“Yes, well, I made the choice.” I turned away. I couldn’t be bitter. There was no point. “Mercy says you have asked her to look after little Anna while you work. I think that is a fine idea, with her expecting her own babe.”
“You don’t mind? She is your maid, after all.” Maggie began to tidy the room, folding blankets and changing cloths. “I thought it might be good practice for her. Once her babe comes, the two little ones can be kept together while I work.”
“It is a good plan. There is little for Mercy to do here. It is not as if we have fancy balls where I need my hair done up. Still, Florence, Laird Campbell’s mistress, makes me want to look my best. She certainly takes her time each night to dazzle us. The men can’t look away.”
Maggie laughed. “I like her. You needed a vampire female friend. There’s no reason to let yourself do such things as fighting then forget that Lord Jeremiah likes you to look pretty.” She walked me to the door. “I took a look at your wardrobe. Mercy hasn’t been taking care of it like she should. The girl has too much on her mind these days, I think, to be a proper servant.”
“She’s doing enough. And no one is better with my wardrobe than you, Maggie. You know that.” I hugged her again. “Oh, how I’ve missed you. Yes, it’s fun having Florence here, but she is not an old friend, now is she?”
I opened the door. “I would love for us to have a wedding here. I need to seek out Lady Anne to see what she thinks of the good captain.”
But when I found the lady, she was packing.
7
“ W hat’s this? Where are you going?” I stood in the doorway of Lady Anne’s bedchamber. There were several open trunks and clothes were tossed on the bed.
“I am leaving. You have no use for me here. I could see that your Maggie has things well in hand.” Her eyes were red from weeping. “I must thank you for your patience in letting me stay.”
“Lady Anne, I have told you. This is your home for as long as you wish it to be. I enjoy your company.” I moved closer. “Whatever brought on this need to leave so suddenly?”
She just shook her head and dabbed at her eyes with a sodden handkerchief.
“Please. Come sit in front of the fire in your solar.” I took her elbow and led her into the room that was cozy and filled with her fine needlework.
“It should be your solar. You can entertain here. Your new friend Florence can sit with you and share tea in front of the fire of an evening.” Lady Anne collapsed on the settle then jerked one of her pretty pillows from behind her back and tossed it on the floor. “Do you want any of these? Or have you brought your own? I can throw them in the fire if they will be in your way.” She pulled another from the long bench and made as if to aim it at the hearth.
“Stop! Don’t you dare destroy months of your work.” I grabbed the pillow then sat next to her, the pretty thing in my lap. “Look at this. You do such fine needlework and I am no hand at it. Of course, I don’t have my own beautiful pillows. Why, just see how clearly you made this view of a lake. Where is this? I have never seen a place like this near here.”
Anne stared at it. “No, it is the valley near my home. I used to ride there with my father. We would sit by that lake and eat cakes. He did have a love of sweets.” She sighed. “It will not be the same now. My mother’s husband sold that land to someone else. He is a fool for gaming. I just received a letter from Mama. She writes that she wants me home to meet someone. I know what that is about. The baron must owe a great debt and thinks to use me to settle it.” She took the pillow and squeezed it. “At least I’m good for something.”
I ignored what I knew to be self-pity.
“Must you go?” I was close enough to run my fingers over the fine stitches. It must have taken hours, days, weeks to finish the intricate needlepoint scene.
“It does not feel right to just live on your charity, Gloriana. Yours and Lord Campbell’s.” Lady Anne looked away. “What choice do I have but to find a place where I can be useful? Or to marry again.” Her chest heaved with a deep sigh.
“Didn’t Lord Ralph provide a widow’s portion for you?” I had asked Jeremiah about such things. Surely wives had some protections from poverty when a husband died. Not that my sham marriage to Michael had shown me that. Michael had been but a poor actor. When he died, I’d been lucky to be left with the few things in our rented room. Those I’d sold until there was nothing left and the landlord had sent me packing.
The other mistresses I had met in Edinburgh and London had advised me to look to my own future. That meant accepting jewels from my lover and saving them to sell once we parted. I refused to scheme for more gifts like some of those women did. They, like Florence, considered such an attitude merely practical.
I’d noticed Anne wearing some lovely pieces since I’d been here. “You have jewels you could sell, Lady Anne. That should give you a small independence.”
“I would hate to part with them, but they would provide a small dowry, I suppose. If Mama’s baron does not hear of them and sell them first.” Lady Anne walked to the window. “I had a generous dowry when I married Ralph. He was not a wealthy man. He used it to improve the castle. To please me, he said.” She stared out at the view of the sea.
“Then there were the horses, the sheep, the ship that he planned to use to vanquish the pirates.” She looked at me, her face bleak. “Those are all gone, taken by the pirates or destroyed. The ship sank in the harbor. They call it Bloody Bay, you know.”
“I didn’t know!” I jumped to my feet. Bloody Bay?
Jeremiah had told me he intended to attack the pirates. Plans had been made and he was going soon, perhaps on tomorrow’s tide. His father wanted to go with him and they had been excitedly talking of making the pirates rue the day they had harried the Scottish coast. Fergus had been told he would stay here and take charge of the men guarding the castle. He had accepted the duty, though he’d itched to go with them.
Men. They treated the coming battle like a grand adventure. I felt a pain in the pit of my stomach, fear gnawing at me. Bloody Bay. Gods! Anne was still talking.
“That is why there is a Guardian, of course. There is a long history of battles with the Irish along this coastline. The two shores are so very close here, mere hours away by ship with a fair wind.” Lady Anne sat again. “I must resign myself to my future. I am going home and can only hope that the man chosen for me is kind.”
I wanted to shake her.
“Stop this. You are no longer a young girl subject to your family’s control. Not even the king would think to make you obey them.” I knew that from questioning Jeremiah. Obviously, the king had forgotten Anne existed when he sent us here. I doubted the baron her mother had married had the king’s ear either. Jeremiah knew him as a wastrel and a gambler. She could safely defy him, couldn’t she?
“You are kind to worry about me, Gloriana. But I cannot just sit in this room stitching forever. Honestly? I am sick of it.” Anne’s face flushed even as she did sit in her chair and pick up her needlework from the basket beside her. “A bad marriage might be better than none.”
I remembered some of the cruel men I’d met in London, men with hard eyes who thought pain was the only way to get their pleasure. “That is not so. Think, Anne! You should have a choice, not just give in to another’s demands.” I took her hand and squeezed it. “Is there not someone here who would be to your liking? Someone who has been attentive of late?”
“What are you suggesting, Gloriana?” She pulled her hand away and picked up her needle. She ran her finger along its length. “You really think I should just refuse to go home?”
“Why not? As I said, you can certainly stay here as long as you wish. If there is not someone already in the castle who would suit you, we can invite guests from Edinburgh to visit.” I really didn’t want to do that. Entertaining the laird and Florence had been easy, they knew what we were. To bring in mortals when we were fighting a war? I couldn’t imagine it.
“Who would want me?
I bring nothing of worth with me. And,” She stabbed the cloth in her lap with that sharp needle. “I am barren.”
“Wait. Nothing of worth? You are a woman of good family and very pretty when you are not dressed in drab clothing.”
Anne just shook her head. She stabbed the cloth again.
“And barren? How do you know that?” I was staying well away from Anne and that needle. It made me wonder if there were any way to shoot such sharp objects at an enemy. I took a breath and savored the fresh air coming in from the arrow slit. I actually liked it here close to the sea. My solar? Hmm. Anne stared pensively at her lap, automatically making tiny stitches.
“What I know, Gloriana, is that in almost ten years of marriage, I never gave Ralph a child. I never even increased. Not once!” She looked up, her eyes damp. “Men want heirs. The best I could hope for is an elderly widower with children.”
“How old are you, Lady Anne?”
“Eight and twenty. Why?” She stopped stitching.
“You have many good breeding years left to give a man an heir.” I thought about what Maggie had told me about child bearing. “Are you sure you never even had a chance at one, perhaps lost a babe?” I shivered. Anne knew what I meant. Women lost babes all the time. It was heartbreaking but a fact that God sometimes took matters into his own hands and no one knew why.
“No. It was disappointing, but I always have my courses as I should, regular as the moon goes full. I have certainly wept myself dry over that fact many times.” She looked down at her lap. “I prayed until my knees were raw. Then I tried herbs from an old woman in the village. Did some foolish things she told me to try to make it happen…” Tears gleamed in her fine blue eyes. “Ralph and I certainly enjoyed lusty bed sport quite often, but I never conceived.” Anne brushed away a tear that had run down her cheek. “No man with any property or standing will chance an alliance with me.”
“You are wrong.” I leaned forward. “It was clearly Ralph’s fault. Unless he left bastards scattered about the castle or in the villages?”
“No, there was never any talk of such.” Anne flushed. “I knew he was not always faithful. I ignored it. Men will be men. My mother gave me that advice and I heeded it.”
I growled. Oops. Hide those fangs. “Sorry, but men do not have to act like wild dogs. If you marry again, you should expect fidelity. I do from Jeremiah and we are not even wed.” I pulled out a handkerchief and made as if to touch my nose but it was really to hide my mouth and those fangs. Why did women think they should allow men to betray them then accept them back into their beds? I was not going to do it. Jeremiah knew it too. Or he should.
“Do you really think it could have been Ralph’s fault?” Anne threw aside her sewing.
“Jeremiah has told me that some men get injured in battle and then cannot sire children. You say your husband had been a soldier. If he had ever suffered a wound to his private parts, they might have been damaged beyond repair. From the way you describe his habits, bedding you and others regularly with no issue. Well…” I smiled. “Poor Ralph. I believe you were not the problem, he was.”
Ann flushed. “He did have a scar, near his privates. Though they worked well enough.” Her face lit with a smile. “You have no idea what a comfort that would be. Ralph the problem. Blaming myself all these years has been very much a constant source of pain and worry to me.” She got up and strode to the door to look into her bedchamber. “I didn’t mind going to a stranger my mother’s husband picked out, knowing he might never get an heir. Now? This changes things.” She turned to me, her hands on her hips. “I want to choose my own husband, Gloriana. Or not marry at all.”
“Excellent.” I wanted to cheer.
“If you truly don’t mind my staying here, I also want to see the pirate woman defeated, once and for all. Meanwhile, perhaps I can look about and find someone who will love me. Ralph did, in his own way.” She pulled off her ugly cap and touched her hair. “It is nearly time for the evening meal, don’t you think? I should go down and see about it.”
“It surely is.” I had no idea of the schedule, but always let the mortals do what they would do. “I will seek out Florence now to make sure she is comfortable.” I walked toward the door. “I am glad you are staying, Lady Anne. Shall I send Mercy to put away your things?”
“That would be very kind of you. Thank you, Gloriana. I feel so much better now. You are always kind to me. I don’t deserve it.” She hugged me tight then left the room.
I stared after her. Impossible that this highborn lady thought my kindness was undeserved. Didn’t she remember that I was only a mistress? Yes, I dressed like a lady and tried my best to speak like one. Jeremiah always treated me with respect as well. I still considered it a miracle after the way we’d met.
I sighed. I couldn’t forget that I’d been starving in an alley, homeless, only months ago. It was like I was waiting for all of the wonderful things that had come to me since I’d met Jeremiah to vanish in an instant. I would wake up again. No memory, no one to care for me.
I looked around. This worrying had to stop. I was safe. I had a man who loved me and friends. Instead of imagining the worst that could happen, I needed to celebrate what I had. Too bad that, although I’d done what I could to solve Anne’s problem, another, much bigger one, stayed on my plate. Were Jeremiah and the laird truly taking ship tomorrow night to roust out the pirates?
That awful dread sat in my stomach as I walked up the stairs to Florence’s room. Without Jeremiah I could very well end up back where I’d started, alone and in trouble. Worse this time because I was a vampire now. There was no changing that fact.
I took a breath and gathered my crazy thoughts. Florence would be able to read them, I didn’t doubt that. A knock and I was allowed entry with a cheerful “Entra !”
Florence had a colorful array of clothing spread on her bed. She smiled as I came in then she waved at the pretty dresses.
“I must decide. What do I wear tomorrow when we send our men into battle?”
“You knew?” I threw up my hands. How could she be so happy about it? Focusing on her wardrobe at a time like this seemed, well, uncaring. “Aren’t you worried they will be hurt or killed?”
“Angus told me all about it.” Florence walked over and put her arm around me. She led me to a chair in front of the fire. “Sit. You think I don’t love Angus? That I hope he will die on the ship? Fall into the sea or something? You are wrong. I play with my dresses to take my mind off of something I cannot change. It is what I do.” She shook her head at the look on my face.
I knew I was showing my feelings to her. So what? If we were to be friends, I wanted to share things with Florence. I hated being helpless. If anything happened to Jeremiah…
“You are determined to want to do something to help your lover. Stop it! He would never take help from you. Don’t you know that? Foolish woman. Oh, if only I could share a nice bottle of vino with you, amica ! That would settle you down.”
“Jeremiah is a warrior. On land. What does he know about ships? He says he has fought on them before and been captured!” I didn’t want to sit, but Florence was right, making myself crazy didn’t help anything. She sat across from me.
“He is still here, Gloriana. He says he was captured once, sí , but Jeremiah is still here. He survived. Am I right?” She slapped my knee. “What are you so worried about? We are vampires, we live forever.”
“If no one stakes us!” I couldn’t sit still or calmly pick out a dress to wear for when we sent the men off to do battle. I don’t know why, but it seemed I was a fighter myself. I liked to be involved in whatever was happening.
What was Florence thinking? Was she nothing but a pretty ornament to sit around and decorate a room or open her arms and legs when her man was randy? I saw her staring. Let her read my thoughts. It might end our friendship but I was seething.
“I have lived a long time, Gloriana. I told you that. I have learned a thing or two.” She waved her hand. “Man
y things, caspisci ?” She shook her head and raised a finger. “One. You cannot tell a man what to do.”
“True.” I sat back. I was willing to listen. This was the voice of experience, after all.
“Due , or two as you say. You can make him do what you wish if you are clever.” She got up to select a scarlet dress and held it in front of her. It would set off her dark hair and pale skin to perfection. “Have you learned that lesson yet, amica ?”
I thought of the many things I had managed to convince Jeremiah to do, including turning me vampire. “Of course. Shouting and crying does nothing that a seduction won’t do better.” I laughed. “What are you planning? Does that bodice dip as low as I think it does? The soldiers will not be able to look away. The sailors on the ships will likely run aground, steering toward you instead of Ireland.” I could practically see it in my mind.
“It barely holds my breasts. Scandalous!” Florence danced around the room with it in front of her before tossing it onto a chair and digging into her cask full of jewels. “Look at this chain with a pearl as big as my toe! Angus bought it for me before we left Edinburgh.” She held it out to me. “Is it not pretty?”
“Pretty, no, gorgeous! Angus is very generous.” I examined the luminous oval pearl that shimmered in the firelight. “It must be worth a fortune.”
“I am worth a fortune, Gloriana. So are you. Do not forget it.” Flo tossed the gold chain over her head. It settled to nestle perfectly between her generous breasts. “Or let Jeremiah forget it. We will give our men something to remember as they sail off to do battle. The pirates have no idea they are dealing with vampires. They will not have stakes in their hands. Our men can always shift and fly away if things get too bad there. You know that.”
“Yes, I do.” I stood. Time to quit worrying and start doing. Jeremiah would be fine. It would upset him to read my mind and see that I didn’t trust him to take care of himself. “You are good for me, Florence. I am done with my foolish upset.” I brushed my hands together.
Real Vampires: Glory and the Pirates Page 9