Leanne ran up to him, bubbling with excitement. "Wasn't it great tonight?" she exclaimed. "Oh, I know, it's greatevery night, but sometimes it all seems so real, I forget it's just a play and find myself crying when the Phantom sends Christine away."

Jason nodded. He'd often felt that way himself.

Leanne threw her arms around Jason and kissed him. "Did you have a good day?"

"The same as always," Jason replied, and then, seeing the expectant look in her eyes, he smiled. "Thank you for the flowers and everything."

"I hope you don't mind."

"No." He took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. "Let's go home."

Leanne hummed softly as they drove down the freeway, her hand resting on Jason's thigh, her gaze returning again and again to his profile. She loved the rugged masculine beauty of his face, the finely sculpted nose and lips, the strong square jaw, dark now with the shadow of a beard. His brows were thick and black above deep blue eyes, his cheekbones pronounced.

How had she fallen in love so quickly, so completely, with this man who was still a stranger in so many ways? She hardly knew him, and yet she felt as if she had always known him, as if her life had begun the night they met.

"Jason?"

He slid a glance in her direction. "What?"

"My folks would like to meet you."

The silence that followed her remark was absolute.

"Jason?"

"One day perhaps."

"How about next Sunday?"

"Leanne?"

"You don't want to, do you? Why not?"

"Surely you must have realized I'm a bit of a recluse when I'm not working."

"I know, but I'd really like them to meet you."

"I'll consider it."

"I'm sorry." She took her hand from his thigh, then looked out the window. "I didn't mean to push you, or make you think I was trying to?"

He muttered an oath as he pulled into the driveway and turned off the ignition. Getting out of the car, he opened the door for her, then drew her into his arms.

"I'm sorry, Leanne, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Please, just give me some time."Just give me tonight. "Come," he said, taking her hand. "I have a surprise for you."

Inside, he lit a dozen long blue tapers. "Sit down," he said, "I'll only be a moment."

With a nod Leanne sank down on the sofa. Kicking off her shoes, she stared at the candles flickering on the mantel.

A few minutes later, Jason returned. Kneeling in front of the fireplace, he lit a fire, and then he joined her on the sofa.

"Here," he said, handing her a long, slender box. "This is for you."

She opened the box with hands that trembled, and uttered a gasp of astonishment as she stared at the contents. "Oh, Jason, it's lovely."

"You like it, then?"

"Oh, yes." She ran her fingertip over the heavy gold chain, then outlined the filigreed heart-shaped locket. "But it must have cost a fortune."

"Only a small one." He lifted the chain from the box and fastened it around her neck. The heart-shaped locket settled in the cleft between her breasts. "I'm glad you like it."

"I love it. And I love you."

Her gaze met his, filled with such adoration that it made him want to shout, to sing. To weep. "Leanne, beloved?" He cupped her cheek in his hand and kissed her gently.

"More," she whispered, and twining her arms around his neck, she kissed him passionately, her body pressing to his, inviting him to come closer.

Her nearness, the wanting he read in her eyes, made his pulse race with desire. Too fast, he thought, they were moving too fast. If he was to have only this one night, he wanted to savor every moment.

Leanne drew back, her eyes aglow. "Tell me," she whispered. "Tell me you love me."

"I love you."

"Have you loved many women?"

"No. Only one other."

"Who?"

"A girl from my childhood. She's dead now."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It happened a long time ago."

He gazed into her eyes, longing to bury his hands in the wealth of her hair, to carry her to bed, and sheathe himself in the velvet heat of her all the night long?but he dared not. He would make love to her only once, just before dawn, and then he would let her go.

It took every ounce of willpower he possessed to keep from touching her. "Shall we watch your movie?"

"If you like. Have you seen it before?"

"No."

"You'll love it."

Jumping up, she slipped the tape into the VCR, then snuggled up against Jason, her head pillowed on his shoulder.

Langella made a most convincing vampire, Jason thought. Indeed, the movie hit close to home. Too close. He felt his desire for Leanne surge through him, along with a ravening thirst, as he watched Count Dracula seduce his lady love amidst a shimmering crimson backdrop while a bat hovered overhead.

A bat. He'd never changed into a bat in all his three hundred years; indeed, he didn't know if he could.

He felt his whole body tense as Dracula made a slit in his chest and offered Lucy a taste of his blood.

"I think he's the most realistic vampire I've ever seen," Leanne remarked. "I almost wish he didn't have to die in the end."

"Good always triumphs over evil, eventually," Jason remarked.

"I suppose, but he doesn't seem evil exactly," she mused. "I mean, I guess he can't help being what he is."

"No,"' Jason said, his voice strangely thick. "He can't."

"And he does seem to love her."

Jason gazed deeply into Leanne's eyes. "Yes, he does."

"I don't think I want to watch the end." She laughed self-consciously. "I've already seen one sad ending tonight."

"As you wish." Rising, Jason switched off the VCR. "Tell me, how does this Dracula meet his death?"

"On a ship. Doctor Van Helsing catches him on a big hook of some kind, and they hoist him into the sunlight." Leanne grimaced. "I think he ages and disintegrates, but I'm not really sure. I didn't watch that pan. All I remember is seeing his black cape drifting away. It made me want to cry."

"You have a tender heart, my sweet."

"Enough about vampires and unhappy endings," Leanne murmured, reaching for him. "Make love to me, Jason."

"You're weeping," he exclaimed softly. "Why?"

"I don't know. I feel? I don't know, as if something awful is going to happen."

He knelt on the floor and drew her down into his arms. "Nothing is going to happen, Leanne. You're going to have a long and happy life filled with sunshine and laughter."

"I didn't know you told fortunes," she said with a watery smile.

"Only yours. You're going to marry and have children and live happily ever after."

"Am I?"

"I promise."

"And will you be the father of my children, Jason?"

"I'd like nothing better," he replied evasively, and then, to stop her from asking any more questions he couldn't answer, he kissed her.

The touch of his lips on hers, the sweet invasion of his tongue, drove all thought from Leanne's mind. She forgot her mother's admonition, forgot her father's dark warning; she could only feel. Jason's lips danced across her skin, hotter than the flames that burned in the hearth, engulfing her until she felt as though she, too, were on fire. Perhaps the heat incinerated her clothing, for she was suddenly lying naked beside him while his lips and tongue drifted over her face and neck, exploring the hollow of her throat, her navel, the valley between her breasts, the sensitive skin of her inner thighs.

With a boldness she didn't know she possessed, she stripped him of his clothing, then let her hands wander over his hard-muscled flesh. He was a study in masculine perfection, from his broad shoulders and flat belly, to his long, powerful legs. She felt him shudder with pleasure at her touch, heard a low groan that sounded oddly like pain as she rained kisses along his neck and down his chest.

And then he was rising over her, his dark eyes blazing.

"Tell me to stop if you're not sure," he said, his voice low and rough. "Tell me to stop now, before it's too late."

"Don't stop." She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him closer. "Don't ever stop."

With a strangled cry he buried himself in her softness. She whimpered softly as he breached her maidenhead, and he cursed himself for hurting her, but it was too late now.

Too late to stop. Too late to think. He was caught up in an inferno of desire, and there was no going back.

Leanne clutched at his shoulders, exhilarated by his mastery, frightened by the torrent of emotions that flooded through her. She felt as if she were drowning, being sucked into a vortex from which there was no return. A soft, gentle blackness engulfed her, and then she felt as if she were immersed in a warm red mist.

She moaned as she felt Jason moving deep within her. Her fingernails clawed at his back, drawing blood, and then she was reaching out, reaching for something that shimmered just beyond her grasp, something beautiful.

She cried as she found it, cried with the joy of discovery, of wonder, as her body convulsed beneath his.

For a long while they lay wrapped in each other's arms. She held him tighter when she felt him start to draw away. "Don't go."

"I must be heavy."

"You are, but I like it."

He shifted to the side a little so she wasn't bearing the full burden of his weight. "Did I hurt you?"

"No."

He drew back so he could see her face. How lovely she was, her beautiful green eyes still aglow with passion, her lips pink and swollen from his kisses, her hair spread in wild disarray over the pillow. He felt a ridiculous urge to thank her.

"What are you thinking?" Leanne asked. Reaching up, she brushed a lock of hair from his brow.

"How wonderful you are."

"Did I please you?"

"Foolish girl. No one has ever pleased me more."

"I wish you'd never known anyone but me."

He saw the hurt in her eyes, the sudden flare of jealousy, and silently berated himself because the thought of her being jealous pleased him beyond words.

He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. "After tonight, beloved, there will never be anyone else."

"Truly?"

"Truly." Jason buried his face in her shoulder, knowing he had no wish to go on existing without her.

Three hundred years he'd walked the earth, he thought, and only now, as he contemplated a future without her, did he realize the true meaning of loneliness.