Jane Bites Back

Jane considered this. Was it really that simple? She tried to find a flaw in Lucy’s argument, but could find nothing. No one else had heard her conversation with Violet Grey. No one had seen her follow Violet home. And certainly no one else knew that Violet was really Charlotte Brontë.

“What about the manuscript expert?” Jane said.

“There isn’t one,” Lucy told her. “Honestly, you’d think you’d never written a book before. Charlotte made that up when she thought you were a normal person. I mean a mortal. I mean not a vampire. God, this is so confusing.”

“That’s right,” Jane agreed. “She wanted me to think she had expert proof.” She heard herself laugh. “She didn’t know about me,” she said. “That’s rather extraordinary.”

“Why?” said Lucy. “You didn’t know about her either.”

“Must you take the fun out of everything?” Jane said.

“Yeah,” said Lucy. “Setting fire to the woman who wrote Jane Eyre is big fun.”

“Well, it is sort of ironic when you think about it,” said Jane. “Bertha Mason and all that.”

“I can tell you’re feeling better about things,” Lucy said. “I’m glad I could help. Now go look for Jasper. I want a progress report tomorrow.”

Jane hung up. She stood and started toward the bathroom to take a nice hot bath. Then she thought about Jasper, alone in the dark, nowhere to go. She imagined having to lie to Lucy about checking on him.

“Oh, hell,” she cursed as she bent to retrieve her shoes.

This time she took a cab, asking the driver to drop her off a few blocks from Charlotte’s house. Or rather, what was left of Charlotte’s house. As Jane got closer she saw that the fire had done rather a good job of destroying the home. The only thing still standing was the brick chimney, rising from the blackened bones of the house like a giant finger flipping Jane the bird. Two fire trucks blocked the street, and a handful of firefighters stood on the sidewalk looking at the ruins. It was raining again. The piles of charred wood and ash sent sickly strings of smoke into the night sky, and the air smelled acrid and dirty.

Jane avoided the firemen as she skirted the trucks and went to the other side of the street. She didn’t want anyone to see her, lest she somehow be connected to the fire. She wondered if they’d yet found the bodies of Charlotte and her siblings. Judging from the scene, pretty nearly everything in the house had been incinerated.

Now that she was there she realized that she had no idea how to begin going about looking for Jasper. She’d sort of expected to find him sitting on the sidewalk looking forlornly at what used to be his home. But other than the firefighters and a handful of neighbors gawking at the sight, the area around the house was empty. Finding the dog was, she feared, going to be impossible.

“Jasper,” she called softly. “Are you here?”

To her surprise, the spaniel came darting out from behind a neighboring house. He came up to Jane, tail wagging, and sat down in front of her. He gave a little woof and cocked his head, ears alert.

“Hello,” Jane said. “I’m sorry about your house,” she added after a moment.

Jasper woofed again. He and Jane stared at each other for a long moment as Jane thought about what to do with him. She hadn’t expected to find him, so her thoughts on the matter had never progressed beyond that point. Now she considered her options. She could take him to a shelter. That would be the easiest. For me, anyway, she thought.

The longer she looked into Jasper’s brown eyes, the more sure she was that she couldn’t possibly abandon him. It wasn’t his fault he’d had the misfortune to live with the Brontës. And in a way he had helped Jane during her confrontation with Charlotte.

“Oh, all right,” said Jane. “Come on.”

She and Jasper walked to the far end of the street, where Jane managed to get a cab to take them back to the hotel. She had the driver stop at a small grocery, where she picked up some dog food and two large plastic bowls. While she was in the store Jasper sat obediently outside, waiting as if he’d always lived with Jane. She found his devotion appealing, and despite everything, she found herself warming to him. He was, she decided, a very amiable dog.

Getting him into the hotel proved not to be a problem, as no one was at the desk. Once in her room, Jane filled one bowl with water from the tap and opened the bag of food, which she poured into the second bowl. Jasper dove in hungrily, devouring the contents of the food bowl within minutes. Then he took a long drink and, his muzzle dripping, jumped onto the bed and curled up at the foot of it.

The poor beast is exhausted, Jane thought. She left him there to sleep and went into the bathroom, where she finally enjoyed the shower she’d been craving for hours. When she was done, she returned to the bedroom, donned her nightgown, and got into bed. Jasper, waking up, came to the top of the bed and lay alongside Jane, his back pressing against her. After hesitating a moment, she stroked his ears.

“Sweet dreams,” she whispered in his ear, but he was already asleep.

When she awoke, her face was buried in the fur of Jasper’s neck. He himself had not stirred all night, but when Jane sat up he was instantly awake, yawning and stretching his legs.

“What am I going to do with you?” Jane asked him. “I suppose I’m going to have to get you home with me somehow. And where will you stay today while I’m doing this wretched panel?”

Jasper jumped off the bed and shook himself. Then he looked meaningfully at the door. It took Jane a moment to realize what he wanted.

“Right,” she said. “You need a walk. Just give me a minute.”

She pulled on some jeans and a shirt and located her shoes. Then she opened the door and watched as Jasper trotted down the stairs to the lobby. She hurried after him, afraid of what would happen should anyone see him. But when she found him he was on his back, having his belly rubbed by Luke.

“I’m sorry,” Jane apologized. “I know he shouldn’t be here. It’s just that I found him wandering around last night and he seemed so lost and afraid that I couldn’t—”

“It’s okay,” Luke said. “We allow dogs. Have you named him?”

“Yes—Jasper,” Jane answered.

“Are you going to keep him?”

Jane hesitated a moment. “I believe I am,” she said. “But there’s a slight problem.” She explained her situation to the young man.

“No problem,” Luke told her. “He can stay with me today. And to take him on the plane, all you need is a dog crate. I can get one sent over from the pet store if you like. I’ll just put it on your bill. He should probably have a collar while we’re at it,” he added.

Jane thanked Luke effusively. Leaving Jasper with him, she returned to her room and got ready to go to the conference. She’d thought not at all about her panel. Now she considered the question. What did women want from romance novels? Romance, clearly, she thought. What a stupid question.

She knew she couldn’t say anything of the sort to the audience. After all, they were there precisely because they believed in romance. And apparently they were buying her book because they found it romantic. She bristled at the idea. She’d always hated being referred to as a romantic. “If anything, I’m a pragmatist,” she said to her image in the mirror.

She left the hotel ten minutes later. Jasper was lying on the floor in front of the desk as if he’d been there his whole life. Jane stopped to scratch his head, and he wagged his nub of a tail. “I’ll see you later,” she told him.

Another cab ride took her to the conference hotel. The gathering was in full swing now, and the lobby bustled with action as people rushed around looking for panels or chasing after friends. Jane located the schedule of the day’s happenings and looked for her name. She found it listed in two places—once for her panel and another for a signing she was apparently doing at two o’clock. But first she had to find something called the Peacock Room.

She found it on the third floor. It was a very large room, and it was already filled with people. Jane noticed Chiara Carrington, looking stunning in a ruby-colored pantsuit, standing near a raised platform at the front of the room. She was talking to a short, heavyset woman with badly permed hair. The woman, seeing Jane, said something to Chiara, who turned and frowned. Then she said something to the other woman, who laughed and covered her mouth with her hand.