Leanne ran up to him, bubbling with excitement. "Wasn't it great tonight?" she exclaimed. "Oh, I know, it's great every night, but sometimes it all seems so real, I forget it's just a play and find myself crying when the Phantom sends Christine away."

Jason nodded. He had often felt that way himself.

Leanne threw her arms around Jason and kissed him. "Did you have a good day?"

"The same as always," he replied, and then, seeing the expectant look in her eyes, he smiled. "Thank you for the flowers, and everything."

"I hope you don't mind."

"No." He took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. "Let's go home."

Leanne hummed softly as they drove down the freeway, her hand resting on Jason's thigh, her gaze returning again and again to his profile. She loved the rugged masculine beauty of his face, the finely sculpted nose and lips, the strong square jaw. His brows were thick and black above deep blue eyes, his cheekbones pronounced.

How had she fallen in love so quickly, so completely, with this man who was still a mystery in so many ways? She hardly knew him, and yet she felt as if she had always known him, as if her life hadn't truly begun until the night they met.

"Jason?"

He slid a glance in her direction. "What?"

"My folks would like to meet you."

The silence that followed her remark was thick and absolute.

"Jason?"

"One day, perhaps."

"How about next Sunday?"

"Leanne..."

"You don't want to, do you? Why not?"

"Surely you must have realized by now that I'm a bit of a recluse when I'm not working."

"I know, but I'd really like for you to meet them. And for them to meet you."

"I'll consider it."

"I'm sorry." She took her hand from his thigh, then looked out the window. "I didn't mean to push you, or make you think I was trying to..."

He muttered an oath as he pulled into the driveway and turned off the ignition. Getting out of the car, he opened the door for her, then drew her into his arms.

"I'm sorry, Leanne, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Please, just give me a little time." Just give me tonight. "Come," he said, taking her by the hand. "I have a surprise for you."

"What kind of surprise?"

"You'll see."

Inside the house, he lit a dozen long blue tapers. "Sit down," he said, "I'll only be a moment."

With a nod, Leanne sank down on the sofa. Kicking off her shoes, she stared at the candles flickering on the mantel. A surprise, she thought. What could it be?

A few minutes later, Jason returned. Kneeling in front of the hearth, he lit a fire and then joined her on the sofa.

"Here," he said, handing her a long slender box. "This is for you."

She opened the box with hands that trembled, uttered a gasp of astonishment as she stared at the contents. "Oh, Jason, it's lovely."

"You like it, then?"

"Oh, yes." She ran her fingertips over the heavy gold chain, then outlined the filigreed heart-shaped locket. "But it must have cost a fortune."

"Only a small one." He lifted the chain from the box and fastened it around her neck. The locket settled in the cleft between her breasts. "I'm glad it pleases you."

"I love it!" she exclaimed. "And I love you."

Her gaze met his, filled with such adoration that it made him want to shout, to sing. To weep. "Leanne, beloved..." He cupped her cheek in his hand and gently pressed his lips to hers.

"More," she whispered, and twining her arms around his neck, she kissed him passionately, her body leaning into his, inviting him to come closer.

Her nearness, the wanting he read in her eyes, made his pulse race with desire. Too fast, he thought, they were moving too fast. If he was to have only this one night, he needed to savor every moment.

Leanne drew back, her eyes aglow. "Tell me," she whispered. "Tell me you love me."

"I love you."

"Have you loved many women?"

"No. Only one other."

"Who?"

"A girl from my childhood. She is dead now."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It was a very long time ago."

He gazed into her eyes, longing to bury his hands in the wealth of her hair, to carry her to bed and sheathe himself deep within the velvet heat of her all the night long, but he dared not. He would make love to her only once, just before dawn, and then he would let her go.

It took every ounce of willpower he possessed to keep from touching her. "Shall we watch your movie?"

"If you like. Have you seen it before?"

"No."

"You'll love it."

Jumping up, she slipped the tape into the VCR, then snuggled up against Jason, her head pillowed on his shoulder.

Langella made a most convincing vampire, Jason thought. Indeed, the movie hit close to home. Too close. He felt his desire for Leanne surge through him, along with a ravening thirst, as he watched Count Dracula seduce his lady love amidst a shimmering crimson backdrop while a bat hovered in the background.

A bat. He grunted softly. He had never changed into a bat in all his three hundred years; indeed, he didn't know if it was even possible.

He felt his body tense as Dracula made a slit in his chest and offered Lucy a taste of his blood.

"I think he's the most realistic vampire I've ever seen," Leanne remarked.

"Indeed. Have you seen many?"

"I mean in the movies, silly. Everyone knows vampires don't really exist. I almost wish he didn't have to die in the end."

"Good always triumphs over evil, eventually," Jason remarked.

"I suppose, but he doesn't seem evil exactly," she mused. "I mean, I guess he can't help being what he is."

"No," Jason said, his voice strangely thick. "He can't."

"And he does seem to love her."

Jason gazed deeply into Leanne's eyes. "Yes, he does."

"I don't think I want to watch the end." She laughed self-consciously. "I've already seen one sad ending tonight."

"As you wish." Rising, Jason switched off the VCR. "Tell me, how does this Dracula meet his death?"

"On a ship. Doctor Van Helsing catches him on a big hook of some kind and they hoist him into the sunlight." Leanne grimaced. "I think he ages and disintegrates into ash, but I'm not really sure. I've never watched that part. All I remember is seeing his black cape slowly drifting away in the wind. It made me want to cry."

"You have a tender heart, my sweet."

"Enough about vampires and unhappy endings," Leanne murmured, reaching for him. "Make love to me, Jason."

"You are weeping now," he exclaimed softly. "Why?"

"I don't know. I feel...I don't know, as if something awful is going to happen."

Kneeling on the floor, he drew her down into his arms. "Nothing bad is going to happen, Leanne," he said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "You're going to have a long and happy life filled with sunshine and laughter."

"I didn't know you told fortunes," she said with a sniff.

"Only yours." He cupped her face in his hands, his thumbs wiping her tears away. "You're going to marry and have half a dozen children and live happily ever after."

"Am I?"

"I promise."

"And will you be the father of my children, Jason?"

"I should like nothing better," he replied evasively, and then, to stop her from asking any more questions he couldn't answer, he kissed her.

The touch of his lips on hers, the sweet invasion of his tongue, drove all thought from Leanne's mind. She forgot her mother's admonition and her father's dark warning as Jason's lips feathered across her skin, hotter than the flames that burned in the hearth, until she felt as though she, too, were on fire. Perhaps the heat incinerated her clothing, for she was suddenly lying naked beside him while his lips and tongue drifted over her face and neck, exploring the hollow of her throat, the valley between her breasts, her navel, the sensitive skin of her inner thighs.

With a boldness she didn't know she possessed, she stripped him of his clothing, then let her hands wander over his hard-muscled flesh. He was a study in masculine perfection, from his broad shoulders and flat belly to his long, powerful legs. She felt him shudder with pleasure at her touch, heard a low groan that sounded oddly like pain as she rained kisses along his neck and down his chest.

And then he was rising over her, his dark eyes blazing with desire.

"Tell me to stop if you're not sure," he said, his voice low and rough. "Tell me to stop now, before it's too late."

"Don't stop." She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him closer. "Don't ever stop."

With a strangled cry, he buried himself in her softness. She whimpered softly as he breached her maidenhead and he cursed himself for hurting her, but there was no help for it, and it was too late in any case.

Too late to stop.

Too late to think.

He was caught up in an inferno of desire and there was no turning back.

Leanne clutched at his shoulders, exhilarated by his mastery, frightened by the torrent of emotions that flooded through her. She felt as if she were drowning, being sucked into a swirling vortex from which there was no return. A soft gentle blackness engulfed her, and then she felt as if she were drowning in a warm red mist.

She moaned as she felt Jason moving deep within her. Her fingernails clawed at his back, drawing blood, and then she was reaching out, reaching for something that shimmered just beyond her grasp, something elusive and beautiful.

She cried Jason's name as he gifted her with that which she sought, cried with the joy of discovery, of wonder, as her body convulsed beneath his, flooding her with pleasure unlike anything she had ever imagined.

For a long while, they lay wrapped in each other's arms. She held him tighter when she felt him start to draw away. "No. Don't go."

"I must be heavy."

"You are," she admitted, a smile in her voice, "but I like it."

He shifted to the side a little so she wasn't bearing the full burden of his weight. "Did I hurt you?"

"No."

He drew back so he could see her face. How lovely she was, her beautiful green eyes still aglow with passion, her lips pink and swollen from his kisses, her hair spread in wild disarray around her shoulders. He felt a ridiculous urge to thank her.

"What are you thinking?" Reaching up, she brushed a lock of hair from his brow.

"How wonderful you are."

"You are," she replied. "Was it...?" She bit down on her lower lip, suddenly shy. "Did I please you?"

"Foolish girl, to ask such a question. No one has ever pleased me more."

"I wish you'd never known anyone but me."

He saw the hurt in her eyes, the sudden flare of jealousy, and silently berated himself because the thought of her being jealous pleased him beyond words.

He stroked her cheek with his knuckles. "After tonight, beloved, there will never be anyone else."

"Truly?"

"Truly." Jason buried his face in her shoulder, knowing he had no wish to go on existing without her.

For three hundred years he had walked the earth, a man separate and apart, and only now, as he contemplated a future without her, did he realize the true meaning of loneliness.