Rendezvous With Yesterday (The Gifted Ones #2)(104)

His face wreathed in a smile, Ian took off running to the other side of the hall, where Stephen waited with a couple of small wooden swords.

Beth smiled as she watched the two begin a mock battle.

Robert shook his head. “Whatever are you going to do with a daughter, Dillon?” He turned to Beth. “Alyssa is with child again. She carries my niece.”

“Oh, my goodness! That’s wonderful! Congratulations!” She would’ve hugged Dillon, but wasn’t sure if that would be considered inappropriate and really wanted to make a better impression on him.

Dillon nodded, looking both proud and pensive. “In truth, I know not what I shall do with a little girl.”



Beth shrugged. “Put a sword in her hands and train her alongside Ian.”

Robert grinned.

Dillon eyed her speculatively.

“Hey, every woman needs to know how to defend herself,” Beth pointed out. “If she doesn’t, what’s going to happen to her if she’s attacked one day when you’re not around?”

Dillon looked ill at the prospect. Turning toward the hearth, he shouted. “Alyssa, I am putting a sword in our daughter’s hands as soon as she can hold one, and will hear no objections from you.”

“As you will, my lord.” The words were spoken not submissively, but with amused indulgence.

Beth followed the soft sounds to the exquisite figure seated before the hearth. “Ah, hell.”

Robert’s head snapped around. “What?”

“That’s Alyssa?”

Beside her, Dillon stiffened. “You object?”

“Nay,” she said quickly, realizing she had offended him. “It’s just…” She gazed upon Dillon’s wife, then motioned to her despondently. “Look at her. She’s perfect, like Robert said. Perfect hair. Perfect skin. A perfect, pretty face. Perfect posture. She’s probably even sewing a perfect seam. How the hell am I supposed to compete with that?”

Robert coughed to cover a laugh.

Beth glared at him, seeing nothing funny about it.

Touching her shoulder, he looked to his brother. “In my attempts to ensure Beth did not fear Alyssa, I might have been a bit too enthusiastic in my praise of her. I fear Beth mistook my affection for Alyssa as something more than brotherly and—despite my assurances—remains a bit jealous.”

Dillon’s eyebrows flew up. “Of Alyssa?”

“Aye.”

The older brother’s lips twitched.

“Oh, ha, ha, ha. Laugh it up,” Beth groused, and the two men shared a grin.

Over by the hearth, Alyssa began putting her sewing away and prepared to rise. She really was perfect. A little smaller than Beth, she bore slender arms and graceful hands. Her long raven locks gleamed in the firelight, providing a lovely contrast to pale, radiant, freckle-free skin. When she rose, her gown revealed a tummy barely rounded, indicating she was still in the early months of pregnancy.

About the only flaw Beth could find was that she looked a little weary.

Robert took Beth’s arm and escorted her over to the hearth.

Beth could feel Dillon studying her and fought the urge to squirm like an insect held under a microscope. Robert’s older brother possessed an air of intensity that she had to admit was a bit unsettling and doubtless contributed heavily to people’s fear of him.

Alyssa smiled when they reached her.

Dillon moved to stand at her side and placed a possessive hand at her back. His countenance softened slightly as he looked down at her and made the introductions.

Beth automatically held out her hand. “Robert told me about the baby. Congratulations.”

As Alyssa reached out to touch her, Beth belatedly remembered Robert’s warning and jerked her hand back at the last minute. If Alyssa touched her, she would be inundated with images from the future. That probably wouldn’t be a good idea until Beth and Robert explained everything.



Hurt flickered in Alyssa’s dark brown eyes before a veil descended over her features.

Oh, crap. “I’m sorry.” Eyes wide, Beth looked at Robert, who winced, then at Dillon, whose expression darkened as a murderous gleam entered his blue eyes. “I’m so sorry. Really. That was incredibly rude of me,” she blurted, talking fast to head off whatever violence Dillon contemplated and to reassure Alyssa. “Please do not think I meant any insult by it. I totally did not. I just remembered at the last minute… I mean, I forgot that…” Get it together, she ordered herself. “Okay, Robert told me you can read thoughts and… I didn’t think… I mean, I thought it wouldn’t be wise for you to…” Sheesh. She was really bungling this.

She looked up at Robert. “You want to help me out here?”

“Verily, she meant no insult, Alyssa,” he insisted. “’Tis only that I told her of your gifts and there are things in her past that she feared would shock you.”

Beth stared up at him in dismay. That sounded even worse than her ramblings had! She slapped him on the arm. “Robert! Don’t say it like that! You make it sound like I used to be a whore or something!”

“Were you?” Dillon asked insolently.

Beth glared at him. “You know, you are not too old to spank.”

Robert choked on a laugh.

Alyssa held up one hand to silence whatever retort Dillon planned to voice. “You did not avoid my touch because you fear I am evil?”