A Knight in Central Park(53)

For most of the day they rode over long stretches of deciduous woodland. Every few moments, Joe stopped and listened. Leaves crunched and tree branches rustled. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Through most of the night, he’d heard the same thing: crackling brush and whispering trees. His paranoia either stemmed from lack of sleep or maybe it was a symptom of traveling through time.

Although Alexandra was well ahead of him, she, too, came to a stop. “We are going to have to quicken our pace,” she said over her shoulder, “if we plan to be outside of London within a sennight.” Repressing a sigh, she added, “If we were being followed, I do believe they would have shown themselves by now.”

“You didn’t hear anything?”

“Nay.”

Miraculously, Precious obeyed when Joe steered the animal a few yards back over the already trodden trail. He looked at his hands and noticed the dirt caked under his fingernails. He scratched the back of his neck, then used his switch to reach the itchy spots on his back. “I need a bath,” he said as soon as he caught up to Alexandra.

“Surely you jest.”

“Look at my fingernails.” He held up his hands. “And these fleas,” he said, twisting within the saddle, “they’re driving me nuts.”

Alexandra simply ignored him.

He stopped driving his heels into the horse, which is exactly when Precious decided it was time to set off again. “Damn horse.”

Alexandra unfolded the parchment in her hands. “If this map be well made, then there is a river not too far from here. We’ll stop there to eat and freshen up.”

She put the map away, then clicked her tongue to get her horse moving. Joe did the same, but Precious was determined to eat a clump of weed on the side of the path. “Precious is tired,” he said to Alexandra. “Her legs hurt and she is a hungry ol’ gal.”

“She said as much, did she?”

“More than once.”

“Her mind is not to be changed?”

He leaned low, had a quick conversation with the horse, then sat up and said, “Absolutely not. She thinks the lake through those trees will be perfect for bathing.”

“Precious has taken a liking to you?”

“Precious adores me, which would suggest you were wrong when you said no lady in her right mind would ever fall for a guy like me.”

Alexandra pulled on the reins and returned to his side. “There is one problem.”

He arched a brow. “Competition perhaps?”

“Nay,” she said with a quick laugh. “Precious is a male.”

“If you think I’m falling for that, then you must really think I’m...” He slid from the horse’s back and bent over to take a look. “Well, I’ll be.” With all the bags and saddle packs, he hadn’t noticed before.

By the time Joe straightened, Alexandra had tied her horse to a tree and was busily retrieving utensils from the saddlebag. Memories of last night had kept his mood light, but Alexandra seemed a million miles away. Was she angry with him? Did she already regret their night of passion?

He walked stiffly to a willowy elm and tied the reins to a low branch so Precious could graze on clumps of grass. He’d been a fool to let desire get the better of him last night, although their time together had been more than memorable. What Alexandra lacked in experience, she made up in creativity. But that wasn’t the point, or the problem. Like most women, she probably wanted to talk about what happened between them. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but then clamped his mouth shut. As much as he enjoyed being with Alexandra, nothing had changed between them. He’d warned her.

He grabbed his briefcase from the saddlebag and headed for the lake. “Are you coming?”

She shook her head. “I’ll stay here with the horses and fix us something to eat whilst you are gone.”

“Have it your way,” he said before heading off.





Alexandra watched him walk away. He seemed different from the stiff brooding man she met less than a sennight ago. Sir Joe had known their lovemaking might well make things more difficult. He had warned her. To lose her virginity to a man she valued, a man whose flaws only added to his allure, made her want him all the more. She thought making love to Sir Joe would fulfill her within, make his eventual leaving less painful.

But now she knew differently. Sir Joe was right. Last night changed everything.