Rendezvous With Yesterday (The Gifted Ones #2)(88)

Yeah, right.

“I know it sounds weird,” she offered hesitantly. “Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”

Relaxing, he drew her in and wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace. “Nay, sweetling. I want you to share your troubles with me. Never hesitate to do so.”

Relieved, Beth squeezed him back. “Thank you. For listening. I think it helped to talk about it.” Though the guilt remained, her spirit did feel a bit lighter.

“Good.” Kissing the top of her head, he carefully eased her off his lap and stood. “Have you any weapons you wish to fetch? ’Tis time we were on our way.”

Excitement rose as Beth looked up at him. “I can go with you?”

“Aye.”

“And I can bring my weapons?”

“Only the smaller ones that can be hidden beneath your skirts.”

Woohoo! Throwing her arms around his neck, she pressed a hasty kiss to his lips. “Thank you, Robert! It’ll just take me a minute.” She would bring her Glock and the .22. And maybe her hunting knife. Could she fit the Ruger beneath her skirts, too?

“I shall go down now and ensure that Marcus has saddled Berserker.”

Which reminded Beth of the secret she had been keeping, hoping to surprise him. “I can ride now,” she boasted.

His eyebrows rose. “Your own mount?”

“Aye. Adam has been giving me lessons between bouts of cleaning.” Much of Fosterly was spic-and-span now.

Robert smiled. “Adam has, you say?”

“Aye.”

“And did he perchance speak during these lessons?”

Beth laughed. “Not much. Mostly he kept me from falling off the horse while Michael or Stephen or whoever else happened by shouted advice from the sidelines.”

Robert chuckled. “Then you shall have your own mount, if you feel confident enough. I will gauge how much you have learned while we ride and take command of your lessons myself.”



“Good.” Leaning up onto her toes, Beth kissed him and said with a wink, “You’ve taught me so much already.”

He groaned. “Temptress.” Turning her around, he gave her bottom a playful swat. “Fetch your weapons before I toss you back in bed and join you there.”

Grinning, Beth hurried through the passage.





As soon as Beth disappeared into the secret passage, Robert sank down into the chair behind him. Leaning forward, he braced his elbows on his knees and dropped his face into his hands.

Disbelief gave way to panic, then fury, then dread.

A gifted one had been present when Beth had nigh been slain.

He had broached the subject of gifted ones once or twice since Beth had revealed whence she came, hoping to ease any fears rumor might inspire and prepare her for her inevitable first encounter with Dillon and Alyssa.

Beth had expressed not fear, but fascination. So much fascination that he suspected she would not have believed that there were men and women capable of performing such feats as healing a wound with a touch or moving objects with his or her mind if anyone else had told her. Beth had said she had never heard of such outside of what she called fiction, which he believed might be similar to minstrel tales invented to entertain. So he had assumed that no gifted ones lived in her time and that whatever miracle had brought her back through time had also healed her wounds.

But the day she had fallen, she had seen a man in black robes with long midnight hair.

That man had been with her ere she had lost consciousness.

And when she had awoken, she had found herself in Robert’s time.

Though most of the gifted ones Robert knew were women—Alyssa, her mother, her grandmother, her cousin—Robert knew two or three were men. One of them, Dillon referred to as the giant. He stood at least a head taller than Robert and seemed to possess more knowledge and power than all of the others combined. But Robert had never seen his face or hair.

Alyssa’s brother, however, was another. And his hair was long and black, just as Beth had described.

Alyssa had never divulged what special gifts her brother possessed. But she and her grandmother could both heal with a touch of their hands, so would it not be unreasonable to think Sir Geoffrey could heal as well?

Was it possible his gifts also enabled him to traverse time?

“Please,” Robert whispered. There must be some other explanation. Any other explanation.

For, if Sir Geoffrey had brought Beth back to Robert’s time, he could return her to the future.

And, in so doing, would leave her forever beyond Robert’s reach.





Chapter Fifteen



“Well?” Beth prompted suddenly, a little worried by Robert’s pensive expression. They had ridden in silence for some time now.

He glanced over at her. “What?”

Stephen and Marcus rode behind them, with Adam and Michael bringing up the rear.

She motioned to the gentle mare beneath her. “Aren’t you going to compliment me on my superior riding skills?”

His lips twitched. “You are indeed a superior rider,” he praised with mock solemnity.

Grinning, she blew him a kiss. “Flattery will get you everything.”

He quirked a brow. “Although, were you at all concerned with propriety, you would ride turned to one side, rather than riding astride.”