The Vampire's Fake Fiancée (Nocturne Falls Book 5) Read online

  THE VAMPIRE’S

  FAKE FIANCÉE

  Nocturne Falls, Book Five

  Kristen Painter

  Sebastian Ellingham isn’t known for being a happy vampire. And when his long estranged wife comes to town expecting to pick up where they left off, things take a sharp turn toward cranky. Sure he’s been protecting her for centuries, but her assumption that he’s still available (he is) rankles.

  His answer is to hire a woman to play his fiancée. The lucky victim is Tessa Blythe, sister of one of the town’s deputies, librarian in need of a job and, oh yes, reluctant Valkyrie. Playing along with Sebastian is all about the end game for her, the position of Dean of Library Studies at the local private academy.

  When unexpected sparks fly between them, they agree to mutually deny the attraction. Fate, however, has other plans…

  Welcome to Nocturne Falls, the town that celebrates Halloween 365 days a year. The tourists think it's all a show: the vampires, the werewolves, the witches, the occasional gargoyle flying through the sky. But the supernaturals populating the town know better.

  Living in Nocturne Falls means being yourself. Fangs, fur, and all.

  THE VAMPIRE’S FAKE FIANCÉE:

  Nocturne Falls, Book Five

  Copyright © 2016 Kristen Painter

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  ISBN: 978-1-941695-13-5

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  NEWSLETTER.

  For all those readers who asked when Sebastian was getting his book.

  “A hundred thousand dollars to upgrade the video system to high-definition? I think not.” Sebastian snorted as he crossed off yet another line item.

  The proposed operational budget for the new wedding chapel was ridiculous. Sebastian shook his head as he looked at the bottom line for a third time. There was no way he was approving a second budget of more than half a million dollars so the lovesick could marry in a Halloween theme of their choice. Especially not after he’d already approved the first budget to get the place up and running.

  Julian would have to understand that this new project of his would have to operate on a more reasonable sum.

  That was if his playboy brother stayed in town long enough to actually have a conversation. He seemed to spend more time in Las Vegas than he did in Nocturne Falls these days. And if Julian thought he was going to get his usual salary when he wasn’t putting in his usual hours, well, that was another thing they’d need to discuss. Sebastian was not about to pick up his brother’s slack playing the Vampire On Duty for the tourists.

  Thankfully, one of the other vampires in town, Greyson Garrett, had been happy to fill in. Like most vampires, he was well off enough that he didn’t need to work. Unlike most vampires, he had his own sort of magic that allowed him to daywalk like all of the Ellinghams, meaning he could fill in whatever shifts necessary. Sebastian suspected the secret was an old Roma spell from Greyson’s past. The Romani were a people with their own magic, Sebastian knew that much. He also knew Greyson Garrett wasn’t the man’s real name, but many vampires changed their names as time went on for various reasons. None of which Sebastian cared about. The man was a hard worker and readily available. Unlike Julian.

  Sebastian ran his tongue over his fangs and went back to the budget, picking out another of the line items. Nearly forty thousand alone for décor in a fourth themed room. What kind of theme was Newly Wed and Nearly Dead anyway?

  Julian had clearly been swayed by Delaney and Corette on this, but Sebastian wasn’t about to let his youngest brother spend like a drunken sailor because of the women in their family and their cockamamie ideas about this new venture.

  “Hmph.” He crossed out the onsite photographer. There were plenty in town. If people wanted pictures of this nonsense, they could hire one of those. No need to keep one on staff.

  The door to his study flew open. “Sir—”

  Sebastian held up a hand. “Greaves, I asked not to be disturbed.”

  “I know, sir, but this is important.”

  With some concern, Sebastian set his pencil down and gave his rook his full attention. The man wasn’t prone to hyperbole, so if Greaves said it was important, it must be. “What is it?”

  The man paled and swallowed. “I was in town getting groceries and I stopped by the pub for a pint—”

  “You know I don’t care about that. How you spend your time is your business.”

  “I know that, but while I was in the pub, I…ran into someone.”

  “And?” Sebastian frowned. He wanted this budget finished today. And he was not one for dramatics. “Get on with it, man.”

  The rook’s lip curled and his eyes took on the muddy haze of disgust. He cleared his throat. “Evangeline is in town.”

  Her name was enough to throw a switch inside Sebastian. Everything in him went numb, iced down by a chill that went soul-deep. The wound inside him, the one he liked to pretend had healed, throbbed anew, and then the promise he’d made—the promise that had bound him to the woman like a ball and chain—rang in his ears. He blinked and found his voice. “You must be mistaken.”

  “I spoke to her myself. It was her.”

  Sebastian sat there, letting the information soak in. “It’s been nearly two hundred years since I’ve seen her.” And over three hundred since they’d meant anything to each other. Or rather, since he’d meant anything to her. Over three hundred years since she’d walked out and left him with the wrenching conclusion that he was not enough for her.

  He’d tried to keep tabs on her, but there had been long stretches, years at a time on occasion, when he’d had no idea where she was or if she was all right. Every once in a while, she contacted him. Mostly when she needed money.

  Blast it, only when she needed money. But these days, providing for her was the only real means he had of keeping the promise he’d made.

  “She looks a little different. Changed her hair.”

  Sebastian nodded vaguely. Her face filled his memories, causing his heart to sting with emotions. “Still beautiful, I assume.”

  “Yes.”

  He gave the pain a moment before pushing it aside. Of course she’d still be beautiful. She was a vampire the same as he was, their looks almost entirely frozen in time. And she’d always been breathtakingly lovely, even as a human. At least on the outside. “What did she want? Money? I’m sure she’s down to her last penny again. And most likely she wants cash. It’ll be morning before I can access the kind of funds she—”

  “No, sir. At least not that she mentioned. All she said was that she wanted to speak to you.”

  Sebastian stiffened and looked past Greaves into the hall behind him. “Did you bring her back here?”

  “No, of course not.” Greaves adjusted his collar. “I told her to stay put and I’d be back with an answer shortly.”

  Sebastian eyed his rook. In their nearly four hundred years together, the man had been a stalwart companion. Trustworthy. Willing to sacrifice. Never duplicitous. A keeper of secrets. All the q
ualities Sebastian himself possessed. “What answer?”

  “When you’d be willing to meet with her. If you’re willing, that is.”

  Sebastian stared at the man. To be face to face with Evangeline again after all this time…a thousand possibilities filled his head, followed by only a few outcomes. “Even if she didn’t bring up money, I’m sure that’s what this is about. Just find out how much she needs this time and I’ll take care of it. I don’t need to see her face to face to fill her accounts.”

  “I really don’t think that’s what this is about. She wouldn’t need to see you in person if she was just running low.”

  Greaves had a point. Was it possible something in Evangeline had changed in these last centuries? “Then what do you think she wants? As best as you can tell.”

  Greaves pondered the question. “My guess is she wants to apologize.”

  “Evangeline? Apologize? How much did you have to drink, old man?”

  “I know, it doesn’t seem like her, but she was different. Almost…contrite. I think you should at least see what she wants.”

  “Damn it.” Sebastian shook his head. “Fine. I’ll meet with her. But on my terms.”

  “Of course.”

  He hated the hold she had over him and yet felt powerless to do anything but respond exactly as she’d probably guessed he would. No matter the responsibility he still felt toward her, he could not let her have the upper hand. Not this time.

  If he did, he would be completely destroyed. “Go back to the pub. Get a number for her. Or find out where she’s staying. Tell her I’ll contact her when I’m ready to talk and we’ll meet where I want to meet. If she wants to see me, it’s going to happen how I want it to.”

  Greaves seemed to puff up a bit. “Very good, sir.” He left to deliver Sebastian’s message.

  Sebastian put a hand to his chest as he leaned back into his chair. If his heart could beat, he felt sure it would be pounding. He closed the file before him. The project budget could wait.

  He had a lot to think about. A lot of feelings to sort. Scenarios to play out. A course of action to decide upon. A promise to keep.

  After all, it wasn’t every day your estranged wife came back to town and wanted to talk.

  Tessa Blythe reluctantly put her new kitten, Duncan, down on the floor so she could grab the ringing phone. He scampered off, undoubtedly in search of another roll of toilet paper to shred or catnip toy to disembowel. The little monster was a terror. Cute enough to melt butter, but horribly behaved. She was utterly and completely in love with tiny tabby kitten. “Hello?”

  “Hey, it’s your sister.”

  “Hi, Jenna. What’s new?” Jenna was a sheriff’s deputy in a silly little town that celebrated Halloween three hundred and sixty-five days a year. Sounded like a recipe for disaster to Tessa. “You’re not calling to tell me you got stabbed by a criminal, are you? Or bitten by a zombie or whatever unfortunate element roams the streets there? Oh, please tell me you didn’t have to kill someone in self-defense.”

  A sigh answered her. “Tessa, this is Nocturne Falls, not the dark streets of some crime-ridden city. It’s like Tim Burton’s version of Disney. I can’t even tell you the last time I took my gun out of its holster. I swear, you’d love it here. It’s very friendly to supernaturals. And really, considering who we are, you need to get over your fear of living a genuine life.”

  “I am living a genuine life. And can we please not go into that again?”

  Duncan was now climbing the side of the couch, claws digging deep in the ancient plaid fabric that covered the ugly thing. (The apartment had come furnished, but ugly was ugly.) Tessa put her hand over the receiver. “No. Bad cat. Bad.” She was never getting her security deposit back.

  “Who are you yelling at? Did you say cat? Did you get a cat, Tessa? Holy Loki, please tell me you did not get a cat. You’re turning into a cliché.”

  “Just because I’m a librarian, possibly with a cat, doesn’t mean I’m a cliché.”

  “No, but when you also wear glasses you don’t need and generally seem to have your hair in a bun, the scales do lean in that direction.”

  “I wear magnifying lenses because it helps me with my job.”

  “You wear glasses as way to disguise your looks.”

  “Are you saying I don’t look good in my glasses? That’s very cruel.”

  “Had any dates lately? Or does that birth control bun effectively keep the men at bay?”

  Tessa reached up and pulled the elastic out of her hair. “For your information, my hair is down right now. Besides, you wear your hair up all the time.”

  “I have to, it’s a job requirement. You don’t have that excuse, but hey, if you want to hide yourself from the world by becoming a cliché, that’s your business. I love you, frumpy bun and all, you know that. I wouldn’t be trying to get you to move to Nocturne Falls to be near me if I didn’t love you. Right?”

  “Right.” Tessa wouldn’t mind moving, even if the town was a tourist trap. She’d moved to Dayton, Ohio, only because it was where she’d gotten her first librarian job. And she’d love to be near her sister, but there was the matter of getting a new job. And quitting her current one. Not that her current one had turned out to be anything that fabulous.

  “So listen, that’s why I’m calling. I just heard through the grapevine that the private school here is hiring a dean of library studies. And the money will be good. I don’t know how good, but Harmswood Academy doesn’t cut corners.”

  “I have a job.”

  “Are you the dean of anything?”

  Now it was Tessa’s turn to sigh. “No. But I could get promoted.”

  “The only way you’re going to get promoted is if that old battle ax that’s in charge dies.”

  “Jenna, that’s unkind.”

  “It’s true, though, isn’t it?”

  Tessa frowned. “Yes.”

  “And didn’t you call me last week and say that if you could find another librarian job, you’d take it in a heartbeat?”

  Tessa took a breath. “Yes. But that was in the heat of the moment.”

  “It still happened. Now you have a chance. So take a week off, come down here and submit your resume. What have you got to lose?”

  “I’d have to bring Duncan.”

  Jenna gasped. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

  Tessa pressed her hand to her forehead, the headache of confession surely on its way. “Duncan is my cat.” Who was now chewing off the end of the curtain pull.

  “I knew you adopted a cat.”

  “I didn’t adopt him, exactly. Someone dropped him in the book return slot, and Mrs. Unger was going to take him to the pound. Can you imagine? The poor thing. He’s just this tiny little ball of brown and black striped fur. Some dog would probably think he was a chew toy. Or a snack.”

  “Told you she was a battle ax.”

  “She is an enormous grump. Constantly nitpicking my work. And between us, she smells oddly like Lipton onion soup mix. All the time.”

  Jenna laughed. “See? You don’t want to work there. You want to be in charge of your own library. The library dean. Doesn’t that have a nice ring to it?”

  “It does.” Tessa closed her eyes. The library at a well-funded private academy could be a magnificent thing. “Do you have any idea what the library at this school looks like?”

  “I’ve only been up to the academy once. They have their own security force. But the campus is gorgeous. I’m sure the library is great.”

  Tessa bit her lip. A library like that could be really something. And to be in charge of it? That was a little dizzying. “I’ll have to put in for time off.”

  Jenna muttered disgustedly, “What if Battle Ax says no?”

  “I don’t think she’d do that. I have two vacation days coming. I just have to fill out the form and get them approved. Shouldn’t take more than ten days. Two weeks, tops.”

  “Wait that long and the job could be gone by the time you get
here. Just quit and come here. Bring Dumpling. Bring everything. Move.”

  “Duncan.”

  “Yes, him too. C’mon, Tessa. You can live with me until you get on your feet. I make enough money for both of us to live on. We’re not going to be taking a singles cruise anytime soon, but we’ll be okay until you start the dean position.”

  “If I just quit my job, I’m not going to be able to use them for a reference.”

  “You really think Unger is going to give you a decent reference? Doesn’t she blame you for the county deciding the library needed a Facebook page?”

  “Yes.” That had been an ugly few weeks. Even with the four hundred likes they’d garnered. “But what if I don’t get the job? What if something happens and the interview doesn’t go well?”

  “What’s the point of being a valkyrie if you don’t use what you’ve got? If you get a vibe that the interview isn’t going well, you can change tactics. Tell them what you think they want to hear. Or you could always become a deputy like me.”

  “You know how I feel about violence and fighting and all that.” And about anything that might cause her to get upset, but seeing as how Jenna knew that already, Tessa didn’t see the point in bringing it up again. She stared at the pale scar that transected the last three knuckles of her right hand.

  “For crying out loud, do I need to mention again that we’re valkyries? Warrior goddesses. Protectors of the worthy. Fierceness is in our DNA.”

  “Maybe for you, but that’s not the life I’ve chosen to lead.” Not after the incident. Not after she’d figured out what she was really capable of.

  “I know.” Jenna exhaled in the sort of long-suffering way she did whenever they had this conversation. “You probably don’t even remember how to swing your sword, do you?”