He laughed.
“Cullen. This is serious.”
“Yes, yes. I cannot help being happy at the prospect of being by your side a bit longer. I have everything to gain.” He took her in his arms and held her.
She couldn’t help smiling. “Just be sure you’re ready to try. Anything could happen. I suppose it might not work, but if it does, it’ll be a strange adventure, like this has been for me.”
He ran his hand down the length of her hair and then rested his fingers against her cheek, cupping her face. “I’m sure.”
His mouth touched hers, opening her lips with tender inquisitiveness, tasting her as he went, lifting her head with gentle nudges until she looked up at him. She trembled when he ran his hands over her and desire coursed through her body.
They lay on the bed in the growing darkness, holding each other and considering their fate. She prayed to deities she’d never previously thought worth praying to. Hypocrite, she told herself. But nothing was the same now, not beliefs or dreams, because something incredible had happened to her. Cullen wrapped her in his arms, and his hands were strong and possessive against her back.
“You said you wished for a wench, yes?”
He nodded.
“And I wished for the man I dreamt about every night to be real, to be there in my bed with me.”
He groaned and his hands squeezed her bottom so that she rested up close against his growing erection.
“Cullen.” She laughed softly, looking up at him, dizzy with desire and something else: hope. Could they make this work, could it possibly work? “We both need to wish, to be together, in my bed...in my time, where it’s safe.”
Fear gripped her heart. Would it be safe, with Fox able to turn up at any given moment? Worse still, could she still be dreaming—had this all been one long, vivid dream? But she didn’t want to lose Cullen. Not yet. Not ever. Her fingers closed on his shoulders, tightly, clinging to him as if he might be taken away.
“Safe? What of Nathaniel? He means to come after you thirty days hence.”
“I’m sure we can get help,” she replied, not feeling very sure of anything. “I have friends who know of him. Perhaps they can help us understand.”
“I will not let it happen.” He pushed back her hair, looking at her in the fall of moonlight. “I would give my right arm for thirty days with you, but I don’t wish you to come to harm because of me.”
She laughed softly. “Your right arm? You wouldn’t be much good with the sword.”
She thought he was joking, but he didn’t laugh.
“You have opened my eyes, Miss Yasmina Sunitra Chambers.”
Sunny drew back, trying to see him more clearly in the moonlight, astonished he’d remembered her full name.
“Now I’ve seen Nathaniel Fox’s black art, I do not trust his motives. I must discover why he meant to discharge me from this place on such an oppressive vessel as the one you revealed to me.”
“He has something to gain. I don’t know what.” She didn’t want him to think about that right now. Now she was trying to get them back to the cottage in her time, where they would be safe and they might be able to get answers to their questions.
“We will make this thirty days last forever,” he whispered, kissing her again.
If only we could, Sunny thought to herself. If only the power of wishes were real and this moment didn’t feel as tangible as blowing a dandelion in the wind. If wishes were to come true, she would simply request to keep him forever. But this was for thirty days and, of course, and only time would tell what the true cost was.
“I wish you were my wench, now and whenever.”
She sighed. “I know one thing for sure. When you hold me like this, everything else fades away, and you’re the only thing that’s truly real for me.”
“Good, I would be glad to be the only thing that mattered to a woman like you, Sunny love. I want it, too. I believe...”
He did. She could see it. He had faith and hope in her wild words. Her heart ached. “Please,” she whispered to the heavens, to the cottage around them, and the spirit it held, “please let this work.”
And then he stopped her whispers when he kissed her again, gently at first, until the kiss became more demanding, until everything else slipped away and there was only the two of them, adrift in time.
She cupped his fiercely handsome face in her hands.
A misty ether engulfed them.
She opened her mouth and her soul to him. She believed. She tasted him with her tongue and with her whole life force, willing them to be joined and carried forward two hundred years.
She felt her hair lifting, she felt him moving against her, his hands roving possessively over her body. Her shirt fell open, his hands moved inside, then lower. In her mind’s eye, they were naked and entwined, amidst an ethereal dreamscape quivering with stars. She sighed against his mouth. This was pure magic; he was pure magic. His arms were strong and invincible around her, and she coiled within his embrace, their hearts and spirits afloat in an ever-changing sky of light and color.
Her legs were locked around his hips He entered her. Like a lightning rod, it pulsated with energy, fusing them together. Their spirits soared, wrapped together and tangled in destiny’s embrace. A rush of air, powerful and unchecked, roared up around them like a whirlwind, fierce and swirling with stardust.
In her mind, she spoke to him. Cullen, you’re real, and you’re my dream, my dream come true.
And he knew, he knew what she meant and he returned the love she gave, tenfold.
Stars glistened around them and the sky of colors pulsated, rising and falling in time with the driving power of their physical embraces.
In the moment of their mutual orgasm, time stood still and faded into complete darkness.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A bird sang its morning song close by.
Sunny fought against the heavy slumber holding her captive. She could barely bring herself to open her eyes, in case she found herself in 1820. So, with curious fingers she tugged at her neckline, hoping to discover she was back in her shortie pajamas, but no, she was still wearing Cullen’s shirt, although it was all she wore, it was askew and her breasts were bare. When she opened her eyes and found herself still wrapped in Cullen’s arms, she finally knew for sure it hadn’t been a dream at all.
He was propped on one elbow at her side and smiled down at her. He moved his hand to her hair, teasing skeins of it between his fingers and looking at it, as if he’d been waiting for her to wake up for some time. “You’re awake, my lovely.”
“How long have you been watching me snooze?”
“Long enough to be sure you’re real.” His handsome mouth quirked at the corner.
Sunny laughed in delight. He’d been thinking like her, that perhaps it was a strange dream. When he lowered his head to kiss her, she wrapped her arms around him. “We’re still together.”
“We are, yet I find the room somewhat changed,” he whispered in a disconcerted tone.
She gasped when she saw their surroundings.
They were back in her time. Everything was just as she’d left it, her very own wrought-iron framed bed and the gilded mirror over the dresser. The stripped pine floorboards awaiting their varnish, the old oak wardrobe and the framed prints on the walls. Yet she’d managed to keep her lover by her side, at least for a while. How long though? The details of her deal with Viscount Fox seemed vague while she basked in the embrace of her lover’s arms, back in her own home, in her own time.
He kissed her deeply, then moved to rain kisses on her bare shoulders, and lower, across her breasts. Sunny sighed, feeling content in his arms. Over his shoulder, she saw the morning light at the window, and heard twittering birds in the garden outside.
She had to be sure. Easing herself from his grasp, she darted to the window. Yes, there was the road, and the garden was just as she knew it.
Cullen moved and sat up on the edge of the bed, his hair awry an
d his clothes undone. She broke into giggles at the sight of him. He was scratching his head and looking around with a bemused expression on his face. She knew the feeling.
She pointed through the window. “Look, Cullen, the road!”
He came to her side and peered out just as the hourly bus trundled by.
“Hellfire!” He leapt back, pulling her with him. “What was that?”
“The bus. It goes into Raven’s Landing.” She smiled at him. “Like a horse and cart, but quicker.”
He nodded warily, his hand taking hers as if to reassure himself, and then he grinned as he looked across the view from the window. “It really is Cornwall, but it’s somewhere else, too...”
“Yes, that’s it exactly. I hope you don’t regret this.”
“Why would I?” His genuine expression reassured her, quelling the rising doubts about what they’d done.
“It’s very different. I don’t know how I’d have coped in your time, without you.”
“But you didn’t have to, and I’m here because of you. Don’t you think things would have been very different for me in the Americas?”
“Yes, but not quite as different as this.”
The phone on the bedside table rang and Cullen turned to look at it in surprise.
“It’s a telephone. It lets you talk to your friends even if they are far away.” She smiled at his expression of disbelief as she picked up the receiver. “Hello.”
He stared at her, incredulous.
“Celeste, yes, I’m fine.”
“I’m so relieved to hear it.” Celeste sighed. “I’ve been fretting about you, all day yesterday.”
That meant time had progressed in the future, too, and that’d work well for Cullen if he wanted to travel back again. She eyed him up and down, her heart beating. Perhaps she could convince him to stay, rather than going back to his time. “I-I’ve been away, but I’m back safe now.”
“What manner of witchcraft is that?” He stared at the handset, his head tilted to one side as he tried to make out the voice emitting from the earpiece.
She smiled and put her finger to her lips, hushing him, and then beckoned him nearer so he could hear, too.
“Is that a man’s voice I hear?” Celeste asked, and gave a delighted chuckle. “Sunny, have you got a man over there?”
Cullen cautiously bent his head alongside hers.
“There’s someone else here. I guess you could say he’s a traveler of sorts.”
“Well I hope he’s everything you dreamed he would be. Is he a true charmer?”
Sunny wasn’t surprised by the amused tone in Celeste’s voice, but right then she was more concerned with reassuring Cullen, who looked deeply puzzled. “Er, yes, he is, but I better go play hostess. I’ll call you back later. I need to ask you some questions.”
“I’ll be ready. Do I get to meet him?”
“Yes, yes, I guess so. I’ll call you back.”
He stared at the receiver even after she’d hung up. “You are a witch, to be sure.”
“Not really, although there are lots of magic things here, as you’ll soon see.” What would he make of the modern version of Cornwall, the surfers and the holidaymakers? She looked at her lover, two hundred years out of time. How had this even happened?
Cullen nodded at her and was quickly at her side, nonchalantly wearing his nakedness as he joined her by the window. He wrapped her in his strong arms. For a moment she closed her eyes and just let it be, savoring his embrace.
It was going to take him a while to get used to living in the new millennium, but Cullen Thaine was about to be socialized, super quick.
“But, you know,” she added, “if you think I’m a witch now, wait until you see some of the other magic things I can do.” She winked at him, thinking of all the fun they were going to have together.
He captured her in his arms, looked into her eyes, and lifted a speck of stardust from her hair. “Oh, I know all about the magic things you can do, Sunny love.”
“And I you,” she replied, slipping her hands around his neck. Was it witchcraft? Well, there was certainly magic at play, because her wish to have him made real had come true. But where would the magic lead them now? If the ache in her heart was anything to go by, there was much more at stake between them than just a passionate affair.
The need to understand matters grew more pressing. Yet the more she thought about it, the vaguer the details seemed to get, as if their negotiations with Fox were drifting away on the tails of the night mist. Feeling slightly panicked, she extracted herself from Cullen’s embrace. It was important to remember. Surely Celeste could shed some light?
“Must we depart the bed already?” Cullen reached out to grab her, drawing her back toward him.
The look in his eyes almost swayed her. “We need to get help. We have to understand Fox’s intentions.”
He kissed the back of her neck. “Do you know what he means to gain from this ‘deal’?”
“No, but I know someone who might. The lady who phoned.” She turned in his arms and looked up into his eyes. “We’ll grab some breakfast then head down to the town. I’m sure Celeste will be able to shed some light.” I bloody well hope so, Sunny thought silently, very aware of the black cloud hovering over them.
She showered, and introduced Cullen to the concept too, which took rather longer than planned. Then she reached for her jeans and a T-shirt, but when she saw the expression on Cullen’s face, she changed her mind. He’d find her less of an oddity in a dress, she figured, and opted for a longish summer dress in a floating fabric. It had been such a shock to arrive in his time, so she wanted to make this as easy as possible on him. Cullen dressed quickly and followed her downstairs silently, scrutinizing his surroundings with a baffled expression on his face. She smiled to herself. It would be easy to relax into this and forget all about the viscount, but her arrangement nagged at her. She was the sort of woman who didn’t relish finding herself in a situation she didn’t fully understand.
She cooked scrambled eggs on toast, which he ate with some trepidation at first, then wolfed down hungrily. He frowned when he sipped the coffee she’d prepared, then reached instead for the milk, guzzling it directly from the carton as if it was water.
She thought about taking him down to the town in her battered old Fiat, but one look at his face when he saw the vehicle made her change her mind, and they went by foot.
As they crossed the meadows heading down to Raven’s Landing, Cullen walked silently beside her, observing everything the way she had, twenty-four hours earlier. She tried to keep chatting to him to make him feel more comfortable, but he was as spooked by the presence of cars on the road as she had been about the horses and carriages.
It was still early and the shops were just beginning to open. There were only a handful of tourists and locals on the pavements. When they reached The Cauldron, Cullen stopped dead and stared at the building from pavement to rooftop. “I’ve been in this house before.”
“Have you?” They were very old cottages and of course he might have been in them before, she silently realized.
“I recall coming here to have my fortune told. I was perhaps eleven years old, and I was with my older brother.”
“My friend Celeste lives here now. This is her shop. She may be able to answer some of our questions.” Then again, she might not. However, she would be able to tell them about the viscount, surely? She knocked on the door.
The door sprang open within a heartbeat.
Celeste stood there beaming at the pair of them, looking Cullen up and down happily. “We’ve been expecting you.”
Startled, Sunny forgot the things she planned to say in explanation.
Apparently they weren’t needed.
Celeste stretched her hands out, one to each of them, and grasped them in greeting. A moment later she led them inside. Heading through the shop and out the back door, she ushered them in to a cozy room that served both as kitchen and sitting room.
The curtains at the window were pulled closed, but a lantern with a colored glass shade hung over the table, illuminating the faces of everyone gathered there. Multiple crystals hung around the room, reflecting the shifting colors and light. It was as if they’d come for a séance or some similar mystical happening. Sunny recognized everyone to be from the town. Willow was there, and she’d seen some of them in The Witch’s Brew Café. Others were shopkeepers, or she’d exchanged greetings with them, passing in the street. Some she’d chatted with at length, including the local librarian.
“Have we come at an inopportune moment?”
“Not at all,” Celeste replied. “Please, join us. Sit down before you pass out. You’ve turned quite pale.”
There were two empty chairs, apparently waiting for them.
Hesitantly, Sunny took up the seat.
Cullen sat alongside her.
Everybody around the table greeted them in welcome.
“I know you,” Cullen said, staring at Celeste. “You once told my fortune, here in this very house.”
“I did indeed, and as I recall you weren’t too happy with it.”
“No, but it has come to pass, I warrant you that.” Cullen wore a deadpan expression, but he broke into a grin, and laughed. “I did indeed disgrace myself in the name of honor, and brought a shadow of embarrassment over my family name.”
He seemed amused, which perplexed Sunny even more. She watched the exchange, trying to make sense of it. How could it be that Celeste and Cullen had met before? The answer presenting itself was so shocking she had to put her finger under her own jaw and shut her mouth manually. So, like Viscount Fox, Celeste had acquired longevity and had been alive for many decades.
Celeste gave them a gentle smile. “Relax. Take your time with this. Have some tea and a pastry.”
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