“No. But Da did send someone out a few minutes ago when it seemed you might have gotten lost in the fog.” He reached for my arm and pulled me inside. “He’s convinced me that we know each other, you and I. Come tell me more about this place called Austin and our lives there. Why did I come home without you?”
Oh, great. Was I supposed to tell him he’d still been licking his wounds because I’d been unfaithful? Not going to happen. Not when he needed to process one piece of info at a time. First, our relationship. Which was complicated enough.
“We had a bit of a falling out. A misunderstanding. Which is why I’m here. To clear things up. I found out some
things that should make you feel better about our relationship.” I looked around the living room. Angus had disappeared. I guess to give Jerry and me some private time. Great. I owed him.
“I still don’t understand how I could be with the same woman for hundreds of years and not marry her. It’s a sin, Gloriana, living like that. I should have made an honest woman of you long ago.” Jerry looked really earnest as he took a seat beside me on the couch.
I hid a smile. Sinning had never concerned the Jeremiah Campbell I’d met in London all those years ago. He really had regressed into someone I wasn’t sure I knew at all. But I had to like him. He was so obviously worried about how he’d treated me.
“It was me, Jerry. I wouldn’t marry you. You did offer.” I put my hand over his.
“Not want my name?” He jerked his hand away. “Why not?” He stared down at my exposed legs. I kept forgetting the short skirt was screaming “slut” in his sixteenth-century brain.
“I didn’t understand it at the time, but it had something to do with my background. I was reluctant to commit to one man.” Uh-oh. I saw a look on his face that could only be described as distaste.
“Stop it. I wasn’t a…a whore.” I hurried on. “Times have changed dramatically since those that you remember, Jer. People no longer have to marry to be a happy couple or to live together publicly and be accepted in society.”
“You can’t be serious. What does the Church think of this?” He eased back so that he was as far away from me as possible on the three-seater couch.
“Doesn’t approve, of course. Some things never change.” Oh, great. That made him frown even more fiercely. “Come on, Jerry, you were never a churchgoer, not since I’ve known you.” I sat back. I wasn’t making headway, far from it. Obviously, rebuilding our relationship wasn’t going to be easy, and I was tired. Dawn was pulling at me.
“No, you’re right. I never let a disapproving priest stop me from my pleasures. Mara reminded me of that. A child. That was a surprise. Have you met her?”
“Lily? Of course. She’s beautiful and looks a lot like you, truth be told. But she has her mother’s nature. She and Mara don’t get along.” I was suddenly exhausted and had a feeling the fog had done a number on my hair. I was ready to escape to my bedroom.
Jerry just stared at me and I could almost see him trying to find me in the dark recesses of his memory. He finally shook his head. “Are you all right?” He reached out and brushed a wild curl back from my cheek. “You gave me a good bit of your blood tonight. Perhaps you should rest.”
“Yes, I need to. I’m worn out, physically and mentally.” I grabbed his hand. “I know you are too.” I was going for it. Maybe a new memory would stir the old ones. “Would you like for me to come to bed with you? If…if we lie together, maybe it will help. I hope—”
“I won’t deny I’m tempted. There is something about you…” He looked into my eyes, searching for our connection again. I knew it the instant he came up empty. But he kept eyeing me. The heat of his gaze as he took in my deliberately low-cut top, the short skirt and the length of my legs, scandalous to an ancient male, gave me hope that he’d at least give lust a chance. “No. I won’t use you that way.”
“Will you at least kiss me? What could one kiss hurt? Maybe it will stir some memories for you. The past is there somewhere. I know your daughter. Your father has vouched for me, Jer. We have been together intimately more times than I can count.” I took hold of the back of his neck, gently pulling him closer. It had been a gamble, offering myself to him, and he’d just had confirmed that once a slut, always a slut. But I could see that a kiss might be in his wheelhouse.
“Why not?” He gave in, leaning forward.
I closed my eyes when his lips met mine. I tasted the man I loved, the Jerry who’d met me at the car with joy in his eyes, so eager to be with me again. I teased open his lips
with my tongue and deepened the kiss when he didn’t at first. Running my fingertip along his ear, I sank into the kiss. It was dear and familiar and yet strangely new. Then over too soon when he pushed back and stared at me.
“I don’t know you.” He jumped up and stalked to the door to the outside. Before I could even call his name, he was gone, slamming it behind him.
I held my hand to my trembling lips. He didn’t know me. Well, by damn, before the two weeks were done, he certainly would or I’d catch a plane back home without him.
Wait a minute. This was exactly what my mother hoped I’d do. Give up. Maybe move on to someone she considered worthy. A fangless wonder handpicked by her if I wouldn’t shoot up to Olympus and start bonding over mother-daughter nut cracking. I shuddered to imagine it. I sucked up my flagging courage and headed out the door.
I found Jerry staring at the ruins of his once formidable castle.
“What happened to my home?” He stalked over to shove aside a fallen block of stone that most men wouldn’t have been able to slide even an inch.
“Your family decided centuries ago to quit wasting money on upkeep when they spent all their time belowground or in Edinburgh at the town house.” They had palatial digs in the big city, near other Scottish nobility, though, as vampires, they’d lost a lot of their power in politics. Still, they had friends in high places.
“But this.” Jerry strode over to read the sign about the tours. “The National Trust? What the devil is that? Da lets strangers roam the grounds during the day?” He kicked another stone out of his way. “There’s even a bloody tea room.”
“Well, yes. I think that’s a nice feature. Should bring in a good income.” I moved closer. I hated to see him so upset. Of course it had been a shock to see the home he’d last remembered as a prosperous holding reduced to little more than rubble. Only one tower remained standing and that’s where the tea room and souvenir shop were located. “The
National Trust is run by the Scottish government. Volunteers probably take care of the actual tours and such. I’m sure your family gets a tax break and maybe some kind of stipend for allowing visitors.”
“Da lets strangers poke about in our home? By God, I never thought I’d see the day.” Jerry paced around the perimeter of the castle, cursing and picking up loose stones. He stopped at the scaffolding erected against one side. “At least they’re doing some repairs, I see.”
“Yes, they can’t let it fall down any further. It’s a common thing. The taxes are really high. Many noble families do it, Jer. There’s no shame in it.” I kept up with Jerry as he headed for the stables. Horses. Of course he’d want to check on those. He’d be sorely disappointed. Most of the area was now a garage housing the various 4×4s used in the pastures along with the cars and Jeeps the family drove when in the country.
“Slow down, will you?” I wanted to prepare him.
“Why?” He stopped so fast I ran into him. “What is it? More bad news? This new century isn’t to my liking, I’ll tell you that.”
“I’m sorry, Jerry. But you really do like the progress when you’re, um—” I caught myself before I said “in your right mind.” He narrowed his eyes. “Yourself.”
“Spit it out. What’s next?”
“Well, horses aren’t such a big deal now. I’m not sure Angus even keeps any.” I plucked at Jerry’s plaid now thrown over his shoulder against the chill in the air. I wished for a sweater but wasn’t about to go back for one. “I’m sorry. I know how you love to ride.”
“No horses? How do you get around?” He glanced back at the castle. No cars were parked close enough for him to see in the mist, now obscuring everything.
“Cars, trucks, four-wheelers. Vehicles with engines, Jer. You’ll see when we get there. Keep going. I don’t know if we’ll find horses. Maybe we will.” I crossed my fingers.
Jerry charged down the path, so fast I had to run to keep
up with him. He stopped dead when he came to the garage/stables. They were in much better repair than the castle and clearly hadn’t held a horse in more than a decade. The driveway was paved and a sleek Jaguar sat in front of one of the six doors. It was Jerry’s. I remembered him talking about the big engine. Lots of horsepower. But not the kind he was looking for.
He took a deep breath, obviously trying to catch a scent of horses. I knew he wasn’t finding any. “Bloody hell.” He stalked over to the Jaguar and stared down at it. “This is it, then? The thing I use to get around in? How do we tend the sheep?”
“You haven’t tended sheep in centuries. As son of the laird I’m sure you remember that much.” I had to hide a smile.
“Of course.” He frowned. “We used dogs and villagers. But to get to the high pastures…”
“The men who take care of the woolly beasts use those.” I pointed at a group of four-wheelers and a couple of bicycles leaning against a wall in an open doorway.
Jerry rubbed his forehead. “I have a headache. I’m going back to the house.”
“I’m sorry, Jer. This is a lot to take in.” I wanted to comfort him but kept my distance. I let him walk away and fingered the phone in my pocket. I needed to talk to someone else, someone who might know what to do. There was only one other person who might have the knowledge to help a vamp with amnesia and I had a feeling calling him would put me in trouble with the Campbells. If they found out about it. I looked around to make sure I was truly alone, then pulled out the phone and hit speed dial.
“Ian, I have a problem.”
“Hello to you, Gloriana.” He sounded as superior and amused at my stupidity as always. Ian MacDonald was a genius, a doctor, and something of a psychiatrist. If anyone knew how to help Jerry, it would be Ian. Of course he was also a vampire and Jer’s sworn enemy. I’d have to make it
worth his while or pique his interest to get him to help Jerry.
“I’m in Scotland, at Castle Campbell.”
“Lucky you. No wonder you have a problem. Your lord and master not glad to see you?” He chuckled. Bastard.
“He was thrilled to see me. Until he had an accident.”
“Fatal, I hope.” Ian cleared his throat. “One of my kin finally take decent aim? Is the feud on again, and I need to watch my back?”
“No, it wasn’t a MacDonald.” I looked around again. Was that a security camera? No, I was being paranoid. “But he was knifed and it was coated in some kind of chemical. After the attack, Jerry woke up with amnesia.”
“No kidding. Brilliant.” Ian loved a good puzzle. I had him hooked. “Details, Gloriana. What does he remember? What
doesn’t
he remember?”
“He knows his name.”
“Too bad.” Ian chuckled. “Keep going.”
Tears clogged my throat but I fought them back down as I told him the essentials.
“Someone’s been very clever. I’d like to meet them.” He had that tone in his voice, the one that meant his brain was going a mile a minute and he was trying to figure this out. Good.
“Of course you would. A product like this could make you big bucks.” Ian was a businessman first, scientist second.
“Of course it would. So you want my help? How? An antidote? Did you save the knife so I could analyze the potion?”
I wanted to slap my forehead. The knife. Where was it? Had Angus taken it? Of course he had. Surely he hadn’t cleaned it, but someone in his efficient staff might have. I needed to find out, get it from him and ship it straight to Ian.
“Do you think you could do that? Figure out an antidote?”
“I don’t know. I’d have to get a look at it first.” Ian was sounding impatient. “Of course you’ve tried jogging his memory yourself, haven’t you?”
“Yes! Everything but dance naked in front of him. That’s next.” My face burned when Ian laughed. But, damn it, I was desperate.
“Therapy might help but I’m sure as hell not coming there. I vowed never to return to my homeland. That clan-feud crap is in my rearview mirror. I wasted too many centuries on it.” Ian sounded resolved.
“Well, now who needs therapy? A MacDonald having issues with his roots?” I smiled. Good to know the man had a vulnerability. Maybe Jerry could use that when they went head to head again.
“You’d have to bring Campbell back here. Hypnotherapy might be the thing to bring him back. Sounds like retrograde, posttraumatic amnesia. That is, if the amnesia hangs on after the drug wears off.”
“Could it? Wear off?” My heart jumped and wobbled. Hope. About time.
“I have no idea, Gloriana. But it’s a possibility. Pump him full of blood. Maybe that will help flush it out of his system.”
“And what about hypnotizing him? You know he’d never willingly put himself under your power.” I started walking back toward the castle. More blood. I could handle that.
“I’ll leave the persuasion to you and your ‘physical’ reminders. If he still can’t remember after the drug has left his system, then it’s because he’s got a mental block. I’d say he’ll need some drastic measures to come back to his senses.” Ian chuckled. “Though a Campbell doesn’t have much sense to begin with.”
“Drastic measures?”
“A good knock in the head, perhaps. Shock therapy.” Ian chuckled. “Bring him back here and I’d be happy to try some things.”
“I’m not stupid, Ian. Jerry’s amnesia wasn’t the result of a hit on the head. And you’re not getting anywhere near him with one of your ‘drastic measures.’” Egotistical man. Too bad Ian was just brilliant enough to be useful. If only he’d
really forget the feud between his clan and the Campbells. I wasn’t buying his “rearview mirror” comment.
“True enough. It was worth a shot. Keep me posted, Gloriana. I’m fascinated.”
“Of course you are. A Campbell in trouble. I just made your night, didn’t I?” This call might have been a mistake. But if anyone could figure out an antidote to my mother’s potion, it was Ian, damn him. “Jerry’s right not to trust you, Ian. I’d never have called a MacDonald in the first place if there were anyone else to turn to. I’ll let you know what I find out.” I ended the call and looked up to see Angus marching up from the family quarters. Uh-oh.