Alexander-Fyn-Sanguinarian

make love. ”
    “I said a crypt was not the place to make love.” She began to blush. She had said and done things these last few days she would never have dared think about only a week ago.
    “Make love, yes, the word love is what caught my attention. Do you think of what we have done as making love? Because I do.”
    “My lord, please! We should never have done it at all, much less be sitting over dinner talking about it.”
    He was impatient again. “It’s in the past tense now, is it? You will not welcome me to your bed again as you welcomed me these last few days and nights?”
    Evangeline’s cheeks burned. She had welcomed him, there was no doubt of that. “We should put an end to it. We have behaved disgracefully. I thought for a while that we had found some common ground, but now, after what you did today, I see I made a mistake. We are not alike, not at all.”

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    Raven plucked some grapes from the fruit bowl in front of him.
    “Nonetheless, I have fallen in love with you,” he said very quietly.
    “Don’t try to seduce me with your words, sir. There is no point unless you are thinking of dragging me off to the village before the clock strikes midnight to marry me. I am astounded that you still hold out hope for such a union.”
    Raven slammed his hand down on the table, making her jump.
    “And I am astounded that I waited so long to slap your rear end! I don’t intend to drag you anywhere.” He leapt up and began to pace before the fire. “I am being honest with you. Do you regret feeding me?”
    She put down her spoon and bent her head. “No,” she said honestly. “I do not regret that. I don’t understand this need of yours but I do believe that you would not take blood from an unwilling person.”
    “Do you regret that you succumbed to your desires, that I fed your needs?”
    “I would hardly call them needs, my lord, more a desire I was not wise enough to control. I know you use mesmerism, so perhaps that explains some of my behavior.”
    “Ahh, so I hypnotized you. Again I am to blame.” He sounded bored, but she knew he was angry.
    Raven came round behind her, sliding his hands down her shoulders and over her breasts. “My lord!” she gasped. “Please behave yourself.” He leaned down close and bit her ear lobe sharply, squeezing her breasts hard. Evangeline moaned before she could stop herself.
    “There! Did I hypnotize you then?” he said triumphantly. “You want me. You will marry me.”
    “I will not, my lord.” She slapped at his hands.
    “You will, I tell you,” he whispered. He pulled her to her feet and pressed her hard against him.
    “I have told you I will not be bought. If you truly wanted me you 244
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    would want me with or without your inheritance. I want nothing to do with a man who drinks blood, walks in graveyards for pleasure, and kills people for a living.”
    The door opened again, admitting two footmen carrying platters of hot food. Raven did not release her as she expected him to. “Put that down and leave,” he ordered. “Come along, Evangeline, I’m hungry.”
    He sat down again, lifting the lids off the platters to find one bearing steaming, well-cooked beef and the other, beef that was cool and rare. “I think the leather is yours.” He laughed, forking some slices onto her plate. Lifting another lid he served her some cooked vegetables and potatoes. She began to eat hungrily, refusing to watch as Raven piled rare, bloody meat onto his plate and ate with little appreciation. He would finish it quickly, then eat fruit and drink wine for the rest of meal.
    She sat back in her seat and watched him, his eyes intent upon his plate which was running with blood. She would not be surprised if he lapped it up at the end.
    It was then she realized with astonishment that she would not mind if he did. He chose a particularly bloody piece of meat and put it into his mouth. It occurred to her how upset she had been by it the first night and now, just a short time later, she no longer was. She could watch him without it turning her stomach. She had allowed him to open her vein and drink blood from her arm and still she felt no revulsion. After the first time it had seemed the most natural thing in the world, especially when she saw the pleasure and relief it gave him.
    Even his occupation, though she had been appalled to see Shipman lying dead, did not make him a murderer. He would not have killed those people under