Runaway Vampire (Argeneau, #23)

For some reason, that brought a wry laugh from her, and he smiled, but continued.

“However, it does not matter. We are life mates, Mary, and I do not intend to lose you. We will love each other, and we will be together for however long we both shall live, and we will have many, many babies. It was meant to be,” he assured her.

Mary swallowed, trying to shift the lump suddenly lodged in her throat. She suspected that, despite the little time they’d been together, she was already half in love with the big idiot. How could she not be? He was sweet, and strong and caring. The fact that he was beautiful didn’t hurt either, but it was just gravy.

After years of counseling people, Mary had become adept at judging character, and Dante was a man of substance. She had loved her husband, Joe. Once they’d worked through their issues, theirs had been a caring and contented relationship of friendship and love. It had been hard won and appreciated all the more for it. But with Dante, Mary suspected she could have that special, once-in-a-lifetime love many of her patients had talked about yearning for, and she’d always thought was just fantasy. Mary didn’t think it was fantasy anymore, and she was quite sure she could have it with Dante, and that it would actually last as long as they lived, whether that was another twenty years, or two thousand. But, she could not have children. She did not mind for herself. Mary had long ago got over the fact that she couldn’t give birth. The moment she had held her adopted son in her arms, he had been hers as surely as if she had carried him for nine months, and when her adopted daughter had followed, it had been the same. She had her children. But she could not give Dante children.

“Dante,” she said softly. “I told you. The accident caused a miscarriage. I was six months pregnant. I lost the baby and . . . there were complications. I can’t have your children.”

Her voice cracked on the last word, and Mary was holding on to her composure by a very fine, very short thread, so was a bit taken aback when he smiled.

“And as I told you, Mary,” he said gently. “The nanos return their host to their peak condition. You will be able to have children, and I cannot wait to watch your belly grow with my child.”

He covered her mouth with his then, but Mary was too stunned to respond at first, and quickly pushed him back slightly.

“Wait,” she said uncertainly. “When I lost the baby, they had to—”

“The nanos will repair whatever has been damaged, and replace whatever has been lost,” he interrupted solemnly, “covering pretty much everything up to and including a hysterectomy.”

He started to kiss her again and this time, Mary began to respond, but the moment he urged her lips apart, she broke the kiss and pulled back again. This time she was frowning as a myriad of thoughts assaulted her.

“Are you saying I could get pregnant right now?” she asked, actually alarmed at the prospect. It was wonderful to know she could give him children, but she wasn’t at all sure she wanted to do it right now, or nine months from now, she supposed. It didn’t seem like a good way to start a new relationship.

“Probably not,” Dante said, looking slightly quizzical that she seemed so alarmed at the prospect. “Do you not wish to have my child?”

“Well, sure. At least I think I do,” she added, trying to be levelheaded about this. They had just met, after all, and common sense and all her training told her she shouldn’t be jumping so wholeheartedly into this relationship. Sighing, she added, “But not right now. I mean, it would be nice to feel a little more settled in the relationship before we add a baby, don’t you think?”

“Oh. Yes,” he agreed, relaxing, and then grinned and urged Bailey away. Once the dog had shifted herself to the foot of the bed, he scooted closer, and drew her into his arms. “You are right. It is better to wait on having a baby. Especially since once we get Tomasso back I intend to keep you in bed for a good year or so. A baby would interfere with that. So we will wait a year or so.”

Mary relaxed and nodded with relief. That was definitely the smarter route, she thought, as he began to kiss her again. She kissed him back this time, her body coming alive at once, but when he broke their kiss to lean back and begin tugging at the blanket and sheets covering her, she asked, “So you have protection?”

Dante glanced to her with confusion, and his voice was distracted when he asked, “Protection?”

“A condom?” Mary explained as he turned his attention back to removing the coverings between them. She pointed out, “It’s not like I’m on birth control or anything.”

“Oh.” Dante murmured with a nod as he finally got the blankets and sheets out of the way.

Mary relaxed at his nod that he had protection, and smiled faintly as his gaze moved hungrily over her in the white cotton nightgown.