Until Forever Read Online Free

date.
    The first man she had ever taken a real interest in had been Barry Horton. Gail had feigned a collapse when she’d been told, screaming, “Finally!” because Roseleen was twenty-six at the time. He’d started teaching at Westerley the year after she did, and she was drawn to him because of their common interest in history.
    Westerley, along with a number of other prestigious schools, had courted her during her last year of college, because of her outstanding grades. She had chosen Westerley because it was in a small town, which she preferred, because it was only a three-hour drive from where Gail had moved to, and because she’d been promised tenure within her first year there—if she fulfilled all expectations, which she did.
    When she began dating Barry not long after he joined the staff, she found out that not all men were interested in groping first, conversation second. Barry wooed her intellectually, which was why she’d liked him so much, and why it hadn’t taken her long to think she was in love with him.
    His proposal had come much later, but not long after she’d agreed to marry him, he’d stolen her research notes on the book she was writing about the Middle Ages. She hadn’t even known it, had been devastated to thinkthat two years’ worth of work had been accidentally tossed out in the trash as he’d suggested, until her book was published a year later, under Barry’s name.
    He’d done his best to get her to marry him before the publication date. But she’d put it off for one reason or another—if she were fanciful, she’d think a fairy godmother had been guiding her in those days, to keep her from making an even bigger mistake.
    She’d taken Barry to court, of course, and had nearly lost her job because of it, because the dean had recommended she drop the case and she’d refused. She’d lost the case, but only after it was implied that she was the bitter, deserted lover, a vindictive woman merely trying to get even. Lies, all of it, except maybe for the bitter part, but she’d been unable to prove otherwise. Barry got to reap the rewards of her work, but she’d learned a valuable lesson from him. He’d taught her never to trust a man again.
    That had been six months ago. Since then, she had seriously been considering giving up her tenure at Westerley College and moving elsewhere. She didn’t even want to be in the same state as Barry Horton anymore, let alone the same campus, where it was inevitable that she would run into him frequently—and he could get away with tasteless little jokes like the one he’d pulled yesterday.
    She would make her decision this summer, when she visited Cavenaugh Cottage in England, her one legacy from her great-grandmother. She had been going there each summer ever since it had become hers five years ago. It was there that she did most of her research. It was there that she’d first heard about Blooddrinker’s Curse.
    Now, as she opened the box that contained the sword, she was experiencing the same anticipation and excitement that she had felt last night. But she felt something else too, that prompted her to tell her friend, “Look, but don’t touch.”
    Gail laughed. “You sound like you’re talking about a man, Rosie.”
    Roseleen snorted. “You know me better than that.”
    But Roseleen couldn’t imagine why she’d said what she did. It had just come out automatically—and it smacked of possessiveness, something she’d never experienced before. She was proud of her collection, yes, but she didn’t guard it jealously.
    But instead of amending her statement, she offered instead, “This one is so old, I worry about it even being exposed to the air, let alone the oil in our hands. Silly, I know; it’s survived this long. But I won’t stop worrying until I get it safely behind glass.”
    “I don’t blame you. A deadly thing like that definitely needs your protection.” Gail said it straight-faced, but after a second, they were both