Except the cliff-like boulder that towered over them. Riki looked up its uneven surface and her breath caught in her throat. Several falcons perched in the uneven crannies, where her own bird Guinivere had sheltered with her broken wing.
“We-we climbed that,” she whispered. Had it been only months ago, or ages in the future?
The roughness of his unshaved chin brushed against her forehead as he nodded. “To rescue that falcon of yours. And you were so afraid of the storm.” An unsteady laugh shook through him. He moved his hands to her shoulders and held her slightly away. “You were in the whirlpool. How did you come back to me? You should have been dragged into the future.”
“How—” She broke off until she could command her voice. “How could I leave you? I jumped overboard.”
“My God,” he breathed with no trace of irreverence. “You might have drowned.” He pulled her against himself, holding her shivering body as tightly as he could.
“You came after me,” she offered as her only explanation.
“But…can you stay?” Fear of losing her brought a husky, alluring note to his voice.
Riki made no attempt to stifle her response. Her lips brushed his throat and her pounding blood warmed her. “I must! Somehow…”
“Do you think Marie Marley has taken your place in the future?”
Riki hesitated then nodded. “Perhaps that would reestablish the balance David broke when he went back. I wonder…” She wiped the rain from her eyes then wrapped her arm about him once more.
“I never did learn the name of the person to whom she passed the information.” He merely sounded rueful, not angry.
Riki couldn’t help but smile. “Leave her some scraps of her honor, sir,” she murmured in a fair imitation of Belmont’s tone. “It’s probably someone your department is already keeping an eye on anyway. And if not, we might have changed history by uncovering him.”
Belmont’s chin rubbed against her forehead. “At least she and Warwick are where they can’t do any more damage.”
Riki nodded against his coat. “They— Oh dear!”
“What?”
“I left the island to Mr. Fipps!”
A deep, appreciative chuckle shook Belmont’s shoulders. “Did you? I wonder what they’ll do?”
“Vindictive,” she murmured. “They’ll be all right. In my original will I left a few things to David. They’ll have to start over somewhere but it’ll be good for them.”
“And what will be good for us?” He looked about. “Know of any shelter?”
She managed a shaky smile. “Feel like building a rookery?”
A deep chuckle escaped him and his lips brushed hers. “My dearest lady.” He spoke the words, which appeared so often in the journal he had yet to write, as if testing them for the first time. “My dearest, dearest lady.”
She stiffened and her eyes widened as she stared at him. “Gil! I do stay,” she breathed, conviction filling her for the first time. She held him tight, burying her face in his drenched coat, her shoulders trembling with emotion as tears slipped unheeded down her cheeks.
“Riki?” Concerned, he tilted her chin so he could see her face.
“I do stay. I belong here! Don’t you see, Gil? I was already in that journal you kept.” In her growing excitement, she gripped his arms. “David’s presence only affected history from this date onward, in the future—because the changes he caused had no far-reaching consequences. Mine must! I’m a part of history as it was actually recorded. That means I must have a life here, that I’m not just a chance visitor.”
“My dearest lady,” he repeated. He drew her even closer and his hands wandered, leaving her in no doubt as to his sentiments.
“My lord!” She drew back, fighting the sudden laughter that welled within her. “Is that any way for the very proper Viscount Belmont to behave?”
He regarded her with mock hauteur. “I was merely considering one way in which your presence in this time will affect the next generation. It is the duty of my viscountess to produce an heir to the title, you know.”
“Your—” Her breath caught in her throat.
“As soon as I can procure a Special License.”
The prospect intrigued her but she couldn’t resist murmuring, “To marry in such unseemly haste. What will your family and friends say?”
“That you’ll keep me from growing old and stuffy.” He chuckled, a deep, enticing sound she adored. It broke off abruptly. “Will you miss your own people?”
“A little. But we were never really close.” Her brow puckered. “Besides, it’s not as if they’ve died—they’re all still to come. And we’ll have our own family soon.”
“You won’t regret this?”
She ran her finger along the dripping lapel of his coat. “Well, I will miss my blow dryer. And my microwave oven, of course.”
He grinned. “So will I, for that matter. Lord, what a lot of work we have ahead of us.”
“Not that much.” She hugged his arm, knowing what joy their lives would hold. “We only have to lay the foundation for preserving the endangered peregrines.”
“And, as you mentioned, build our rookery.”
“At the moment I’d settle for a boat. All that fine talk about a Special License! You know perfectly well we’re stranded on a rocky island without food, shelter or any means to get off.”
“Not quite. Look over there.”
She did, and saw the smashed hull of his yawl, which had washed up on the rocky shore about a hundred yards away. With a cry of delight, she started toward it. “We can repair it and get back!”
“Oh no you don’t!” He caught her about the waist and hauled her unprotesting back into his arms. “I’m not about to risk letting you go sailing again in weather like this. Menchen can rescue us tomorrow. He didn’t go to London as I ordered, devil that he is, so I told him to look for me around these islands as soon as it was safe. Knowing him, that will be in the morning, whether or not the storm has ended.”
Riki brushed her hand across his stubbly chin. “That leaves us alone for a very long, cold night. Do you think we’ll be able to keep ourselves warm?”
A slow smile lit his eyes. “Oh, I think we’ll manage.”
Under the watchful eyes of the falcons, Riki took his hand, and they made their way to the shelter of the battered boat, where they managed quite well indeed.
Epilogue
David Warwick gazed at the serenely beautiful face in the portrait. A smile as familiar to him as his own parted the woman’s full lips, though soft white curls replaced the auburn he had known. At age seventy-eight, Erica Randall, Viscountess Belmont, had still been lovely.
His attention moved on to the erect, still-sturdy figure of the man who stood at her side. Gil’s eyes, even in that painted rendition, sparkled with an inner contentment. A falcon perched on his gauntleted wrist. David shook his head. He only hoped he looked as good when he reached his eighties.
Marie Marley tugged at her calf-length skirt as if she wished she might make it longer. Unsuccessful, she abandoned the attempt and turned to the housekeeper, who escorted them on this tour of Falconer’s Court. “You said they had five children?”
“That’s right, miss. Two sons and three daughters. This is a delightful portrait, isn’t it? Not at all stiff, like so many of the Victorian era. One might almost fancy one knew them.”
“They must have been very happy,” Marie murmured.
The housekeeper nodded. “Theirs was a love match—or so I’ve heard tell.”
David, his gaze once more on Riki’s face, nodded. “It was. It must have been,” he corrected hastily. “Just look at them.”
Marie’s hand tightened on his. “They were living the life they wanted—together.”
They continued their tour, then thanked their guide and stepped outside into the fading light of the late afternoon. David slipped his arm about Marie’s shoulders and drew her toward the white BMW they had left parked on the drive. He op
ened the door.
“So we really didn’t change history,” David mused. “No people popping out of existence, none showing up where they hadn’t been before.”
“But why did that one battle scene change in your recreation?” Marie settled in the passenger seat. “You said the others were exactly as you remembered them.”
David shook his head. “The only thing I can think of is that whirlpool. That…vortex. It was so close to the island. There must have been some ripple effect going on. Nothing else seems to be different at all. History is the way it always has been—because Riki and I had always gone back.” He closed her door, walked around to the other side and climbed in behind the wheel.
“What now, David? Where do we go?” Marie asked as he started the car.
He turned and for a long, silent minute stared back at the stone façade of the old house. “Home,” he said at last. “To California—and my family. They believed my amnesia story and they can’t wait to meet you.”
“And after that?”
“We’ll stay there.” He straightened and his chin rose a fraction with his newfound determination. His arm tightened about Marie and a smile of anticipation lit his eyes. “Riki left me one of the family businesses. This time I’m going to make a success of it.”
About Janice Bennett
Janice Bennett has the eclectic background often encountered in writers. She earned one B.A. degree in anthropology from UC Santa Cruz, another in classical civilizations from UC Irvine, and an M.A. degree in folklore and mythology from UCLA. Over the years, she has worked as a bookkeeper, archaeologist, and college instructor in crafts, jewelry making, needlework and novel writing, and has been a frequent presenter of workshops on a variety of writing topics. She also teaches t'ai chi and is a certified hypnotherapist specializing in pain management.
To date, she has written nine novellas and twenty-four novels. She has won several awards, including two Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice awards and two Romantic Times Career Achievement Awards, for Time Travels and for Regencies.
Janice lives near the top of a sloping hillside on the outskirts of a tiny rural town, looking out over nothing but trees. With her reside her husband, her son, her computer and an assortment of birds, cats, dogs, guinea pigs, hamsters, fish, horses, and any other animal currently in need of a home.
Janice welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
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Also by Janice Bennett
Bow Street’s Best 1: Ivory and Steel
Bow Street’s Best 2: Fortune’s Hunter
Bow Street’s Best 3: Desperate Gamble
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Events Unlimited 2: Bunny Hop
Events Unlimited 3: Black Cats and Boondoggles
Events Unlimited 4: Hot Dogs
Fairytale Wedding
Haunting Flame
Holly and Mistletoe
Wishing for Love 1: Candlelight Wish
Wishing for Love 2: Starlight Wish
Wishing for Love 3: Moonlight Wish
Print Books by Janice Bennett
Bow Street’s Best 1: Ivory and Steel
Bow Street’s Best 2: Fortune’s Hunter
Events Unlimited 1: Cold Turkey
Events Unlimited 2: Bunny Hop
Events Unlimited 3: Black Cats and Boondoggles
Events Unlimited 4: Hot Dogs
Haunting Flame
Wishing for Love 1: Candlelight Wish
Wishing for Love 2: Starlight Wish
Wishing for Love 3: Moonlight Wish
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
www.ellorascave.com
Falconer’s Heart
ISBN 9781419944789
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Falconer’s Heart Copyright © 2014 Janice Bennett
Edited by Rebecca Hill
Cover design by Dar Albert
Cover photography by Subbotina Anna,/Fotolia.com, Razzledazzlestock.com
Electronic book publication August 2014
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