Time Travel Romance Collection

by Grace Brannigan

In an agony of silence, Elise waited. When he finally looked up, she was overcome to see the sheen of tears filming his eyes.

  "It's like you're looking in a mirror, you're so alike," she murmured. Gently, she touched a fingertip to his cheek.

  Darien placed the chain and locket back over her head. Tenderly, strong fingers pushed aside her hair, let the locket fall once more against her breast. He pulled her close, his mouth lightly touching hers, then pressing more deeply, as if starved. Elise met her hunger with her own need, her love for him the only important thing in her mind.

  Darien sat back against the foot of the bed, holding her in his arms. Elise half turned in his arms, kissing his cheek, gently soothing the scratches and bruises on his face with her lips. Rogier had much to answer for.

  His large palm framed her face with tenderness. Elise opened her eyes, allowed his face to come into focus before her, his green eyes intent.

  "Elise, make no mistake. I love you, have loved you for so long, it seems like an eternity. For a time I lost sight of that love. I must tell you, I am a man who had been with countless women through these years. It is something of which I am not proud, but I had lost faith. You came to me almost a virgin again, and for that I can never go back. Now I ask your forgiveness."

  Elise swallowed at his confession. Compassionately, she said, "Darien, what matters is what we do from this time forward. The years were an empty void for both of us, and yet in that time we grew to who we are today. That pain must remain in the past so the future can be all the past was not."

  The darkness in Darien's expression cleared, her love and understanding getting through to him.

  "Darien, when the time is right and we are free of this place, you will come to me as my rightful husband, as the soul mate I know you to be."

  #

  They heard the new guards arriving, a clattering of hooves on cobble, men talking and laughing. Elise wondered how it could be so, when she and Darien were in such dire circumstances. Those men of her father's seem to act as if nothing out of the ordinary had passed, there was no prisoner in the tower awaiting an uncertain fate.

  The light had been extinguished and the cell was dark. She heard a scuttling in the corner and her flesh crawled. Mice, or worse. . . rats.

  Elise moved closer to Darien, felt the hard metal shackle with the end of her foot.

  "Do not give up," Darien said softly, reassuring, as if he knew the dismal thoughts chasing about in her head. She rubbed her cheek against his chest. "I cannot help but feel we shall escape. You came for me through time, it cannot all be for nothing."

  "I hope you're right," she said. The short time she had slept, her dreams had tormented her. Even in Darien's arms, the other time was beckoning to her.

  Darien tightened his arms around her but said nothing further. Despite his reassurances, he too wondered if an escape was possible.

  Elise needed to move as her legs were becoming cramped. She rose to her feet, feeling for the bed and sitting on the edge. She felt a piece of paper and it rustled as she picked it up. It had been half crumpled, as if quickly crushed under a fist.

  "Darien, what is this paper?"

  "Something your father left."

  "Please turn the lantern up so I can see it."

  Darien complied. Elise smoothed the paper with her palms, reading it in the dim light. Eyes wide, she looked at him.

  "Your father is intent on extracting a confession."

  With burning anger, Elise held the parchment atop the globe of the lamp, watching as it slowly turned brown and then black. The writing became indistinguishable as the paper was reduced to curling, charred flakes that drifted to the straw covered floor.

  "He's evil," she muttered fiercely, dropping the small, unburnt corner she still held.

  Darien nudged her toward the door. "Go now. It is time."

  With a last whispered goodbye, she slipped through the door, along a short passage and out into the chill of early morning.

  She and Darien had argued about her leaving. Darien wanted her to escape down the mountain before her father was aware. He insisted she find Rufus, who would keep her safe. Elise wanted none of it. In the end, there was nothing Darien could do. Elise had ideas of her own and she would not leave him to the mercy of Rogier.

  When the guards changed she left, but this time she did not sneak back in undetected and the third sentry spotted her.

  "Halt or I'll shoot."

  She stopped dead, pulling her cloak about her as a breeze twirled it about her body. From sheer nervousness, her teeth began to chatter. Elise boldly turned on her heel, facing the guard.

  "What do you want?" she demanded.

  The man looked taken aback, dark black brows drawn together. With an uncertain frown, he lowered his pistol.

  "Miss Lancaster, I did not know it was you."

  "I was walking. I didn't realize I had to report to you," she snapped.

  "Well, no, Ma'am. We've a prisoner to keep an eye on, we have to be careful --" He moved, his jacket opening with the same breeze that kept swirling around her. Quickly, her eyes darted to the keys dangling from his waistcoat, then away. She smiled at him.

  "Of course I understand," she said softly. "Please forgive me for sounding so harsh. You took me by surprise." Tentatively, she took a step closer. "I haven't seen you here before."

  "I just arrived, Ma'am."

  "Do you really guard a prisoner?"

  The sentry nodded. "He's a murdering thief, Ma'am."

  Elise felt the skin tighten across her cheekbones, but she forced a smile as she twirled a lock of hair.

  "You must be very brave," Elise breathed, her voice dropping to a provocative murmur.

  She leaned close to the young man until their faces were mere inches apart. She placed a hand on his chest, her fingers moving gently back and forth.

  He swallowed, stared at her as if mesmerized. Nervously, he shifted his feet. "Please forgive my abruptness."

  "Of course. I am sorry for startling you."

  She closed her eyes, pressed against him a moment. "Thank you." Hurriedly she turned and opened the door of the house, slipping inside.

  "What the deuce are you doing?" Ice trickled down her back. With dread, she closed the door, then turned to face Rogier.

  She stuffed her hand into the inside pocket of her cloak, looking up into the grim countenance of the man who had raised her. She raised her chin, every muscle tightening in fear and defiance.

  "I locked you in your room."

  She shrugged. "I grew bored, I needed fresh air."

  "It is amazing, Elise, even as a child you were always managing to evade me. I recall finding you in the oddest places at the strangest times of the morning. I used to think it was that damned witch's doing, but she is gone, now, isn't she?"

  She raised a brow. "Is she?"

  "You used to climb from your window when you were only eight or nine." Rogier motioned for her to follow him into the dining room.

  "Come, sit and partake of an early breakfast with your father."

  She sat, conscious of the weight of the keys in her pocket. She knew her time was limited before the sentry realized they were gone and who was responsible.

  "Take off your cloak, my dear."

  Elise cleared her throat, sank down into a seat. "I will leave it on. It was brisk outside and I am chilled." She looked away from him and was glad when a harried-looking maid bearing a bowl of fruit and a platter of steaks hurried into the room. The latter she placed before Rogier.

  "Is there anything I can get for you, Ma'am?" Elise met the woman's eyes. She was probably the same age as herself, but appeared older in her drab brown dress. Long blonde hair was scrapped tightly back from her face and lines of worry had creased a permanent furrow in her forehead.

  "No, thank you. I am not hungry."

  The woman was almost out of the room when Rogier called to her, a certain malicious pleasure in his face. "Please come to my rooms tonight."

&nb
sp; "Yes, Sir, but my boy, you recall, he is sick --" she wrung her hands in her dirty torn apron.

  Rogier pulled the plate of steaks closer, as if dismissing the woman from his mind. Elise saw the dread on the woman's face and her stomach tightened.

  "When you come, bring Bridget along. I have a small job for her."

  The woman looked ready to cry. "But Sir, my Bridie is only twelve, she --"

  Rogier leapt to his feet, his face turning a mottled red. "I have given you shelter and food to eat so your family did not starve. Everyone else turned their back on you -- how dare you question me!"

  The woman hurried to the door without a word, but Elsie saw the tears which ran down her cheeks.

  Rogier speared a steak with his knife and dropped it onto his plate, deep in concentration as he cut the meat into precise wedges and calmly began to eat.

  "You have not changed," she said in a low, disgusted voice.

  "How so?"

  "You're still a cruel, loathsome pig."

  He looked up, his mouth full, his expression so surprised Elise hoped he would choke.

  He chewed his steak, then wiped his mouth fastidiously with a pristine white napkin. "Do not concern yourself with the business of men. What right have you to question what I do in my household? You chose to leave many years ago." His righteousness made her want to gag.

  She stood, sickened they shared the same blood. "You're still the same, still raping innocents as you once tried to do to me."

  She turned away, afraid she would be physically ill. "How could my mother have been so desperate as to want to marry you?"

  Holding two knives, Rogier banged his fists on the wooden table top.

  "You will speak to me with respect in my house. I would not sneer if I were you. The apple does not fall far from the tree." His voice lashed coldly at her. "You sleep at first opportunity with the lowly son of a tavern owner, then run away and bear his bastard." He jabbed at another blood red steak. "You are more and more like her every day," he muttered, watching her in disgruntlement as he chewed.

  Elise fought the feeling of being a child again, stuck under his thumb.

  "If I am like my mother then I'm glad."

  Rogier took a long drink of ale, then wiped his mouth deliberately, watching her. "Perhaps I should arrange a suitable marriage for you. Certainly it would keep you out of trouble."

  "I am married."

  "Do you think to taunt me with that lie?"

  She turned away from him. Right now he had the upper hand, she had to be careful.

  "Tell me of your child," he said abruptly.

  She did not reply.

  Speculatively, he watched her, rolling the heavy glass of ale between his palms.

  "A mother will always seek out her child. I can be patient."

  "Be as patient as you like. You will never find her."

  "I understand your reluctance to discuss this now." He smiled. "We have time, to discuss it at a later date. In the meantime, Beldar has made his wishes known. He has taken a fancy to you. Perhaps --"

  "Never!" she spat, outraged.

  "My dear, you are becoming boringly repetitious." He took a long pull from his mug. "You should be more accommodating to your father. After all, I am the one who holds Remington's wellbeing in the palm of my hand."

  "I want to see him."

  "You can trust me to keep him well."

  "I want to see for myself. Surely he has a right to a visitor?"

  "Perhaps I could be persuaded --" he taunted.

  Elise knew it would not take much for her to lose total control, thereby giving him the advantage in this cruel game he played. She wanted to rant at him at the injustice of what he was doing, what he had done to her all her life, and what he had done to Darien. In a coldly sane moment, she knew it would do more harm than good. She mustered everything she had and looked him in the eye. "I would ask your indulgence. Let me visit my husband this once, if only for a short time."

  "Such sober pleading," he mocked, eyeing her consideringly. He rose to his feet. "I will grant your wish, but the visit shall be no more than five minutes."

  His face wore an air of expectancy. He expected her to rebel, relished the thought of squashing her hopes. She twisted her lips into a tight smile.

  "Thank you," she said graciously, then walked to the door, hands clenched together. "I want to see him now."

  "You have grown wise, Elise, I congratulate you." Rogier came up behind her, turned her and lifted her chin. She backed away, and he gave a pleased nod.

  "We make good adversaries. You do not cower before me."

  Her fingers closed on the key in her cloak pocket. "Can we go please?"

  With mocking courtesy he held the door open and allowed her to pass first, following closely behind.

  As they neared the tower Elise again saw the young man from whom she'd taken the keys. He stood guard at the outer door of the tower. He came to his feet when he saw Rogier, his eyes following Elise but he did not acknowledge her, for which she was grateful.

  Rogier grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. "Make no mistake, the visit will last exactly five minutes." He opened the door and gave her a shove. "I am sure you know the way."

  Elise walked swiftly inside. The door closed and she picked up her skirts and ran down the short corridor to the door of the cell.

  Swinging the door open, she erupted into the room, stopping short with a quickly muffled screech as Darien lunged at her from behind the door.

  Chapter Fourteen

  "Darien!"

  "'Lise!" His elbow stopped just short of her face. "My God, I could have killed you."

  "There is no time. Rogier agreed to let me see you for five minutes. Here." She pulled the key ring from her pocket. "Hurry, see if one of these fits."

  Without wasting time, he tried each of the half dozen assorted keys until one unlocked the padlock securing the chair to his feet. He released the padlock but did not remove it from the chains.

  "Please hurry. Come, on, let's go --"

  Darien forestalled her, gripping both her arms.

  "No. We must do this right. With the number of guards outside, I will have to go carefully. Now is not the time. He is outside waiting, no doubt relishing the idea of breaking us apart when your time is up." A glint appeared in her husband's eye. "I think we should play into his hands for the moment."

  Elise shook her head no.

  "Listen and trust me. When the guards change after night-fall, I will be ready. Under cover of darkness we can make our escape. Wait for me by the back gate."

  He pressed the keys back into her palm, then pulled her close, his lips lightly roving across her mouth. In the next instant he roughly thrust her away.

  "Darien!" she exclaimed.

  "Do not come again!" he snarled. "You are not welcome."

  Recoiling, she jerked her head up.

  "Time is up," drawled Rogier behind her.

  She looked at him. Yanking her wrists free from Darien, she turned and fled the cell.

  #

  "Perhaps I misjudged you, Remington," Rogier said with a speculative gleam. He closed the door and advanced into the room.

  Darien watched him with an amused smile, ice in his eyes.

  "You can smirk but I am the one who is free, while you are in chains. If you are really done with my daughter, then perhaps it could be to your advantage to make her see how well I can provide for her. I grow weary of her fits and fighting."

  "You waste my time."

  Rogier spread his hands, indicating their surroundings. "I believe you have all the time in the world to waste. Come Remington, you are about to be found guilty of murder. The charges on your head revolve around my word and the word of my men. Admit you are the Hellhound, sign a confession, and I can --"

  "What? Intercede for me?"

  "Dammit, man." Rogier no longer appeared cool, but took a step forward, hands upraised as if he would grab the younger man, but then stopped, thinking better o
f getting too close. "Your circumstances are dire."

  "I understand very well, and you are right to be afraid of me and what I know. We both know the truth of what goes on in these parts at night. We will always be on opposites sides of the fence."

  "I have committed no crime."

  Darien smiled, crossing his arms over his chest.

  "For your own good, sign the confession."

  "You must excuse me, Lancaster, I was up all night and I really must get some rest."

  Ignoring the older man, Darien lay back on the pallet and closed his eyes.

  If he hadn't been so infuriated, Rogier would have been amused at the game Remington played so well.

  The heavy door reverberated throughout the tower as he kicked it closed.

  #

  Elise threw a quick glance across the courtyard, thrusting her fingers into her pocket to pull out the loop of keys. The young guard was several yards away, speaking with another man. Her fingers tightened on the keys. Elise leaned down toward the three legged stool where the guard had been sitting. She placed the keys on the edge, just managing to balance them and stepped away.

  She had taken two steps when the man turned and saw her. With a hurried word, he left the other guard and returned to his post. Elise smiled at him and walked toward the house, then changed direction and ran instead into the smokehouse shack against the outer wall. Her change in direction gave her an opportunity to observe the sentry as he sat down on his stool.

  She heard the distinctive clink of the keys hitting the cobbles. In the shadow of the smokehouse, she observed the sentry as he ducked with a muttered curse and retrieved the keys. He looked around quickly, then pocketed them.

  Elise opened her hand, staring at the lone key in her hand. Bending to place the key in her boot, she watched the tower door. Rogier had not yet exited the tower. She hoped he didn't notice the padlock was unlatched. If he did, they were done.

  In an apparently aimless fashion, she left the smokehouse, then circled around and entered the house from the kitchen door in case anyone was watching.

  She encountered no one inside and quickly walked into the back hallway and up the stairs to the first level. She drew off her cloak and put it over her arm.

  "Deception has its own reward," Rogier said snidely. She did not turn to face him, but a pulse began to beat rapidly in her throat.