Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
She was too young for him, and that wasn’t because of age. It was because she would never catch up to him. She knew herself. She would knock herself out to take care of him. To give him everything he needed. She’d be in the exact same position she’d been in all her life. But there would never be safety. She’d always be lonely, but it would be worse because he would be there but not. It was far better for her sanity and peace of mind to stay to herself.
She glanced at her mother. Fenja had precognition, whether she wanted to admit it or not. She knew. It was there on her face when she looked from Benedek to Silke. If she wanted grandchildren, the man sitting across from them, looking like a lethal weapon, was her only hope.
“I understand why you wouldn’t want to be around the villagers, but why would you come unseen to our home and then follow Silke to the Bootsma home?” Fenja persisted in that same nonjudgmental tone.
Silke knew that tone and found herself nearly smiling despite the circumstances. She’d heard it a million times. Fenja would persist until she got an answer. She would be kind and sweet, but she would get her answer.
Benedek didn’t seem to be in the least uncomfortable. He didn’t even bristle at having the older woman question him.
“I’m not a trusting man.” He made it a statement. “I have lived centuries, and in that time, I have known betrayal often. I wanted to see the woman fated to be with me.”
“As you can see, she is beautiful.” Fenja gestured toward her daughter. If she was disappointed in Benedek’s answer, Silke couldn’t hear it in her tone, but she saw it on her mother’s face.
Color rose under Silke’s skin. She couldn’t control the blush no matter how hard she tried. At Fenja’s statement, Benedek turned his entire focus back on her. It felt like being in the hot glow of a spotlight. This time his gaze drifted slowly over her, as if committing every inch of her to memory.
“You misunderstood me,” Benedek said. “But you are right, she is indeed quite beautiful.”
There was the merest hint of speculation in his voice. It was all Silke could do to sit still and not squirm under that intense stare. She was so right to keep to herself. She had mostly been alone, and she was comfortable that way. If she let herself trust him, if she let herself believe he wanted her for her, she would be lost when he was gone. And he would go. She tightened her fingers and forced air through her lungs.
She had choices. He couldn’t take her will from her. No one would force her to marry him. She just had to be strong and not be persuaded by the unfamiliar physical reaction she had to him. It was raw and visceral. Scary to her. She wasn’t a woman out of control. She had no idea why a man like Benedek would appeal to her—but he did.
“I wanted to know her character. That was what I found beautiful. Looks don’t matter to our people. Hunters don’t see in color or feel emotion, so physical beauty doesn’t come into play.”
Fenja studied the mask he wore on his impassive features. “You don’t see in color? Not ever?”
He inclined his head. “For centuries I lived in a gray world. Until I heard your daughter’s voice. That was how I knew she was my true lifemate. She restored my ability to see in colors. Bright. Vivid. So much so I have to tone them down, otherwise the colors can be disorienting. I must grow used to them.”
“How do I return what I have of yours to you?” Silke asked, cutting to the chase. She wanted this visit over. The longer he was in the room, the more the connection between them seemed to build.
The moment she asked the question, that once again brought her his full attention.
* * *
—
She absolutely was rejecting him. Rejecting even the chance to make it work between them. The irony of that was, in his mind, all along, he had rejected the idea of a lifemate. He didn’t have a heart to give her. He didn’t trust. Now that he was with her, since watching her fight demons and protect her friend and the fisherman, protect even the Carpathian ancients, although that wasn’t necessary, he found he wanted her.
If he was going to make a relationship with Silke work, Benedek knew he had to find a way to reach her. To persuade her they would be good together. He wasn’t going to do that through romance. Carpathians who knew him mostly avoided him unless they were hunting vampire. He was a nightmare, a question mark, a man who had lived too long and was morphing into something else. There was no denying the fact, and he had always been scrupulously honest with himself. He had been deteriorating at a rapid rate. And she was a demon hunter.