The Vampire And His Lady (Silver Hills #2)

Chapter 2

Present day- England

Diana Thorpe was madly, truly and incandescently in love for the first time in her life.

So, even though her parents were apprehensive when she first showed them the ring, she didn't hesitate for a second when Henry Buxley got down on one knee and asked for her hand.

He hadn't even cared that her hands were scarred from an accident she'd had last summer, he'd still showered them in kisses when she'd agreed to be his wife.

"You're too young," her mum had warned. Her parents had always been overprotective of their four children, and as the second youngest Diana was constantly being ambushed with her family's concerns.

But Diana was nineteen and certain that she knew what she wanted. And what she wanted was a certain blonde haired, inconceivably charming, heir to the biggest property in Buxley Cove.

The wedding she was preparing for that morning wasn't her own though.

"Aren't you a bit overdressed?" Her younger brother, Julian, asked, leaning against the open door to her bedroom. She spun around and placed her hands on her hips, remembering why she desperately needed to follow in her older siblings footsteps and move out.

"Charlotte Buxley is practically nobility," she declared, brushing her gloved hands over the dusky pink dress she had on. The sleeves were long were put the cut at the front showed off a generous amount of her startlingly pale skin and the skirt flared out past her knees like a princess dress. "I'm already going to be scorned by the rest of the guests because of my lowly station, I'd rather not be underdressed."

The final piece to bring everything together: a delicate pink hat with pearls beaded around the front.

Julian let out a snort of laughter at the sight of her. "You look like you're going to meet the queen."

Diana sighed and patted the braided bun coiled tightly round the back of her head. "I may as well be."

Though he was only twelve, Julian was more observant than most. "If you have to try so hard to fit in with these people maybe you shouldn't have agreed to marry Henry."

She shook her head and sighed, the motion making her chest heave dramatically. "What can I do? I love him."

Any talk of love was enough to put Julian off. He stuck his tongue out and shuddered before storming off.

Finally alone, Diana let out a breath of relief and slumped in her desk chair. The bedroom was small, decorated in cool shades of blue and green. Her bed was still a single and pressed against the wall, showing her tragically alone she had been before meeting Henry.

He was everything she'd ever dreamed of. They'd met when she'd been doing a painting of his gorgeous ancestral home, Buxley Hall, and ever since that day he'd consumed her thoughts.

Of course, last summer might've been an exception. It had only happened a few months ago but all Diana could recall came in strange flashes. The worst thing about forgetting is how easy it is. True, memories seemed to chip at her skull, begging to be let out, but in the end she could get on with her life pretending that the missing few weeks had never happened.

It was better now Elisabeth wasn't around making a fuss over her. She'd gone to see some baby of her friends in America. It was Elisabeth who told her that she reason she couldn't remember was because she's experienced a traumatic event- an attack- that had left their family friends, the Masons, dead and her badly injured.

She saw the injuries everyday. They were healing now, but the claw marks that ran all over her body left shiny pink scars. And the bite marks... so peculiar! It was strange to think a wolf could've left such precise marks all over her body. She had joked once it was almost like a vampire bite. Elisabeth wasn't amused at all.