Rendezvous With Yesterday (The Gifted Ones #2)(120)
He pursed his lips. “You are speaking Middle English. Mostly.”
She rolled her eyes. “What are the chances I would even remember that language if I’d really lost it?”
Josh sighed and resumed his perusal of the photos.
Robert took Beth’s hand and linked his fingers through hers, giving it a squeeze. “Beth?”
She glanced up at him. He looked as sleepy and sated as she felt. “Aye?”
His lips turned up slightly at their corners. “I like pizza.”
Laughing, she raised his hand to her lips and kissed his knuckles. “I do, too.”
She returned her attention to Josh.
Though his head was still bent over the photos, her brother’s piercing brown eyes watched the two of them intently.
Uh-oh.
“Why do I get the feeling you haven’t told me everything?” he asked, his voice ominously soft.
Beth lowered Robert’s hand to her lap and toyed with it as anxiety rose. “Umm.”
“Beth?”
“Do you believe that I was in the thirteenth century?” she asked, procrastinating.
A long pause followed. “Yes.”
“You hesitated!”
“Well,” he said defensively, “admitting you believe in time travel is a little hard to do. It makes me feel like I’m the one who is delusional.”
Robert squeezed her hand. “You had a difficult time admitting it yourself, sweetling.”
“Thanks so much for reminding me,” she grumbled.
“So what haven’t you told me?” Josh pressed.
Beth squirmed beneath his gaze, afraid he would blow a gasket when she told him the little part she had left out of her tale.
The little part about getting married.
“The fault lies with me,” Robert said. “As you are the head of her family, I should have waited until I could speak with you. But, in truth, I knew not if I would be able to, or that I would accompany Beth here when she left Fosterly.”
Josh’s face remained impassive. “What are you saying?”
“I fell deeply in love with Bethany and, fearing I would soon lose her to the future, did convince her to wed me a little over a sennight ago.”
Josh slumped back in his chair, his expression stunned. “You’re married?”
Beth leaned forward. “I know. You’re thinking I should have waited. Or maybe that I shouldn’t have married him at all, because he’s a total stranger to you. And it did all happen pretty quickly. But I really love him, Josh. And I didn’t know if I would ever be able to come back here. And even if I had known and had waited, we couldn’t have gotten married here anyway, because Robert doesn’t have a birth certificate or a social security number.”
Josh looked from her to Robert to their clasped hands, then back to her. “You’re really married?”
“Yes.”
“Happily?”
“Very much so.”
“You really love him?”
“More than I ever thought I could love someone.”
“No doubts at all?”
“None whatsoever.”
He looked to Robert. “And you love her?”
“Aye. I would give my life for her.”
Beth swung on him with a scowl and punched him hard in the shoulder. “Damn it, stop saying that!”
Shrugging, he rubbed his shoulder. “Why? ’Tis the truth.”
“Well, I don’t want you to give your life for me. And I don’t want Marcus to give his life for me either. Or Michael or Adam or even Stephen, for that matter. I can damn well take care of myself!”
He took her throbbing hand in his own. “I fear, in this instance, what you want or do not want matters little to me, love.”
She gaped. “How can you say that?”
He shrugged. “I may have compromised when you wanted to dress and train like a squire. And I did not complain when you were too familiar with my men.”
Her brow furrowed. “Familiar how? Like being too friendly with Michael and the guys?”
“But I will not compromise on this,” Robert continued as though she hadn’t spoken. “If your life is in danger and I must risk my own to protect you, I will not hesitate to do so, Beth.”
Before she could open her mouth to rebut, Josh leaned forward and extended his hand to Robert. “Welcome to the family.”
Robert hesitated a moment, then shook Josh’s hand.
Beth knew men didn’t shake hands in Robert’s time, but he had seen her do it more than once out of habit.
Josh leaned back in his chair. “So how are you two going to get past the no birth certificate or social security card thing? Robert’s going to have a hard time making a go of it here without them.”
Her stomach sank.
That was the other little thing she hadn’t told him yet.
She glanced at Robert, who squeezed her hand for support. “Actually, the thing is, we can’t stay here.”
Josh frowned. “What do you mean? Here in Houston? Here in the States? Because, if you’re thinking of moving to England, you’re going to need passports.”
Damn it. When she had asked Seth to let her visit, she hadn’t considered how she would tell Josh she couldn’t stay. “Josh, the man who took me back in time told me that my life here in the present was supposed to have ended in that clearing, that I would have died if he hadn’t intervened. So I can’t live here. There would be too many ramifications. He said I have to return to Robert’s time.”