Lover Eternal: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood Read Free Page A

like to settle down with a female of worth."
    Butch laughed. The guy was a sex god, an erotic legend in his race. V had said that stories about Rhage were passed from father to son when the time was right. The idea that he'd downshift into being someone's husband was absurd.
"Okay,Hollywood , what's the punch line? Come on, hit me with it."
     
Rhage winced and looked away.
     
Holy hell, the guy had been serious. "Whoa. Listen, I didn't mean to—"
    "Nah, it's cool." The smile reappeared, but the eyes were flat. He sauntered over to the wastebasket and dropped the lollipop stick in the trash. "Now, can we get out of here? I'm tired of waiting for you boys." Mary Luce pulled into her garage, shut off her Civic, and stared at the snow shovels hanging on pegs in front of her.
She was tired, although her day hadn't been strenuous. Answering phones and filing papers at a law office just wasn't taxing, physically or mentally. So she really shouldn't be exhausted.
     
But maybe that was the point. She wasn't being challenged, so she was wilting.
    Could it be time to go back to the kids? After all, it was what she was trained for. What she loved. What nourished her. Working with her autistic patients and helping them find ways of communicating had brought her all kinds of rewards, personally and professionally. And the two-year hiatus had not been her choice.
Maybe she should call the center, see if they had an opening. Even if they didn't, she could volunteer until something became available.
     
Yes, tomorrow she would do that. There was no reason to wait.
    Mary grabbed her purse and got out of the car. As the garage door trundled shut, she went around to the front of her house and picked up the mail. Flipping through bills, she paused to test the chilly October night with her nose. Her sinuses hummed. Autumn had swept out the dregs of summer a good month ago, the change of seasons ushered in on the back of a cold rush of air fromCanada .
She loved the fall. And upstateNew York did it proud, in her opinion.
    Caldwell,New York , the town she was born and would most likely die in, was more than an hour north ofManhattan , so it was technically considered "upstate." Split in half by the Hudson River, the Caldie, as it was known by natives, was every midsize city inAmerica . Wealthy parts, poor parts, nasty parts, normal parts. Wai-Marts and Targets and McDonald'ses. Museums and libraries. Suburban malls strangling a faded downtown. Three hospitals, two community colleges, and a bronze statue of George Washington in the park.
She tilted her head back and looked at the stars, thinking that it would never occur to her to leave. Whether that spoke of loyalty or lack of imagination, she wasn't sure.
    Maybe it was her house, she thought as she headed for her front door. The converted barn was situated on the edge of an old farmhouse property, and she'd put in an offer fifteen minutes after she'd gone through it with a real estate agent. Inside, the spaces were cozy and small. It was… lovely.
    Which was why she'd bought it four years ago, right after the death of her mother. She'd needed lovely then, as well as a complete change of scenery. Her barn was everything her childhood home had not been. Here, the pine floorboards were the color of honey, varnished clear, not stained. Her furniture was from Crate and Barrel, all fresh, nothing worn or old. The throw rugs were sisal, short-napped and trimmed with suede. And everything from the slipcovers to the drapes to the walls to the ceilings was creamy white.
    Her aversion to darkness had been her interior decorator. And hey, if it's all a variation on beige, the stuff matches, right?
She put her keys and her purse down in the kitchen and grabbed the phone. She was told that You have… two… new messages .
    "Hey, Mary, it's Bill. Listen, I'm going to take you up on your offer. If you could cover me at the hotline tonight for an hour or so that would be great. Unless I hear from you, I'll