Jesse Stewart was sent by the U.S. government to the country of Slovenia to find the missing daughter of a senator. While circling a deserted meadow in a helicopter, Jesse first saw him running with the grace of a wild animal. Even from a distance Jesse could see the man below was no ordinary human being. Dressed in old fashioned breeches and a tunic, the man below seemed like someone who had traveled across time. One glance was all it took for Jesse to know what he was -- a vampire: a vampire who somehow knew her name and who Jesse inexplicably recognized.
Lance Van Baaren had the beauty of an angel, but was in fact a guardian of the ancient blood. Born into his new existence centuries ago, Lance existed to put a stop to a new breed of vampires that diluted the pure ancient blood of his maker and threatened the safety of mortals. Broken -hearted after losing the only woman he ever loved, Lance kept a safe distance from humans until he came face to face with the lovely Jesse.
Jesse never doubted what he was -- a vampire. After losing both her parents in a gruesome murder in Los Angeles, Jesse knew the presence of a vampire when she saw one. The vampire she had come across in Slovenia was breathtakingly beautiful, but he was one of them -- the vampires who tore her parents to shreds before her young eyes. She only survived due to the help of a mysterious presence who saved her from the monsters who consumed every last drop of her parent's blood.
Lance, however, must find a way to earn Jesse's trust in order to save her life. He uselessly warns her to forsake her search for the senator's daughter without his help. But Jesse refuses assistance from one of the blood thirsty creatures who murdered her parents. Still, there is something comforting in his presence and in his touch. Although he is vampire, a heart beats in his chest, and his words somehow reach the deepest recesses of her soul. In order to save her from unimaginable dangers and a haunting and terrible secret from her past, Lance must convince Jesse to trust a creature she has feared her entire life.
Linda Thomas-Sundstrom created the ultimate vampire fantasy. Readers will fall in love with the angelically beautiful Lance Van Baaren. GOLDEN VAMPIRE is not only romantic, but concludes with a chilling ending and an unexpected villain. This is a novel vampire lovers will want to devour in one reading. GOLDEN VAMPIRE will satisfy your wildest and most romantic vampire fantasies!
For former cop Jesse Stewart, giving herselfβmind and
bodyβto sexy vampire Lance Van Baaren meant losing her soul.
Hired by the government to find a senator's missing
daughter, she instead found a haunting link to her past. And
now something is drawing her to the one man she should
despiseβ¦.
Once a knight, Lance had sworn to protect the innocent. And
one of those young innocents had been Jesse. Now
face-to-face with the alluring woman she has become, he's
determined to help Jessie solve her case and make her his
own. But would finding the truth of her pastβand the Blood
Moonβpush her further away?
"Jesse," he said quietly. "I'm here."
Could she hear him?
He watched her straighten so quickly that she turned on one heel. Bright spots of pink tinted her cheeks. Her chest rose and fell, straining at her buttons.
Lance's gaze fastened on those buttons. Then up to the white collar surrounding a slender neck marred by a jagged white scar of puckered skin that ran nearly full circle from front to back, much like a necklace of woven white thread.
Still there. The scar. Openly visible. Uncovered by a scarf or high-necked sweater. The remnant of a terrible, life-threatening wound, and worn uncovered as what? A badge of courage? An indication of the secrets curled up within her incredibly honed, fighting-fit body?
The scar as a talisman? A remembrance?
Below Lance's waist something long dormant stirred for the second time in a hundred years. His incisors extended in direct correlation. He ran his tongue over his teeth, felt the familiar prick, then blinked slowly, noting how everywhere else his muscles again stretched toward her, as if recognizing a piece of himself. As if wanting that piece back.
"I'm waiting," he said, his voice throaty with greed, lust and longing β for Jesse; sensations he hadn't experienced since he'd lost his only love in that awful swirl of time gone by. Gwen. Lost to him because he'd refused to bring her over. He'd refused to make her one of what he was, though she had begged.
And now Jesse. What was she to him?
Although caution had prevailed with the injured girl in the dark alley, and though he had been careful with the extent of his gift to her all those years ago, he had ensured that her little life would continue. He had kept Jesse alive . . .