Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (27 page)

Her feet slid down the length of his legs
and Baird’s blood boiled. Baird hung on stubbornly, feeling as
though he would burst his own seams if he got any larger. The back
of her waist was smooth beneath his hand, her clitoris hardened
abruptly beneath his thumb.

Aurelia cried out in ecstasy, stretching for
the canopy overhead with both hands. Her breasts bobbed, her hair
snared the moonbeams and her delectable toes dug into his
thighs.

The vision of her snapped the last cord of
Baird’s control.

He locked his hands around Aurelia’s waist
as he thrust into her welcoming heat. Baird heard himself bellow
her name, felt his fingers grip her softness, and he finally let
Vesuvius erupt.

And the magic had only just begun.

*

Aurelia watched Bard sleep beside her as she
toyed indecisively with the knife.

Bard had heard the blade fall, that much
Aurelia knew, but in the moment she had managed to distract him
from investigating the sound. Would he recall it later? Would he
guess what she intended to do?

How she wished that she could read his
thoughts as easily as he read hers!

Because now Aurelia was sorely confused.
Bard’s features were resolute even in sleep, his firm lips only
slightly relaxed. Aurelia liked to see his dark hair so tousled,
even more now than when he shoved his fingers through it.

Bard’s strong hand rested on her belly, the
curve of his fingers possessive, his skin warm against her own.
Aurelia was surrounded by his heat and his scent. After what had
been between them, she could not bring herself to plunge the blade
into the blackness of Bard’s heart.

Could a man of such evil intent have loved
her so thoroughly? Aurelia could not believe it. Theirs had been no
foul mating, no forced and painful coupling, but an odyssey of
pleasure.

She should have been ashamed to find herself
hungry for more, but Aurelia was not. Instead, she questioned all
her foregone conclusions about the man who slept beside her.

He had shown her only honorable behavior, in
this as all other things.

Was it possible that Bard, son of Erc, was
not the villain she believed him to be? Was it possible that he had
not been responsible for the death of Thord?

Or was Aurelia merely being skillfully
manipulated?

She chewed her lip and watched Bard sleep,
her mind riddled with doubts. When he stirred, Aurelia slid the
knife beneath the bed, its movement making no sound on the plush
carpeting.

She could not strike a blow that might
ultimately prove to be an error, however fatal a choice that might
prove to be.

Bard’s hand slid slowly over Aurelia’s
belly, then closed over her breast. She caught her breath as his
thumb did its magic and watched him smile. He opened his eyes and
regarded her drowsily, his green gaze unnaturally dark.

“
So, you weren’t a dream,
princess.” His voice was low with a satisfaction that made Aurelia
flush self-consciously.

“
I thought you did not
dream.”

Bard arched one dark brow. “I never used
to.” His hand slid over her belly as he smiled. “Maybe I just
didn’t have anything worth dreaming about.”

Aurelia’s heart skipped a beat, but before
she could say anything more, Bard disappeared beneath the duvet.
She felt him nuzzle her pubic hair and caught her breath.

“
Breakfast of champions,”
he murmured inexplicably.

Then Aurelia gasped at the heat of his
tongue there.

She grasped two fistfuls of his hair, intent
on pulling him away, but when he caressed her again, Aurelia forgot
all about stopping him.

There was no harm in seeing what he
intended, after all.

“
I thought you did not like
mornings,” she said breathlessly.

“
I think I may have
underestimated them,” came the growl from beneath the
covers.

Aurelia leaned back against the pillows and
clutched the linens as his tongue made its mark. “I may have
underestimated them myself,” she managed to murmur, certain she had
never started a day in such fine style.

Bard did not answer, his tongue resolutely
exploring new ground. Aurelia shivered with delight as Bard
captured one of her feet in each hand, his thumbs stroking her
instep in a seductive caress.

On some level, Aurelia conceded that this
deed was not the choice of a selfish man.

Then she forgot everything other than Bard’s
tongue.

The heat rose beneath Aurelia’s flesh, just
as it had the night before, but so much more quickly. She writhed
and twisted, straining toward release but never wanting this moment
to end.

Neither Bard nor his tongue granted her any
quarter. He placed one of her feet on his enormous erection and the
awareness of his arousal cast Aurelia over the precipice.

She cried out and gripped his shoulders,
certain she would drown him with her release. Aurelia was stunned
by both the force and the haste of her climax.

She looked down with some embarrassment to
find that half-smile tugging at Bard’s lips as he regarded her from
under the bed linens.

Had there ever been a man with such allure?
Aurelia smiled back, well aware of the flush that stained her
cheeks.

Bard reached up and flicked a finger across
the tip of her nose with an affection that melted her heart. “What
do you say we blow this Popsicle stand, princess? We could mosey
into town after breakfast…”

“
You had your breakfast,
champion.”

Bard chuckled. “Well, you’re probably
hungry.” Aurelia’s stomach growled in approval of that sentiment.
“Then we can have a good look for your father.”

“
My father?” Aurelia
blinked at this sudden return to practicalities.

“
Hekod. You remember him.”
Bard cast himself up on the pillows beside her and rolled to his
back. “I tried to phone the police station yesterday, but I
couldn’t get anything sorted out over the phone. We’ll have to go
down there to get anything done.” He flicked her a bright glance.
“Any objections, princess?”

How could she protest a day in this man’s
presence? Although Aurelia told herself she only agreed so that she
could study his true character, a part of her denied the
justification.

All the same, she would go.

“
No.”

“
Then, it’s a date.” Bard
rolled Aurelia beneath him before she could say anything else,
bracing himself above her on his elbows. Aurelia’s heart began to
beat a staccato at the sensual promise in his eyes.

“
But first,” he whispered,
a wicked glint in his eyes, “maybe we should work up an
appetite.”

Bard bent his head to capture her lips and
Aurelia twined her arms around his neck. She was lost in the circle
of this man’s embrace and, for the moment, did not want to be
found.

*

Baird was whistling under his breath as he
poured his coffee. The world was filled with promise. In fact, he
didn’t know when he’d felt better in the morning.

He hoped Aurelia would hurry.

The sound of a footstep made his head snap
up, but it was only Julian. The lawyer’s eyes widened at the sight
of the
Wall Street Journal
and he pounced greedily on
it.

“
Ah, the lure of
civilization!” he crowed and cradled the bundle of newsprint like a
long-lost lover.

The comment reminded Baird of his dream the
night before and he toyed with the idea of asking Julian’s
thoughts. ”It’s a week old,” he acknowledged absently.

Julian checked the date but didn’t look
overly disappointed. “But a mere week ago, this paper was in the
civilized world.” He poured coffee with a flourish. “Not its
cradle, mind you, we’d need the
LA Times
for that, but still
closer to the pulse than you or I have been in recent memory.”

“
You don’t have to stake
turf,” Baird said amiably. “It’s all yours.”

Julian fired him a knowing glance. “Are you
all right?”

“
Never better.” Baird
grinned and Julian frowned.

“
I don’t think I’ve ever
seen you so cheerful before ten.” Julian waggled his eyebrows. “If
that.”

“
Maybe I just had a good
night’s sleep.”

Julian remained unconvinced, but the lure of
the
Journal
was too much for him. “Uh-huh.” He unfolded the
paper and buried his nose in it with undisguised delight. “God! A
sale at Bloomies and I missed it. The things I do for this
company…”

Baird cleared his throat. If he didn’t ask
now, he never would. “Julian, do you know anything about
reincarnation?”

Julian lowered the paper so that he could
glare pointedly over its top. “Baird, I’m from California.
Affectionately known as LaLa land. What do you think?” He lifted
the paper again and snapped it pertly.

“
Well,” Baird had a hard
time even voicing the question. “Do you think there’s anything to
it?”

Julian dropped the paper and stared at him.
“You might look like Baird Beauforte,” he whispered, “but you sure
don’t sound like him.” The lawyer’s eyes narrowed and he scanned
the hall with mock suspicion. “Where’s your pod, Alien? And what
have you done with my friend?”

“
Come on, Julian, I’m
serious.”

Julian was not persuaded. “What’s in your
coffee this morning?”

“
Nothing. Really, I’m
serious about this. What do you think of that stuff?”

Julian eyed Baird for a long moment, then
shrugged. He coughed politely. “I don’t see any reason why it
couldn’t be true. It’s not like we have legal affidavits of what
happens after we die.”

Baird traced a pattern on the table top,
fighting against the insistence of an intuition he didn’t like to
acknowledge. “So, places and people could be familiar because we
knew them before.”

“
Yeah, well, why
not?”

Why not.

Baird realized his finger was tracing the
pattern of whorls that was tattooed on Aurelia’s own palm and
stopped instantly. “Well, have you ever had the feeling that you
knew someone before?”

Julian’s eyes appeared above the paper again
and his tone was sardonic. “You mean like, my eyes met hers, my
heart went thump, and I knew right then right there that we were
destined to be together for all time, despite the odds?”

Baird felt the back of his neck heat. He
should never have even brought up the subject. “You’re right. It’s
dumb. Just forget I said anything.” He stirred his coffee, wishing
he could just drop through the floor.

Or that Julian would stop gaping at him.

Finally, Julian cast aside his paper with a
noisy rustle, his manner surprisingly aggressive. “Okay, okay, you
want to talk about this? I had one time - one time! - that I
thought I had met someone before. It was weird as hell, but I’ve
never forgotten it, so, you could say that I do think there’s
something to this stuff.” He scrambled for the paper again and
glared at Baird. “Happy?”

“
Who was it?” Baird’s
question was soft. His skin was tingling with a strange certainty
of what Julian would say.

For the first time in living memory, Julian
looked uncomfortable with the prospect of speaking his mind.
“Remember that first day at university?”

Baird nodded and didn’t dare to breathe.

Julian licked his lips and frowned, his
voice dropping low with his confession. “I sat beside you because I
felt like I knew you already, like we were already good friends,
even though I had never met you before in my life. It was nuts, but
in that moment, I was sure of it.” He frowned at his coffee cup,
then flicked a glance to Baird. “And I’ve never forgotten
that.”

The men stared at each other.

Baird marvelled at what he had just heard.
Julian - pragmatic, legal-minded,
prove-it-to-me-twice-before-I’ll-believe-it-and-put-it-in-writing-besides
- Julian, had had the same feeling as he had.

And now that man stumbled over his words in
his haste to explain himself. “Look, don’t be getting any ideas,
all right? I mean, you’re not my type at all, Baird, I’m as
straight as they make ‘em and you know it.”

Julian rustled his newspaper defiantly.
“Don’t go thinking that there’s some subtext here. I may be a
funky, left-tending kind of a guy but I have really, really
definite ideas about gender.” He glared at Baird. “Okay?”

“
Okay.” Baird agreed
easily, more than happy to let Julian return to his
newspaper.

Julian’s admission encouraged Baird as
nothing else could have. Baird respected Julian, he knew Julian,
had known him for years.

And apparently he had known Julian even
before that.

Well, why not? You could only recognize
people you had met before, right? And if you hadn’t met them in
this life, why not in another?

It all made terrific sense, once Baird
accepted the premise.

Kind of like Aurelia. And having known her
before would explain the sticky problem of how he could recognize
her without remembering where they had ever met before.

Perfectly logical.

Which meant that Baird had Dunhelm and its
effect on him all figured out. Mystery solved. He’d been here
before, maybe as this Bridei guy. Simple. He had known Julian
before, he had known Aurelia before. The woman in question sailed
into the restaurant and treated him to a breathtaking smile.

Baird’s eyes met hers, his heart went thump
and he felt like he had the world by a string.

Now all he had to do was find Aurelia’s
father.

And in the mood he was in, that looked like
a piece of cake.