Stardust of Yesterday

by Lynn Kurland

  You haven’t seen for yourself? Did you miss me?

  Let me get you alone and I’ll show you how much.

  “Welcome home, my lady,” Worthington said, making her a low bow.

  Busybody, Kendrick grumbled.

  Genevieve smiled at him before she leaned over and kissed Worthington on the cheek. “Thanks, Worthington. Is there anything to eat? I haven’t had a decent meal in two weeks.”

  Worthington was still trying to pretend he wasn’t blushing from her display of affection.

  “I’ll put tea on right away, my lady. With your favorite little pastries. I took the liberty of preparing some early this morning.”

  Kendrick laughed as Worthington fled inside the house, leaving the door wide open. “Gen, I don’t think he realizes it’s too early in the morning for tea. I’ve never seen him so flustered.”

  “You must have driven him completely crazy these past couple of weeks.” She looked over her shoulder to find her three escorts standing uncomfortably at the bottom of the steps. She looked back instantly at Kendrick with wide eyes. Well, at least he looked solid enough. As long as the Inspector didn’t try to shake his hand—

  I’ll take care of it.

  Talking like this is hardly fair to them, she chided.

  It will be vastly amusing. They’ll leave thinking we’ve gone daft when we sit and giggle at each other all morning while saying nothing.

  She smiled. You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?

  I’m glad to see you. The sweetness of your voice in my mind is merely an added pleasure.

  Kendrick clasped his hands behind his back. “Inspector O’Mally, gentlemen, please come in.” Gen, will you close the door? It’s an ungentlemanly thing to ask—

  Don’t be silly. She passed into the house first, then waited until all the men had filed by her before she closed the door. Fortunately Worthington was at the table and he pulled out Kendrick’s chair for him. He waited until Genevieve had approached, then did the same for her. Once she was seated, he leaned down and whispered in her ear.

  “My lady, ‘tis a bit early for tea. Shall I prepare breakfast instead?”

  “Please,” she nodded. “I’m starved.”

  Inspector O’Mally cleared his throat and launched into his questions. Genevieve gave up trying to concentrate on what he was saying and simply stared at Kendrick. He leaned back to one side of the chair with his hands folded casually in his lap, looking for all the world like a man who had everything. Every now and again, he would bring his hand up and brush his hair back from his face. She wanted to do it for him. Goodness, how could Matilda not have loved him instantly and never wavered?

  She was a fool, Kendrick said with a wink thrown her way.

  The little wench was just lucky she let you go. You would have had one heck of a catfight on your hands had she stuck around long enough for me to fight her for you.

  Kendrick choked and then recovered himself in time to answer the Inspector.

  “I have no enemies that I know of,” Kendrick said. At least none that are still alive.

  Enemies? Since when had this become so serious? Genevieve looked at the Inspector. “I’m sure it was just a random thing. Doesn’t this happen often?”

  “No crime should go uninvestigated. Now, our first step will be to look for clues,” the Inspector stated. “Sometimes it’s what’s most obvious that we overlook.”

  After fielding a few more questions about his travel habits, Kendrick put his hands on the table, signaling that the interview was over. Worthington was instantly behind him to pull out the chair.

  “I appreciate your assistance, Inspector,” Kendrick said in his most lordly tone. “I would offer you lodgings, but we’re presently restoring the other chambers. Worthington will take you down to the inn and see you settled. I’ll have train tickets waiting for you tomorrow morning.”

  “Very gracious of you, my lord,” the Inspector said, rising also.

  Later Genevieve would swear that a member of the undead had tripped her, but at the time she had no one to blame but herself for her clumsiness. She moved to stand next to Kendrick, then suddenly found herself falling through his arms. She jumped up in horror to the accompaniment of a shriek coming from the younger of the investigator’s assistants. The poor boy fled from the great hall as if an entire host of werewolves had sprung up and picked him out as an entrée.

  The Inspector remained admirably calm. “Jones, go after him and tell him he was seeing things.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  Once the second young man had fled, Inspector O’Mally sat back down. His face was ashen and he was shaking. Genevieve had to admire his merely remaining in his seat and not bolting like his men.

  Kendrick looked down at Genevieve. “Take your seat, love.”

  Genevieve sat back down in her chair and looked at him miserably. I’m so sorry! This is all my fault.

  The man seems to be fairly discreet. It will be for the best. You can never have too many mortal allies.

  Kendrick sat back down and looked the investigator straight in the eye. “As you have seen, our situation is rather unique.”

  “Are you the earl of Seakirk?” Inspector O’Mally asked bluntly. “I’ve never been one to keep up with the antics of the nobility, but Seakirk has acquired a rather peculiar reputation. I was under the impression that it belonged to the Buchanans.”

  “I purchased Matilda of Seakirk’s debts in the year 1260,” Kendrick said, just as bluntly. “If Henry III’s records were correct, they would show as much. But what they will not show is that I was murdered by Matilda’s lover in this very keep that same year. Seakirk is mine.”

  Inspector O’Mally swallowed convulsively. “What does your betrothed think of that?”

  “Kendrick is the rightful earl,” Genevieve said quietly.

  “And you are truly betrothed to him?”

  “That, my good man,” Kendrick said firmly, “is none of your affair. I have a birth certificate placing me on the earth sometime before 1962. Now unless you can find me a man of the cloth who won’t try to exorcise me the moment he claps eyes on me and have him wed me with my lady, you need only concern yourself with this investigation and not my private affairs.”

  Inspector O’Mally sat back and folded his hands over his belly. His trembles began to subside. He looked down at the table thoughtfully for several moments, then met Kendrick’s eyes.

  “This changes the situation greatly. How many people know of your existence?”

  “Definitively? Very few. As I am unable to leave the keep, I have scant contact with the outside world. Rumor is a bit more widespread, I fear, though I doubt many believe the tales.”

  “And your fiancée?”

  “Genevieve knows very few people in England. Though she was a well-known restoration expert in the States, I hardly think anyone would come here to harm her.”

  “Well, that gives me more to work with at least,” Inspector O’Mally said with a nod. “I’ll need complete lists of all your acquaintances. I’ll run checks on all of them and see if anything looks odd. I trust I can reach you here?”

  “Day or night,” Kendrick sighed. “We’ll work on our lists and have them sent ‘round first thing.” He rose and walked through the chair without giving it another thought.

  Genevieve suppressed her smile at the Inspector’s renewed loss of color, then took pity on him and tried to draw him out into small talk as they made their way to the door. Worthington was there with keys in hand. Kendrick waited until the car had pulled away before he shut the door.

  “I could have done that,” Genevieve said quickly.

  “It gives me an excuse for being tired enough to go take a nap. Shall we go up?”

  Genevieve nodded and walked with him to the stairs. By the time they reached his bedroom, Genevieve could barely put one foot in front of the other. It was all good and fine to pretend she was coming home to her lover. The reality of their situation was like a sharp sla
p in the face. He was dead. There was no getting around that.

  The door opened as they approached.

  “Kendrick, stop,” she said softly. “I can do it.”

  He ignored her and merely waited for her to pass into the room. She shut the door before he could get to it. He smiled ruefully.

  “Is this how the rest of our lives will be?” he teased. “You fighting me for control?”

  She felt tears burning at the back of her eyes. “Kendrick,” she began helplessly.

  “Genevieve, things will be fine,” he said soothingly.

  “But it’s so hopeless.”

  “Gen, perhaps some day some angel will take pity on us. Until then, we’ll just have to make do. Now,” he said, with forced brightness, “let’s lie down and you will describe in great detail all the things you brought home for me from London. I’ve always been terribly fond of presents.”

  She couldn’t even manage a decent smile. Kendrick ducked his head to catch her gaze.

  “Come on, then, love.”

  Genevieve nodded as she kicked off her shoes. She turned back to find Kendrick lying on the bed with his ankles crossed, his hands behind his head. His shoes were gone and his bare feet looked hauntingly real. He turned toward her as she approached and she saw the muscles flex beneath his jeans as he moved.

  “You’re lusting after me again, love,” he said with a half-smile. “Come pull up the blanket before you chill.”

  She lay down, then pulled the blanket up over both of them. She stared in surprise at the sight of Kendrick’s form, which was actually discernible beneath the covering.

  “I’m a ghost, not a pure spirit,” he explained. “My body is the same as yours, ‘tis simply made of more refined matter.”

  “Then how is it you are always walking through things?” she asked.

  “It used to be sort of an effort. Now it just tickles.” He grinned at her. “I rather like the feeling.”

  She couldn’t help but return his smile. “You gave poor Inspector O’Mally a start when you walked through the chair.”

  “I know.”

  She closed her eyes, wishing with all her heart that just once, if for only a split second, she could feel the touch of his hand on her face. She opened her eyes and looked at him miserably. She knew he was reading her thoughts.

  “Stop,” he begged.

  “I can’t help it.”

  “We can’t spend the rest of our lives wishing for what cannot be,” he said hoarsely. “I can’t touch you, Genevieve, and I’ll never be able to. I’ll never be able to hold you, kiss you, or make love to you. If we both don’t accept that right now, we’ll never survive. All we have is love. Is that going to be enough for you?”

  “I don’t think we have another choice.”

  “You’re absolutely right.”

  “Is it possible to love someone so quickly?”

  He smiled and his eyes were moist. “It is when you’ve been waiting seven hundred years to find her.”

  She couldn’t help the miserable half-laugh that escaped her. “You are the most wonderful man.”

  “And?” he prompted, his eyes beginning to twinkle.

  “I love you,” she whispered. “Foolish or not, I love you.”

  “ ’Tis fate, Genevieve, not foolishness. If I had known what all those centuries of agony were going to bring me, I would have passed through them cheerfully, not killing off Buchanans by the scores.”

  “You’re very sweet.”

  “And you’re very beautiful.”

  “And?” she smiled.

  “I love you,” he said. He frowned, pretending to look gruff. “Now, go to sleep. I’m not one for sentimentalities, and you’ve had more than your share from me today.”

  She closed her eyes, a smile still firmly fixed on her face. There was more to life than touching. She’d just learn to get used to it.

  She woke to the sound of snoring. She was coherent instantly, too surprised to even have to give herself a list of reasons to wake. Kendrick was lying on his back, snoring!

  “Kendrick,” she hissed. “Wake up.”

  He mumbled something intelligible, smacked his lips a time or two and continued to sleep. Genevieve no longer wondered where the phrase sawing logs came from. Kendrick was about to bring down the entire forest.

  That isn’t nice, you know.

  She laughed as he opened his eyes and winked at her. “I take it His Lordship grew weary of watching me sleep?”

  He turned on his side and smiled at her. “I could watch you sleep for hours, my love. I just had the feeling that somewhere in the world there had been some football on and that my VCR had caught it. I thought you might wish to watch with me. As shaking you awake was a bit beyond me, I tried the next best thing.”

  “Well, at least you aren’t bellowing songs in my ear any longer.”

  “That is a joy I reserve for your mornings only. A nap merits nothing more than a snore.”

  “I get the hint already. And I suppose we should start working on those lists while we’re at it.”

  “Mine will be enormously short,” Kendrick said as he rolled from the bed. “I’ll go on up while you take care of your needs.”

  Genevieve rolled from the bed, cheeks flaming. “Will you give me some privacy, for heaven’s sake?”

  “I was just making polite conversation.”

  She threw her pillow at him. It went through him and bounced harmlessly off the wall. Kendrick smiled in amusement.

  “A bit grumpy, aren’t we, love?”

  She pointed to the door and waited. He made her a low bow and walked through the wood. Genevieve put her hands to her cheeks and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to cool her embarrassment. Well, there were some things she’d have to get used to, and one of those was Kendrick’s ability to read her mind. If he weren’t so painfully blunt it might not be so bad. Perhaps in the future he would refrain from pointing out to her when she needed to use the bathroom. Heaven help her when her period caught up with her again.

  I couldn’t agree more.

  “You stop that!” she snapped, trying to muster up anger and only coming up with mortification. She laughed miserably. “Kendrick, I’m serious. At least leave me a bit of privacy. This is worse than being married!”

  Ouch.

  “This mind-reading business is like you looking through my underwear drawer,” she muttered under her breath as she walked toward the bathroom.

  Much more exciting, surely.

  Kendrick!

  She could have sworn she heard him chuckling. She went into the bathroom, then paused. Damn, this was unnerving! She turned the water on and used the toilet as quietly as possible. This was going to take some getting used to.

  A few minutes later, she ran down the corridor and up the steps to the third floor. She lifted her hand to knock on Kendrick’s study door.

  Just come in, Gen. No need to knock.

  She opened the door and slipped inside the room. A fire was roaring in the fireplace and a blanket was already draped over one arm of the couch. Kendrick was sprawled there with his feet up on a stool in front of him. He tilted his head back to smile at her.

  “Cowboys and Dolphins. Mildly entertaining.”

  “Sounds boring to me. Give me my 49ers or give me death,” she said. “Have you got something to write with in your lair, or dare I look?”

  “I’ve nothing to hide, Genevieve.”

  She walked over and leaned on the back of the couch next to him. “No more nefarious plots I should know about? Nothing more to confess?”

  “Other than an insane desire to wed you and bed you?” he asked with a smile. “Nay. All my secrets have been revealed.”

  “Wed me and bed me?” she asked, blushing. “Whatever happened to romance?”

  “You’ve only been home a single day. Allow me time to conjure up a few ideas. There’s a notebook and a pen on my desk. Fetch it and we’ll work on the list during commercial breaks and halftim
e.”

  “Demoted to serving wench already,” she grumbled as she made her way across the room and through the doorway that led to Kendrick’s museum. She opened the door to his private study and jumped as the lights went on by themselves. Thanks.

  My pleasure.

  She looked down at his desk and blinked. Then she did a double take. There was a notebook all right, and a pen sitting on top of it. Along with a pair of diamond earrings. No box, no fancy wrapping paper. Just sitting there as if she had merely taken them off and forgotten to put them away.

  “Kendrick!”

  “It’s first and goal, love. Can’t this wait?”

  She laughed. “No, this cannot wait. Get in here.”

  He took his sweet time about ambling into the room, then he leaned back against the doorframe and gave her a lazy smile.

  “Her ladyship rang?”

  “What,” she said, pointing pointedly at the earrings, “are these?”

  “I was afraid what you brought with you would soon turn your ears green. Just trying to save you from yourself.”

  She reached down and picked one up, smiling involuntarily at the sweetness of the gift. Her jewelry was a bit on the ratty side, but she’d never had the money or the inclination to change that. Earrings were an intimate gift. That Kendrick had been the one to give them to her pleased her very much.

  “Put them on,” he suggested, “and let me see if I like the size.” She did and he came close to peer at her ears. “Why, I can hardly see them! I suppose I’ll have to buy you a larger pair tomorrow.”

  “Any bigger and I’m sure they would blind you.”

  “As well as dragging your earlobes down to your shoulders,” he agreed with a grin. “Perhaps we’ll save gaudy for the tiara and matching necklaces.”

  “Don’t you dare,” she warned. “I’ll never have anywhere to wear them and it’s a waste of money.”

  “I have more money than either of us could ever spend.”

  “You haven’t seen what I bought you for Christmas.”

  “If the Jag didn’t put me under, I doubt your Christmas presents will.”

  Genevieve touched the diamond studs in her ears. “These are beautiful. Thank you.”

  He reached out to touch her, then stopped himself. He forced a smile to his lips as he dropped his hand to his side. “You are the beautiful one, and I’m happy the earrings please you. Now can we go back and watch the game? All this wooing is exhausting me.”