Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (43 page)

Baird had a hard time believing that they
weren’t his memories.

If they were, he had spent twelve hundred
years going back to the same place, over and over again, undeterred
by his own repeated failure to achieve his goal.

A goal named Aurelia.

A woman whom he loved against all
reason.

If the visions told the truth, if he had
actually gone back to Dunhelm all those times, then this would have
his greatest failure of all. Baird had awakened Aurelia, he had
fallen in love with her, but he still found himself unable to trust
her.

And he had left her in Dunhelm.

Baird frowned and called up the bookings for
Dunhelm one more time on the inhouse computer system. He had to
acknowledge that they were looking good.

The place wasn’t even open yet and the
reservations were more than decent all the way through to the fall.
And Christmas looked very promising. Baird leaned back in his chair
and tapped his pen on the desk. It was small consolation that his
gut had been right about Dunhelm.

Baird missed Aurelia enough to have been
right about her, too.

“
Hey.” Julian lounged in
the doorway, looking uncharacteristically haggard.

“
Looks like Marissa’s
giving you a run for your money,” Baird commented, grateful for the
distraction from his thoughts.

Julian flashed a glance at him and dropped
into one of the leather chairs opposite. “That would be your
money.”

“
I’m surprised you haven’t
settled things yet. You two aren’t enjoying yourselves, are
you?”

Julian’s glance was lethal. “Hardly! The
woman fights like a demon over every comma in the settlement
contract.”

“
Careful, Julian,” Baird
scanned a memo Darlene had dropped on his desk. “That’s starting to
sound like admiration.”

Julian grinned suddenly. “Well, there’s
nothing like a worthy adversary to make the victory sweet.”

Baird glanced up. “So, you’re close to
settling?”

“
Oh yeah. There’s no court
case here and she knows it.” He ran a hand over his head and
yawned. He feigned casualness so well that Baird almost missed the
signs. “So, how’s Aurelia?”

Baird’s heart leapt, but he tried to school
his expression. “I wouldn’t know,” he admitted coolly.

“
Maybe you should find
out,” Julian dared to say.

Baird fired a glance across his desk. “Look,
you’re way out of line here…”

Julian, undeterred, leaned forward to brace
his elbows on the desk. “I don’t think so.” His eyes shone with
sincerity. “She’s not like Jessica, Baird. You know it and I know
it.”

“
I only know that she
tricked me!” Baird retorted.

“
No. You got your wires
crossed somehow.” Julian looked out the window for a long moment,
but when Baird said nothing, Julian met his glance again. “Look,
you trusted my instinct on women before. Think about it - I think
there could be something good between you two, if you have the
balls to go back and talk to her.”

Baird inhaled sharply. “I’m not afraid of
Aurelia, even if she does think she’s half-Viking Valkyrie.”

“
Yeah?” Julian pushed to
his feet. “Then tell me why you aren’t booked to go to Dunhelm
Resort’s grand opening. This was your baby, as no other site has
been.” Julian wagged a finger at his friend as he retreated. “The
Baird Beauforte I know wouldn’t let the way a little blonde turned
him inside out stop him from being there.”

With a grin that showed he knew he was
right, Julian ducked out the door and was gone.

And he was right, damn him.

But Baird still wasn’t going. He shoved a
hand impatiently through his hair and turned back to his
laptop.

*

The moon rose round and orange, then climbed
slowly in the sky. Aurelia was on the furthest point of Dunhelm
from the resort, on the spot where she believed she and her mother
had done their rituals long ago. It had been a strong place, but
the rhythm of the land was faint now and harder to discern, even by
those who listened closely.

This space would have to do.

The sea surrounded the tiny point on three
sides and the land dropped from the plateau to a ledge out of view.
The drop was only the height of a man but it was enough to keep
prying eyes ignorant of what Aurelia meant to do.

The night wind felt strange against her
skin. Aurelia felt lost without the protective curtain of her hair.
As the moon rode high, she lifted the weight of her shorn tresses
out of the bag she carried them in.

The braid was long and thick. A decade of
growth, the hair carried the full import of her magic from the
onset of her courses. It was filled with blessings and rituals,
strong with the power she had learned. A priestess was to use her
hair sparingly, for it was uncommonly powerful, but Aurelia had
known that this moment would take no less than all she had to
give.

She sacrificed the full power of her magic
to ensure Baird did not lose the only thing she knew for certain
that he held dear.

Dunhelm. Aurelia could not stand by and let
him lose what he had built, knowing how important success was to
him.

How she wished she could have summoned him
for herself instead.

When the moment was right, Aurelia raised
her hands to the moon. She called to the four directions to witness
her spell; she summoned the winds; she saluted the elements. She
raised her voice in the ancient chant she had never expected to
use.

The reflection of the moon obediently slid
down into the waiting chalice of water. Aurelia lifted the chalice,
gazing into the glow of the moon’s light, recounted a chant and
lifted to her lips.

The moon slid into her, its silver strength
rolled through her and when the water was gone, Aurelia was the
Goddess.

The power of infinity coursed through her
veins, the dreamstone throbbed with a secret light. The elements
and the winds cavorted to her bidding and Aurelia felt Gemma’s
presence behind her left shoulder. When she raised her voice to
chant, she did not speak alone: Gemma and countless others
whispered in unison.

In her mind’s eye, Aurelia suddenly saw a
child with Baird’s dark hair. She felt the faint pulse of a new
life within her belly and wondered how she could have not known
sooner.

Then the Goddess struck the flint and the
flames leapt high at her dictate.

And she cast Aurelia’s hair into the
fire.

The flames licked greedily at the hair and
sparks flew in all directions as its power was consumed. It burned
with a blue flame that the Goddess drew higher and higher. When the
last of the hair was consumed, the Goddess bent the flame to her
will, drawing it high, gathering it to direct its power…

And a shower of cold water doused it
all.

No!

The magic disappeared with an audible snap.
Aurelia cried out as the Goddess abandoned her and the blue flame
vanished. She spun to face her attacker and her heart sank when she
met the smug grin of Darian Mulvaney.

“
I won’t let you call him,”
he said.

The moment of magic was lost. Aurelia could
have wept. A black spot on the earth was the only remnant of her
glorious hair. The Goddess had come, the magic had been gathered,
but its power had been dissipated before it could be directed.

She had given her all for naught! Already
the moon was sliding away, the Goddess’ eye turned to other
matters. Aurelia ached that her hair, the crowning jewel of her
powers, had been shorn for naught.

She would not accept failure.

She rounded on Darian and let him feel the
brunt of her anger. “I will not permit you to destroy him! I will
fight you every step of the way, with every power I can
rouse…”

“
Well, then, maybe we can
make a deal.” Darian closed the distance between them and Aurelia
hated that she had to make any kind of bargain with the likes of
him. “Marry me, Aurelia, and maybe I’ll leave Baird a
crumb.”

She did not hide her animosity. “You concede
little.”

He laughed. “I don’t have to concede
anything. What you were doing here could be called witchcraft, and
I’ve got to tell you that witchcraft isn’t very popular in these
times.”

Aurelia eyed her attacker, uncertain whether
to believe him. Had the role of the Goddess sunk to such lows?

Darian shook a finger at Aurelia. “Rumors of
a satanic cult active here could complete destroy this resort’s
credibility even before it opens.” His smile turned malicious.
“That might be kind of fun, wouldn’t it, for you to be the reason
Baird’s investment fails?”

“
No! You cannot spread
these lies! You cannot ruin him!”

Darian spread his hands. “Then, marry me.”
He shrugged. “What have you got to lose?”

There was the issue in a nutshell. Aurelia
certainly had nothing to gain. She loved Baird, though, and if
nothing else, she would see his dream of success secure.

Her heart ached with the certainty that
Baird would likely never know what she had done. Elizabeth had said
that he was not even coming to the grand opening of the resort.

And Baird certainly would not come to
Dunhelm because of her miserable excuse for a summoning. Aurelia
already knew that Baird no longer wanted her.

She had made the oldest error known to
womankind. Men, after all, seldom marry their whores. And being
pregnant out of wedlock made her tainted goods by any count. No
decent man would not want her now.

Although a most indecent one did. Aurelia
surveyed the blackened scorch, which was all that remained of her
hair, and knew that she did not have power to fight Darian’s foul
intent.

She had bet everything she had and lost. All
she could do now was try to save some shard of Baird’s dream of
Dunhelm from the vengeful Bard. She would figure out later how to
save herself - and Baird’s child - from this loathsome man.

With a heavy heart, Aurelia took Darian’s
outstretched hand and nodded her agreement. Perhaps she and Baird
were not destined to be together, after all.

*

Baird was working late - again - still
trying to erase Julian’s certainty from his mind when the vision
hit him right between the eyes.

Dunhelm was burning.

And Baird was there. Orange flames rose high
to consume it, a black billow of smoke rose high in the air. The
heat pressed against his skin, his eyes narrowed against the soot
tossed through the air. He could smell the smoke.

But there was one critical difference. This
was his Dunhelm going up in flames, not some old Viking hall.

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

Baird heard the threat again from the last
dream he had had at Dunhelm.

And suddenly, it made perfect sense.

Bard, son of Erc, had pledged to make both
Dunhelm and Aurelia his own.

Aurelia!

She had said she could make him dream. But
what if she didn’t make the dreams themselves? What if her Dreaming
had only been a way of forcing Baird to confront his own memories
of Dunhelm?

Just as she had shown him the power of his
own intuition.

It would be just like Aurelia to take
matters into her own capable hands. She wasn’t one to sit back and
let matters take their own course.

Baird sat up as understanding flashed
through his mind. This vision wasn’t about losing Dunhelm. It was
about losing something - or someone - much more important. And his
intuition was screaming to get his attention.

Well, Baird was finally listening. He
couldn’t change the fact that he had run from Aurelia like a
coward, but he could go back and fight for what he wanted.

Just as Aurelia did.

Just as he had in so many other lives.

But he had never come so close to success
before. He would be an idiot to let Aurelia and her love slip
through his hands.

Baird was on his feet, closing his laptop
and heading for the door before he could think twice about it. He
snatched up his raincoat, sailed across the reception area of the
executive offices and pivoted as he punched the elevator
button.

“
Darlene, could you get me
a flight, please?”

Darlene looked sternly over her glasses. A
matronly paragon of efficiency, she kept everyone at Beauforte on a
tight leash.

Including Baird.

She was as stern as a schoolmistress. “And
where are you off to at this time of day?”

“
Dunhelm.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Tonight?”

“
It’s
important.”

“
Uh huh.” Darlene looked
pointedly at her watch. “You’re going to have to move if you’re
making any trans-Atlantic flight tonight.”

“
Right.” Baird shrugged
into his raincoat, delighted to find his passport in the breast
pocket. He wouldn’t even have to duck upstairs to his apartment.
“So, why don’t you find me a flight while I flag a cab to JFK?” He
gave Darlene his best smile and she shook her head.

She pulled off her glasses and tossed them
on the desk as she surveyed her boss sternly. “You sure have been
acting strange lately, Mr. Beauforte.” Her eyes narrowed. “If I
didn’t know better, I’d say you were a man in love.”

Baird felt the back of his neck heat
tellingly and a reluctant smile curved his lips. “Well, maybe you
do know better.”

Darlene shook her head and picked up the
phone. “You’d better have your cell phone with you, Mr. Beauforte,”
she said testily. “Otherwise you’re never going to know how you’re
getting from here to there.”

“
Thanks, Darlene.” The
doors slid open and Baird paused in the act of stepping into the
elevator. “You were taking tomorrow off, weren’t you?”