Always and Forever (32 page)

"Why you? Why did you go back?" Cole asked.

Quinn pulled out the portrait that Colleen had slipped into Morgan's journal and handed it to Cole.

"Oh my God. This looks just like you." Cole met her stare. "Who is this?"

"Morgan Quinn Scarcliff, Archer's wife."

"Holy shit."

"Yes, that's pretty much what I thought too."

Cole handed the picture to Charles who studied it a minute before turning his attention to Quinn.

"What aren't you telling us?"

Quinn rubbed her forehead at the start of a headache before she met Charles imploring gaze.

"I have a suspicion but I don't want to get into it yet. If I'm right then it explains
why
I was sent back but what it doesn't explain is
how
I was sent back." Quinn turned her attention to Cole. "There was a woman who lived in a cottage just outside of the village. Her name was Maude. Do you know if she's still there?"

"Not that I'm aware of but I can certainly look into it."

Quinn looked from Cole to Charles before she added, "I think Maude just might have the rest of the answers."

Gabriel sat in his Aston Marten and waited for Quinn. Nicholas had called to inform him of the meeting that Quinn had requested. The others were already inside but he needed a minute alone with her to apologize.

He'd been acting like a high schooler and he really couldn't even begin to explain why. Never in his life had he lost his temper, prided himself on his control, but all it had taken was one hell of a kiss by this sleeping woman who thought she was kissing someone else.

He knew he was slipping into madness but her kiss, well, it had undone him and not just because he wanted her but because she was his. Why the hell her kiss made him think of Mozart's
Sonata in G
, he had no bloody clue. But he was so shaken from what he was beginning to believe was true that he hid.

Yes, he wasn't proud to admit that a slip of woman, with one kiss, was able to turn him into a caveman whose only instinct was a primal urge to claim her. His need for her though was about more than sex. Sex he could handle. No, he was drawn to her on every single level and always had been.

He'd given himself a few weeks to think it all through but more to pull himself together so he could once again be in her company and not resort to his baser needs. He needed to keep his emotions and his temper in check; the rest would work itself out.

The sound of a loud engine drew his attention and when he turned he watched a sleek black and chrome Harley make its way toward the castle. It was a wicked ride and he wondered who could be riding it since the place was now closed to tourists. It wasn't until the bike stopped and the driver threw her leg over the machine that recognition slammed into him and with that recognition came a mind-numbing fury.

What the hell was she thinking riding that all the way from the Cotswolds? Did she have a death wish? He was so incensed at her stupidity that he climbed from his car and stalked toward her just as she removed her helmet, her chestnut-brown curls cascaded down her back.

Sudden desire was like a knife ripping through him which only further enraged him. By the time he reached her, he was half-mad with anger. He wrapped his strong hand around her upper arm just as she softly spoke his name.

"Gabriel?"

Quinn had forgotten how much she loved riding her Harley. There wasn't anything like it. Well, no, a fast gallop on a horse like Loki or Satan came pretty damn close. At first she wondered if riding the bike all the way from the Cotswolds was wise but it was only an hour and the roads were mostly deserted this time of year. After that ride, she was glad she hadn't talked herself out of it.

She smiled as the castle came into view and she wondered what Archer and the others' reactions would have been if they saw her on this metal steed. She could all but imagine Archer fuming in rage at her presumed carelessness but she knew if he rode her Harley, just once, he would be hooked.

She parked the bike, climbed off and was just removing her helmet when she felt the prickle and knew that Gabriel was near. It was joy she felt at seeing him but one look into those green eyes, darkened with anger, and her smile faded as confusion replaced her happiness.

"Gabriel?"

He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards a patch of trees, his stride so long she had to practically run to keep up with him. Once they reached a small clearing, tucked within the woods, he stopped and turned to her.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

Quinn couldn't help glancing behind her to see if that question was aimed at someone standing just behind her but, no, it was for her.

"Excuse me?"

That question seemed to make him angrier and it was then that she saw the slight twitch under his left eye.

"Riding that death machine! Are you insane?"

He was pissed but she couldn't help feeling a bit giddy because his anger was fueled by his worry over her safety.

"I take it you've never ridden a motorcycle?"

"I have three," he admitted feebly. "That's not the point."

Quinn cocked her hip as she took the measure of the enraged and sexy-as-hell man standing before her.

"Then what is the point, exactly?"

"You could have been killed. Or have you forgotten the accident you were in not that long ago?"

Anger flashed over her face as she bit out. "I wasn't driving in that one. Believe me if I had been, there wouldn't have been an accident." She turned to leave but his hand on her arm stopped her and before she could object he was pulling her up against the hard length of him and lowering his mouth onto hers.

There was no anger in him now and his kiss had effectively melted all of her bones. When his strong arms wrapped around her waist and held her tightly against him, there was no where else in the world that she would've rather been. Her hands framed his face as she returned his kiss with equal vigor. And then he pulled away from her so abruptly that she almost lost her balance. She looked up into his face, one that had gone ghostly white, and took a step towards him which immediately had him lifting his hands to ward her off.

"Gabriel, what's wrong?"

"We did this before and it ended with..." he swallowed with some difficulty before he continued "...us making love in these woods. How the hell is that possible?" He grabbed her arms in his hands and shook her. "What have you done to me?"

Quinn paled at that but no words would come especially since she could see how hard Gabriel was fighting what he was feeling. The tears were there but she wasn't about to show them so instead she jerked free of his hold, turned without a word, and walked away.

She managed to tuck away her emotions by the time she reached the castle. She just needed to get through this meeting and then she could go home and deal with everything she was feeling. She reached into her saddlebag and grabbed the folder and journal and headed into the castle.

She had spent much of her time in the past in Archer's solar so she knew the way. She pushed the door open and her eyes landed on the man sitting behind Archer's desk. Damn those Scarcliffs for all looking the same. Nicholas' eyes weren't that beautiful green, they were more hazel in color like Archer's mother's, but the bone structure was exactly the same. Hell, even his black hair was long enough to brush against his wide shoulders. He rose from his spot at his desk with that same easy but deliberate stride that his ancestor had mastered, he came from around his desk and reached for her hands. The look on his face, the one that held not just welcome but confirmation, gave Quinn a moment's pause.

"It is my very great pleasure to finally meet you, Quinn," he whispered as he lifted her hands to his lips and kissed the top of each. By the sudden arctic blast that caused a chill down her spine, she knew that Gabriel had just stepped into the room and witnessed Nicholas' very friendly welcome. Nicholas led Quinn to a chair then turned to Gabriel.

"Gabriel, so good to see you again."

Gabriel stepped forward to shake Nicholas' offered hand then took a seat. At least he was on the other side of the room, Quinn thought, though that didn't stop her from experiencing the laser-like burn from his stare. His anger at her was unfounded and as she brooded over that fact, she nearly missed Nicholas' inquiry.

"So what is it you wanted to share with me, Quinn?"

Quinn handed the journal to Nicholas then turned to Gabriel. She held out the folder to him which contained a copy of the journal. He hesitated a moment before he took it.

"Read it," she held his angry stare a moment then turned back to Nicholas.

"Please read it."

And with that Quinn left the room. She wasn't really sure where she was going but she knew she couldn't stay in that room. It felt too much like the past and the present colliding, what with Nicholas
looking
so damn much like Archer and Gabriel
being
so much like him.

She moved through the castle and eventually found herself in Nickie's nursery. How many Scarcliff children had seen this room? The furniture was the same, a few additions like a rocking chair and changing table for the newest Scarcliffs, but the old bed and the dresser were the ones Nickie had used. The walls were different, though it looked to be an old mural painted on them. It was a very elaborate painting, wrapping around the entire room, and Quinn took a step closer to study it.

It took no time at all for her to realize what she was looking at and the knowledge nearly made her cry. Her fingers reached out and touched a painted Archer perched on the bench of the dunking tank and, as it had been, she was painted standing before him. They were staring at one another with the ball frozen in the air headed toward the target. That ball had sent him for a swim. Just behind her, Nickie and Thaddeus stood, their faces painted in laughter.

Her dearest wish was that her life had played out with them and that she had been there to watch as Nickie grew into a man. To watch as Archer's sisters married and had children, to witness Thaddeus falling madly in love, to grow old with Archer. It hurt, still it hurt, the magnitude of what she lost and she allowed herself a moment to mourn what had been taken from her. She started from the room but stopped suddenly when she felt the icy touch again on her cheek.

"Archer," she whispered as she closed her eyes to the ghostly caress that ran along her jaw and down her neck. She gasped when she felt her hand being held in a cold grip. She was led to the closet in the back of the room and there, carved in the wooden baseboard, were the letters A and Q. Quinn knelt down and worked the small piece of wood free and reached her hand into the space it exposed. She pulled out a small burlap bag. She opened the bag and gently pulled out what was inside: a small wooden horse, clearly carved by a child, and a scrap of paper. Quinn examined the horse and on the belly were the initials: "N.S."

"Nickie, it's beautiful," she whispered and held it to her heart. The note was smudged and smeared from age but she was still able to make out Archer's message, "Quinn, my love, be careful, he's here. Archer"

Her heart skipped a beat at the warning but she already knew Derek was here. He'd left before she had, but she supposed Archer had been worried since he was helpless to protect her. She tucked her finds back in their bag and slipped them into her jacket pocket. She returned the wood trim before she left the room.

Gabriel had no words, couldn't form a single thought, after reading what Quinn had handed him. They were linked, Quinn and he. He always knew that but what he just read shook him to his very core. When he looked over at Nicholas, he saw that his friend didn't look as disturbed by what he read as he should have.

"Nick, why aren't you in shock from what you just read?"

Nick closed the journal but kept his hand on it for a moment as a smile touched his lips. "I've heard it before, have been told this particular bedtime story since I was a babe."

Gabriel looked over at Cole and Charles to make sure he had heard Nick correctly and, yes, their looks of shock mirrored his own. He turned his attention back to Nick.

"Come again?"

"At first, I thought the story was a fairy tale but I've found things through the years and know that as unbelievable a story as it is, it's real. Every word."

"Found things?" Charles asked.

"Yeah, things hidden by Archer and Nickie for Quinn. They're easy to find when you know what you're looking for. The letters A and Q carved throughout the house, it's pretty obvious what those letters stand for after hearing the stories I've heard since childhood."

"Does Quinn know?" Cole asked.

Before Nicholas could answer a hauntingly bittersweet melody filled the silence. Gabriel watched his friend and the strange look that came over his features. When he closed his eyes, seemingly lost in the music, Gabriel felt another tug of temper because his reaction to the music was almost identical.

He snapped, "Nick, what's gotten into you and who the hell is playing the piano?"

Nicholas' eyes popped opened and Gabriel could see his surprise. "You can hear that?"