“Yes and it paid a bit more if you could get your chance at it.” I knew most of the women who’d had a turn on stage had wound up mistresses of rich men. I’d been terrified, but desperate enough to risk it by the time I’d asked for my chance.

“Will told me that your husband had died in an accident and he’d let you stay on so you wouldn’t starve. Looked to me like you weren’t eating like you should. Your face was gaunt.”

“Yes, I had cheekbones back then.” I sighed. Unfortunately Jerry had fattened me up before he’d turned me vampire. He liked a buxom lass.

“I may have given Will a push to let you have your chance.” Jerry ran his hand down my arm and pulled me closer.

“So I have you to thank for my big break!” I reached up and kissed his cheek. “Can’t say I did much but wear a shockingly low-cut dress and carry a milk pail, but I got heaps of roses backstage after that.”

“I couldn’t take my eyes off you. I wasn’t the only one who liked your milk pail either. You had a crowd lingering by the stage door that night.” Jerry leaned down to kiss me. He put some energy into it and I almost let the interrogation go. No, I needed some answers.

“But you soon cleared them all out. They thought I was a strumpet. You treated me like a lady.” I sighed. “You had to know I hadn’t been raised as one.”

“I didn’t know that. You were well spoken and had an air about you.” Jerry slipped open buttons on my blouse until he could see my lacy bra.

“Did I ever do anything to make you suspect that I was other than what I appeared?” I eased away, not about to be distracted by his clever hands when I had finally gotten to the reason for this trip down memory lane.

“What do you mean?” Jerry stopped with his hand on the clasp of my bra.

“Could I have been something other than a simple human female? Daughter of a baker and raised in Cheapside?” I stayed frozen, afraid of his answer.

“Where is this coming from, Gloriana?” Jerry jerked his hand away. “Did Ian put this idea in your head? By God—”

“Jerry, why would you think that? And why would it get you excited? If there’s nothing to it, no worries.” I wiggled over to sit in his lap. “Seriously, you remember when Ian took some blood from me? After I had that adverse reaction to one of his drugs?”

“Poison! Honestly, Gloriana. I hope you will finally listen to me. He has attempted to poison you on more than one occasion. Why can’t you see that? This is all about our feud. MacDonald misdeeds wrapped up to look like a damned curse. I tell you, you can’t trust him.” Jerry stared into my eyes, willing me to wake up and smell the peat smoke.

“No, stop blaming the stupid feud. He tested my blood. He found out something strange. That I, I wasn’t human before I was turned vampire.” Tears filled my eyes and I couldn’t blink them back.

“By God! The balls on that man! To drag you into our quarrel. Is no weapon beneath him?” Jerry pulled my face to his chest. “Don’t cry, Gloriana. He’s lying. He obviously wants to hurt you to get to me. I knew you then. I drank your blood before you were turned. It was human blood. Warm, delicious. It was like honey on my tongue.” He kissed the top of my head. “Damn that man to hell. What was he thinking telling you something like that?”

“Is that all, Jerry? What about when you drink my blood now? Is it just delicious vampire blood or does it give you something more?” I eased away from him, determined to see his face when he answered me.

“What do you mean?” Jerry’s face was blank. I knew that look, the look of a man who had secrets or was searching for an answer.

“Spill, Jerry. This ‘honey on your tongue.’ Did it also give you special powers? Does it still? And is it why you always come back to me, century after century?” My nails dug into my palms.

“Gloriana, what did Ian say to you? What lies is he filling your head with now?” Jerry reached for me but I was across the room before he could touch me again.

“Don’t start with the feud again. I won’t listen to that. My blood isn’t human, Jerry.” Tears spilled down my cheeks and I angrily dashed them away. “And, don’t worry, I wouldn’t take Ian’s word for something that important. Penny can verify everything he told me.”

“The hell you say. He’s accusing me of using you for some kind of drug? Is that what he’s saying?” Jerry was on his feet too, his eyes blazing.

“Isn’t that the truth? That after we have our sweet nights together and you drink your fill, you are stronger, your senses enhanced and your libido…” I laughed and wanted to slap myself back to sanity. “Well, I’m here to tell you, it’s certainly five star.”

“Stop this. I won’t deny you have a wonderful taste and that you fill me with a certain”—he ran his hand through his hair—“I don’t know, feeling of well-being, I guess, call it euphoria. But I’m damned if it’s more than just great vintage vampire blood. And that feeling is happiness, by God. Because I’ve been with the woman I love.”

“Either you are fooling yourself or you’re a damned liar.” I collapsed on the sofa.

“If you were a man, I’d kill you for saying that.” Jerry stared at me until I looked away.

“I’m tired. I can’t think about this anymore tonight.” It was the simple truth. The only truth I could grasp right now. “I’m sorry if I’ve said things… I know you’re an honorable man. Maybe you don’t even realize…” I shut up, not sure what I could say at this point that wouldn’t destroy our relationship.

“MacDonald filled your head with these doubts.” Jerry’s eyes were dark with hatred for Ian as he sat beside me. “I’m thinking I have a broadsword with Ian MacDonald’s name on it. This time you won’t be stopping me, Gloriana. He’s gone too far. I will meet him and settle this. Our reckoning is overdue.”

“You will not touch him. Not if you claim to love me.” I put my hands on his cheeks and made him look into my eyes. His jaw was rigid with his fury.

“Of course I love you. That’s what brings me back to you again and again, not some blasted blood. And you were human, no matter what that bastard told you.”

“Just… listen.” I took a shaky breath, summoning up the evidence. I’d had time to think about it since Ian had first dropped his bombshell. Not human. Jerry pulled me tight against him.

“Whatever it is, lass. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere, you ken?” He murmured the soothing words in my ear and ran a hand up my back. “Spit it out and let me call it nonsense, there’s a girl.”

“If only it were that simple, Jerry.” I wanted nothing more than to lay my head on his broad chest and forget it all. But I was ever practical. That much of me I could see as a human quirk. “There’s something off with me. Even you have to admit I’ve never been a normal vampire. I don’t have the killer instinct. And look how long it took me to shape-shift. Hundreds of years!”

“I admit that was frustrating. But only for your own safety.” Jerry shook his head. “Still, Gloriana, you had your reasons. You were just sensitive. Afraid you’d be stuck in another skin. I understood.”

“Yes, well, it seemed logical at the time.” Seriously, I’d had terrors that I would shift into a bat or something equally ugly and be stuck. Now, I was comfortable that I could get back to Glory as usual, no problem. “Maybe the fact that you came to London and found me then is just more of the Campbell curse.”

“There is no curse. And what I found was an uncommon woman, Gloriana. Warm, generous, with a good heart. Thank God you don’t have the killer instinct.” Jerry smoothed my hair. “Why did I fall in love with you? I don’t think it was because you were some kind of strange paranormal creature. I think it was because you made me feel like a human man again, not a freak. That’s your gift, Gloriana. A human gift. Don’t let MacDonald convince you otherwise.”

“Jerry.” I was determined not to cry again. “This isn’t about Ian trying to convince me of anything. With him it’s all science.”

“Well, know this: I don’t give a good damn what you were, I know what you are. Mine. My beautiful girl.” Jerry lifted me into his arms and carried me into the bedroom. He slowly peeled away my clothes, worshipping me with his mouth and hands until he had me naked. Then he stripped and fell on me, seeming determined to claim me once more. There was desperation in him that I hadn’t seen in a long time. Was this about besting Ian in their feud? Distracting me from the blood issue? I didn’t care. I stroked his hair, explored his body and whispered love words as his hands traveled well-worn paths. Yet the paths always felt new and left me trembling. His lips followed, hungry, tender, then ravenous again.

I never tired of exploring his hard body, tracing the ancient scars there, tasting the special flavor of male that I knew so well and yet never tired of. I nipped at his firm chest, dragged my hair down his muscular stomach to trace the veins in that rampant sex that he could control for as long as I needed him to. I smiled up at him before I squeezed his sacs and took him into my mouth.

“Perhaps you are the witch who cursed my family. You seem to have cast a spell on me. Why can’t I ever get enough of you?” Jerry groaned and reached for me. “Come here, Gloriana. Quit your torture and sit astride.”

I sat up and threw my hair back over my shoulders. “Crying uncle so soon, Jeremiah?” I grinned and crawled up his body. “So you’ve discovered my secret. I’ve got you in my power.” Even as I said the words playfully, ran my hands up his sides and tweaked his nipples, I felt a frisson of something, a warning. Silly superstitious nonsense.

He growled as he kissed me hungrily, then pushed me back to study me. “You are all woman, Gloriana. Never doubt it. You slay me.” He lifted me and set me on his cock, filling me. “Take me and prove to yourself that this is how we are meant to be. And I won’t drink from you. I’ll show you that your blood is not why I want you.” He began to move, the pleasure of being so filled pulling a sigh from me.