“No, Katherine has already helped me,” Devlin said sweetly.
I darted my eyes back and forth between the two. I didn’t want them to start bickering again. “Oh my, I am starving. Is there any food downstairs?” I asked dumbly, trying to divert the tension in the room.
“I believe there are a few biscuits left in the kitchen.” His brows creased.
I felt so guilty I couldn’t stand it. “Well, I will um, go get one, if that is all right?”
“I say, a biscuit sounds appetizing. Might I have one as well?” Devlin piped in.
“If there are any left after Katherine has eaten,” Sebastian answered.
“Of course there will be some left,” I said defensively. “I will bring you one up directly,” I told Devlin and walked over to the door.
Sebastian blocked my way out. “No, you won’t.” He grasped my arm.
What the hell? I jerked my arm from his grasp. “Yes, I will, he is hurt.” I pushed past him and made my way downstairs towards the kitchen.
The smell of fresh coffee hit me as soon as I opened the door. There was no one inside the quaint room. A pot of coffee sat in the center of a serviceable wooden table with delicate porcelain cups and a small plate of biscuits beside it. I poured coffee in one of the cups and held it between my frozen fingers. Lifting the cup, I sipped the contents, wishing for cream and sugar, but drinking it just the same. I took one of the biscuits and bit into it. Just like last time, it was dry and didn’t have much taste, but it was better than nothing. Taking another sip of coffee, I washed it down.
After I finished, I quickly made a tray to carry up to Devlin. I didn’t care if Sebastian got mad or not. He didn’t own me.
What was with Victorian men? Better question to self, what was with all men? Janice always said the reason I never had dates was because I was too accessible. She said I might as well have a neon sign hanging over my head, flashing that I was desperate for a date and that was why no one asked me out. Janice was big on analogies. She said my restaurant parking lot was empty whereas her lot was always full with a line of men out front, clamoring to get inside. It was true. Janice always had a date but I had always assumed it was because the doors to Janice’s restaurant tended to stay propped open all night. Inflating my cheeks, I let out a long slow shaky breath.
Now I had a dilemma. It looked like I had more than one car in my lot with two very different men clamoring to get inside. The problem was I didn’t think either one was interested in buying the meal. I laughed out loud and shook my head. Good lord, what was I thinking? There was too much talk about savory meals and restaurants. And since when did people start using food analogies to describe sex? I found I was suddenly starving and wasn’t sure it was from all the food analogies or if it was because I was actually hungry. I eyed the last biscuit, tempted to take another nibble, but forced myself to take the tray I made upstairs to Devlin. With tray in hand, I bumped my hip against the door. It swung open and I walked slowly out of the kitchen.
Coffee sloshed over the rim of the cup as I halted. Sebastian was at the bottom of the stairs speaking in hushed tones to Milford. I was about to turn around and go back in the kitchen but Milford spotted me and lifted his brows.
Sebastian turned and looked right me.
I promptly stumbled forward and somehow grabbed hold of the biscuit before it launched off the side of the tray. Sebastian was beside me in an instant, saving the tray from tumbling to the floor.
I looked up into his eyes and froze. I couldn’t catch a breath. Would it always be this way? I wondered.
He held tightly to my arm and singlehandedly handed the tray off to Milford. “Take this to Devlin, please.”
“Of course.” Milford looked worriedly over at me.
I gulped. The way Milford looked at me, I knew this wasn’t going to be good.
“We need to talk.” Sebastian guided me towards the library.
I followed him. He didn’t really leave me any choice.
“Sit down, please.”
I plopped down into the chair and nervously smoothed the wrinkles from my skirt. I was nervous. He did not look happy. His jaw was tense and he had an unreadable expression on his face. I wondered what I did wrong this time. He seriously could not be angry because I got Devlin some food, could he? I felt incredibly self-conscious. He took the chair opposite from mine and focused his gaze directly on me. I picked at my fingernail, fidgeting. I wanted to scream…Stop looking at me, but I didn’t.
Finally, I couldn’t take his empty stare any longer and turned towards the fire.
Sebastian crossed one leg over the other and rubbed his knee absently as he watched her, watching the fire with a faraway look on her face. He wondered what she was thinking. Was she trying to spin more lies to tell him? His heart tightened at the thought. Her eyes were swollen from her tears the evening before. She still looked beautiful. He caught her glancing over at him like a nervous child, waiting to be punished for some wrongful deed. He smiled a bit, not able to help himself and decided to get this over with, sooner rather than later. He cleared his throat and leaned forward. “Well, would you like to tell me who you are?”
My throat constricted. “Who am I?”
“Yes, who are you?” He leaned forward and braced his arms on his thighs.
“I am not Marguerite,” I mumbled just above a whisper. A sudden urge to run from the room assailed me but I was sure he would stop me if I tried. Visions of him tackling me to the ground flew into my mind.
“I know,” he responded in a deadpan voice.
“You do?” My eyes flew to his and I instantly regretted it. His face was hard, unyielding. “My name is Katherine.”
“I know that as well,” he stated simply.
“You do?” My eyes flew to his once more. Again, I saw nothing. His face was a mask. Gathering my courage, I took a deep breath. Was I to tell him everything? Or just the parts I thought he would believe? I found it hard to take a full breath, I felt like I was suffocating. I was going to start hyperventilating at any moment, but could not seem to slow my heart rate, either. I took another deep breath and blew out a slow stream of air. It wasn’t helping. I jumped from the chair.
He stood quickly as well.
Visions of him tackling me to the ground ran through my mind once more and a bubble of hysterical laughter escaped filled with derision and defeat.
He took a step forward.
“No.” I lifted my hand to stay him, and instead, walked over to the sideboard. Lifting the heavy crystal decanter, I poured a glass of the amber liquid. In one gulp, I tossed back the contents. It burned all the way down. I didn’t care. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw he was still watching my every move. Well, I thought darkly, if he wanted to watch, I might as well give him something to see, so I refilled the glass and drank another down for good measure. Once I finished, I set the heavy glass down and turned to face him. I extended my arm towards the chair. “Please take a seat. This may take a while.”
Not taking his eyes from me, he moved back in front of the chair and sat back down.
Dragging my feet, I made my way slowly back across the room and sat heavily into the opposite chair. I felt sick. This was not going to be easy. “Sorry about that.”
“Not a problem.” He rested his ankle on his knee and leaned back into the chair.
Listening intently, I waited, hoping Milford would show up and cause a scene like before. There was no sign of him. Apparently, I had to wing this on my own. Damn the man.
“Erhm…ah…you stated earlier you know I am not Marguerite. And you are aware that my real name is Katherine?”
“Yes,” he stated plainly, his stare unrelenting.
“So, I guess I will just start from the beginning.”
“That would seem to be the most sensible solution,” he said in agreement.
I inflated my cheeks and blew out another stream of air. “This isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.”
“The truth nev
er is.”
“Right, well, as I said before when I first met you here the other day. Well, what I said was true. I was here with another man, but not like a date or anything, we both worked at the same place and there was a party here.”
“Go on,” he urged, his jaw tensed.
“Anyway, I know this is going to sound really out there but I borrowed this necklace from my work and came to a party, or you would call it a soiree I guess. Anyway, I somehow ended up in this time, here, not my time here. Are you following me?”
“I am trying to.”
I could see the confusion on his face but plodded onward. “Anyway, I came here but it was ah…”
“Yes, you said you came here already. So you are here and then what happened?”
“Well, I drank too much and at some point I must have passed out and when I woke up I was here, in this time, with you.”
“Yes you already said you were here.” He frowned and ran a hand through his dark hair.
“You are not listening,” I complained.
“Yes I am,” he sounded exasperated.
“Well you are not getting what I am trying to tell you.”
“You are not telling me anything,” he snapped.
I was getting tired of beating around the bush. “You are not listening to me,” I complained, repeating myself.
“I am listening, Marguerite…ah I mean. Oh bloody hell, what is your name again?”
Tears sprang to my eyes. “Katherine, my name is Katherine,” I said the last on a whisper. My name hung in the air as hot tears filled my eyes and spilled over onto my cheeks. I brushed them away. “I traveled back in time,” I nearly yelled. Once the words were out of my mouth, there was no going back.
He stared at me in disbelief. Lifting his hand to his ear, he pressed his finger against it. “I am sorry. I do not think I heard you correctly. Did you just say you traveled back in time?”
“Yes.” I sniffed and then laughed a little. It came out sounding strained and forced. “See why I didn’t want to tell you. You think I am crazy, don’t you?”
Why yes, yes I do. He did not say that out loud though. “Why are you here?”
I sniffed back my tears again. “Oh, apparently I have to fix some wrong done to a knight or by a knight, I don’t know. The story is a little out there.” The damn broke and I began to cry in earnest.
The story is a little out there. “You what?”
“I said…”
He dashed his hand through the air, cutting me off.
“Bloody hell!” he exhaled shakily. Apparently, she was a raving lunatic, spouting gibberish about traveling into the past from the future for some knight. Sebastian blinked a few times. He ran his hands back and forth over his thighs and then stood. He gave her another look of incredulous disbelief and then started pacing back and forth in front of the fire.
Milford stood in a darkened corner of the room. He snuck in unnoticed while Katherine was pouring the liquid courage down her throat, again. He could see things were not going as well as he hoped. Sebastian’s look of disbelief was apparent. Would he think she was insane?
The story Milford relayed to Katherine was far more a curse than a legend. His heart went out to her as she started to cry softly. He forced himself to stay hidden, knowing if he interfered now, his true liege’s soul would be forever lost to the darkness.
It took Sebastian three glasses of his finest and a good deal of time pacing back and forth before he could finally make himself sit back down in front of her once more. He was trying his best to absorb the fantastic tale she was relaying to him while he continued to pace. He stopped a few times and gawked at her, unable to find words. He was not sure how to respond. He had a terrible time trying to wrap his mind around what she was saying. Her tears flowed freely from her eyes, maybe too freely.
He knew many women used tears to wrap lesser men around their fingers. He was not one of those men, or so he told himself.
“So, you see how difficult this has been for me?” I wiped my tears and lifted my face to his. “How can I fix something I have no real knowledge of?” I rubbed my forehead to alleviate the pressure building there.
Sebastian still had no words. He watched her struggling and his heart felt heavy. He wanted to believe what she told him, he really did. His mind, however, could not quite grasp hold of it. What she was saying was complete and utter insanity. There was no wiggle room there. He did not want to believe that though, not now, not ever. What in the hell was he to do? Send her off to Bedlam? Believe her? Which was worse?
He shut his eyes for a moment, trying to find answers to the many questions spiraling through his mind. He had none.
‡
Devlin could hear her cries wafting up from below. He wanted to give Katherine some sort of comfort. He knew the clod, Sebastian, was probably passing judgment on her at this very instant. He was helpless to do anything. Grayson made sure of that.
Devlin tried to climb from the bed earlier, but as soon as his foot hit the floor, Grayson was in the doorway, watching him. Although Grayson did not say a word, Devlin knew he could not interfere, so he simply closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the pillows until he could no longer hear her cries. For that, he was grateful.
‡
Grayson pushed off from the door when her cries had finally faded away and went to join Isabelle in the connecting room. Isabelle’s face told Grayson that she was keeping her own set of secrets at bay. He only hoped in time, she would choose to reveal them to him, and let him help carry the burden.
‡
Sebastian was not sure how much time had passed. He rubbed his hand over his forehead, listening to her hiccup and sniffle. She sounded pitiful. He searched his brain, trying to find a plausible explanation for all she told him.
Obviously, she believed what she was saying. His mind was shouting it could not be so, but his heart told him something very different.
He knew some things were real, even though you could not see them. He was aware of many such wonders he had to accept in life thus far. Had someone told him of the possibility of steam engines as a form of transportation a hundred years ago, would he have thought them insane as well? Yes, he admitted to himself, he probably would. So that being the case, if this was something that happens in say, another hundred years, could it mean what she told him may very well be possible too? His heart thought so. His mind did not.
He opened his eyes and looked at her. She was staring at the floor, but slowly, she lifted her eyes to his. Her blue eyes glistened with more unshed tears and time was forgotten for a breathless moment as his heart battled his mind. He was torn in two: part of him wanted to believe her, but the sensible part balked at the absurdity of it all.
In the end, did it really matter what he believed?
Something gave inside. A part of the wall he had built so firmly around his heart crumbled. A part of him wanted to believe her, no matter how insane she sounded. He might possibly be sealing his own fate. It did not matter. It felt, for lack of a better word…right. He stood then and reached out, pulling her up from the chair. The top of her head barely reached the top of his shoulder as he lifted his hand and pressed her face against his chest. He held her tightly in his embrace. Leaning back, he looked at her. Her face was wet with the tears she had cried. He used his thumbs to brush them away.
“I do not think…” He stared down at her, his stormy gray eyes filled with uncertainty and something else.
“It’s okay.” I cast my eyes down to his chest. The once pristine fabric now splotched with wetness from my tears and let out a shaky breath, waiting for the inevitable…
Sebastian slid his thumb over the pillowy softness of her lips and finally gave up trying to figure everything out now. It would come in time…or not. Right now, he did not care. Instead of thinking, he gave his heart full reign; for once, he would take a chance on fate.
He leaned down and pressed his mouth to hers. He kissed her with all the pent
-up emotions he was feeling. He tasted the saltiness from her tears and pulled her even closer, her body melded perfectly to his own as if she belonged there.
They stayed wrapped in each other’s embrace, holding onto one another as if their lives depended on it.
Only Milford knew how true that really was. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. It was bittersweet. He slipped from the room as quietly as he had entered it.
The room was now empty except for Katherine and Sebastian. It was as it should be…as if he, Milford, had never been there in the first place.
YOU SHOULDN’T PLAY WITH FIRE
RAVENHURST
EMITTING a breathy sigh, I peeled off the gown I was wearing earlier for “the conversation” in the library. I still could not believe it had gone as well as it did.
Sebastian, after his initial shock, had seemed to take the story I told him in stride. I wasn’t sure I would have been as receptive if I was in his shoes. I would have thought I was a hop, skip, and a jump away from Crazyville. But he had held me, kissed me, and made me feel like he truly wanted to believe what I told him.
Things were looking up.
At least he didn’t kick me out of the house, or worse, lock me back down in the disgusting dungeon.
I glanced out of the window. It was already dark and I was supposed to be getting ready for dinner. Food was the last thing on my mind right now though. My lips still felt swollen and tender from his kisses. I sighed and draped the gown on top of the chair.
It was a good thing Marguerite had so many gowns or I would have been stuck wearing the same thing again. Instinctively, my eyes drifted to the bureau, wondering why he never asked to see the infamous necklace. It was just as well. I hoped he never would ask. Walking over to the wardrobe, I bent down and checked to see if it was still against the wall. It was.
A Knight Such as This: Enhanced with Interactive Content: (Time Travel Romance) Book 1 & 2 (Ravenhurst Series) Page 24