Timestruck (13 page)

A small hole opened above her, allowing just
a glimpse of sky before the blue was replaced by the darkness of
the tunnel. The tunnel was too small to accept her body, but she
could see it slowly enlarging, and she could feel the suction
increasing. Soon she would be able to enter.

She hesitated, withdrawing her hand, afraid
to be pulled into that cold, black emptiness for a second journey
through time. She wanted to return to the world that was familiar
to her. She was convinced she must return. Yet some part of her
resisted.

“Would you care to explain why you are
standing on my bed?” said an unmistakable masculine voice.

“Dominick!” Gina turned to face him just as
he looked up and saw the opening.

“What in the name of all the saints is that?”
he demanded.

The tunnel closed. Without a sound it was
gone, and the ceiling was smooth once more, as if the opening had
never existed.

Dominick grabbed for Gina. When she tried to
avoid him, her foot caught on the upturned edge of the quilt, and
she spilled off the bed and into his arms.

“What are you doing here?” she gasped.

“Precisely the question I was asking of you.
Need I remind you that this is my room and you have no right to be
here? What were you doing? I will have an explanation for what I
just saw.”

“Put me down first,” she ordered, knowing she
couldn’t think clearly when she was so close to him.

He set her on her feet but kept a tight grip
on her upper arms. His eyes were gray ice, boring into her. For the
first time since the day of her arrival she was truly afraid of
him.

“Were you opening a secret door in the
ceiling?” he demanded, shaking her. “I warn you, I am in no mood to
listen to half truths and evasions. You are going to tell me, right
now, who has employed you to spy on me.”

“No one!” She tried to escape him, but he
only held her more securely. “I don’t know anyone outside of
Feldbruck.”

“You cannot expect me to accept that,” he
said, his grasp growing ever tighter on her arms. “Were you sent
here to entice me into joining the traitors, in case Pepin’s pleas
failed?”

“No, certainly not. Dominick, let me go.”

“I will not lose Feldbruck,” he said, his
mouth hard. “I keep what is rightfully mine.”

“That’s fine with me. I don’t have anything
to do with that dumb plot,” she cried in dismay. The kind, humorous
man she knew had vanished. In his place stood a warrior prepared to
deal with any threat to what he held dear. Almost any threat,
though he couldn’t possibly be prepared for what she could tell him
if she dared. Feeling trapped and desperate, she said, “If I told
you the whole truth, you wouldn’t believe me.”

“Perhaps I would. Perhaps I’d rather hold a
kinder opinion of you than I do at the moment. Almost any
explanation would be preferable to what I am thinking.”

She stared at his grim expression, weighing
the chance that he’d accept the whole truth against the risk that
he’d kill her the instant she finished speaking.

“I am waiting,” he said.

Gina’s bravado collapsed. She couldn’t bear
to have him believe her a liar or a traitor or a lot of other nasty
things. She wanted Dominick to think well of her, and the only way
to achieve that was to tell him the whole truth. Not allowing
herself time to consider what her longing for his approval meant,
she began to talk.

“All right, I’ll tell you. I was looking for
a tunnel through time,” she said, tearing her gaze from his face to
glance at the ceiling above his bed. “I found it, too, but it
vanished again when you interrupted me. Now I may never find a way
back.”

“Back where?” he demanded. “What tunnel?”

“When I arrived here that first morning, you
asked how I got into your room,” she said, trying to sound calm and
confident though her heart was pounding in apprehension over what
she was about to reveal. “I told you I fell through the roof. That
was the truth.”

“I don’t understand.” He was still gripping
her arms and still frowning.

“Neither do I. Dominick, I swear to you, I am
not a madwoman. I’m telling you the truth as far as I know it. I
have no explanation for what happened to me.” She paused, took a
deep breath, and continued, simplifying the story as much as
possible.

“I was working with a complex machine when
something went wrong. All I remember is a searing flame, then a
cold, black tunnel. I thought I was dying, until suddenly I was
falling through the air. I was so high that I could see all of
Feldbruck, every part of it that we rode over yesterday. I was
convinced I was going to crash into the roof of your house and be
killed. Instead, I landed on top of you. The reason I came to your
room this morning was to search the ceiling.”

“When I first entered, I thought I saw a dark
hole in the ceiling, but there is nothing wrong with it now,” he
said, glancing upward.

“That is frighteningly true,” she agreed.

“You fell through the air?”

“It was a very strange sensation.”

“On that first day you asked me where you
were.”

“The place where I had been working was not
Yorvik, and not in Northumbria,” she said, speaking slowly and
carefully, aware that what she was about to reveal would be even
more unbelievable than what he had already heard. “It was a huge
city called New York. It is larger than any city you can imagine,
and it’s in a country that lies on the other side of the Atlantic
Ocean.”

“I’ve heard tales of such a faraway land, but
no one has ever actually seen it.”

“It exists, all right. But there’s even more,
Dominick.” From his set face she couldn’t tell what his reaction to
her story was, but she had gone too far to stop before he knew
everything. “I also came here from the future. To be exact, twelve
hundred and eight years in the future.”

He dropped his hands from her arms and
stepped away, regarding her with horror.

“Was it witchcraft?” he asked. “Has someone
placed you under a spell, and are you searching for a way to break
it?”

“No. That’s one of the few things I am sure
of. It wasn’t magic, it was the computer – the machine. Actually,
very few people in my time still believe in magic or witchcraft.
Even fewer believe in miracles. As I said, I don’t have an
explanation.”

He looked at her for a long time, and the
horror slowly faded from his face. Still, she couldn’t read his
expression.

“Do we Franks seem like barbarians to you?”
he finally asked.

“Far from it. The people here at Feldbruck
are the kindest, most generous and hospitable souls I’ve ever met.
Dominick, everything I told you yesterday about my past life was
true. I just didn’t mention the dates.”

“Can you tell me what will happen to Charles
in the next few months?” he asked.

“If I knew, I would gladly tell you.
Unfortunately, I am almost completely ignorant about this period of
history.”

“I see.”

“Do you believe what I’ve just said?”

“You are unlike any other woman I’ve ever
known,” he said slowly, as if thinking over her words.

“I’m sure I am,” she responded.

“In the short time you’ve been at Feldbruck,
I have learned you are not a madwoman, and you are far from stupid.
Ignorant of Frankish customs, eager to ask peculiar questions, yes
– and your story does explain your odd behavior and your lack of
everyday knowledge.” He was looking at her with a strange mixture
of warmth and regret. “After listening to you yesterday, I am
astounded that you have entrusted me with this part of your
story.”

“I’m a bit astounded myself,” she said,
venturing a weak smile. “You’re the first man I’ve trusted in
years.”

“Well, I intend to prove worthy of your
trust,” he said. “Since you want to return home, I will try to help
you. I have an idea.”

“You have?” She didn’t know whether to be
glad or annoyed that he was so eager to get rid of her.

“While there is no sign of your entry through
the ceiling,” he said, “you haven’t explored the roof have
you?”

“If I found a ladder and tried to scale your
house,” she responded wryly, “your men-at-arms would likely ask a
lot of questions. Not to mention what Hedwiga would say if she saw
me.”

“You don’t need a ladder,” Dominick said.

“Above us the roof slants at an angle, but
the ceiling is flat. Between the two is an open space that is used
for storage. An attic. Shall we see in what we can discover up
there?”

She studied his face, trying to discern his
real attitude. He cocked an eyebrow and watched her in return, and
all she could see in him was a faint, rueful amusement at her
hesitation.

“Yes, please,” she said at last.

Dominick took her hand and pulled her out of
his room and along the corridor to the end of the wing, where
stairs led down to ground level. A smaller staircase climbed
upward. At its top was a narrow door.

Gina was right behind Dominick as he pushed
open the door and stepped into the attic. On either side of them
the roof slanted right down to the floor. A small window at each
end of the long, narrow space provided just enough light for Gina
to see trunks and baskets piled along the eaves. A dusty straw
pallet was spread near the door, a quilt folded on top of it.

“Someone has been here,” Gina said.

“Probably servants looking for a bit of
privacy,” Dominick responded, making his way to the other end of
the attic. “My bedchamber will be just about here. I can find no
sign of anything awry. Come see for yourself.”

Gina hurried forward to the spot he
indicated. She banged on the roof with both fists and stamped her
feet on the wooden plank flooring. Her efforts raised a small cloud
of dust that made her sneeze, but they produced no evidence of her
entry to Feldbruck or of the brief reappearance of the tunnel.

“I don’t understand,” she said. “There has to
be a sensible explanation for what happened to me.”

“Occasionally something happens for which
there is no explanation,” Dominick said.

“Are you telling me to just accept my lot and
live with it?”

“I suppose I am.”

“But I want to understand how this
happened!”

“Why must you understand everything? I don’t
understand much of what you’ve told me. Nonetheless, I accept it on
faith. Or perhaps,” he added quietly, “I simply want to believe you
are not a spy trying to entrap me. But, for many reasons, I do
accept your story.”

“Thank you for that.” Sudden awareness of
Dominick’s presence and of how alone they were prickled along
Gina’s spine. She started for the doorway and the stairs, speaking
over her shoulder as she went. “And thank you for letting me check
out your attic.”

“I am sorry you did not find what you
sought.”

He sounded so honestly regretful that Gina
turned to face him. Watching him and not where she was going, she
smacked the back of her head on the roof. She cried out and
instantly felt the threat of tears. Why was she getting so
emotional just because Dominick was being kind?

“Gina.” Dominick’s arm was across her
shoulders, guiding her the few steps to the pallet. “Sit down.”

She sat, wrapping her arms around her knees,
and pillowing her head on them. Dominick knelt beside her, watching
her anxiously.

“I’ll be fine in a minute,” she said.

The attic was quiet and comfortably warm. A
single bee was buzzing along the eaves, trying to find a way out.
Dominick’s fingers were in her hair, rubbing the sore spot. Gina
sighed and relaxed a little. Dominick certainly did have a calming
effect on her. When he pulled her head to his shoulder, she did not
resist. Nor did she protest when he lowered his head and kissed
her.

“Would it be so hard for you to stay in this
time with me?” he asked.

“As far as I can tell,” she said, “I don’t
have any choice in the matter. I don’t know when, or if, that
tunnel will appear again.”

She fell silent, uncertain what she really
wanted. The only sounds she could hear were the pounding of her own
heart and Dominick’s breathing. The bee was still.

“You had enough faith in me to reveal your
strange story,” he murmured.

“And you believed me,” she said, leaning back
in his arms to look into the warmth of his eyes.

“Gina,” he whispered. His fingers stopped
their movement through her hair. Long, silent moments passed while
the tension between them rose until it became unbearable. Gina ran
her tongue across her dry lips and saw Dominick’s gaze follow the
motion. She couldn’t think clearly, couldn’t stop what was
happening to her mind and her body. It had really begun on the day
when she, newly arrived in Francia, had lain beneath him in his bed
and felt his hard manliness pressing against her. She hadn’t been
able to shake the memory of that sensation; she had felt it again
each time she looked at him.

She touched his face, conscious of the strong
bones of his cheek and jaw. She traced the outline of his lips.
Dominick caught her hand and kissed her palm, and all of her fears
dissolved. She had already trusted him with her life; now she was
going to trust him with her body.

She let her head fall back against his arm
while he kissed her throat, and she whimpered softly when his hands
caressed her breasts. She wasn’t sure how he so easily removed her
dress and shift and his clothing. She only knew he was being
infinitely gentle and patient with her, somehow understanding that
her past sexual experiences had been unpleasant ones.

After another few minutes Gina closed the
door firmly on the painful memories of her past. For the first time
in her life she wanted to touch an unclothed man. With his eager
encouragement she began to caress Dominick, taking pleasure in his
muscular strength and the contrast between his smooth chest and
hairier limbs, reveling in the hot moistness of his mouth and
tongue when he kissed her, and, finally, aching to feel the hard
length of him between her thighs.