Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (39 page)

Marissa spun to face the lawyer. “Shut up!”
She wagged a warning finger at Baird, her voice rising
hysterically. “I’ll fight you! I’ll fight you all! I won’t let you
get away with this! I’ll see you in court! “

Marissa stormed from the hall and Julian had
the good sense to jump out of her path.

As soon as she had left, Baird heaved a sigh
of relief. The air was better in here already.

Julian grinned and rubbed his hands
together. “Oh, I can hardly wait. This is the moment I’ve been
dreaming of,” he gloated, then winked at Baird. “There is a God,
and she loves me very much.”

But Baird didn’t care about Marissa and
Julian any more. He turned back to Aurelia, his heart leaping when
he saw the shadow of suspicion banished from her eyes.

A tentative hope shone in those blue
depths.

“
You truly were not going
to wed her?” she whispered.

Baird smiled and drew her close, his heart
swelling with the new feelings he had discovered. “Never crossed my
mind,” he murmured, tipping Aurelia’s face up to his and sliding
his thumb across the fullness of her lip. “How could I marry anyone
else when I love you, princess?”

Aurelia’s lips parted with astonishment, but
Baird kissed her into silence. Her arms twined around his neck and
she pressed herself against him, as if she too wanted to meld their
very flesh together.

Elizabeth hummed cheerfully as she bustled
back into her little alcove.

It was some minutes later that Baird lifted
his head reluctantly and stared into Aurelia’s eyes. He could feel
the pulse of her heart against his chest and grinned that it raced
as quickly as his own.

“
Why did you go to
Inverness?”

“
I had to find something
I’d lost.”

“
What?” she asked
breathlessly.

“
My heart,” Baird confirmed
with a smile. “Just so I could give it to you.”

She flushed and suddenly Baird wanted to
have her all to himself. He leaned down and whispered into her ear.
“Princess, I could really use a shower. Care to join me?”

Aurelia wrinkled her nose playfully. “The
road from Inverness is long and dirty indeed.” She smiled coyly up
at him, a very promising glint in her eyes. “Perhaps I could scrub
your back.”

“
Princess, you can scrub
any part of me you want,” Baird growled and when she laughed, he
ushered her unceremoniously towards the stairs.

*

From the shadowed entrance of the ritual
well, Darian watched an obviously infuriated Marissa march out to
the helicopter. She snarled at Tex and practically threw her hand
baggage at that man, hoisting herself into the chopper. Marissa
folded her arms across her chest and waiting regally for the pilot
to load her trunks.

If she had been a cartoon character, a black
storm cloud would have lingered over her head.

Unless Darian had missed his guess, Auntie
Drustic had struck out.

He fiddled in the well until he heard the
helicopter lift off, then sauntered back into the hall. The only
sound that carried to his ears was Elizabeth’s merry humming.

And that woman would be the best source of
news.

“
Something smells good,”
Darian declared cheerfully.

The older woman turned with a smile, twin
spots of color burning in her cheeks. “Oh, Mr. Mulvaney, you’ve
missed all the excitement!”

“
Did I now? Well, as long
as I haven’t missed one of your wonderful dinners.”

“
Oh, Mr. Mulvaney, you’ve
enough charm to even make an old maid blush!” Then she giggled.
“But that Mr. Beauforte, well, he’d put any man’s charm in the
shade. You should have seen what he just did. Like something you’d
see on the telly, it was.”

Darian hid the slow burn of irritation that
he had been compared to Baird and found lacking. “Really?” he
managed to ask.

“
Oh, yes!” Elizabeth’s eyes
sparkled and she leaned closer. “Mr. Beauforte went to Inverness
this morning and that Ms. Witlowe was telling anyone who would
listen that he had gone to fetch her a diamond ring. Well! Aurelia
was right upset about it all, and who could blame the wee lamb.
Why, even the most daft among us could see that there is something
special between her and Mr. Beauforte.”

“
Anyone.” Darian gritted
out the word, then forced a smile. “Well, did he bring an
engagement ring?”

Elizabeth’s scornful expression said it all.
“Not our Mr. Beauforte, he’s a gentleman right and proper.” She
jabbed a finger through the air at Darian for emphasis. “Not only
did he set everyone straight on Ms. Witlowe’s lies but he fired her
from the company.”

She dropped her voice to a conspiratorial
whisper. “I think it was only because she had hurt Aurelia’s
feelings, though there was some talk of Ms. Witlowe not fulfilling
her contract.”

“
Then what
happened?”

Elizabeth drew herself up proudly. “Well, I
didn’t linger about once Mr. Beauforte and Aurelia started to kiss.
It was so romantic, just like one of those wee books my sister Mary
likes to read.”

She sighed with delight. “I just know
they’ll be so happy together, Mr. Mulvaney. If ever there was a
pair made for each other, it’s those two.”

She bustled away to check on her dinner and
missed the anger that Darian couldn’t keep from his features. “Now,
you’d best leave me to fixing dinner or there’ll be nothing to eat
on this night!” Elizabeth chuckled to herself. “Not that I imagine
Aurelia or Mr. Beauforte would notice!”

Darian turned and stalked out of the hall,
irritated beyond belief that Marissa had failed so completely. But
even so, Baird and Aurelia wouldn’t live happily ever after if he
had anything to say about it.

Fortunately, he had already laid plans for
this possibility.

*

The dream crept into Baird’s mind on
stealthy feet that night, infiltrating his sleep before he could
stop it. He fought against it, even as he saw himself descending
the steps into the well.

Not again! Everything was sorted out
now.

But the dream, characteristically, wasn’t
very interested in Baird’s protests.

It was morning this time, the rosy fingers
of the sunrise just cresting the horizon behind him and painting
the stone steps with a ruddy glow. The world was framed in black
and Baird realized from the distortion of the sound of the sea that
he wore a metal helmet.

Baird felt a tremendous weight on his
shoulders and in his hand. He glanced down at the chain mail that
fell to his knees. It rattled slightly as he moved, the blue tunic
that hung over it flapped in the breeze. He wore leather gauntlets
again, though these were rougher than the green ones had been and
plain black.

A red cross was stitched on the chest of his
tunic. A heavy blade hung in his hand, its hilt graced with a
massive red garnet held in place by gold shaped like a hawk’s claw.
And a single thought echoed in his mind:

He had proven himself worthy.

Baird felt the adrenalin course through him
as he descended the stairs and hacked back the thorns with his
sword. A horse nickered behind him, but he did not look back,
knowing with odd certainty that it was his own steed awaiting
him.

As did the lady before him.

The dirt of a dozen cities was on his boots
and the dust of a thousand miles embedded in his clothes. He knew
with sudden clarity that he had not only seen Micklegarth, but that
it was the same city his waking mind called Istanbul. It was
strange, as though he were of two separate minds, two minds that
were rooted in the same.

Baird knew that he was this man, that he was
witnessing another of his journeys to find Aurelia. Yet the dream
Baird who was living this moment was unaware of the presence of his
modern counterpart, let alone that man’s thoughts.

Dream Baird’s thoughts were of crusade and
honor, of battles won and lost, of quests to be pursued and one
particular fair maiden to be won.

The slab of stone was locked in place, but
Baird bent a shoulder to its weight. He called back and a young boy
clattered down the stairs, his eyes wide with mingled wonder and
fear.

With a start, Baird recognized the pizza
boy. Between knight and squire, they forced the slab aside.

And Baird stepped into the darkness once
more. His heart raced with fear at what his last dream had
revealed, but the Baird of his dreams was blissfully unaware of any
danger here.

The medieval knight was hopeful, expectant.
Excited. He breathed deeply of the dank air, his spirit buoyed with
the promise of lifting some ancient curse.

The knight stepped forward, his squire
lingering in the doorway. The pink dawn light streamed down the
stairs behind and illuminated the lady sleeping just ahead.

Both Bairds caught their breath at her
fragile beauty.

“
Aurelia,” breathed the
knight. “Lady as lovely as the dawn.” He crossed the floor to drop
to one knee beside her. He doffed his glove, laid aside his sword
and lifted her pale hand to his lips.

“
Lady Aurelia,” he
murmured. “I have come.”

And Baird kissed the back of her hand with
exquisite grace.

The lady stirred and her face turned toward
the knight, her lips parting beneath the early sunlight’s
caress.

The knight kissed the inside of Aurelia’s
palm. She smiled softly in her sleep. Baird tasted the sweet flesh
of her wrist, fragrant even in his dream. His heart pounded as the
knight he had once been leaned over the sleeping beauty.

He kissed her brow gently. “Lady Aurelia,”
he whispered. “Awaken to me, destiny mine.” The lady stirred ever
so slightly and her lashes fluttered.

The squire cried out in sudden terror.

Baird spun to find the boy crumpled to the
floor and bleeding copiously. An adversary dressed completely in
black leapt into the well, his blade flashing in the ray of early
sunlight.

“
En garde!” he bellowed and
Baird snatched up his blade.

He was surprised at his own ability, but his
opponent was stronger, perhaps driven by madness. The masked
adversary feinted and dodged, slashed and stabbed, until finally
his sword found its mark.

Baird caught his breath at the explosion of
pain in his chest and he looked down to where the lethal broadsword
had cleaved even his mail. He fell to his knees, fearing for the
lady in the presence of this blackguard, as mocking laughter filled
his ears.

“
Do not imagine that I will
let you claim what should be mine!”

*

Baird’s eyes flew open in shock, only to
find Aurelia’s bright blue gaze fixed upon him. The light of the
full moon spilled into the room in peaceful denial of the tumult in
his veins.

His hands were shaking, his heart was
racing. He threw himself out of Aurelia’s bed, well aware of her
gaze following him, and scanned the shadows. Baird checked every
nook and cranny, he checked the closets, looked under the bed, and
behind the drapes.

There was no intruder in the room.

Aurelia sat up to watch him, folding her
arms around her knees. But Baird didn’t have any easy explanation
for disturbing her sleep.

His chest ached with the memory of the
wound.

Baird dropped into a chair and rubbed a hand
over his eyes. He exhaled shakily and remembered his first dream.
He had died in that encounter, as well.

Were these dreams memories, too, or were
they symbolic?

He swallowed. Maybe he was a little worried
about Dunhelm’s location, despite his assurances to Julian. And if
he had chosen the site out of some emotional desire to own it, it
might not really be the best place for his resort.

What if he had made a mistake? A shadow of
fear crossed over Baird. If Dunhelm failed, the entire company
could be in jeopardy because of the cost of this renovation.

Had he stretched too far?

Was that the reason for this nightmare?

“
Bard, son of Erc,” Aurelia
asserted quietly.

Baird blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“
It was Bard who killed you
in that dream.” Her fair brows pulled together in thought. “It must
have been him the other time, as well, though I was not certain
before he spoke.”

The hair on Baird’s neck snapped to
attention. Surely, Aurelia couldn’t know what he had dreamt?

“
Spoke?”

“
Do not imagine that I will
let you claim what should be mine!” she quoted the last line of
Baird’s dream with eerie accuracy, then shivered. “Truly, the man
had a malice that could not be denied.”

Baird pushed to his feet and crossed to the
bed. He leaned over Aurelia, willing the truth from her. “You can’t
know that. You can’t know what I dreamed.”

Aurelia laughed. “Well, of course I do!” She
reached out, her eyes shining and took Baird’s hand. With
consummate ease, she echoed his own gesture from the dream and
pressing a kiss against the back of his hand. “Awaken to me,
destiny mine,” she murmured, a smile quirking her lips.

Baird snatched his hand away and backed
against the wall. “How do you know what I dreamed?”

“
Because I made you dream
it,” she said easily, then patted the mattress beside her. “Come
back to bed, Baird. It is too early to be awake. And you, sir, have
left me tired, indeed.”

But Baird didn’t move. His gut was tight
with the memory of Jessica’s cold-hearted manipulation.

“
How could you make me
dream anything?” he asked hoarsely.

Aurelia heaved a patient sigh. “Because that
is the second gift from my naming. I have the power to summon the
Dreaming, deep in my mind there is a dreamstone of rare power.” She
snuggled beneath the covers and yawned. “Could we not talk about
this in the morning?”