A Murder in Time(150)

Alec’s words came back to her. You are not alone . . . you are among friends.

She’d always been a loner, a freak. Maybe she still was a freak. But she was now a freak with friends—real friends. The knowledge brought the sting of unexpected tears to her eyes.

“Thank you.” Kendra gave her an impulsive hug. “That means more to me than you know.”



The Duke took it upon himself to put Morland’s affairs in order. With no immediate family, distant relatives needed to be tracked down, assets redistributed. Because Tinley Park wasn’t entailed, Aldridge planned to buy it. Lady Anne, with Mrs. Marks and a couple of caretakers, would be relocated to a smaller house. The rest of the staff would be given severance packages and letters of reference. Coming from the Duke of Aldridge, that would go a long way.

While Aldridge occupied himself with those weighty matters, Kendra concentrated on regaining her strength, walking around the gardens and doing simple yoga moves. It reminded her of the time in the hospital after the mission to get Balakirev had been blown to hell and back—minus the Terminator and the Pilates machines.

With Rebecca’s departure, the servants once again didn’t know how to treat her. She wasn’t one of the staff. She wasn’t gentry. She had no place in Aldridge Castle. I don’t belong here.

Ten more days and it would be one month since she’d found herself in this time line. The serial killer had been caught; there would be a full moon. If there was any chance of returning to her own era, that would be it.

Two days after Rebecca left, Kendra entered the Duke’s study. He glanced up from his paperwork, and smiled. He hadn’t asked any questions about her staying behind. Just as he had when he’d found out that she’d lied to him about her arrival in England, he waited for her to come to him.

She was finally ready.

He pushed himself to his feet. “Good morning, my dear. How are you feeling?”

“Nervous,” she admitted, and pressed a hand to her stomach. It was knotted with apprehension.

His brows lifted. “Oh? Why, pray tell?”

“I need to talk to you about why I’m still here at the castle—about how I came to be at the castle.”

Aldridge’s blue eyes sharpened with interest. “It is a story that I would very much like to hear.”

Kendra drew in a deep breath, aware that what she told him would change everything. The last time she’d taken such a chance, she’d been fourteen and telling her parents that she wanted her independence. When they’d let her go without a fight, she’d felt betrayed. She had never entirely trusted anyone after that, certainly not with her emotional welfare—too risky. Now, she was going to take another huge risk, and one that, if it went wrong, could mean the madhouse.

But maybe it was time to trust in someone other than herself. “I’ll tell you my story, Your Grace. But you might want to sit down for it.”





73

Three days later, Kendra sat beneath an ancient oak on the hill overlooking Aldridge Castle. She remembered her first view of the mammoth structure, and how she’d been struck by its majesty, its incredible history. Who would’ve thought she’d have a small part in it?

She saw a rider on horseback gallop toward the castle, and then disappear behind the stone walls. Though she should have been too far away to make out his identity, she knew, by the way her heart began to race, that it was Alec.

That reaction worried her. And it was still worrying her when, twenty minutes later, the horse and rider emerged and did a circular dance, as though scanning the area, then began galloping toward her.

Kendra tensed automatically and forced herself to relax as they came up the hill. Alec’s look was appraising as he pulled up on the horse’s reins, stopping a few yards from her, and then swung down from the saddle. He left the beast untethered, but the Arabian seemed content to munch on grass where he’d been left.

“You are much improved, Miss Donovan.”

“Thank you. You look tired.”

He dropped down beside her, stretching out his legs and leaning back on an elbow. “It’s been a difficult week,” he admitted.

“Gabriel?”

“Buried . . . and hopefully at peace.”

Kendra hoped so, too.

Alec was quiet for a moment, then glanced at her. “I spoke with Duke. You told him.”

“Yes. I should have told him from the beginning. He was quicker to believe than you—than even myself.” She had to smile. “It took me a full day to convince myself that I wasn’t in some sort of altered state of consciousness, or hadn’t just gone crazy. He had a zillion questions.”

Alec laughed. “Yes, and he’s quite put out that you haven’t answered any of them.”

“I’m not sure I can. Or should. Time travel is very much part of the theoretical world. And one theory says that if I gave you or your uncle information about the future and you act on it, it could change the future in unpredictable—possibly destructive—ways.” She sighed and shook her head.

“That is one theory. What are the others?”

“That certain milestones are set, unshakeable. No matter what I do, I cannot change them.”

“Because it’s destiny?”

She frowned. “Maybe. I don’t know.”