there? My brain ran away with all sorts of scenarios that a woman on her own tries not to think about. I didn’t want to look, but I had to. I’d spend the whole night imagining the worst if I didn’t go to the window. As I got closer to the glass, a cold settled over the room and I shivered. I glimpsed something moving out there. It was too big to be a bird, but what else could it be at my first floor window? Stepping closer, I held my breath and peered out into the gloom. Something flashed past, inches away from the glass, making me squeal in surprise. I wasn’t imagining things. There really was something out there. I stumbled backwards and told myself it was just an owl or a bat, but the explanation didn’t sink deeper than the surface of my mind. I wanted to believe it, but I didn’t feel the truth of it. What I did feel scared me. A face glided into view and hung at the window. Pale and unmistakably masculine. The same slicked back hair and pale grey eyes that I’d been imagining for so long. I tripped on the edge of the rug and fell to the floor. Panic made me scrabble for the shelter of my bed and I crouched behind it. I was seeing things. I was lonely and I’d spent too much time on my own. It explained everything. I’d been fantasising for so long that I’d lost my grip on reality. But I knew what was happening now. When I looked up over the top of the bed, there’d be nothing at the window. I’d finish my bottle of wine and the alcohol would let me escape into sleep. I kneeled up, my heart beat deafening. He was still there. His gaze pierced the glass and drove right into the heart of me. My vampire lover had come for me after all these years. The rational part of me dismissed that as nonsense, but I found myself getting to my feet anyway. I went to the window, pulled in by the cold fire in his grey eyes. Standing at the window, I stared at him, soaking up every detail. There was nothing about him that was any different from the vamp in my head. He looked at me with the same hunger I’d seen in my dreams. “Invite me in.” His lips didn’t move. I heard him speak inside my head as clearly as if he’d been standing beside me. I turned the catch and pushed the sash window up to let him in. Cold night air poured into the room. I crossed my arms to offer some protection against the wind, but my teeth chattered anyway. He hung in the air outside, not moving a muscle. “Come in.” I’d forgotten. I had to say the words before he could enter. He rushed in through the open window with such speed and fluidity that I didn’t see him do it. I jumped as the window fell closed by itself, banging loudly in its frame. I didn’t have time to recover. He spun me around and took me into his arms. I had to look up to meet his gaze. The power in his eyes sent a shockwave all the way through my body and started a flood of moisture between my legs. I belonged to him. He didn’t have to say another word. I was his to handle as he saw fit. Standing in his embrace was like standing in front of an open refrigerator. The cold insinuated itself into my flesh and bones, raising prickles on my skin and making my nipples stand up hard against his chest. With incredible speed, he lifted me, opened the window and flew me through it. I clung to him as the cold night air hit me and he took us higher. My towel fell off and I watched it fall far below us, tumbling in the dark until it disappeared from view. Only his arms stopped me from going the same way. I tightened my hold around his neck, shivering as I clung to him. We flew on over the streets I knew so well and out into more unfamiliar territory. It wasn’t long before the noise of the city was behind us and we approached a huge old house on the boundary where urban became rural. It was beautiful. The moonlight shone down on the limestone mansion, turning it into a shimmering dream house. It was his. I knew it as surely as I knew my own name. I longed to see