Part 10 (1/2)

”I suppose one does,” Matty said, giving me a grin. ”We're meeting with the couturiere from Paris this morning, Georgie. I'm looking forward to it. In the small salon. It's lined with mirrors so we can admire ourselves.”

She paused and stared at the side table that was laden with cold meats, cheeses, fruits and breads, then she turned away. ”Alas, just a cup of coffee for me if I'm to fit into that wedding dress.”

”Fiddlesticks! One needs a good breakfast to start the day,” Lady Middles.e.x said. ”I don't hold with this ridiculous fad of dieting. A cup of coffee, indeed. That won't keep your strength up.” As she said this she was piling cold meats onto her plate with abandon. ”No egg and bacon, I notice,” she added with a sigh. ”Not a kidney in sight. Not even a kipper. One wonders how you folk on the Continent survive without a good hot breakfast.”

I helped myself and sat down at the table. Matty poured herself a cup of black coffee then wandered off with it.

”I hear the men plan to go hunting,” Lady Middles.e.x said. ”How they expect to tramp through this snow, I have no idea. Insanity, if you ask me, but at least it keeps them out in the fresh air for the day. And hunting's a healthy pursuit for young men. Keeps their minds off s.e.x. Maybe we should see if we can borrow snowshoes and go out for a walk ourselves, Deer-Harte.”

I was glad she wasn't including me in this plan. I ate as quickly as possible, then excused myself, only to b.u.mp into Belinda in the doorway.

”Am I glad to see you,” I said.

”That's quite a change from last night, I must say,” she said with a frosty stare. ”You looked daggers at me for some reason. I couldn't think what I might have done to upset you. It was almost as if you thought I'd spent the night with Darcy-which I haven't, by the way.”

”I'm sorry,” I said. ”I was put out. At first I thought that you'd been invited to the wedding and hadn't told me, and then when I found out how you'd arrived here, I was annoyed by your utter subterfuge.”

”Utter brilliance, darling, if you please. You do have to admit it was quite a coup. And you yourself said it would have been a lark if I could come to the wedding with you. So when you rejected my kind offer to become your maid, I decided that the wedding sounded like too much fun to be left out. So I packed my bags, caught the next train here, then I rented the oldest, most decrepit car and driver at the station, in the full knowledge that it would be likely to break down. Of course it did, at exactly the right spot, so I was able to present myself at the castle door and register surprise and delight when I found that Her Royal Highness the Princess Maria Theresa was in residence. 'But we were schoolmates,' I exclaimed and of course was received with open arms.”

”You're as bad as my mother,” I said.

”Not quite, but I'm working on it,” Belinda said with a grin. ”There was only one small glitch to my perfect scheme and that was when I didn't recognize Matty. My dear, can you believe the transformation? I suppose it is really she? Where did all those missing pounds go? And what about the moon face?”

”I know. I didn't recognize her either,” I said. ”She's quite lovely, isn't she? And her bridegroom isn't bad either.”

”Neither is his brother.” Belinda gave me her cat-with-the-cream smile. ”Very satisfactory in all departments. Too bad he's a prince or I might snap him up for keeps. But he'll have to end up marrying someone like you. I know-you could marry him, I could remain his mistress in a delightful menage a trois.”

”Belinda!” I had to laugh. ”I'd share a lot of things with you, but not my husband. Besides, Anton isn't the man I have in mind, although I have to admit that among available princes he's the best so far.”

”Wouldn't suit you, darling. Too naughty. He told me some of his exploits last night and they made even me blush. Not an ounce of moral fiber in him. That's why we're perfect for each other.”

”So I gather you didn't sleep in your own bed last night?”

”What a question to ask a lady! But darling, at beanfeasts like this who does sleep in their own bed? All you hear is curses and grunting as people b.u.mp into each other in the dark, tiptoeing between bedrooms. It's too, too funny for words. But I suppose you slept soundly and didn't hear a thing. I gather you've been given a room on the superior floor usually reserved for the family.”

”Right next door to Siegfried, as it happens,” I said, ”but Belinda, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Someone came into my room last night.”

”Not Siegfried!” she exclaimed. ”I thought his interests lay in quite another direction.”

”Oh, G.o.d, no. But worse in a way. I think it was a vampire.”

Belinda started laughing. ”Georgie, you are too funny sometimes.”

”No, seriously, Belinda. There is a spooky portrait hanging on the wall and this man looked just like him. I was half asleep and I woke to see him creeping toward me and then he stood over my bed, muttered something in a language I didn't understand then bent down toward me with this sort of unearthly smile, showing all his teeth.”

”Darling! What did you do?” She yanked down my collar. ”Did he actually bite you? What was it like?”

”He didn't get a chance. I sat up and demanded to know what he was doing. He gave this sort of unearthly moan and vanished.”

”Vanished? As in just melted away, you mean?”

”No, merged back into the darkness, I suppose, but when I finally turned on the light he was no longer in the room. And what's more there's a large chest in the room and inside it was a cape still damp with snowflakes on it. Explain that.”

”My dear, how frightfully thrilling,” Belinda said. ”If I didn't have other diversions to occupy me, I'd volunteer to sleep in your room tonight. I have always wanted to meet a vampire.”

”So you believe me?”

”I'm more inclined to believe it was some young count or other, one of Nicky's groomsmen, who made a mistake and got the wrong room when he went to visit the lady of his choosing. It's easy to do in a place like this.”

”I suppose you may be right,” I said. ”I'm going to watch when they set out hunting to see if I recognize him. Whoever it was certainly wasn't at dinner last night. And he didn't look-you know-earthly.”

Belinda put her hand on my shoulder. ”Georgie, I was only joking in London about vampires, you know. You don't really believe in them, do you?”

”Belinda, you know me.”

”I do and that's what worries me. Until now I'd have said you were one of the most levelheaded people on earth.”

”I know and I'd agree with you. But I know what I saw and I know the absolute terror that I felt.”

”A nightmare, maybe? Understandable in a place like this. Darling, isn't it all too delightfully gothic?”

”But what about the wet cape in that chest? If you want gothic, you should see the chest in my room. Come up and I'll show you.”

”If you insist,” she said. ”Very well. Lead on, Macduff!”

Chapter 15.

Bran Castle Somewhere in Transylvania Thursday, November 17

I led her up the stairs and pushed aside the curtains. Belinda looked around the room and of course her gaze first alighted on the portrait on the wall.

”I say. He's not bad, is he? And look at that s.e.xy open s.h.i.+rt. I wonder how long ago he lived.”

”He still lives. That's the whole point, Belinda. I swear he was my vampire last night.”

A wicked smile crossed her face. ”In that case I may well volunteer to change rooms with you. I wouldn't mind being bitten by someone like him.”

I looked at her and realized she was still joking. ”You still don't believe me, do you?”

”I think the logical explanation is that you fell asleep with that portrait staring down at you and you had a little fantasy dream about him.”

”All right, I'll prove it to you. Look, here's the chest.” I stomped across the room to it. ”And I bet the cape is still damp. See?”

I flung it open triumphantly, then stopped. The chest was completely empty.

”An invisible cape, how unique,” Belinda said.