Dying For You
Authors: MaryJanice Davidson
“WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT A VAMPIRE WHOSE LOYALTY CAN BE BOUGHT BY DESIGNER SHOES? CAN WE SAY, OUTRAGEOUS?”
—The Best Reviews
UNDEAD AND UNFINISHED
“[A]n amusing episode in Davidson’s popular series.”
—
Booklist
“A sassy paranormal tale.”
—
Monsters and Critics
UNDEAD AND UNWELCOME
“Packs a chic coffin.”
—
The Denver Post
“Twists and turns to keep the readers hooked and longing for the next part.”
—
ParaNormal Romance
“Outrageously wacky.”
—
RT Book Reviews
UNDEAD AND UNEASY
“Breezy dialogue, kick-ass action, and endearing characters.”
—
Booklist
“Be prepared to fall in love with the Undead all over again!”
—
Romance Reviews Today
“Davidson—and her full-throated humor—is in top form. When it comes to outlandish humor, Davidson reigns supreme!”
—
RT Book Reviews
UNDEAD AND UNPOPULAR
“Terrific…Starts off zany and never slows down.”
—
ParaNormal Romance
“Think
Sex and the City
…filled with demons and vampires.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“Bubbly fun for fans of the series.”
—
Booklist
“Make sure you have enough breath to laugh a long time before you read this…This is simply fun, no two ways about it.”
—
The Eternal Night
UNDEAD AND UNRETURNABLE
“Cheerily eerie ‘vamp lit’…A bawdy, laugh-out-loud treat!”
—
BookPage
“There is never a dull moment in the life (or death!) of Betsy…A winner all the way around!”
—
The Road to Romance
“Plenty of laugh-out-loud moments…I can’t wait for the next installment of Undead.”
—
A Romance Review
UNDEAD AND UNAPPRECIATED
“The best vampire chick lit of the year…Davidson’s prose zings from wisecrack to wisecrack.”
—
Detroit Free Press
“A lighthearted vampire pastiche…A treat.”
—
Omaha World-Herald
“MS. DAVIDSON HAS HER OWN BRAND OF WIT AND SHOCKING SURPRISES THAT MAKE HER VAMPIRE SERIES ONE OF A KIND.”
—Darque Reviews
UNDEAD AND UNEMPLOYED
“One of the funniest, most satisfying series to come along lately. If you’re fans of Sookie Stackhouse and Anita Blake, don’t miss Betsy Taylor. She rocks.”
—
The Best Reviews
“I don’t care what mood you are in, if you open this book you are practically guaranteed to laugh…Top-notch humor and a fascinating perspective of the vampire world.”
—
ParaNormal Romance
UNDEAD AND UNWED
“Delightful, wicked fun!”
—Christine Feehan
“Chick lit meets vampire action in this creative, sophisticated, sexy, and wonderfully witty book.”
—Catherine Spangler
“Hilarious.”
—
The Best Reviews
“It is a book for any woman who can understand that being fashionable, looking good, and having great shoes are important…even if you’re dead.”
—
LoveVampires
“NO ONE DOES HUMOROUS ROMANTIC FANTASY BETTER THAN THE INCOMPARABLE MARYJANICE DAVIDSON.”
—The Best Reviews
PRAISE FOR MARYJANICE DAVIDSON’S WYNDHAM WEREWOLF TALES
“A riotous romp.”
—
Booklist
“Werewolves and romance, who could ask for more!…The passion in this story is intense.”
—
The Best Reviews
“A wonderful story that lovers of werewolves and romance will greatly enjoy and will find flat-out funny. Readers who prefer what they read to be witty should read
Derik’s Bane
and other works by MaryJanice Davidson.”
—
Romance Junkies
“This is by far the sexiest and most romantic story in this collection, and alone is worth the cover price…Davidson also manages to do what I thought was impossible: weave an honest-to-goodness love story in a scant fifty pages. And the sex? Wow. My grade: A.”
—
All About Romance
“An arousing triumph.”
—
Midwest Book Review
“MaryJanice Davidson writes wonderful dialogue and banter.”
—
Crescent Blues
“Get set for some high-powered sex and romance that will have you howling at the moon for Mr. Gorgeous too! Ms. Davidson created a memorable story in ‘Love’s Prisoner’ that I know I won’t forget. Very creative and it sure gets your juices flowing in the right direction!”
—Suzanne Coleburn,
The Belles and Beaux of Romance
Titles by MaryJanice Davidson
UNDEAD AND UNWED
UNDEAD AND UNEMPLOYED
UNDEAD AND UNAPPRECIATED
UNDEAD AND UNRETURNABLE
UNDEAD AND UNPOPULAR
UNDEAD AND UNEASY
UNDEAD AND UNWORTHY
UNDEAD AND UNWELCOME
UNDEAD AND UNFINISHED
UNDEAD AND UNDERMINED
UNDEAD AND UNSTABLE
DERIK’S BANE
WOLF AT THE DOOR
SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES
SWIMMING WITHOUT A NET
FISH OUT OF WATER
Titles by MaryJanice Davidson and Anthony Alongi
JENNIFER SCALES AND THE ANCIENT FURNACE
JENNIFER SCALES AND THE MESSENGER OF LIGHT
THE SILVER MOON ELM: A JENNIFER SCALES NOVEL
SERAPH OF SORROW: A JENNIFER SCALES NOVEL
RISE OF THE POISON MOON: A JENNIFER SCALES NOVEL
EVANGELINA: A JENNIFER SCALES NOVEL
Anthologies
CRAVINGS
(with Laurell K. Hamilton, Rebecca York, Eileen Wilks)
BITE
(with Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, Angela Knight, Vickie Taylor)
KICK ASS
(with Maggie Shayne, Angela Knight, Jacey Ford)
MEN AT WORK
(with Janelle Denison, Nina Bangs)
DEAD AND LOVING IT
SURF’S UP
(with Janelle Denison, Nina Bangs)
MYSTERIA
(with P. C. Cast, Gena Showalter, Susan Grant)
OVER THE MOON
(with Angela Knight, Virginia Kantra, Sunny)
DEMON’S DELIGHT
(with Emma Holly, Vickie Taylor, Catherine Spangler)
DEAD OVER HEELS
MYSTERIA LANE
(with P. C. Cast, Gena Showalter, Susan Grant)
MYSTERIA NIGHTS
(includes
Mysteria
and
Mysteria Lane,
with P. C. Cast, Susan Grant, Gena Showalter)
UNDERWATER LOVE
(includes
Sleeping with the Fishes, Swimming Without a Net,
and
Fish out of Water
)
DYING FOR YOU
for You
M
ARY
J
ANICE
D
AVIDSON
BERKLEY SENSATION, NEW YORK
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada
(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
•
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(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)
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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over
and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
“The Fixer-Upper” copyright © 2004 by MaryJanice Davidson Alongi. Previously published in
Men at Work
.
“Paradise Bossed” copyright © 2006 by MaryJanice Alongi. Previously published in
Surf’s Up
.
“Driftwood” copyright © 2007 by MaryJanice Alongi. Previously published in
Over the Moon
.
“Witch Way” copyright © 2007 by MaryJanice Alongi. Previously published in
Demon’s Delight
.
Cover illustration John Jay Cabuey.
Cover design Leslie Worrell.
Interior text design by Kristin del Rosario.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or
electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of
copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
BERKLEY SENSATION
®
is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
The “B” design is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Berkley Sensation trade paperback edition / August 2012
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Davidson, MaryJanice.
Dying for you / MaryJanice Davidson.—Berkley Sensation trade pbk ed.
p. cm.
ISBN: 978-1-101-57506-2
I. Title.
PS3604.A949D95 2012
813’.6—dc23 2012020130
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ALWAYS LEARNING
PEARSON
Fixer-Upper
For Stacy,
who gave me the idea
Thanks as always to my family for their support. And especially to my sister, who never minds when I cancel our plans so I can finish a story.
There are no such things as ghosts, which only means that I have never seen one.
He dodged, laughing, and lost his footing. The fun stopped as the stairs rushed up at him. Adrenaline was dumped into his system, but there was nothing to clutch onto, nothing to slow his fall. The last thing he heard, besides his neck breaking between the third and fourth vertebrae, was his sister, screaming.
He did plenty of screaming himself, but no one could hear him, and no one could see him.
He stayed gone for a long time.
“And if you would sign here…and initial here…and sign here…and here again…”
Cathy signed and initialed until her hand cramped. Catherine Sarah Wyth. CSW. Thank goodness for all those little red Sign Here notes, or she would have been lost. Even
with
her realtor.
“And here’s a check.”
“What a pleasant surprise,” she said, and she meant it. The house she was buying was already draining money; it was nice that they’d overestimated closing costs. She could buy a new couch! Well, half a couch. A cushion, maybe. “Is that it? Are we done?”
Her realtor, John Barnes, looked across the table at the owner’s lawyer, John Barney. Like
that
never got confusing. “I think we’re okay, here, how about you, John?”