Her Devoted Vampire Read Online Free PDF Page A

eyes and
inhaled his scent. Was this a dream? Or was she really here? It felt real and
smelled real, but what about all her unclear memories?
    His lips pressed against her
temple, and he squeezed her gently. “I promise to care for you forever.”
    Dizziness hit her again, and she sagged
against Fredrick’s chest. Her ears rang with white noise, and Bridget fell into
it as her stomach lurched. She gritted her teeth against the urge to empty her
stomach as something jostled her body for a few moments, then stopped suddenly.
Fredrick’s comforting presence had disappeared, and she wondered where he’d
gone.
    So much for protecting her.
    But was she really in danger?
Memory moved like thick mud, but unease sang through the murk, warning her of
big, impending changes. What had they been?
    The warning became clearer. She
concentrated on it, and her awareness sifted through the viscous sludge,
drawing closer to the source. Individual sounds separated out until she could
distinguish the spaces between the words, but not the words themselves. The
voice sounded human and male, but the tones were hysterical, as if the owner
grappled with fear.
    She
immediately wanted to sooth the insistent fearful qualities and worked hard to
pull herself closer through the thick fog. Sounds intensified, and light
pierced the murk in ragged tears, demanding her attention. Bridget struggled to
reach for the light, but her body felt weighted down; and she began to sink
away from it.
    Help!
    She
didn’t want to fall into the darkness again. She didn’t want to be trapped
there forever, lost in the black blankness. She screamed her silent terror, and
the voice she’d heard reached deep down into her darkness and wrapped a cord of
bright light around her, dragging her back to consciousness.
    “Bridget Shanahan, come back to
me. Don’t leave just yet. Hold on! I’ll help you if you just reach for me!”
    “Uhnnn.” She groaned and slowly
opened her eyes.
    Light speared her sight, and she
squinted until the pain receded. Details of the room around her settled into
solidity. Her eyes took in an elegantly decorated room in warm colors; a burgundy
bedspread over emerald green sheets draped around her body. One brick wall
appeared beyond the oak footboard and made a solid background to the man seated
in a chair at her bedside.
    Bridget immediately recognized
the handsome man from Snickerdoodles, and her heart fluttered with excitement.
She’d danced with him, and now he sat here in her bedroom. Wait, what was he
doing in her bedroom? Her eyes snapped to the bedspread again. This wasn’t her bedroom!
    “Where am I?” she asked as she
struggled to sit up, but aborted the effort when pain shot through her side.
    “Just
rest for now. You aren’t ready yet.” His familiar voice settled some of her
uncertainty and fright.
    “Why do I hurt? What’s wrong with
me?”
    The pain
felt like she’d   been hit by a baseball
bat beneath her ribs on the left side. What was wrong with her? She hadn’t felt
this bad, even after she’d woken up on the couch in her dream. She pushed   her hand down to test her injury, but she
couldn’t feel anything.
    “Do you remember me, Bridget? I
met you at Snickerdoodles.”
    Oh, she remembered, all right.
She remembered the scent of his skin and the warmth of his body beside her. At
least, she thought she did. He’d wrapped his trench coat   around her, hadn’t he?
    She closed her eyes and shook her
head to clear the cobwebs of mixed memories.
    “I returned your book and tried
to hail a cab for you. Do you remember that?”
    No. Wait. Yes, she remembered the
terrible kidnapping scene in the book and how she’d left it on the table in the
coffee shop. Her memories played out in a reel until it ended with red eyes and
searing pain.
    Bridget’s eyes flew open, and she
stared at her companion with dawning unease. His expression filled with concern
and compassion, his eyes a deep chocolate brown. No sign of red