Vampire Dreams Revamped (A Sons of Navarus Prequel) Read Online Free Page A

stay, at least for the
time being.
    As he escorted her out of the servants'
area, he said, “I’ll show you to your room, Miss Stephens.”
    Arden followed him up the stairs to a second
floor of bedrooms and a hallway that led to servants’ quarters at
the back of the house. When he stopped at a bedroom door, she stood
confused.
    “This will be your room. My room is at the
end of the hall near the front of the house and that leads to the
servants’ area.”
    “Sir?”
    “Good night, Miss Stephens.”
    Before she could ask if it would be better
if she stayed with the rest of the help in the servants’ quarters,
he turned and left her. As she watched him descend the stairs,
Arden wondered just what exactly she’d agreed to.
    ***
    Brandon leaned back in his chair in his
study and considered the evening’s events. Saving Arden from her
attacker had been a fortunate happenstance indeed. Although he’d
been at that building for an entirely different reason, the potent
scent of one like himself in pursuit of prey had encouraged him to
stay to watch. He'd even considered joining in, particularly after
his conversation with Vasilije. A little diversion was definitely
in order.
    However, just the sight of Arden had made
him interrupt the chase. Innocent, with a gentleness that touched
him, she couldn't be left to suffer the fate the vampire chasing
her had planned. Her brown eyes staring up at him in desperation
and her hands pressed to his chest as she pleaded for his help had
ignited something in him making him want her for himself.
    As he finished the last of his port, he
remembered with pleasure the feel of her bent over in front of him.
The feel of her hips under his hands. The softness of her body
pressed against his. With no effort, she’d aroused him, even though
the act had been entirely pretend. And if his acute sense of smell
wasn’t mistaken, she’d wanted him.
    As he fantasized about her, he wondered what
had happened to make her one of London’s many homeless. Why had no
one taken her for his wife? He thought of her wit combined with her
obvious beauty and imagined many a young man vying for her hand.
Young men like himself.
    No. Not like me.
    It didn't matter. No, he wasn't a young
suitor who would court her and hope she'd graciously say yes to his
offer of marriage someday. He was a vampire hundreds of years old,
but that didn't mean he couldn't have love. He was more than the
dissolute soul who'd accepted a stranger's touch simply to feel
something just hours earlier.
    Arden was more than just some homeless
wretch he'd saved from an unknown assailant. She was someone he
could keep safe in his house as his maid. And even if he couldn’t
be the kind of man she deserved, he would make her his.
     

Chapter Three
    Arden spent her first full day in her new
home learning from the rest of Brandon’s staff how he liked his
house run. Mrs. Benson lectured her on such topics as dust and the
importance of beating rugs correctly, while the older Mrs. Jandry,
the cook, stood quietly cutting vegetables and preparing meals each
time Arden passed through the kitchen.
    By dinnertime, she hadn’t seen him yet that
day and casually inquired about his daily schedule from Mrs.
Jandry.
    “Does Mr. Ridley usually stay away from the
house all day?”
    Never lifting her eyes from the bread dough
she was kneading, the grey haired lady replied, “The master is a
night owl, to be sure. As his maid, you best become accustomed to
his peculiar schedule.”
    She ate dinner with the rest of the
servants, listening to the two women bicker about some Mr. Andrews
and his poor treatment of his daughter, but Arden silently wondered
exactly what Mrs. Jandry had meant by “peculiar schedule.” She
remembered Brandon saying the maid took care of him. Did that mean
turning her days and nights upside down and becoming a night owl
like him? And if so, when would she sleep—in the day?
    Resolved to ask him about her concerns, she
waited to