Rendezvous With Yesterday (The Gifted Ones #2)(105)

Beth frowned. “What? No. Nay. Why would I think you are evil?”

Now Alyssa’s brow puckered. “Because of my gifts.”

Beth shook her head. “Nay, I do not think you’re evil. I just come from a place that is very different from this one, and worried that if you saw it in my thoughts…” Well, she wasn’t sure what would happen. Robert and Michael and the others had known there was something off about her long before she had told them the truth. Alyssa would just have seen it all cold turkey, no warning.

Beth sighed and glanced up at the man she had come to love so much. “You know what? This isn’t going very well. My one shot at making a good first impression on your family has pretty much been blown all to hell, so why don’t we just spill the truth and get it over with?”

He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and stroked the nape of her neck. “Forgive me, Beth. Had I thought this through, I could have made this meeting far less awkward.” He turned to Dillon and Alyssa. “There is much we have to tell you. And more we must discuss. ’Twould be best if we do so in the privacy of the solar.”

Beth offered Alyssa a tentative smile. “Maybe we could start over? I promise—once we tell you everything—you can touch me all you want.”

All eyebrows flew up.

Beth groaned. “Wait. That didn’t come out right. That sounded sexual, didn’t it?”

Stunned silence greeted her.

Shoulders drooping, she looked up at Robert. “I must be more tired than I thought. I keep putting my foot in my mouth.”

Chuckling, he drew her up against his side and kissed her hair. “The day has been a long one, love.”

“For all of us,” Alyssa added, kindly wiping the shock from her expression. “May I congratulate you, Lady Bethany, on your victory over Robert’s men? My husband told me of your contest.”

“Thank you. And please, call me Beth.”

“Then you must call me Alyssa.” She smiled. “I wish I could have been here to see Sir Faudron’s and Sir Stephen’s expressions.”

They turned as one to look across the hall at Stephen just as Ian’s sword hit Stephen squarely in the groin. Dropping his own sword, the irascible warrior slammed his knees together, cupped himself with both hands, and—whimpering—toppled over onto the floor.



Robert and Dillon both winced.

Beth pursed her lips. “Too bad he wasn’t still wearing his armor.”

Michael and the other men in the great hall found it wildly amusing, their laughter swelling and echoing off the walls.

Alyssa narrowed her eyes at Dillon. “Do not dare laugh.”

“I would not,” he said with a grimace. “Ian has done the same to me on numerous occasions.”

Robert grunted. “I will not ask if Alyssa healed you with her hands.”

Alyssa’s cheeks flushed while Dillon donned a naughty grin.

“Perhaps now would be a good time for us to retire to the solar,” Beth suggested brightly, hoping to alleviate the other woman’s embarrassment.

The others agreed, and—with lighter spirits all around—they exited the great hall.





An hour later, Dillon and Alyssa sat with their heads bent over Beth’s cell phone, gazing in astonishment at the photo she had just taken of them, as well as those she had taken of Robert, Marcus and the others.

Thank goodness Beth had packed her solar charger. Without it, her cell phone’s battery would have long since died and she wouldn’t have had the photos to aid her whenever she tried to convince others she was from the future.

She and Robert had recited her tale as concisely as possible. Through much of it, Dillon had looked angry and suspicious. Alyssa had appeared unsettled. But, as with Michael and the others, Beth’s modern goodies—the cell phone and coins in particular—convinced them where words would not.

Alyssa’s gifts, however, also afforded them another way.

“Alyssa,” Beth said, extending her hand, palm up, “would you like to see the future?”

Alyssa glanced at Dillon.

“Do not overtax yourself, sweetling,” he murmured.

Beth’s gaze dropped to the woman’s stomach. “Oh. Will it tire you?” She didn’t know how exactly the woman’s gift worked.

Smiling, Alyssa shook her head as she handed her husband the cell phone. “Not overly.”

“Good.” Beth extended her hand again. “Do I just picture what I want you to see?”

“Aye, though I should warn you I may pick up other things along the way,” she cautioned. “Things you may not wish me to see. Things you think of often.”

Beth bit her lip. That was a bit unsettling. “Then I should probably warn you that you are likely to see a lot of Robert naked.”

Alyssa’s eyes widened as a blush climbed her cheeks.

Dillon released a bark of involuntary laughter.

When Beth glanced at Robert, his eyes twinkled as his lips stretched in a mischievous smile.

“You imagine me naked often, do you?” he murmured, toying with a lock of her hair.

Beth winked. “Are you kidding? You’re naked right now.”

Laughing, he kissed her cheek.

Beth turned back to Alyssa. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist. Would you please keep anything personal or embarrassing you might see in my thoughts between you and me?”