VAMPIRE: PARANORMAL: Out For Blood (Vampire Alpha Shapeshifter Romance) (New Adult Paranormal Fantasy Short Stories) Read Online Free Page B

cheeks flush with jealousy.
    “No Miss. He likes the theatre. Don’t say I told you Miss, but he has customers there.”
    “Customers? What sort of customers?”
    “Can’t say Miss. Won’t say Miss if you’ll beg my pardon.”
    “Interesting. It seems this man is something of a scoundrel.”
    “No Miss. He’s a good ‘un. Everyone says so.”
    “Maybe so Charlie… maybe so.”
    “Look Miss, I haven’t got anything to give you but this.” He reached under his pillow and pulled out a piece of wood carved beautifully into a small bird.
    “Where did you get this Charlie, it’s beautiful.”
    “I made it Miss.”
    “Really? It’s so good you could get money for it rather than give it to me.”
    “I would like you to have it Miss, as a thank you.”
    Diana choked back a tear. This young boy had nothing but his talent, and he wanted to give her something in return for her kindness. She knew she should accept it and kissed him on the forehead.
    She smiled to herself as she rode home. The stranger without a name. She must discover his secret. It made her smile even more to realize that her fantasy, where she was taken advantage of by a Captain in Wellington's army in a hay field, had come true. The tiny detail of it being straw instead of hay did not matter one jot. And he probably wasn’t a Captain but those were just details.
    ***
    Diana sat at her dressing table brushing her long blond hair thinking about the day’s events and the stranger. The carved bird had pride of place next to her jewel box.
    “Excuse me Ma’am,” said Jane, Diana’s lady’s maid, bobbing a curtsey in her long black skirt, white apron and white h at . “I took the washing down to the laundry room and couldn’t help noticing your pantaloons are ripped at the… at the crotch. Would you like me have them repaired or discarded?”
    Diana thought for a moment. “Jane, I think they are too tight and restrictive. Have them sewn but leave a gap, so they don’t restrict me if I ride my horse other than side saddle. I understand that in the old days that is how women wore their underwear to assist when they had to go to… well you know.”
    She caught Jane’s look of surprise and then her knowing smile.
    “Yes, Ma’am. Would you like your other pantaloons the same?”
    “I think not Jane. The one pair should suffice.”
    ***
    Diana rode into the gypsy encampment, side saddle scattering three mangy dogs and a flock of chickens. She found the ancient Carlotta sitting on the steps of her green caravan with its garish paintings of roses all around the lower part. The old woman picked the leaves off a herb or plant of some description that Diana didn’t recognize.
    “May I have a word,” said Diana.
    Carlotta stood up and beckoned Diana to enter the caravan.
    Inside the smell was of lavender. As always it was spotlessly clean with highly polished brass and copper all around.
    “Have you come for more of the potion?”
    “No, I still have enough for several weeks.”
    “He’s not that active then is he?”
    “Not with me.”
    “Then how can I help you?”
    “It’s about the potion. When I take it, if I had already conceived, would it harm the child?”
    “You won’t conceive if you take the potion.”
    “Yes, I know that. But please, would it harm the baby if I were already pregnant when I took it.
    “No. It stops you getting pregnant, but it won’t stop you from being pregnant if you already are. Does that help?”
    “Yes. And when I first came here, you said it was active for up to twelve hours. Is that right?”
    “Yes, that’s what I said. That’s what it does.”
    “So if I had… if I…”
    “If you did it after twelve hours you may or may not get pregnant. It depends on the usual cycle for a woman. Does that help?”
    “It does. Thank you.”

 
    Chapter 4
     
     
    “How was Mariah?” said Sir Reginald at dinner on Monday evening. Diana found him in a jovial mood.
    “I didn’t get the opportunity to