10 Timeless Heroes; A Time Travel Romance Boxed Set

by P. L. Parker, Beth Trissel, L. L. Muir, Skhye Moncrief, Sky Purington, Nancy Lee Badger, Caroline Clemmons, Bess McBride, Donna Michaels

  "Give me a chance. Listen."

  The man has to make sense out of this catastrophe. "Then clarify this madness."

  He pulled my stupidly traitorous body that refused to fight him into his strong arms, right against his drumming chest. Into a cloud of hazy cinnamon. Warm comforting. This body so needed reprogramming. Where do men buy cinnamon cologne? Why didn't the answer of a thirty-first-century Walgreens make me feel better?

  "Don't cry, Katie." The words rung in my ears. "I won't leave you."

  The freaking promise sounded good. But people don't travel through time. "I don't know what to believe."

  He pushed me away just a bit, enough to grab my chin with finger and thumb, lifting my gaze to meet his beseeching eyes. "You don't need to believe now. Just remember I told you. When the time comes, know I broke my training, Code, to be honest with you. I just can't bind our hearts together without admitting to you who I am. And after tonight, it won't matter."

  What kind of mumbo jumbo is he feeding me? And how could I have betrayed myself with a man?

  His thumbs wiped cool wetness across her cheeks.

  Damn my body. It cried. I needed to exchange it for a tougher one.

  He canted close with an adamant gaze, demanding I return his. "Promise me you will remember."

  Dare I think my nut is noble to break his rules and declare this idiocy? Pam would tell me to trust him. That I have to trust someone. There isn't anyone else to trust. And Murdo had proven himself an intelligent gentleman. What could it hurt for a few days? To play along. "I promise."

  Leaning closer, he pressed those warm silken lips to mine.

  Heaven. And if my eyelids squeezed tight enough, maybe I'd forget about the odd discussion. Maybe I'm just asleep. This is a dream. Right?

  He sucked on my mouth. Sucked my gut into a dive until it settled low between my legs with a needy achy throb. Hot. So hot down there. And perfect. His kiss bumped him back up to perfect.

  He marched his massaging lips across my cheek to tickle my ear. "I love you, Katie Innis."

  Oh the way he rumbled made me arch my lower back. Arch my breasts into his heart. His warm breath only made me want to crawl into his heat. To peel off that shirt. To unveil the cast bronze beneath the drape. Muscles. I want to touch those muscles. That hot succulent skin.

  He slid his arms around my lower back and pulled my arched spine into a more pronounced bend. "'Tis for eternity, Katie," he mumbled, his lips fluttering against my neck."But you cannot speak of my origin to a living soul."

  What? I backed away a smidge and studied his clenched brow, darkened with serious furrows.

  Eternity? His origin? The mention of living souls kind of made all this crazy again. Why do I have the worst nightmares ever? But he asked me to trust him. What kind of guy said something as ridiculous as I'm a time traveler and asked for you to remember this one day. He said he's looking for a job. And he's a pilot. Is he really abnormal? Who cared about his fantasies? Look at the SCAers. Murdo is a great guy aside from his inability to time travel. And physicists pondered time travel around the world. I could live with the impossible fantasy in order to have the almost-perfect husband. So he's a bit on the creative side. Artists understand creativity. Just like Murdo understands my calling. Who cares about his crazy notions? It isn't like he's dreaming of breasts in a grass-is-always-greener mid-life crisis scenario. No. He's not married. He's mine. He is.

  A smile curled into his cheek. "Let's hurry to the loch. I cannot stand the waiting. 'Tis time for the binding."

  Binding? Like tie me up? I don't want to know what he means. Right. This intelligent romantic gentleman loves me. And doesn't have an inch of rope on him. "You better not bring any rope with us. Or I'll be forced to tie you up."

  ****

  Holding the hand of one's maiden beneath the twinkling stars is rather surreal. Almost odd. Dream-like. But I'm here. And this is my reality. Still, releasing her grip wouldn't be wise after her reaction to time travel. She might bolt for home given the chance. But Time Guardians often faced the confusion of explaining their purpose to the unlearned once wed. A mystic knew he would confront such cynicism in the situation. One Truth held steady regardless of the shock involved. My soul mate would grasp the new reality soon enough. So went the way of time-travel reality. And I'd have a companion to snuff the sacred loneliness I endured from my existence outside the window peering back in...I pulled her clinging palm toward the loch's glistening water.

  We stepped away from the vehicle, heather whispering beneath our footsteps. The chilly air was crisp, setting banners of mist draping the trees, woven through the canopies like the silk shawl entwined around my maiden's arms.

  What a night to remember. I inhaled, breathed in Scotland's fresh clean air, and glanced at Katie.

  She walked silently, taking in the view.

  Scotland is everything bards claimed it would be. Especially with a soul mate at your side. The Ring Master promise of reward through sacrificing one's life for studying the past and guarding time is worth every moment a Brother lost with his family. And now she'd be my family. But she hadn't spoken since we at in the automobile. I need to ease her fears.

  We skirted a tall bushy shrub. The mirrored surface of Loch Nevin stretched, seeping across the darkness before us like a silver tongue or carpet drawing us to our future. A moon glade leading to our wedding bed. A future. To the fairy reward of anam cara. Soul lovers. Forever across time and space. From this moment forward, no matter the time in which we meet, we'd love each other for eternity as friends or mates. Regardless of the number of incarnations. I stepped toward the mercurial water's magical gleam.

  The sloped surface we walked upon tilted downward, guiding us through the shadows of night to where the dark bank snuffed the white trail of the moon's elongated reflection across the black water.

  She had to understand what took place was something the sacred an act only partaken by a few hundred time travelers. That this was the holiest of marriages. I drew her around to stand before me and touched her angular chin in search of her gaze.

  Moonbeams brushed the curve of her cheek.

  She waited patiently like a fellow valiant Soldier of Truth. Could she have any idea how much a soul mate meant to me? A Druidess knew how essential love was in a Freemason's life. And she will become my Druid wife. Make me complete. A word master's words come to mind. "The sight of you, in the moonlight, makes me think of Robert Louis Stevenson."

  Her wee lips parted. She sighed audibly.

  But the expression seemed more a sign of her confusion instead of her love.

  Her brow squared as her chin cocked right. "A man? You think of a man when you think of me? Great."

  I could have chuckled but didn't. "No, my love. I think of his words. Listen...Plain as the glistening planets shine when winds have cleaned the skies."

  Maiden hands snaked around my waist. She pushed her warm sweet curves against me, rubbing her cheek into my heart, and turned her glinting gaze up to me. "I love it when you recite poems."

  Good. Plenty waited inside me, begging to be spoken. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders. "Her love appeared, appealed for mine, and wantoned in her eyes."

  Katie's eyes shimmered like a seal's watery gaze. "I don't care if you're crazy, I love poetry with a Scottish burr."

  Crazy? Well, she could think worse of me. Things will make more sense soon enough. Time. She just needs Time to understand Truth. Then, her tears would stop. "No more tears."

  "Don't stop sharing poetry," she whispered.

  I stared at the loch and starry swath of sky blanketing the black peaks on the horizon. "Clear as shining tapers burned on Cytherea's shrine, those brimming, lustrous beauties turned, and called and conquered mine."

  Emotion welled in my chest, choking the rest of the love poem from my lips.

  She squirmed, moonlight etching her seductive smile. "You think of that when you think of me?"

  "Aye."

  "So po
etry is required learning in the thirty-first century?" she chimed.

  Good to see she spoke of the future in a positive manner. "No." I rubbed a thumb across her rose-petal-soft skin.

  My loin went from firm to rock hard.

  Nice reaction that could mean many things. "It moved me." Rather, she did. "Different things move different men." I'd spare pointing out what just moved what.

  "I don't care where you're from, Murdo McEwen. I don't care how you got here. I just want you to love me."

  Gods' jest! I shoved her hungry lips to mine, thrusting my tongue deep inside her hot mouth.

  Those virgin lips and her dancing tongue didn't recoil from mine. She matched me move for move. Even more. Her wee hands clutched at my arse, squeezing the life out of me as if trying to force my arse's tissue into my engorged manhood. Into the hips she rammed against mine.

  Her hands trailed down to the edge of my kilt, her fingers slipping onto the backs of my legs.

  Jolting electricity erupted gooseflesh all over my body.

  She'd force the binding too soon. Too fast. I didn't want to scare her like the dolt back at her home. "Slow down, Katie," I whispered against her hungry lips.

  Her warm palms disobeyed, brushing up the backs of my thighs to cup my bare buttocks.

  What a Centurion female. Bold. Demanding.

  She rose on her tiptoes and arched her solid curves into my chest. "Please, Murdo. I've waited twenty-two years for this." One of her hands slid around to encircle my aching shaft.

  Smothering it with need. She'd be the death of me. I couldn't breathe or I'd explode. Literally. In her hand. She'd ruin our first time. "Whoa," I gasped, trying to ply her fingers loose from my cock.

  Alas, maidens had two hands. The other kneaded my manhood like there is no tomorrow to waste. Interesting concept for the less-learned. Her understanding was obviously intuitive.

  She fell against me, knees buckling, weighting my body down with the clinging drape of hers.

  Something has to calm her. Slow her assault. I looked into her glinting eyes.

  Fierce determination glinted back. "Please," she groaned.

  The Gods must be laughing. Who cared? I'm ready. She's willing. Grabbing her silk-swathed body, I lowered her down into the heather.

  ****

  Nothing mattered other than being with Murdo in this crazy romantic dream as he lay inches away on his side. More like miles. If he doesn't make love to me, I will never offer myself to another man like this again. Ever. "I can't wait another second," I blurted.

  God. I must sound retarded. Whiny. If he fails to carry through on the deal, this really will be the last time I beg.

  "Hush." His fingers fussed at the brooch pinning his tartan at his shoulder.

  The night's shadows tried to hide his gorgeous features. But I don't care if I can see him. Feeling him is what's important. I wriggled as close to his hot length as possible.

  Against that hard presence concealed down there. Talk about a drumstick. And if he didn't get a move on, he'd be the one swearing he'd never slither up against a girl again. I wasn't going to wait until daybreak for him to uncloak his treasure. A girl could only wait so long. He'd said he is mine. I'm ready to have and to hold mine. He's going through with this. Then the boogieman could flip on the light switch and scare the crap out of me with insanity. Mr. Boots would probably assist. But the spook was worth being with Murdo. Grabbing handfuls of crinkled silk, I yanked up my medieval skirts.

  Who in the Hell decided medieval women needed to wear yards of fabric?

  "Slow down, my love," the darkness warned.

  The way my groin ached, there is no slowing down. "Please. I've waited so long." my hands met the warm linen covering his chest, shoving, pushing the fabric sideways until it refused to budge over the steely bulging muscle beneath his shirt.

  Man. He is all man. Too gorgeous. Too protective. Too doting. Too bloody slow. Maybe I'm imagining all of this. This is one of those nightmares that only turns bad right before you wake up. The kind that is crazy funny until the moment when something akin to whacked-out chaos unfolds. Like he'll turn into a monster. Or the ground will crack open to swallow me while he looks like he reaches for me but never can touch me…If all is a dream, and he is from the future, none of this is real. Is it? So, there isn't anything to lose. Nothing to risk. Just the illusion of his skin rubbing against mine. Massaging me. Oh. Yes. I struggled to pull his chest's unyielding mass over on top of my body.

  His body kept refusing to budge. "Ka-tie," he scolded.

  God, the weight of him felt good. Just right there. Freaking solid. Hard and dominating. Controlling me. I'd get him to settle between my thighs one way of the other. I snaked a leg around his waist, forcing the hardness of his shaft against the crook of my aching groin.

  Desire jolted from my heart to that firm presence of his flinching need.

  So damned amazing. I wanted to feel that motion inside me. Why won't he just take my offering? I thrust my hips into his iron club.

  Wool scratched the tender skin of my inner thighs.

  Annoyingly. But I'm not about to leave. He'll never get away again.

  An agonizing moan squeezed free of his chest.

  Yes. He felt the torture too.

  He rolled me onto my back, his nose descending until he tucked the chilly beak into the curve of my neck as one of his hands pulled up his kilt.

  Too slowly. At least he's on top of me now. Between my thighs. Stoking my agony. I grabbed at plaid's wool.

  He shoved up, blocking stars in the sky overhead.

  He's not leaving. "Please." I arched upward, pushing my breasts toward him. Couldn't he just grab them? "I'm going to die."

  "Loosen your leg hold."

  I don't think so. "You're not getting away from me."

  A chuckle rumbled across the space between our chests. "What makes you think I'm leaving? Loosen your leg hold so your husband can plant wee seeds, my love."

  Husband? Did he utter spouse? Mrs. Katie Perfect sounded marvelous. But if he's just saying that to escape…I let my knees fall away against silk and heather.

  His hand draped one of my thighs, and he slipped the roughened skin of his palm along the length of the squishy flesh of my inner thigh, up to the delicate crook of sensitive skin where leg met pelvis.

  And stopped. Why? I wriggled my hips to dislodge that palm and get him moving again.

  His fingertips ran back and forth along that seam of my groin where soft curtains of skin covered the entrance to a quaking screaming place I couldn't seem to calm. But I could feel it. Knew every blessed bitch that it felt like screaming.

  Fingertips tickled me beyond belief through my panties.

  Air. I just needed some air. Anything to squelch the groans escaping where my heart desperately pounded to break free of my ribcage. But his merciful fingers ventured beneath the elastic edge of my panties, into the sensitive valley of tight curls, brushing through the hair as if going to draw back a curtain but changing their mind at the last moment.

  Purposefully. Sinisterly.

  My hips bucked uncontrollably.

  As if trying to shift his touch, direct it into the demanding throb surfacing mere inches from his fingertips. I'd really die if he didn't ram his hardness inside me. Any hardness. Even a freaking turkey leg.

  He leaned down planting his soft lips against my cheek, massaging my face with his bristly moustache all the way to my ear. "You're so soft, my love."

  Hard is the only word left in the English language.

  With one quick motion, his palm cupped my groin.

  Hot flesh against hot flesh. The perfect combination.

  An all-consuming killer ache fanned upward from his hand to my heart.

  Empty. I felt so damned lonely. Please satiate the void deep inside me. What is he waiting for? I shoved up onto my elbows, into his looming hardness, hooked a knee around his ass, and rolled him onto his back.

  His glinting eyes widened. />
  Whether the expression is shock or pure need didn't matter. I pounced on top of him. Trapped Mr. Perfect right beneath the ache he'd nurtured, and I slithered out of those damned sticky panties.

  "Katie, slow down."

  Forget that. I grabbed his long pliant shaft and lowered down onto the smooth rounded tip until the broad hardness of that blessed erection locked into the nook he just taunted with his fingertips.

  Oh. Yes. Now, he's mine. Just one plunge. Beyond the pressure. And he's all mine.

  The shaft of his firmness lurched within my curled fingers.

  Giving away how much he cooperated. Oh. Yes. No more delays. I sucked in a breath to bear the nip of pain rumored to come and allowed gravity to slide his thickness inside me.

  Into a place nobody had ever ventured. Pressing something incredibly solid and impossibly large into that slick tight place. Talk about difficult.

  He groaned the most agonizing sound but remained still.

  Don't men lose it now? Especially with virgins. I wiggled my hips a bit to get things moving again.

  The part of his cock wedged inside me pushed to the absolute limit.

  A tiny sting suddenly flared into a burning sensation.

  No pain no gain.

  Pain? But I'm dreaming. Right? I waited for the monster to show itself.

  "By the Gods, you test me, woman," he moaned, his hands falling onto my hips. "Forgive me. But a man can only take so much." He pulled my hips down.

  Along his searing shaft. Inch by mind-numbing solid inch. Until his cock's soft root blocked any further movement.

  "Wait," he groaned. "Just a minute."

  The burning ceased.

  And I didn't feel like watching a clock. Oh. No. He's about to literally rock my world. I'd make him show me everything I'd been missing. I rotated my hips.

  "Dear, Gods." He thrust the soft root of his cock upward into my aching groin.

  Making my flesh throb around his pulsing shaft. We rocked against each other. Him inside me. Oh. My. God. I threw back my head and closed my eyes.