Rendezvous With Yesterday (The Gifted Ones #2)(67)

“Good save.” Forcing her jealousy aside, she pondered the probability of books or scrolls containing that kind of information actually existing at this point in time. “You said they’re really old?”

“Ancient in some cases. Alyssa will not let me touch them for fear I will crumble the pages in my clumsiness.”

“You aren’t clumsy,” she declared, a little offended on his behalf. Robert was the least clumsy man she had ever met.

“My thanks for your defense.”

“You know, I saw a documentary once that said the great pyramids of Giza are exactly proportional to the radius and diameter of the Earth, which—contrary to popular belief—isn’t perfectly round. So exactly proportional, in fact, that it couldn’t have been a coincidence. Those pyramids were built at least as early as 2500 B.C., although some now argue they were built much earlier than that. And clearly astronomy played a huge role in the alignment of their structures, their calendar, and more. So it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Egyptians were hip to the heliocentric model early on. Did any of Alyssa’s scrolls, or whatever, by chance come from Africa? And, just in case you don’t call it Africa yet, Africa is sometimes called the Dark Continent and is the one located south of the Mediterranean. You might refer to Africans as Moors.”



All cockiness left him, along with the color that had managed to creep back into his features. His blue eyes widened. “Those scrolls and their origins have been very carefully guarded. How is it you know of them and of the place they originated?”

How did she know? She was as shocked by his knowledge as he was by hers. Though she couldn’t help but be delighted.

No wonder he was more open-minded and seemed more progressive than his peers.

Beth leaned forward and gave his knee a gentle pat. “I told you. Everyone who goes to school or watches the History Channel knows that in my time.”

Beth could almost see the thoughts racing through his mind as he scrambled for an explanation for her knowledge that would prove easier to digest than time travel.

What more could she say to convince him? What more could she do? She needed proof. Tangible proof.

She clapped a palm to her forehead. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this. My things!” Grabbing his hand, she jumped up and drew him over to the tapestry that hid the secret door.





Robert remained silent, still reeling from Beth’s revelations.

He held the tapestry aside for her as she passed through the doorway and into the narrow corridor that lay between his chamber and hers.

Dusty and ornamented with the wispy lace of countless cobwebs, the corridor was part of a maze of hidden passageways that afforded the lord’s family several possible exits should an enemy take the keep by force.

“What’s down there?” Beth pointed along the dark passageway.

Robert grimaced, thinking of the oubliette he had discovered down one of the lower passages. Wooden spikes—their points facing the ceiling—lined its floor in such numbers that anyone tossed inside from the trapdoor above would have no hopes of avoiding them. Skeletons of those who had been impaled upon them in the past now littered the floor like chalk. “You do not wish to know.”

“Enough said.”

Robert stared down at the top of Beth’s head with disbelief. “You will issue no protests nor insist that I show you?”

She smiled up at him over her shoulder. “No. I trust you.” Pushing the next tapestry aside, she entered her chamber.

The tapestry almost hit Robert in the face, so stunned was he. Catching it at the last moment, he stepped through, closed the door and let the heavy material settle back into place.

His heart began to thud heavily in his chest as he watched Beth hurry over to the trunk that contained Alyssa’s clothing and various belongings. Her simple declaration of trust awoke feelings within him that had long lain dormant. He did not think he had experienced such an intense rush of affection since before he had lost Eleanor and Gabriel.

Emptiness had plagued him since their deaths. For years, he had done what was expected of him, performed his duties, and feigned good cheer around his brother, all with a heavy heart.

Until Beth had stumbled in front of his horse and aimed her peculiar weapon at him.

Her rare smiles and laughter had warmed him, forcing out the cold. Her boldness and lack of concern regarding propriety amused and entertained him. Her touch and her kisses enflamed him. Bringing her happiness made him happy. Her worry and anxiety became his own.



He was falling in love with her.

What a hell of a time to realize it.

Beth dropped to her knees and began pawing through Alyssa’s clothing.

Eight hundred years. Beth thought she was from a time eight hundred years in the future.

’Twas mad. ’Twas unthinkable.

But she was Bethany. His Bethany. His Beth.

And she had known the Earth traveled around the sun.

Aside from himself, Dillon, Alyssa and the other gifted ones, he did not think anyone else in all of England knew that. Nor would they believe him if he told them.

He had been reluctant to believe it himself at first. Had anyone other than Alyssa suggested the sun did not travel around the Earth like the moon, he would have dismissed it outright. As would Dillon have. But Alyssa possessed extraordinary wisdom and abilities. How could one argue with her, having witnessed both firsthand?