A Taste Of A Vampire

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Blurb:

A vampire romance story. Get ready for a fresh new spin on vampire romances that will blow you away… Claire Everett didn’t expect more than a quick business trip from her home of New York to England. But that all changes when she meets the enigmatic Nicholas Ryder.

His eyes and accent alone are swoon worthy, but just one kiss from him is all it takes for her world to turn upside down. And after an intense night with him, Claire finds herself upending her entire life just be with him! But Nicholas is still practically a stranger to her.

And what she doesn’t know is that he is actually a vampire… A vampire who wants nothing more than to taste her blood again. Will Claire’s new obsession lead her to a love like no other, or down a dangerous path she’s unprepared for? Discover now in this paranormal, vampire romance novel by JJ Jones.

Chapter 1

Bright morning sun glinted off the glass and steel of the towering skyscraper standing aloft in the confines of the forest of buildings that filled most of downtown Manhattan. Each window was a porthole into the office behind it, and in one office, a woman’s back was turned against the city outside as she focused intently on the work in front of her.

Her fingers flew over her keyboard as she typed out a reply to an email that she had gotten earlier that morning. Ringing telephones echoed in the halls outside of her office, though they were somewhat muffled outside of her closed door.

Debussy played quietly in the background as she worked, setting a more relaxing tone in the room where she was. It was an environment where she refused to let go of too much of herself in order to conform to the massive grinding machine of business that ran corporate America. She contributed to it, but she would not give herself over to it fully.

Reaching her slender hand up, she slid her carefully tapered fingernails through her cropped dark hair and pushed it behind her ear. The edge of her hair reached her angled jawline, giving her an elegant look of refined beauty. Her pale skin was set off by her brown hair, and her dark brown eyes were framed by thick black lashes.

Her own phone rang. Without looking at it, she reached over and picked it up.

“Yes?” she answered as she finished reading the email she had just written.

“Miss Everett, I have Mrs. Wilson on the line for you,” her secretary answered.

“Go ahead and put her through, Jenna. And please, call me Claire,” she said. It was a request she had made more than once to her new secretary, but the young woman wasn’t comfortable enough in her position yet to call her boss by her first name.

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll put her right through,” Jenna replied.

There was a click, and a moment later, Claire heard her own boss speaking to her. “Claire! We’ve heard from Janson. They’re coming in to sign the deal. You brought it in, so you handle it. This was a big one and we really needed it. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Jill Wilson called out through her speakerphone.

Claire smiled, her eyes crinkling just a little at the corners, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink as she leaned back in her seat. “What great news! Thank you. I worked hard on that one, so I’m looking forward to wrapping it up.”

“Let me know when it’s done,” Jill requested, and she could hear a smile in her boss’ voice.

“I’ll do that,” Claire answered, just as a short and slightly heavy young woman walked into her office. The light lambent notes of Debussy on the piano met with the clamor of the bustling offices outside. Claire looked up at Jenna as she set the phone back in its cradle.

“This just arrived for you by special messenger,” the young woman said, handing a large, sturdy envelope to Claire. Claire took it and gave Jenna a nod and a smile as she walked back out of the office, closing the door behind her, and quieting the noise beyond it.

Peace enveloped the room again as Claire looked over the envelope, raising one brow in surprise at the Royal Mail stamp and the London address of an attorney’s office. She frowned a little as she turned the envelope over and tugged at the paper tab, pulling it until the envelope swelled slightly and opened.

Inside was a letter and a folder with an image of a large estate and a packet of details about the estate. The letter was concise. It was a request from a lawyer by the name of Colin Dent asking her to call him on his mobile phone once she received the envelope.

Knowing no one in the United Kingdom, she was more than a little surprised to have gotten the envelope, and she was just as curious as she was surprised to see what Colin Dent wanted and why he had sent her information about a property.

Reaching for her phone again, she dialed the number on the letter and waited as it rang. It only rang twice before a man answered it. His voice was quiet and kind, his British accent polished, but his tone friendly.

“This is Colin Dent. How may I help?” he asked.

“Mr. Dent, this is Claire Everett. I’m in Manhattan… New York. I’ve just opened an envelope that you mailed to me, and I’ve found some information about a property in it. You’ve asked me to call you. What is it that I can do for you?” she returned his question to him.

He cleared his throat. “Thank you for calling me, Miss Everett. It’s been quite difficult to track you down and I’m enormously relieved to hear from you.” He took a breath and she heard a soft sigh come from him.

“Miss Everett, I suspect that you don’t realize it, but you have a distant cousin here in the United Kingdom who has passed away,” he told her in a sympathetic voice.

Stopped short by his announcement, she furrowed her brow. “You’re right. I didn’t realize that. I wasn’t aware that I had any distant cousins in the UK.” She was fairly certain that she didn’t have any cousins anywhere, let alone in a country where her family didn’t live.

“Well…” He cleared his throat again quietly. “You have, or rather, you had. Lord Nolan Grayson.”

She glanced down at the image of the mansion with skepticism in her eyes. He had to be wrong. She was positive that he had made a mistake. It was the only possible explanation. “Are you sure you’ve got the right person? I’m Claire Everett… I don’t think I am related to any Lord Grayson in the UK.”

“Oh you are!” He sounded absolutely certain. “You most definitely are. I’ve researched it to a fault to be sure. You share a great-great-great-grandmother with him. Her name was Lady Elizabeth Grayson. She had a daughter and a son, and you are born out of the line of her daughter, while Lord Grayson was born out of the line of her son. The title of nobility, Grayson Manor, and the estate passed down along the male heirs to him, but he has no heir and no living relatives closer to him than you. I’m afraid that you’re it.”

Every thought that had been zipping through her mind came to a sudden halt. She was stunned by what he had said, and she couldn’t quite wrap a sense of reality around it. She narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean, I’m it?” she asked hesitantly.

“You’re the sole living heir of the title of nobility, Grayson Manor, and the entire estate, which I am pleased to inform you is quite a bit larger than it was when Lord Nolan inherited it from his father. He was quite a brilliant investor, Lord Nolan,” Colin said with a note of pride.