Dark Enchantment Read Online Free PDF Page A

Framed in a savage backdrop of wild and raging tempest was the erotic dark angel of her secret dreams.
    In that ethereal world, he had been beautiful. But here, ‘in the flesh’, the man was striking beyond belief. And there was that mysterious allure that had nothing to do with the exotic setting. She studied him silently. The way the low beams of a black Land Rover cast his body all in shadow. The light reflected off his hair, all wind-tossed and damp from the moisture-laden air. A shade so black it held hints of indigo accentuated the unusual, almost colorless, green of his eyes.
    And as the man returned her stare, fixed her with those mysterious eyes, the thought came to mind that there really was something of the vampire about him. An unnatural stillness. That unmistakable ripple of reigned-in power.
    The strong angle of his jaw, darkened with late-night stubble, added a rough masculinity to what would have otherwise been almost too-perfect features. His was a fallen-angel face, she mused. A face sculpted for the singular purpose of stealing a woman’s soul.
    She let her eyes wander south. A black leather jacket, unzipped, revealed a strong body. Not gym-bulked, which she detested, but naturally sleek and tightly muscled from hard, physical work. Further down, low-slung black jeans fit his long, long legs to perfection.
    Arianna raised her gaze to his face—and collided again with those fathomless eyes. The slam of preternatural power felt like a mule-kick to the chest. A sensation she had experienced before. On a dream spun Irish shore.
    “This can’t be happening,” she murmured. But, while her mind rebelled, her stuttering heart knew no such perspicuity. “Is it really you?”
    As the impulsive words spun past her lips, Arianna willed them back inside her mouth. Lucky for her, the question had been lost, swept away by a whirling gust of wind. Relief rocked her. It would have been mortifying, to say the least, if he had heard her, since not an inkling of recognition warmed the glacial green of those achingly familiar eyes.
    Still, this man’s likeness to her illusory lover was uncanny. Not only were his facial features and build a dead ringer, but he even wore his too-long black hair in an identical fashion.
    He even dressed as she remembered, favoring black.
    And the resemblance didn’t stop at the identical-twin good looks. No, it went far deeper, into the underlying essence of the man. This one exuded the same dark elegance, the same vibration of otherworldly power. It was as if he were either the personification of her dream lover, or the other’s double.
    And yet, with all their similarities, Arianna sensed something intrinsically different about this man, as well. Something colder, harsher; something fraught with danger. Yes, there was a definite dark side to his nature, she concluded, as if he were the other’s evil twin.
    Vampire . Again, the word whispered tauntingly in her ear. And really, wouldn’t that explain everything? The hypnotic thrall transmitted over thousands of miles. His masterful seduction in her dreams—
    Suddenly, Arianna’s whimsical musings crashed to a halt as the entire Western Hemisphere seemed to explode around them. Lightning hissed through black velvet, turning night into day. As the jagged bolt of fire plowed into a nearby tree with a deafening roar, a thunderclap to herald the apocalypse rocked the earth beneath her.
    And, though the wind wailed like a banshee, there was not a single drop of rain. Her gut tied in a knot of terror, Arianna shouted above the tumult. “Something’s just not right here. We’ve gotta find shelter, get out of this storm!”
    But he just stood there, unfazed by the naked display of nature’s rage. He was an avenging angel, her mind reasoned, in command of the dark forces erupting all around them. His lips moved then, as if to whisper a prayer. Instantly, the gusting winds ceased. Of the vicious storm, only sizzling forks of lightning in