For Love of a Vampire

Chapter 21

Duncan and his father had business with the tenants on the estate to tend to and weren't expected home for a few days. He'd met me for mid-morning tea to explain how trouble was brewing between tenants on the far end of the estate and the estate manager requested their assistance. The explanation of what type of trouble wasn't volunteered, and I never bothered to ask. My mind was still whirling from my meeting with the very handsome Lord Rufus and I was finding matters of the estate difficult to focus on. Plus, did it really matter in the scope of things what happened to the estate? After all, Duncan and I would be finding a way back to the future soon and all that went on in the eighteenth century would be insignificant. All I remembered was that the estate consisted of two thousand acres and they had to go to the very far end of it. At best it was a one-day ride, but usually two.

Although I longed to take dinner in my room, Lord Collier requested I dine with his guests as their representative in their absence. He was regretfully leaving a small party of associates who he'd invited to spend the week, but there was no way around it. Since they were fully aware of both Lady Margaret's return and my existence, he expected us both to entertain in his and Lord Duncan's absence.

She sat at the head of the table in the earl's place while I mixed myself into the middle of the group. I had no desire to stand out in the crowd. Of course, Lady Lilith was in attendance and so was her glower, only this time it was aimed in the right direction. It seemed there was more than the rival for Duncan between the two. Had that been the case, and having heard the rumor of Duncan and my love tryst -and with the absence of her guardian- she surely would have been throwing eating utensils at me like darts. We were just being seated at our respective places when Lady Lilith shocked the dinner party by asking the dowdy looking Lord Dunbar to switch seats with me so that I would be seated directly next to her. A hush came over the room as he obliged.

I wasn't sure if it was the wisest idea, but I went along with her request and took the seat next to her. Since I wasn't all that hungry, I guessed it didn't matter if my dinner was ruined by her sour, biting conversation. To my surprise, it was anything but. Other than the cutting looks she sent to the opposite end of the enormously long table, she was the epitome of politeness.

She questioned me on how I was enjoying my stay at Winterspring. She shared some enjoyable anecdotes about her childhood growing up with Duncan. We touched a bit on my relationship with him, but I was quick to change the subject to something more neutral considering the company we were in.

I would occasionally glance in Lady Margaret's direction to find her openly glowering at me. Her distaste for my presence at the table was fully displayed. Most of the dinner party ignored the undercurrent and enjoyed the good food and conversation, but there were a few who felt it necessary to join the royal high priestess in her glowering fest. I suppose I couldn't blame her for her behavior. Not only had I taken Duncan from her, but it appeared I was making a friend of Lady Lilith.

Double whammy!

Relieved when the meal ended, I made my excuses and left Lady Margaret to preside over the party of friends while I went back to my rooms. I didn't even need to feign a headache. I felt like someone was playing racket ball with my brain. This was one of the few times I truly missed modern day medicine. Their headache powders just took the edge off. They still required you lie down for several hours the stress could leave your body.

Elizabeth helped me out of my gown with the ease and efficiency of an adept lady's maid. I'd just crawled beneath the security of the thick cotton bed cover when the chamber maid asked for entry into my rooms. She needed to collect the piss-pot early. She'd been informed that the washerwoman's normal schedule for pickup of the estate's inhabitant's urine was thrown off due to her daughter's delivery of a healthy baby boy. The washerwoman's husband would be collecting the urine for her while on his route for dung collection and would take it all to the tannery on his own. I have to say, I found the whole process disgusting and had to shudder the thought of it from my mind whenever I encountered an article of wearing apparel or item fashioned from leather. I guess it's what one is accustomed to, because I thought nothing of it whenever I saw a dog owner walking the streets of Manhattan with the dog's recent dump wadded in a little plastic bag.