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It was the cold water that finally drove them out of the shower and down the stairs Roshan lit a fire in the hearth, then drew her down on the rug, his arainst him, sleepy-eyed and content as she watched the flarave if she could see her granddaughter now, sitting naked on the floor in the arinity well and truly lost

Glancing up, sheto marry me?" She hadn't meant to ask the question but, once spoken, there was no taking it back

"Is that what you want, Brenna?"

"Only if you do"

"And if I said no?"

Her heart seemed to drop to the floor If he didn't want to marry her, what then? Could she stay here, in his house, as hisnow? She kneould be, though she was reluctant to adht of passion in a man's arms, quite another to make a conscious decision to live with hih, in this ti with it

"You said you loved me," she reminded him, her voice barely audible

"I do"

"But you do not wish to ain," he replied slowly "I never thought any woazed deep into her eyes "Have you thought it through, Brenna? Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Only if you do," she said again

"I would be honored to have you asas you live"

As long as she lived The words hit her like a blast of cold air In tirow old and feeble Her skin would wrinkle, her hair would turn gray, her hearing and eyesight would grow dim But time had no claim on Roshan In twenty years or a hundred, he would be as he was now— strong and healthy and vigorous, a man forever in his prime

Roshan watched the play of emotions on her face, the doubts that rose in her eyes He didn't have to use his preternatural senses to knohat she was thinking A moment later, her words confirmed his suspicions

"Will you still lovehis "Hoill you feel when I am old and you are not? When that tier?"

"I will never leave you, Brenna, I swear it Young or old, I will love you as ht Hoould she feel when her youth was behind her? Would she resent all that she had given up to spend her life with hiiven up the chance to be a randchildren she had never had? When she was an old woer burned within her, would she grieve for the life she had given up, for the posterity that had never been born? Would she hate hie? Would her hatred destroy the love she felt for hirow old The seductive words crawled through her mind You have only to become as he is If she becaether forever But did she want to be a vaht, to survive on the blood of others?

Unbidden, Anthony Loken came to mind Perhaps there was another way…