Read Online The Reluctant Miss Van Helsing by Minda Webber - Free Book Online

mother say about a daughter who felt desire, especially after all those lessons in ladylike constraint? Ladies didn’t think about kissing or anything that went on in the dark of night. And while Van Helsings did, they were primarily concerned with four-foot pieces of wood and the hearty placement of them. Also, a true Van Helsing would never desire a creature who sucked down his food. Not only was that evil, it was bad for dinner parties! What would her ancestors say? They were probably turning over in their graves right now.
    Worse, she began to consider what her father would say. “Court-martial, definitely,” Jane remarked to herself. “With no Van Helsing honors and no French horns playing taps.” He had really become quite the bear after her mother died.
    Now he was autocratic, fanatical and would be permanently disturbed to know that his daughter was fantasizing about the Earl of Wolverton, aka Dracul—most especially since the major was patting himself on the back over his newest plan. He called it Out on a Limb. The point being to penetrate the six-foot-two vampire from above, in a tree. The strategy had been adopted due to Jane’s being too short to stake accurately any six-foot-something creature, even standing on tiptoe. And this would give her momentum, diving down from above.
    Yes, like the name implied, to accomplish her mission Jane would have to climb a tree and go out on a limb. It was not a bad plan, really, Jane told herself halfheartedly, trying to be fair to her zealot father as she approached the large oak at the end of Berkeley Square. She’d attempted worse. She was simply branching out.
    “Maybe if I were a monkey,” she mused. “Or what if I were an acrobat at the circus—or that attractive though rather apish Tars, Lord Graystroke, fellow? The major’s plan might just be perfect.” But Jane was all too aware that she hadn’t climbed a tree since she’d left the schoolroom. This was bound to end in disaster.
    Stopping at the massive oak and glancing about, she noted that only fog filled the night. No one was around. That’s one good thing, she thought as she stared up, up, up the huge trunk. But she couldn’t think of any other good things.
    Jane sighed in resignation. It didn’t matter that she was rusty at climbing trees; she could just as well forget her insecurities and fears. “Tonight’s the night. It has just got to be all right.” She had to have a reason to believe that. She knew the rules. The first cut must be the deepest, and must be true to destroy that which was forever young. Her father’s vampire-assault trainer, Mr. Stewart, had cautioned her that to spare the rod was to spoil the sneak attack. Then Mr. Stewart had patiently gone over the rules again and again, despite her telling him that she didn’t wish to talk about them anymore.
    “There had better not be any spiders or cobwebs in that oak tree,” she called out dramatically, hoping those things would take it as a warning and flee. She could really use a nice piece of chocolate about now. That was her cure-all for feeling overwhelmed.
    “Bah! Humbug!” Disgruntled, she tucked her skirt ends under her belt. Mr. Stewart had suggested she wear breeches like a boy. Horsefeathers to that! She would be a very old maid before she let herself appear in public in pants. Vampire-hunting might be a messy, dirty job, but she would still be the same dignified lady she’d always been. Or that she’d tried to be.
    No, just because she was a slayer, that didn’t mean she had to ignore fashion. She wouldn’t. Thus her silk gown of pale peach had lace at the neckline and sleeves. The dress was of the first water, meaning the design had only recently arrived off the boat from Paris. Her one concession to practicality had been to wear her hair in a single long braid, rather than atop her head as usual.
    “All dressed up and no place to go but up a tree. Humph!” she muttered.
    Checking once more to see if she was