Immortal Richart d’Alençon knows that loving a human can only bring trouble, but he can't seem to forget the woman who rewarded him with a sensuous kiss after he rescued her from a trio of vampires . . .
*Originally published in Predatory
It's not the first time Immortal Guardian Richart d'Alençon has saved a human life from eternal damnation. Usually, he moves on, a nameless savior like a ghost in the night. But this time he can't seem to forget the woman who rewarded him with a sensuous kiss after he rescued her from a trio of vampires. While Richart knows that loving a human can only bring trouble, the taste of forbidden lust is too great to resist...
Jenna never imagined she'd end up a single mom working overtime to put her son through school. But she might have daydreamed once that a devastatingly gorgeous Frenchman would sweep her off her feet. Now that a package of tall, dark, and handsome seems intent on doing just that, doctors are telling her she may not have long to live. But Richart is telling her just the opposite. All she has to do is abandon her humanity...
Includes a special sneak peek of NIGHT UNBOUND
Excerpt
She laughed. "Thank you for being such a good sport about it."
"Thank you for letting me cook you dinner." He set his bags down on the counter and started removing the ingredients he'd purchased on the way there. "I should probably warn you that I haven't been on a date in quite a while, so I'm a little rusty."
Her eyebrows flew up as she transferred the cold foods to her refrigerator. "How long has it been?"
"Longer than I care to admit. My job and odd hours tend to make dating difficult."
She nodded. "Being a single mom and working the night shift does, too. I haven't dated in a while either."
"Excellent. Then, if neither of us remembers the rules, we don't have to follow them."
"Sounds good to me." She closed the refrigerator door and leaned her hip against it, crossing her arms just beneath her breasts. "Listen, I'm sort of a get-the-truth-out-there-so-when-it-comes-up-later-it-won't-be-an-issue kind of gal, so there's something I wanted to mention."
This couldn't be good.
She hesitated. "You know I'm older than you, right?"
Richart stared down at her and forced himself not to laugh at the irony. He may be over two hundred years old, but he looked as if he were in his late twenties, thirty at the most. And Jenna was worried that her being thirty-seven would be a problem?
"Honestly, I could not care less how old you are, Jenna," he assured her, all the while calling himself a bastard for not taking the opening she had provided and broaching the topic of who and what he was. She valued truth. If he continued to keep it from her . . .
A hint of insecurity entered her features. "I don't mean to press this, but . . . I dated a guy once—very briefly—who said the same thing until his friends found out and started to razz him about it. I'm thirty-seven. Are you sure that isn't a problem?"
"I don't know why his friends would tease him about dating you unless they were envious. You look like you're in your twenties, Jenna. Not much older than your son, in fact. And, if you looked like you were in your forties, guess what. I would be just as interested."
She smiled and closed the distance between them. "And if I looked like I were in my fifties?"
"Still interested."
"Sixties?"
"I happen to think laugh lines are hot."
She laughed. "Good, because I have a feeling you're going to give me a few."
"I should hope so," he said, telling himself not to think about the fact that he would still look and feel as he did now when she was in her sixties, seventies, and eighties and all of the problems that would generate.
You're getting ahead of yourself, old man. This is your first damned date. Not your engagement party.
"You don't mind that I'm older than you. You don't mind that I'm a single mom, putting a son through college." She shook her head and smiled up at him, expression soft. "You're a rare breed, Richart d'Alençon."
She didn't know the half of it.
Unable to resist, he dipped his head and touched his lips to hers in a gentle caress.
Her breath caught.
Lightning struck.
Both their hearts began to beat faster.
Resting a hand on her waist, Richart tilted his head and explored those smooth pink lips that had drawn his gaze so often, then drew back before his emotions could take over and make his eyes begin to glow.
"Wow," Jenna breathed, staring up at him.
"I am so smitten with you," he admitted softly.
Professional Reviews
Publishers Weekly
"Readers will appreciate the rich characterizations and the kick-butt action of Duvall's In Still Darkness, as Richart d'Alençon, a 200-year-old Guardian, woos charming Jenna McBride with warmth and passion."
Nocturne Reads
"Full of action and romance and quite a few laughs in between."
eBook Obsessed
"This had all the fun, excitement and great characters that I have come to expect from Dianne Duvall."
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