed a dish.

Lily laughed good-naturedly, knowing it was all in fun. And that, in her father’s case, it was all true.

After breakfast, Lily spent some time getting acquainted with her nephew. He was a darling child, the spitting image of his father. She knew a moment of regret that she would never bear Raedan’s child, and quickly thrust the thought away.

As the sun began to set, Lily went up to her room to get ready. Raedan would meet them at the church.

“Lily?”

“Come in, Mom.”

Callie stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

“How do I look?” Lily asked, doing a pirouette.

“Just as beautiful as I knew you would. The dress is almost perfect.”

“Almost?”

“It just needs one more thing,” Callie said as she fastened a gold chain around Lily’s neck from which hung a small gold heart. “So you’ll never forget how much we love you.”

“Thanks, Mom. I love it. Please be happy for me.”

“I am. Give me a hug now. It’s time to go. Your Dad is waiting for you downstairs. He wanted a few minutes alone with you. I’m riding to the church with Dominic and Maddy.”

Lily held her mother tight. “I love you.”

Callie cupped Lily’s cheek in her hand.“I’ll see you there.”

Lily sent a last look in the mirror, took a deep breath, and hurried out of the room.

Her father was waiting for her at the foot of the stairs. He looked quite handsome in his tux and it occurred to her that he looked exactly the same now as he had when she was a little girl, and that he would always look that way. Funny, she had never thought of that before, and it occurred to her that Raedan, too, would always look the way he did now.

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