“Speaking of helpless humans,” Graham interjected, “where’s your young lady?”
“She’s hardly helpless,” Christian said, though in truth a part of him was thinking precisely that.
“We’d love to meet her.” Pen’s Southern accent turned the words soothing. “From what Graham tells me, you hold her in high regard.”
Christian definitely did that. Whether Grace was prepared to be introduced as “his” young lady, he didn’t know. The telephone’s sudden jangle saved him from responding. When he lifted the receiver, Charlie was on the line.
“Hey, man,” he said. “Come join us at Grace’s for pre-premiere cocktails.”
“Grace’s?” Christian tried not to bristle over Charlie inviting him to his lover’s home.
“We were going to meet at Naomi’s, but she must have been in a mood. She nearly bit my head off when I suggested it. Viv’s here, too. If you ride your Harley, you can take her straight to Grauman’s from Grace’s place.”
“I have guests.”
“The more, the merrier,” Charlie said. “I know Grace won’t enjoy this half as much without you. You know how uptight she gets at parties.”
Grace’s uptightness was something Charlie could coax her out of, but Christian appreciated his faith in him.
“We’ll be there soon,” he said. “Don’t let anyone get too drunk.”
“I’m on top of that already,” Charlie assured him.
G
race couldn’t help but notice Charlie had grown up in the last five months. He’d always been confident, but his big break seemed to have made him calmer—maybe even responsible. Tonight, he’d brought his own cocktail-making supplies and was proud of himself for it.
“I’ll have you know,” he said as he passed Philip a blush-colored champagne flute, “these are authentic Hemingwaystyle Bellinis, made with Prosecco and peach purée.”
He watched as Philip swallowed a cautious sip. “They’re good,” he said, “but nobody’s going to get tipsy drinking them.”
“That’s the idea, my friends. We’re going to have an embarrassment-free premiere.”
The younger members of the cast were gathered in Grace’s living room, which she’d decorated with brightly colored secondhand furniture. Though the apartment had the advantage of being hers, it was no match for her old cottage on Miss Wei’s grounds. The small dimensions of the space made her guests seem like quite a crowd. Luckily, they didn’t mind being squished together. Considering how excited and nervous everyone was, it was no wonder they were bubbling more than their Bellinis.
If
Teen-Age Vampire
turned out to be a hit, it could change all their lives.
“Can I talk to you a minute?” Viv asked Grace in an undertone. She was the belle of the ball in her loaned-out diamond necklace and strapless blue satin Dior gown. She’d have to ride Christian’s motorcycle sidesaddle, but if anyone could pull that off, it was her. For that matter, if anyone could keep her safe, it was him. Grace’s dress was a much less flashy knee-length affair. Its black velvet and close fit satisfied any niggling urge she had to show off.
“Sure,” she said, wondering what Viv wanted to talk about. Since part of what she wanted seemed to be privacy, she pushed open the saloon doors to her postage stamp- size kitchen.
Viv preceded her in. She stopped by the sink, where she turned and leaned nervously.
“Here,” the actress said, thrusting out a white-lidded box. “It’s yours. You never asked for it back.”
Inside was the charm watch Miss Wei had given her. Grace remembered how touched she’d been to receive it. Now she wasn’t sure she’d ever wear it again. She stroked the coiled silver links and tried to decide what she ought to say.
“I wanted to thank you for being so nice about everything,” Viv said.
“I was never mad at you, Viv. You were just—”
“Being an idiot?”
“I was going to say just being eighteen.”
Viv looked down at her tangled fingers, then up at Grace again. “I’m seeing someone,” she blurted. “A girl someone. We have to keep it quiet, but it’s been nice.”
“I’m glad for you,” Grace said.
“I don’t know if it’s a forever love affair or anything.”
“Does it have to be?”
“No,” Viv said, then let a brilliant smile break across her face. “It’s been good to finally be myself for a while.”
G
race told her heart not to go crazy just because Christian was shouldering into her living room—advice her heart pretty much ignored. Each time she saw him, the love she felt swelled bigger. When he reached her, she had to hug him, and when she hugged him, she had to go to her toes and lay a soft, slow kiss on his lovely mouth. She’d never kissed him in front of people, but celebrating this event seemed to demand it.
A few whistles from the boys were a small price to pay.
The kiss went on until Christian’s fangs started to slide down. With a sigh that was half laugh and half reluctance, he pulled his tongue free of hers. Grace quivered inside at how he licked his lips.
“That’s quite a welcome,” he said, his eyes sparkling with pleasure. “My friends are going to be impressed.”
“Your
friends
?”
“They’re in the hallway.” He held her face and looked fondly down at her. “There’s a bit of a crush in here.”
“Oh,” Grace said. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
He kissed her lips gently one more time. “You’re perfect, sweetheart. And that dress!” He let out a growl that delighted her. “I’ll bring you out to them.”
She must have grown more sensitive to the signs, because she saw at once that his friends were vampires. She felt a moment’s instinctive caution, but it passed as soon as Christian squeezed her hand. No friends of his were going to hurt her.
“Grace, this is Graham Fitz Clare and his wife, Pen.”
“I’m so glad you could come,” Grace said.
The big man’s smile was both sweet and mischievous. “Didn’t think I’d ever see old Durand with a real girlfriend.”
“Graham!” His wife elbowed him. “We’re pleased to meet you, Grace. Any friend of Christian’s is a friend of ours.”
Grace had caught glimpses of this before—that Christian had led a life between the time she first knew him and the day they met in his barn. The vampire couple’s obvious affection for him made her think Christian hadn’t told her the whole story of his past. Maybe he didn’t know it himself. More people than she had discovered how lovable he was.
Christian’s hand slid up her back to rub the nape of her neck underneath her hair. To her surprise, his fingers were trembling. “Grace, do you think I could steal a few minutes with you in private before we have to take off?”
This must have been her evening for tête-a-têtes. “Sure,” she said. “Why don’t we try the stairwell?”
“You’ll be all right?” he asked his friends, his head jerking toward the noise in her living room.
Graham Fitz Clare laughed at him. “Don’t you worry.
We
like people.”
“They seem nice,” Grace said as they entered her building’s stairs.
Christian hummed and leaned back to block the metal fire door from opening. She could see his mind wasn’t on his friends.
“Is something wrong? You look pale. Paler,” she said when he rolled his eyes.
“My glamour’s probably thinning.” He drew a full breath into his chest—not a common act for him. “Grace, I hope it isn’t too soon to ask this, because I don’t think I can wait anymore.”
“Ask what?” Grace said, her shoulders tightening at his manner.
He held up a finger and dug into his white dinner jacket’s right pocket. The black jeweler’s box he drew out seemed a good indicator of what this was about.
“Oh, boy,” she said, her hand pressed to her suddenly pounding heart.
Her reaction brought Christian’s head back up in alarm. “You’re surprised. It
is
too soon.”
“No.” She reached for his arm, not knowing how he could think it. “It’s that I told myself not to hope for this.”
The stricken look left his face, replaced by one so warm it hiked her temperature. “You can hope for anything from me. In truth, I may be the one hoping for too much.”
“How could you—
Ohh
.” Her hand flew up to her throat. “You want to change me. You want me to be a vampire like you.”
Her voice had risen enough to echo in the cinder block stairwell. Obviously sensitive to her agitation, he stroked back the wave of hair that had fallen over her cheekbone. “It’s customary to wait until a mortal’s older, but I want you to have my advantages now. I want that even if you don’t want to marry me. I want us to walk side by side without—” He paused to search for the right phrasing.
“Without you always protecting me?”
He gripped her shoulders. “Protecting you is my pleasure and my privilege. If you stay with me long enough, you’ll absorb some of my powers anyway. You’ll be stronger and age more slowly. What I want is for you to have the choice to be with me or not, to have the benefits I can give you without the strings.”
He’d struck her speechless. She recalled the night he’d confessed to wanting to chain her to him, and now he was offering this! She had to drop her eyes for a moment to compose herself. He deserved that she take no less care with her words.
“Christian,” she said. “The day we first discussed the script at your house, when I drove away afterward, I felt like my heart was breaking. I almost couldn’t stop from turning the car around. Everything inside me remembered being in love with you.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but she wasn’t finished. As gently as she could, she laid her hand on his lips.
“The thing I didn’t understand was that you weren’t the only loss I was mourning. When I was a spirit, things that used to frighten me began to seem unimportant. What you did didn’t matter. I
couldn’t
close my heart. Meeting you again reminded me how wonderful that felt. I missed that fearless, loving person you thought was your angel.”
“You’re her, Grace,” Christian assured her. “Everything she was is still inside you. I see it every day.”
“I know I’m not as brave as I used to be.”
Christian’s Adam’s apple jerked. “Are you saying you’re not brave enough to marry me?”
Grace’s heart melted at his vulnerability. “I’m too selfish to refuse you. I adore you too much.”
“But?”
She hesitated. She was so lucky he wanted her to be a part of his life—and as his equal. Honestly, it was more than she’d dreamed he’d ask. Shouldn’t she jump at the offer before he changed his mind?
“I want ten more human years,” she blurted.
“Ten!”
Touched by his protest, she cupped his cheek. “I’ll marry you anytime you want. It’s the rest I want to wait on. Believe me, sticking close to you is no hardship, if that’s what it takes for you to trust I’ll be safe.”
“I suppose it
would
be complicated for you to start up as a director if you had to deal with being a vampire, too.”
“It would,” Grace agreed.
She watched the furrow deepen between his brows. “Very well,” he said after he’d mulled it over. “Ten years, and then you’re all mine. Now will you take this ring?”
She laughed at his impatience, then gasped as he snapped the black box open. This was no diamond chip he was giving her. “Oh, my . . . ”
He took her hand and slid the ring onto her shaking finger. Grace blinked at the huge sparkler. Christian had made certain no Hollywood mogul’s wife could outshine her.
“You can kiss me now,” he said. “But please forget about being angelic.”
His delivery was so deadpan she had to smile. She shouldn’t have worried he’d prefer her to be better. Their mouths met and tangled, and she felt her life come together in one warm ball, his arms circling her as tightly as hers did him. What she felt went deeper than happiness. He was her friend, her lover, her inspiration to find the best in herself.
Even if he was an actor.
“Five years,” he bargained against her mouth.
“We’ll see,” she said, laughing. “I should probably mention I’ve been considering leaving Miss Wei’s employ. It’s time I discover if I can direct on my own.”
“You’ll be brilliant,” he said.
That he believed this absolutely was obvious. Emotion choked her up as she spoke. “Your faith means the world to me.”
“Good,” he said, beaming more brightly than any human could. “Now let’s go tell those boys you belong to me.”
M
iss Wei’s Fury idled by the curb a few blocks short of Grauman’s on Hollywood Boulevard. Grace spotted the petite director behind the wheel, staring straight ahead like a mannequin.
“Hold up,” Grace said to the limo driver. “I think I’d better get out and speak to her.”