Eternal Island (Book 1 in the Eternal Series) by K. S. Haigwood, Ella Medler Page A

make love to her. Love to her, Rainey! I have never in my life made love or even wanted to. Plain, old-fashioned sex was good enough for me, but not now. Not anymore. Believe me when I say, I do not want to mess this up. I may never get another chance…”
    Becky opened the door to Rainey’s lair. “Excuse us… Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were here, My Lord, please forgive me. We will wait…”
    Rainey rushed to Abe and pushed him toward the door. “He was just leaving. I’ll catch you tomorrow for our unfinished business, Abe. Good bye. I’ll send for you first thing after dusk.”
    Abe’s eyes locked on Ariana’s and they both froze. Rainey pushed him out the door and slammed it shut behind him.
    Wide-eyed, Ariana and Becky stood staring at the door as if they could still see Abe’s retreating form through the wood.
    “Are you okay, Rainey? You do realize you just physically threw the High Vampire out on his ass.” Becky said.
    Ariana gasped. “That was the High Vampire? Oh my God!”
    When she’d walked in the room and saw him, she’d been sure she had met him somewhere before. And he was staring at her so intently. She couldn’t look away from his eyes, not that she wanted to – they were such a pretty blue-green color, like the ocean. She had never seen eyes that color before. She could feel something in the pit of her stomach flutter, but that was crazy. There was no way she could be attracted to another man so soon after Michael’s death. And the High Vampire, for Heaven’s sake.
    Ariana’s head was reeling with the intensity of her feelings, feelings she was desperate to subdue out of love and loyalty to Michael. No, no, no. She couldn’t allow herself to feel that way. She’d only just managed to get her head around the fact that she wasn’t going to see Michael ever again and now… Now her core was twisting with the urge to throw herself at this Vampire King, this… stranger she felt she’d known forever. Oh, God – was this love or simply lust and infatuation? Suddenly, a stab of anxiety spiked through her heart as the thought occurred to her that she didn’t know where Abe had gone, and she very much wished she could see him again soon. Why didn’t he stay? Why did Rainey push him out?
    Rainey stumbled her way to her cabinet and put away the rest of the ingredients she’d got from town. “I… uh, yeah. I know it looked like I threw Abe out, but he was late for an appointment. He’ll thank me for it later. He is a little upset about a current problem, but nothing to do with present company, I promise. Ruling an island is no easy task, you know.”
    “I’m pretty good with problem solving,” Ariana offered, trying to shift the focus of her thoughts from Abe to something more practical. Maybe she could see him soon. “Anything we could help with?”
    Rainey bustled around the cabinet, pretending to ignore Ariana’s offer.
    “Or is this a little more personal? Like, I don’t know, does it have anything to do with ‘Abe only having eyes for one woman?’“ She said it jokingly and even managed a smile, but Ariana felt queasy even thinking about Abe with another woman. What on Earth was her problem? Even if she was over Michael’s death, which she wasn’t, there was no way the High Vampire would give someone as simple as her a second’s thought. Regardless, thinking about him with someone else didn’t make her happy at all and it was all she could do to keep the smile planted on her face and hope it looked real.
    “Yeah, and since when is that true, Rainey? I saw him three nights ago with two different girls and he didn’t look like he was picking just one – I’m just sayin’,” Becky said as she helped herself to two cokes out of Rainey’s fridge and handed one to Ariana.
    “I’m happy you two want to help, but this stuff is confidential. I can’t tell you anything; you should know that, Becky. Now, did you two eat?”
    Ariana was walking around the