Chapter Eighteen
Lilith
She had slept that morning. Like actually slept.
The nightmares had started early on in the night with Jacinda begging Lilith to hurry, to help save Sybil, but then finally
left her alone long enough to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that staying at a B&B meant there would be breakfast.
Knowing she’d likely see Asher, Lilith took a quick shower and added a bit of mascara, blush, and pink lip gloss.
Lord, Essie was getting to her with all that Mr. Darcy nonsense.
She left her room and entered the glass-walled patio where a wrought iron table awaited her with a single plate setting.
She slid into the chair, and everything suddenly seemed too still. Too quiet.
She’d always hated iron. Such a heavy, unforgiving metal that left a tinny scent on everything. But now, it seemed almost
oppressive. Even the sun outside lacked its usual hum that she’d grown accustomed to.
Strange.
Asher entered the room wearing pale blue scrubs with “Kindred Creatures” stitched in black above a paw print on his right
pec. An impressive pec, at that. Not that Lilith ought to be noticing.
“I forgot to ask your breakfast order last night, so a full English breakfast it is.” He set the loaded plate in front of
her. The briny scent of ham mingled with the sweetness of baked beans, setting her stomach rumbling in anticipation.
“About Aunt Jacqueline.” He cast about the room, appearing almost helpless before his features set in that stern expression.
“I have been considering hiring a nurse to tend to her, but didn’t have the opportunity before you arrived.”
Lilith recalled how caught off guard he’d seemed when she’d arrived so soon after his aunt’s invitation to come to England.
Perhaps this was why. That made more sense than him just being a jerk. Lilith nodded, eager to please, especially after having
put him out. “I can help with her during the day.”
“That isn’t necess—”
Lilith waved him off. “I really don’t mind.”
He nodded, the tension from his face relaxing somewhat. Toby plodded into the room with a red leash dragging from his mouth.
Lilith chuckled. “I think Toby says it’s time for a walk.”
“Actually, it’s time to leave for work.” Asher threw a look at his dog and grinned, transforming his face into something boyish
and so handsome, it would have given Essie way too much hope.
With a wave, he was off, and Lilith devoured her first-ever English breakfast, deciding she might need another one the next day. Even as she ate, a restlessness rattled through her as she thought back to the previous day.
Had she really seen the young woman with red-gold hair from her dreams in the manor? Had she really heard the clatter of a
dropped pan and smelled food cooking?
Surely that was all just a byproduct of a near concussion and jet lag.
Everything in her yearned to return to the manor, to confirm that what she’d experienced had real explanations.
But she couldn’t just go there after Asher told her not to.
Dang her Southern manners.
Maybe if she just looked around at the house from the outside… She could peer into a couple of windows. Technically that wasn’t
going in the house.
Resolved, Lilith dashed outside and came to an abrupt halt as she caught sight of Asher’s aunt kneeling on a cushion before
a flower bed, wearing a pale pink blouse with white flowers, a smudge of dirt visible on one shoulder. A musky animal smell
lingered in the air.
She called a bright hullo to Lilith.
Movement shifted beside the older woman as a small black and white animal clawed aggressively into the soil.
“Miss Jacqueline, ma’am…” Lilith said awkwardly.
The older woman waved a hand. “Oh, do call me Aunt Jacqueline.”
Lilith pointed to the skunk. “Um, Aunt Jacqueline…”
“Isn’t he such a good little digger?” Aunt Jacqueline beamed down. “He always helps with my gardening.”
That was…not normal. And didn’t skunks carry rabies?
Did they have animal control in England?
“Is this safe?” Lilith asked.
Aunt Jacqueline laughed. “Oh, heavens, yes. He does it all the time.” She said that like having a skunk at her side was a perfectly normal, not at all bizarre occurrence. “Are you going to the manor?”
Lilith stiffened. “I… Well… Asher said he preferred I didn’t go.”
Aunt Jacqueline threw her hand in a dismissive motion. “He doesn’t understand like you and I do.” With a grin, she reached
into her pocket and withdrew the old iron key.
Lilith’s pulse skipped.
“Take it.” Aunt Jacquline waggled the key at her.
Still, Lilith paused. What if Asher found out and got so steaming mad that he made her leave? Then she’d never see Brackenmere
Manor again.
Aunt Jacqueline gave a little whistle. The skunk withdrew its head from digging detail, took the key from her with its sharp
teeth, and trotted over to Lilith like a puppy.
She jerked back instinctively.
“He won’t hurt you.” Aunt Jacqueline nodded, as if this was the most normal thing ever. “Go on, open your hand.”
Everything about this seemed like a horrible idea.
Still, Lilith hesitantly extended her hand and the skunk dropped the key into her palm before returning to Aunt Jacqueline.
“Did you train him to do that?”
“No,” Aunt Jacqueline replied airily. “He just knows what to do because he’s such a good boy, aren’t you?”
The skunk opened his mouth in a snaggle-toothed smile.
Well, that was weird as all get out.
Aunt Jacqueline waved at Lilith. “Go on, go on.”
Lilith looked at the skunk skeptically once more.
“I may be old, but I assure you, I know what I’m doing.” There was an impatient chastisement to Aunt Jacqueline’s tone, one
that spoke of a lack of others’ faith in her. “I can be trusted.”
Lilith understood having her ideas muted, like with a male manager she once had in her teens when she worked at The 5 Spot. Or with how many times Mama told her an opinionated woman was a nuisance.
Lilith nodded and left Aunt Jacqueline to her skunk, setting off for the manor with a whoosh of excitement flooding her veins.