Miriam’s Adorable Landlady

I’ll do you an excerpt about Nettie. She’s a minor but important character to Miriam:

He agreed, and they wandered back into town. Her room was a fair way from the tea house where she went to read; it was actually closer to where Harry still was. To his surprise, she invited him to see her apartment, and as a vampire he accepted. It just wasn’t the kind of thing he’d turn down.

There was an old lady knitting in the hallway, sucking a sherbet lemon. “No gentleman callers!” she barked at Miriam as they passed.

“It’s alright, Nettie. I don’t think he is a gentleman.”

“That’s alright then,” Nettie agreed, and offered Sinjen one of her sweets. He accepted.

“Who is she?” he asked, when they were out of earshot.

“My landlady. She’s only teasing me, because she’s always got a man over and I never bring anyone home. Careful of her, though, she’ll eat you alive.”

Sinjen raised an eyebrow. “She sounds great. Why did you invite me here?”

She unlocked the door and they went in. Her room was astonishingly bare. Unpainted brick walls and an unlit fireplace, with not a lot of fuel next to it. In the corner was the table that she used to prepare food. There wasn’t much on that either, just bread, jam and a jar of potted shrimp. There was also a washbasin, a narrow wardrobe and a thin, but very soft-looking bed. It seemed that the only thing she really spent money on were her books. She had a full bookshelf, and there were a few more stacks on the windowsill and against the wall, where they functioned as a makeshift side table. The room was very neat, big enough to look sparse, but not especially comfortable. He went to look at the books while she turned on the gas lamps. She hadn’t lied, they were rather dim, even though she turned them up.

“Would you like a cup of tea?” she asked.

“No, thank you.” He didn’t especially want her to light the fire on his account. “It’s quite a warm night for January, isn’t it?”

She chuckled. “I, um, I don’t know exactly why I invited you back here. Well, except that you seemed like you’d be interested to know how I live. Another man might have made me nervous, asking a question like that, but you did only seem curious. Do you want to borrow any books?”

“Actually, may I? You’ve got some romances I haven’t read yet.”

“I thought you’d want Dracula.”

“I actually have read that. I just wanted to talk to you before.”

“Do you have any plans for the rest of the night?” she asked, coming over to him and looking politely at the two books he’d chosen. They were two of the more fanciful romances. “You’re quite sweet, aren’t you? You haven’t even tried to kiss me again.”

“You said I shouldn’t.”

“I like that you listened.” She took his hand and led him over to the bed, “This is the best place to sit, if you’re wondering. I’m not after anything, if that’s alright. I just want to talk.”

“It’s still a bit scandalous,” he said, smiling very slightly.

“I know, but one of the advantages of having no living family is that there’s nobody to care. It’s the same for you, right? Nobody minds what you get up to?”

“I’m afraid my aunt Eliza cares a great deal. She’s also my employer. I don’t have much free time. So, believe it or not, this is a bit of an adventure for me.”

“She doesn’t like you to meet women?” she asked, wide-eyed.

“No. I can’t marry either, maybe I should tell you so…”

She covered her mouth with her hand and gasped. “She treats you like her lover?”

He winced. “I am her lover. I can’t really do much about that. I can’t leave – don’t ask about why. Suffice it to say, I wouldn’t be left in peace. I’d like to see you more, but I don’t know if I’d be able to do that very often.”

“I see.” She sighed.

“Hey, do you want to be my mistress? It should be pretty easy, considering you’ll probably never see me. You don’t have to sleep with me, either, I’d just enjoy having one.”

She laughed. “That’s ridiculous, I could never!”

“No, I didn’t think you would,” he said, amused.

“Did you only ask me because I’m not so well-off?” she asked, looking at the floor.

“Well, for several reasons. I’d quite like to kiss you a few more times and keep a secret from my aunt. Finding excuses to spend money is kind of tiring.”

“What were you doing before you came to meet me?”

“I was commissioned to solve a mystery,” he said with a wry smile.

“Can I help?”

“Yes, if you like, but I insist on paying for your time and expenses.”

“That sounds fun.” She laughed.

“Oh good. In that case, light the fire and I’ll tell you all about it.”




Here’s the link to the book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C87B4L5J

And if you’d like, I have ARC copies of a Cinderella retelling:
https://booksprout.co/reviewer/review-copy/view/152499/only-until-midnight
Which comes out on April 30th.