Under a Vampire Moon (45 page)

Authors: Lynsay Sands

BOOK: Under a Vampire Moon

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The stupid, vicious, nasty, old cow. He never should have had Mrs. Stuart watch Livy. He’d known she wouldn’t be able to keep her Bible-thumping to herself, but he’d had no choice. Mrs. Stuart used to be a nurse before retiring, and there was no one else he’d trusted to know what to do if there had been a problem. But he’d never let the old bitch near her again. If she was good God might like her? But he probably wouldn’t because she’d cried? The child was dying of cancer, being eaten alive, wasting away and suffering a pain that he couldn’t even comprehend and couldn’t prevent. They had given him a prescription for the strongest dosage of pain meds they could for Livy, but they did little for the girl. The only other option was to keep her sedated in the hospital until she died, and he refused to do that. He wouldn’t simply watch her die. He wanted her cured, but until then, nothing seemed to ease the pain she was suffering, and for Mrs. Stuart to suggest that her crying because of that excruciating pain might make God not like her so she wouldn’t see her mother—

“Daddy?”

Stiffening, Paul sucked in a breath to calm himself, and then turned to peer blankly at the five-year-old girl standing in the kitchen doorway. In the next moment, he was rushing forward to scoop her up. “What are you doing out of bed, baby. You shouldn’t be up.”

“I’m tired of staying in bed,” Livy said unhappily, and then reached up to touch his chin. “You’re bleeding. Did you cut yourself?”

“No. Yes. Daddy’s fine,” Paul assured her grimly, carrying her back up the stairs. She was all bones and pale skin, and his heart ached as he held her. The child was precious, the most precious thing in his life. Paul lived for her, and he’d die for her too, if he had to. But for now, he’d put her back to bed and then catch a couple hours of sleep himself. He’d stayed awake all night and needed to be alert and on the ball when he talked to Jeanne Louise Argeneau. He needed to be clear and persuasive. He needed to convince her to make his child one of her kind. He’d give her anything she wanted to get her to do that, including his own life, just so long as she turned her and taught her to survive as a vampire. He’d give anything and everything to know she lived on. He’d failed her mother, his wife, Jerri. But he wouldn’t fail Livy. He had to convince Jeanne Louise to save her life. She was his only hope.

About the Author

LYNSAY SANDS is the nationally bestselling author of the Argeneau/Rogue Hunter vampire series, as well as numerous historicals and anthologies. She’s been writing stories since grade school and considers herself incredibly lucky to be able to make a career out of it. Her hope is that readers can get away from their everyday stress through her stories, and if there are occasional uncontrollable fits of laughter, that’s just a big bonus.

Please visit her on the web at
www.lynsaysands.net
.

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By Lynsay Sands

Under a Vampire Moon

The Reluctant Vampire

Hungry For You

Born to Bite

The Renegade Hunter

The Immortal Hunter

The Rogue Hunter

Vampire, Interrupted

Vampires Are Forever

The Accidental Vampire

Bite Me If You Can

A Bite to Remember

A Quick Bite

Tall, Dark & Hungry

Single White Vampire

Love Bites

The Husband Hunt

The Heiress

The Countess

The Hellion and the Highlander

Taming the Highland Bride

Devil of the Highlands

Coming Soon

The Lady Is a Vamp

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Excerpt from
The Lady Is a Vamp
copyright 2012 © by Lynsay Sands

UNDER A VAMPIRE MOON
. Copyright © 2012 by Lynsay Sands. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Edition MAY 2012 ISBN: 9780062119377

Print Edition ISBN: 9780062100207

FIRST EDITION

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