Tasting Nightwalker Wine

Tasting Nightwalker Wine - Hollywood After Dark

The last person Stella Robertson expected to meet at a late evening signing for her latest vampire book was a handsome man wearing a tux, cape, and realistic vampire fangs. But it was Halloween so she dismissed his claims of knowing more about vampires…until he spoke directly into her mind and convinced her he did know what he was talking about.

As prince of the California nightwalkers, Sebastian Moret knew it wasn’t wise to get too close to his favorite author, but she was so lovely, so sexy, and her blood so delicious—sometimes even a four-hundred year old vampire is tempted into a mistake. But this mistake haunts him when Stella seeks him out, not once, but twice. When she tracks him to his winery in the Napa valley, Sebastian is forced to make Stella his companion to buy her silence.

Given their rocky start, both Stella and Sebastian know their relationship needs work but when Sebastian and his werewolf servants come under attack, the pair must put aside their differences and use all of their wits and talents to thwart the plot against them.

A special Book Peek at Tasting Nightwalker Wine

Reviews:

Five Angels! Fallen Angels Reviews

...Stella, oh wow, I loved her. She was courageous, even when an amazing world is exposed to her and her life view is turned upside-down. With a traitor after Sebastian they are forced to run and the twists and turns that the plot took were suspenseful and well written. - Serena

Paranormal Romance Reviews

...Vampire lovers alert! Janet Miller's TASTING NIGHTWALKER WINE is a thrilling and sometimes chilling read. - Dee Lloyd

Romance Reviews Today

... Four hundred years can make a man mighty arrogant, and Sebastian doesn't disappoint in TASTING NIGHTWALKER WINE. But he's just run across the one thing destined to bring him down to size...a thoroughly modern woman who will not take no for an answer when it comes to loving him. - Kathy Samuels

Excerpt:

The sight of his outfit took her by surprise. Dressed in a black tuxedo and wearing a crimson-lined cape, her customer might have stepped out of an old horror movie.

Released from her spell, Stella burst into laughter. “Are you supposed to be a vampire?”

His eyes narrowed and his upper lip drew back, and she could see he’d even had fangs added to his teeth. They looked impressively realistic, not cheap plastic…must have cost a pretty penny.

But then the entire outfit was pricy. Of course, it could be a rental, but even so he’d clearly spent money on it. Now he looked at her in annoyance that she’d made fun of him.

Trying to make peace, Stella waved her hand apologetically. “Sorry I laughed. I keep forgetting it’s Halloween night. You going to a party?”

Some of his irritation fled. “The whole city is a party tonight.” He glanced at her own empire-waisted gown in buttercup-yellow, a duplicate of the one gracing the buxom heroine on her cover, although Stella’s gown didn’t display her cleavage in quite the same fashion. Even so, she felt his silvery gaze linger there as if he could see through the fabric.

Some of the heat returned to his eyes and he held out a hand to her, his voice like rich velvet. “I was on my way to walk the streets and enjoy the merriment. Perhaps you’d care to join me? You are certainly dressed for the part.”
Sudden panic hit fast and hard. Oh that would be a very bad idea. The way she was reacting to this man, she could be in big trouble real fast.

“ I couldn’t,” she stammered. “I don’t even know your name.” He pulled back the hand and nodded as if he’d been reminded of his manners. “Forgive me. Of course we haven’t been properly introduced. My name is Sebastian, as I told you. Sebastian Moret.” He performed a courtly bow so natural that he might have done it centuries ago in front of royalty.

His sardonic brows arched higher and he smiled with a bit of fang showing. “As you’ve noticed, I’m in costume for the celebration. Tonight you may call me ‘Prince Sebastian’.”

Another fit of merriment assailed her. “Prince Sebastian?” She tried for a royal nod. “Well, of course, your royal majesty.”

“ Your highness is more appropriate. I’m not a king, Ms. Roberts.”

No, more like a loon. Still, he was a devastatingly handsome loon. And he had a great voice, deep and rich, vibrant, with an odd accent. He sounded like he might have actually come from Europe.

Perhaps not a loon. He was probably just pulling her leg, she decided. After all, she wrote books where the hero was often some sort of royalty turned vampire. Sebastian was a fan and he’d no doubt thought that pretending to be one of her heroes would be a good way to garner her approval.

Not that he needed a costume to do that. She couldn’t help but approve.

Still, there was no way she was going anywhere with this guy, handsome or not, loon or not, approval or not.
“ I’m afraid I couldn’t possibly join you tonight, Mr. Moret. I’ve an early flight tomorrow and once I’m done here I’ve got to get back to my hotel.”

Tonight was the last night of her book tour, and Stella was glad for it. Much as she loved getting out and meeting her fans—at least when they weren’t dressed up like vampires—she was looking forward to a couple of weeks of leisure at her home in Los Angeles before jumping into her next project.

“ Perhaps you could take a later flight. Or I could fly you myself…I have my own small jet.”

A princely vampire with a pilot’s license and a plane? A giggle escaped her. “I’m afraid not,” she told him, attempting to temper her rejection with a smile.

It didn’t work. A look of annoyance crossed his handsome features, and Stella realized that “Prince Sebastian” must have rarely had to cope with rejection. He didn’t like it much either.

He leaned over the table, his voice a liquid purr. “I’d make it worth your while.”

Did he think he could pay her and she’d go with him? Face flaming, Stella resisted the urge to slap him. “I’m not that kind of a woman,” she told him angrily.

Now he looked affronted. “I didn’t mean what you clearly think I meant. If you’d accompany me tonight, I’d promise to be a perfect gentleman. I just want to talk about your books. I could help you with them.”

She wasn’t buying the “gentleman” line for an instant. Those silver-gray eyes still held enough heat to melt the resolve of a vestal virgin—and she was no virgin. Besides that, after seven books, two on the bestseller list, she certainly didn’t need assistance with her writing.

“ I don’t need help with my books. I’m doing just fine with them.”

“ You need a great deal of help, Ms. Roberts. Your books are well-written, and your stories intriguing, but when it comes to vampires you don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about.”

Stella jumped to her feet and stretched to the limit of her five-foot five-inch height. Unfortunately her adversary still held a one-foot advantage over her, so she let her fury make up the difference.

“ I have written seven books, won dozens of awards and pleased thousands of people, none of whom have ever commented that my vampires were anything but true to their natures. Who are you to tell me that I don’t know what I’m talking about?”

For a moment he glared down at her, his molten stare boring into her. Only her own anger kept that stare from melting her into an incoherent puddle.

Prince Sebastian’s jaw tightened and he turned, striding rapidly to the door.

“ You forgot your book!” Stella snatched it off the table and held it up.

Without glancing back, he addressed the wide-eyed clerk near the cash register. “Put it on my bill and send it with my usual order. Add to it the rest of the signed books on that table.”

Opening the bookshop door, he paused in the opening and turned for a final frown back at her. Stella felt the weight of his anger as if it were her own but met it with a determined glare.

Then she heard his voice again, rich and vibrant—but he hadn’t opened his mouth to speak. Instead of in her ears, his voice sounded in her head, and that shook her to the core.

What I am, Stella Robertson, is someone who does know what he’s talking about!

Jaw dropped, she stared as the door closed behind him.