A Taste Of A Vampire

Chapter 12

Days passed and became one week, and then two. The envelope and the paperwork that Colin had sent to her to sign had been set carefully into one of the drawers in her desk. She kept telling herself that she was going to sign it, but she left it sitting there, day after day, and when she thought of it, it was after she had already left the office or it was early in the morning before she had gone to work.

She thought of it now and then when she was on her lunch hour away from the office. She thought of it when she was in a meeting, or in the elevator, or anywhere else but her desk.

She kept telling herself that she was going to sign it and send it back to Colin, but she just couldn’t make herself do it. She had gone through days of not admitting it to herself, but she finally did after the second week had passed. She didn’t want to sign it. She didn’t want to give it up. She loved Grayson Manor, and she cared about everyone there. She couldn’t make herself sign it all away to someone she didn’t know at all.

Her life in Manhattan had felt nothing but hollow when she had returned. Her job didn’t hold the same thrill for her as it once had. She wasn’t adamantly looking forward to her career in the future. She hadn’t spent time with any of the people who were her friends; not even once since she had gotten back, and she didn’t feel as if she wanted to. She hadn’t even told most of them that she was back.

Every reason she had for going back had left her hollow and unfulfilled. The only thing that gave her any kind of warmth and purpose was the memory of all that she had left behind in England. She missed it viscerally every day, and she missed Nicholas even more than anything else.

She realized that she was going to have to be true to herself. She had been dreaming of Nicholas every night, and thinking of him so often during the day, even more than she was when she had first returned to New York.

Each night that Claire fell asleep, her dreams were filled with him. Visions of him holding her, kissing her, making love with her, spending time with her at her home and around England were all that she could see when she slept. Every morning she found herself waking missing him even more, and every morning her neck would ache just a little where he had left bite marks on her.

She had spent a great deal of time examining the bite marks in the mirror, and as time passed they had faded, and they were nearly gone. She wondered if they would fade all the way or if there would be some remnant of them there all her life.

Claire finally couldn’t take the constant dreams and thoughts any longer, and she spent a good deal of time trying to work out in her mind what she could do. She told herself that there had to be a way that she could be back in England and live at Grayson Manor. There had to be a way for her to be with Nicholas. Maybe she could remain human and love him all her human days, and when she passed away, then he could tell her goodbye and keep living. It might work. She told herself that it was worth a try.

When she went into work with her new idea in mind, she sat at her desk and called Colin. He answered quickly, and she was excited and grateful to hear his voice on the other end of the line.

“Colin!” she gasped with a big grin.

“Your ladyship, how wonderful to hear from you! I suspect you’ve gotten the package that I sent to you.” He sounded pleased and sad.

“Yes, I did get it. Actually, to be honest, I got it a couple of weeks ago.” She bit at her lower lip and felt a tinge of guilt that she had kept it so long before deciding what she was going to do with it.

“Do you have any questions about it? Is there anything that you feel uncertain about or that you would like to change?” he asked, obviously trying to reason out to himself why she hadn’t yet sent it back.

“Well, that’s kind of what I’m calling you about. You see, there has been a change. I don’t know how to tell you this, but I think I want to keep Grayson Manor. No… I definitely want to keep it. Can I still do that?” she asked, closing her fingers tighter around the phone as she waited to hear what he would say to her.

He laughed in glee. “Well, that’s tremendous news! I’m so pleased to hear it! I had hoped that you would keep it. I really did want you to have it all, your ladyship. You’re the best person for Grayson, and I know that you won’t regret your decision to keep it.”

She grinned herself, for the first time since she had gotten back to New York. “Wonderful! Is there anything that I need to do to make it official?”

His tone grew a little more serious then. “Just don’t sign those papers that I sent you. Shred them. Immediately. And then you will remain as you have been and as you are right now; you will still be the Lady Claire Everett of Grayson Manor.” He sounded positively giddy.

She laughed and her shoulders relaxed with relief as she sat back in her chair. “I’ll do that. Gladly.”

“I know the staff will all be glad to hear it,” he added. “They really took a shine to you, and they were sorry to see you go. I’ll leave your return as a surprise to them. They’ll be delighted. Oh! Also, there’s a bit of news. There was a sad bit of news from the area. Did you ever meet Nicholas Ryder from the property that borders yours?”

She sat up in her chair again and felt her stomach tighten.  “Yes, I did meet him. We became friends while I was there.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry to be the one to tell you this, then, but he has passed away. I don’t know what is to become of his property, but if it goes up for sale, then you could purchase it, if you’d like. You’d be expanding your own property and it would be added in to Grayson estate. I’m very sorry if that is upsetting to you at all.” He sounded as if he was sorry to be delivering sad news.