My Lady Vampire by Sahara Kelly Read Free Book Online Page B

there’s a husband looking for her. She’ll be gone soon. If she survives at all.”
    So without further ado, the men gently lifted the gate from the back of the wagon and bore the fragile burden lying on it into St. Chesswell, preceded by a grim-faced Mrs. Tooting.
    Finally, the house settled again, and Sidney had chance to view his newest houseguest under the stern eye of his housekeeper.
    “How bad is she, sir?”
    Sidney sighed and pulled the sheet up over her still form. “Hard to tell. I can see no obvious injury. No broken bones, I think her ribs are intact, and other than the scratches and bruises, she’s in one piece. But it’s this one bump on her head that troubles me.”
    He ran his hands through her hair. “A large one. Looks like she may have hit her head on a rock or something when she was thrown from the carriage.”
    “Is that why she’s still sleeping?” Mrs. Tooting moved nearer the bed, smoothing the hair away from the woman’s face in a comforting gesture. “Poor thing.”
    “It could well be the cause of her unconsciousness. Nasty things, head injuries. We’ll just have to wait and see.” He stood up. “Have someone near at hand for her in case she wakes, Mrs. Tooting. She’ll not know where she is or what happened and I’d as soon not frighten her further.”
    His housekeeper nodded. “Very good, sir.”
    “I must rest a bit. Wake me if anything changes…” He yawned. “Probably the best thing she can do right now is sleep. Give her body a chance to heal itself.”
    Sir Sidney left the woman to the care of his housekeeper and headed off to his room. He was exhausted, no nearer a solution to Adrian’s problem than he had been for several weeks now and facing this new development.
    He needed sleep. With any luck he’d awaken before his son, which would give him chance to warn Adrian of their unexpected guest.
    It would also give him time to work out a good way to tell Adrian something else about their guest--she had red hair .
    - - - -
     
    Pain . Shattering, stultifying, unbearable pain.
    It washed over Katherine in waves, bringing tears to her eyes as she gasped for breath. Even the act of breathing hurt, as if her very lungs were bruised.
    Returning to consciousness through a red mist of agony, she fought to raise her eyelids. To see where she was.
    To see if she was dead.
    Although if she was, there was going to be a serious discussion with St. Peter about the quality of the after-life. It shouldn’t hurt like this. It shouldn’t feel like knives running down one’s body or the solid weight of a boulder on one’s chest, not to mention a headache that was nearly blinding in its intensity.
    Mustering every ounce of strength remaining inside her, Katherine opened her eyes and blinked away the tears and mists of unconsciousness.
    She was in bed, in a room--a nice room to judge by what she could see from her vantage point--and a fire was blazing in the fireplace, sending dappled shadows across the walls and canopy.
    The sun must be setting. How long had she been here? Was it the same day of the accident? Where was she? Somewhere along the south coast, that much she knew…but after Lymington she’d lost her way and the darkness hadn’t helped.
    Vague memories oozed back into the quicksand of her brain, images of horses pulling fiercely on their harnesses as she tried to hold them. The sound of Jessie, her maid, screaming.
    Oh God. Jessie . Where was she? Was she alive? Was she in this house too? Where was this place?
    Panic rose inside Katherine’s throat and she struggled to cry out.
    A shadow crossed the room and dimmed the light from the fire. “Sssh.” As if sensing her distress, a hand rested on her forehead. A cool hand, large and firm, it stroked down her cheek, soothing and easing her confusion.
    “Sleep now.” It was a man’s voice, strangely comforting.
    Too weak to protest, Katherine Edgeworth Byerly did as she was bid.
    She fell