Rendezvous With Yesterday (The Gifted Ones #2)(94)

She leaned into Robert’s big body and let him lead her upstairs to his chamber, where a warm bath awaited them. Robert insisted she bathe without him, letting her wash away the day before he befouled the water, as he put it, with the blood of battle that coated him.

Beth wouldn’t describe the wound on his arm as paltry. She didn’t think it needed stitches, but it took several butterfly closures to seal it.

A boisterous meal followed in the great hall, one with a great deal of merrymaking as Robert’s people celebrated the long-awaited defeat of his enemy with toasts and song and dance.

Beth said little, ate less, and couldn’t even manage to muster a smile.

The battle today had driven home yet again just how foreign this time, this way of life, was to her.

And she had killed a man. Again. Had seen the blood spurt from his forehead and life leave his eyes as his knees had buckled and he had crumpled to the ground.

Robert did not comment on her silence. He seemed to understand that she sometimes grew quiet like this when she needed time to think or process events that threatened to overwhelm her.



He really did seem to know her better than anyone else in the world. Perhaps even better than Josh, who had always poked and prodded her into talking about it whenever he thought something troubled her.

Robert just held her hand, his thumb stroking her skin, his fingers giving hers an occasional squeeze to let her know he was there for her.

Damn, she loved him.

Stephen, on the other hand, pretty much made her want to smack him. He either didn’t understand or simply didn’t care that she had no desire to talk, because he would not let the subject of her weapon go, constantly peppering her with questions.

Beth sighed and looked up at Robert. “We’re going to have to tell them, aren’t we?”

“Not if you do not wish to, love,” he countered.

She found a smile. “If we don’t, Stephen will drive us mad, asking about it every five minutes.”

“Not if I knock him on his arse.”

She laughed. “I’m actually tempted not to tell him just so I can watch you do that.”

“’Twould be my pleasure,” he told her with a wink.

Stephen muttered something under his breath.

Robert laughed.

Beth shook her head. “Let’s just do this and get it over with, then.”

She, Robert, Stephen, Michael, and Adam retired to the chamber Marcus had been given for his recuperation, where Beth plunked down her backpack and told them as succinctly as possible that she had traveled back in time from the twenty-first century.

Marcus slid Robert a look.

The three knights all stared at her blankly.

Then, leaning toward Adam, Stephen muttered in a loud aside, “I was right. She is as mad as the miller’s daughter.”

Beth laughed. Taking out her cell phone, she knelt in front of the trio with her back to them and held it up to take a selfie.

None were impressed at first, thinking the phone a small mirror of some sort when they saw their reflections. But once she snapped the picture and showed it to them, along with the picture she had taken of Robert and some of the pictures that were already stored on it—including images of herself and Josh that clearly displayed modern buildings and cars and a thousand other things that just didn’t exist here—they believed her.

The men’s enthusiastic examination of her futuristic possessions and the ensuing barrage of questions regarding the twenty-first century roused her spirits. By the time she and Robert retired to the solar, she felt almost like herself again.

Of course, she also got a nice burst of energy when Robert made passionate love to her. How wonderful it was to shut her mind off and just let her body feel and burn and need. No worries. No regrets. No images of blood and violence bombarding her. Just Robert. His big, muscled body moving over her and stealing her breath, his tender words strengthening his hold on her heart. She really did love him. So much.

The quiet of the keep she had found so unfamiliar in her early days now soothed her and coaxed her toward sleep as she snuggled into Robert’s side.

“Beth,” he whispered.

“Hm?”

“Do not fall asleep yet, sweetling. There is a question I must put to you first.”

She smiled. “You were great. It was wonderful. I loved every minute of it. Just let me snooze for a few minutes, then we can do it again.”

A chuckle rumbled through his chest. “The question did not involve my prowess, though ’tis good to know I pleased you.”

“Mmm. Pleasing me is an understatement.”



He nuzzled the hair atop her head. “Beth.”

Soooo tired.

He shook her a little. “Beth?”

“Hmm? I’m awake,” she murmured. Were her words a little slurred?

“Then open your eyes and look at me,” he said, a smile in his voice, “or I shall think you are simply answering me in your sleep again.”

Beth tilted her head back, pried her heavy-lidded eyes open, and offered him a sleepy smile. “You are so beautiful.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “As are you, my love.”

Reaching up, she caressed his stubbled cheek.

Robert turned his head slightly and pressed his lips to her palm. “Are you awake?”

She nodded, fingers fondling his whiskers.