Bryony stared at him, shocked by her own words and the venom behind them. She glanced at Veronica, whose face had paled during the heated exchange between her father and her sister.
“Veronica,” Barrett said quietly. “Your sister and I need a few moments alone.”
With a worried glance in Bryony’s direction, Veronica hurried out of the room and shut the door behind her.
Hands clasped behind his back, Barrett said, “I know you think you’re in love with Stefan. I’ve seen how charming he can be, the way you look at him. But it’s all vampire glamour, daughter. His kind isn’t capable of love, at least not the kind you deserve. He can’t give you children or any kind of a normal life. He’ll be hunted as long as he lives. He’s caused nothing but trouble and hard feelings between the two of us. What if he makes you choose between him and your family?”
Bryony stared at her father, speechless. She didn’t agree with everything he said, but there was some truth in there. Enough to give her pause. She had never given much thought to having children, she had just assumed motherhood was somewhere in her future. But it would never happen if she married Stefan. It was true he had caused a good deal of discord in her family. Would that change if they wed? Or would it only get worse? And what if it got unbearable? Would she be forced to choose between Stefan and her loved ones?
Barrett cleared his throat as he sensed his daughter weakening in her resolve. “If you promise not to marry Stefan without my permission, I’ll go to the bank and see if I can geta loan to repay Bloodworth’s note. We can annul the marriage since it hasn’t been consummated. Except for our family, no one else knows about it, so there won’t be any embarrassment for Bloodworth.” He took a deep breath and blew it out in a long, slow sigh. “What do you say, daughter?”
“Stefan said he would repay the loan for you. Why can’t you just accept it?”
Barrett shook his head. “Do you honestly think I could take charity from him now? Or that he would even offer it after what I’ve done?”
“I don’t know. What I do know is that you’ll never agree to let me marry Stefan,” she said. “I know it, and so do you.”
“I promise I’ll make an honest effort to get to know him. Give me say, six months.”
Bryony frowned. It wasn’t a flat-out no, and it was probably the best compromise she was likely to get. Surely in six months, her father would realize that, except for being a vampire, Stefan was pretty much like anyone else. He liked music and books and the theater. He wasn’t a monster or a wild-eyed maniac. But he would always be a vampire, she thought bleakly, and her father would never accept him. “What if you can’t get a loan?”
“Gregor Thompson owns the bank. We’ve been friends for a long time. I think he’ll give it to me. I can put the house up for collateral.” Barrett glanced around the well-appointed room with its luxurious furniture and expensive draperies. “If he turns me down, we’ll have to sell the house and its contents.”
She couldn’t let him do that. She couldn’t force her family out on the street. “I will go through with the marriage to Bloodworth if there’s no other choice. But if you manage to repay the loan, I’m going to marry Stefan whether you like it or not.”
A muscle ticked in her father’s jaw. And then he nodded. “You may not believe it, but I’m trying to do what’s best for everyone.” Shoulders slumped, he headed for the door.
“Stefan is what’s best for me,” she murmured.
Her father paused briefly as if he wanted to refute her words and then left the room.
Bryony stared after him. If her father couldn’t get a loan from the bank, she would beg Stefan to lend them the money they needed. She knew her father would object, but she didn’t care. This was no time to stand on pride. If they couldn’t repay the debt, she would be forced to stay married to Bloodworth the Bald, with all that entailed, surely a fate worse than death.
Stefan paused outside the Barretts’ house. A quick brush of the minds of the people inside told him there had been a major shift in the thoughts and attitudes of the family. Barrett still refused to accept his help. Bryony had agreed to remain Bloodworth’s wife if the debt couldn’t be settled. She had, however, declared she would marry Stefan if the debt was resolved, something that was certain to cause a permanent rift in the family.
Perhaps the best thing he could do for one and all was to simply disappear. He would wait and see if Barrett could repay the loan. If that failed, he would pay Bloodworth so Bryony could be free of the man. Free to marry a monster. What kind of life would that be? In time, she would likely grow to hate him.
He stared up at her bedchamber window. Perhaps he had been chasing something that didn’t exist for a creature such as he. Perhaps there could only be happiness when like-minded people loved and married.
Hands clenched, he turned away from the house, his urge to avenge himself on Barrett swallowed up in his ache at losing Bryony. He stared into the night and felt the darkness wrap around him. Hadn’t he known, deep down, that there was no other way for this to end? She belonged here, in a fine home, surrounded by a family who loved her.
And where, he wondered, did he belong?
He looked up at the moon that had been his sun for centuries. But the man in the moon had no answers for him.
He was about to return to his lair when Bryony came running across the lawn toward him. “Stefan!”
He almost dissolved into mist to avoid her, but the thought of holding her close one more time held him immobile. When she drew near, his arms closed around her. For a long moment, they clung to each other. And then, slowly, Stefan put her away from him.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Aren’t you glad to see me?”
“I am always glad to see you.”
“What is it, then?”
“I listened to your conversation with your father.”
“Oh?”
