Read Online Enraptured by Brenda K. Davies - Free Book Online

“But these are delicious.”
    Paige finished the sandwich and licked her
fingers. “Would you like another?” Jill inquired.
    Shaking her head, Paige placed the plate on
her lap. Emma took it from her and set it on the bedside table.
“Can I go home now?” Paige inquired.
    Ian looked her over. Her cheeks had taken on
a rosy glow, her eyes shone with life and were more alert than
they’d been when she’d first woken. She looked healthy, but he
found himself hesitant to say goodbye to her already. He wouldn’t
keep someone against their will; no matter how much he longed to
spend just a few more minutes with her. He forced himself to take a
step away from her.
    Shaking his head, he tugged at his hair in
an attempt to rid himself of the strange impulse he had to keep her
with him. Don’t get attached, he reminded himself, it would only
end in her getting hurt, and this girl had experienced far too much
of that in her lifetime. He didn’t have to hear her story to know
that.
    For the first time ever, he found himself
curious to know more about a woman. It was probably better if she
left sooner rather than later, he decided.
    “Is she stable enough to go back, Mandy?” he
asked.
    “I believe so,” Mandy replied.
    “You can’t go back with your memories of us
intact,” Ian told her.
    Maybe he could tweak them a little so their
paths could cross again. He quickly shut that impulse down. In
order to keep himself and his family safe, he had to get far away
from this girl and everything she was mixed up in. This would be
the last time they ever saw each other.
    “I understand,” she murmured and folded her
hands demurely in her lap.
    She was taking this far easier than he’d
thought she would, but then she knew there was no other choice.
Still, he couldn’t bring himself to step forward and do it. He
wouldn’t be the one who violated her mind and erased her memories
of him from it. “Stefan, will you do it?”
    Stefan shot him a questioning look, but he
approached the bed. Ian moved toward his brother in the doorway.
Behind him, she spotted two other men in the hall. They both had
blond hair, it was different in hue than Ian’s, but she wondered if
they were some of the other siblings he’d mentioned. However, she
wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Ethan wasn’t really his
brother, and Stefan wasn’t his brother-in-law. Nothing a vampire
says is true , she reminded herself.
    Her attention was diverted to Stefan when he
settled onto the bed across from her. She had a whole new
understanding of black ice as his eyes burned into hers. “This
won’t hurt,” he assured her.
    “What are you going to do?” she asked,
though she’d already heard what vampires could do.
    She figured pretending to be in the dark,
and frightened, would probably work better for her than admitting
she knew what was going to happen. She prayed her acting skills had
improved considerably since her one venture into the theatre world.
In seventh grade she’d been cast as Veruca Salt in Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory. She’d been so ready and excited for the
play, until she’d hit the stage.
    The dazzling lights and the sea of faces had
caused her to forget half of her lines and stutter through the ones
she could remember. Halfway through the play, she’d stumbled and
tripped some of the Oompa Loompas. She could still clearly recall
their stuffed, little, orange bodies bouncing over the side of the
stage and onto the laps of their horrified parents. It had been the
most embarrassing moment of her life, this would be one of the most
important.
    “He’s going to change a few memories around,
and then we’re going to take you home.” Ian was the one who
answered her question. “He’ll leave almost all of your memories
intact, and he won’t change any of your beliefs. Your life is your
own to live. I will give you this bit of advice, and Stefan will
allow you to keep it, be careful whom you trust with your life,