Midnight Ballroom, Bare Throat: An Erotic Gothic Monster Biting Romance

I have kept my collar high and my throat covered since I was presented at court.
The title is settled at midnight. I came to the ballroom anyway.

Ian does not pretend to be a gentleman about what he is.
Three nights ago I lifted my chin and pulled the lace down myself.
Take it, I said, and he did, without hurrying, until the room tipped sideways.
He held me up through the rest of it and left marks I have been dressing around since.
I wore a high collar to my own solicitor and could not keep my hands still.

That is the shame of it. Not the marks. That I want done with guarding it.
He looks at my throat across that ballroom and I forget the clock.

Tonight he takes the rest. My throat bared under those dead chandeliers. The bite that does not heal. Marked permanently and known for it, past any dressmaker's help.
Midnight decides the title, my inheritance turns on being unmarked, and I am still standing here.
He left the world for centuries and I would be the reason he came back.
Do I bare it and lose the name? Do I keep the name and send him back into the dark?

A full-length gothic monster biting and claiming erotic novel featuring a titled woman and the immortal who marks her.