“Exactly.” As much as she didn’t want to break the peace of the moment, she couldn’t ignore the reality. “You asked me to wait until you had accomplished your goal before you returned me to my time.”
He tensed and cleared his throat. “Aye, about that…”
Laura’s peaceful buzz popped. “You are returning me to my time. I have a life there. A home. A job.” Technically, a job she hated, a crappy flat and a phone that rarely rang outside of work calls, but still.
“The sword is…” He looked up at the sky. “Tricky.”
“Tricky?” Hackles rising, Laura pulled them to a halt.
“It does not always go exactly when and where I expect it to.”
She had to take a moment not to panic. “I think you’d better explain. We got here all right.”
“Aye.” He tried to tug her into walking again.
Laura held her ground. She couldn’t accept being stuck here forever. Without her toothbrush, indoor plumbing, modern medicine, to name but a few things.
Oliver sighed. “The first time I used it, when I ended up in your world, I wished for my heart’s desire.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I was about to strike de Wolfe and I made the wish, thinking it would help keep my blade true and deadly.”
“And you ended up in my time.”
“Aye.”
No pizza, no takeout at all, no cell phone, and no fucking coffee. “So when you told me you would take me back, you lied.”
He grimaced. “Not lied, so much as omitted to tell you about this wrinkle.” Throwing his hands up, he huffed. “Look, you were about to lose your mind. I said what I had to, to calm you down.”
“Dear God.” No internet, no electricity, no television or cable, no movies. She might puke any second. “Are you saying I’m stuck here forever?”
“I’m saying”—he gripped her shoulders—“that when we use the sword, we need to be prepared for anything.”
“No.” She refused to accept any of this. “Your mother! She’s used the sword before and come back here.”
“What?” He frowned.
“I think all those things she predicted weren’t predictions at all.” Gabbling kept her mouth moving ahead of a meltdown. “I don’t think she has any sort of magical abilities. I think she’s been hopping back and forth in time.”
“Do you think so?”
“I have to think so.” Laura shoved him. How did he not get this? “I have to believe I’m not stuck here forever.”
Dark eyes suddenly intense, he stared at her. “Would it be so bad? To be stuck here forever?”
“Of course it would.” She resisted the urge to shove again.
“What is waiting for you back in your time?” He shrugged. “I’m not saying it would be easy, but what is it that you need to go back for?”
“My life.” She yelled loud enough for something to go shrieking from the trees. “My entire life is back there. All the things I need. My patients, my pension…” She kept listing things, one following on the heels of the other.
Arms folded, Oliver listened.
“My iron, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, central heating—”
“You said that already.” Oliver caught her face in his hands. “Those are things, Laura. They’re just things, and aye, they make life more convenient but that’s all they do.”
“Modern medicine.” His palms warmed her cheeks, and kept the crazy in check.
“I’ll give you that,” he said. “Along with all the other ways you have made life safer. But as for the rest of it.” He shrugged. “You despise your job because they do not let you do it. You have no family. You speak of no friends, and I have never seen a man in your life.”
“I want to go home.” She despised the wobble in her voice.
“All right.” Oliver pulled her into his arms. “If you want to go home, I will do everything I can to see you get there.” He kissed her, a soft, gentle brush of his mouth over hers. “You have to know, sweet Laura, I would do anything for you.”
They returned to an empty cottage.
“Where’s Elewys?” Laura hoped saying her name wouldn’t summon the witch.
“Gone.” Oliver checked the pegs next to the door. “Her cloak and satchel are gone as well, so she must be out visiting for the night.”
Perhaps Elewys’s coven was doing a sleepover.
In silence they got ready for bed and climbed beneath the covers. The warm night crept through the windows with the scent of rich, fertile earth.
She had nobody back home. Home. An ugly rented flat in a street of soulless houses. Tonight, on the village green she had felt more a part of a community than she ever had. An orphan, living a long, long way from where she’d been born. Even when they had been alive, her parents had kept to themselves and taught her to do the same.
She didn’t belong here, however, like Oliver did, and she needed to get back. To her lonely bed and her even lonelier life. “Oliver?”
“Aye.”
“Would you kiss me?”
He rolled toward her, and loomed above. With his big, calloused hands he brushed the hair off her face. “Always, my sweet Laura.”
His gentle kiss chased the fear, the uncertainty and even the darkness away. Laura sunk her fingers in his hair and pulled him deeper into the kiss. He offered her an elemental connection to life that she craved.
One kiss merged into another, and then another. A slow burn built between them. They arched into each other. Soft moans and hoarse groans filled the air. His, hers. Laura didn’t know or care.
Under impatient hands, their clothing hit the floor beside the bed until they lay skin against skin. A hot, smooth glide of impatient flesh pressing, sliding and seeking.
He worshipped her with those big, capable hands. Cupping her breasts and plumping them for the wet heat of his mouth. He caressed the skin of her belly, her hips, and found the sweet spot between her thighs. His fingers slid through her wet heat.
She opened her legs, greedy for more. Laura explored in turn. The hard muscle of his chest slid beneath her palms. She stroked his erection, scorching hot and straining in her hand.
“Laura.” Sweat slicked his beautiful face. He raised himself on his arms, asking her permission to go further.
“Yes.” She nudged his hips.
He settled between her thighs, his cock pressed against her. “Are you certain?”
“Yes.” She pushed against him. “I need this. I need you.”
Neck tendons standing rigid as he battled for control, he eased into her. “I have wanted this for so long. Too long.”
“Me too.” There was no place for lies and evasions between them anymore. Almost from the first moment of seeing him, she had wanted this. Laura wrapped her thighs around his hips and gripped his ass. She needed him to move, to take her there.
Withdrawing almost fully before plunging deep again, Oliver stroked inside her.
It felt so right, perfect. Laura arched into each thrust of his hips.
He filled her completely in a way that went beyond the mechanics of the act.
Their skin grew slick with sweat. His thrusts grew harder, deeper, faster and less controlled.
Laura let herself go completely. Just him and her and the beauty of what they built together. Her orgasm formed deep, spreading through her and hurling her over the edge. She tightened around him.
Oliver followed her over, locked inside her as they crested together.
Hot, sweaty and spent, he lowered himself onto her.
Laura relished his weight as she slowly came back to reality. She’d never experienced anything like it.
Holding her face, Oliver kissed her. “You are beautiful. Every part of you.”
He rolled to the side, and tucked her head onto his shoulder.
Outside, a bright moon rode the cloudless night.
Oliver’s breathing deepened and he relaxed into sleep.
Partly still wired from what had happened between them, Laura listened
to the slow cadence of his heartbeat. There was no Oliver in her time, and that opened an aching hole right through the middle of her.
Chapter Twelve
WAKING UP TO a crazy woman hanging over her bed freaked Laura the hell out, which considering her profession, was a shocker.
Elewys hung over the bed, Looney Tunes eyes glinting. “De Wolfe needs killing.”
Deciding to let Oliver field this one, Laura rolled out of the arc of cracked.
“Mother.” Oliver sat up in bed. “Could you leave us?”
“Why?” Elewys scowled. “You have not time to loll in bed. De Wolfe will know your face and come for you. He must be killed. Now.”
“He didn’t see me this time.” Oliver impressed the hell out of her with his calm tone. “If you could let us get dressed, we can discuss this.”
“But he saw you the first time. News of your return is already all over the village. How long do you think it will be before he comes looking?” Elewys glanced at her, then Oliver and back again. “I suppose she is needlessly modest.”
As she stomped out the door, Laura resisted the urge to defend her “modesty”.
The door slammed hard enough to rattle the hinges.
Oliver raised his brow at the door before turning to her. A gorgeous smile spread across his face, and cupping her nape, he drew her in for a kiss. “Good morning.”
“Good morning.” Laura wanted to giggle like a girl. What they’d shared left her feeling vulnerable and exposed. Not to mention the level of stupid it took to have unprotected sex. She knew better than that.
“Laura?” Oliver raised a questioning brow. “What is it?”
She couldn’t open that can of ugly, so she shook her head. “Let’s deal with your mother first.”
They dressed, and Laura made her dreaded trip to the facilities. She did her best to brush her teeth with her finger, and snagged a mint leaf from the herb garden. Look at her going all medieval woman here.
Elewys hunched over a pot on the hearth, looking so much like a Disney witch, Laura snickered. She took Oliver’s hand. This would be a hard conversation to have.
“Mother?” Palm sweaty in hers, he shifted. “We need to talk about William de Wolfe.”
“Aye, we do.” Elewys screwed her face up. “I need to know what happened. Why that cur still walks the earth.”
Oliver took a breath. “De Wolfe is not my father.”
“Of course he is.” Elewys spun back to her cauldron. “I am your mother and I should know who I lay with.”
“Nay, he is not.” Oliver dropped Laura’s hand and stepped closer to his mother. Tension crept along his rigid shoulders. “He cannot be my father. He is too young.”
“The devil keeps his youthful luster.” Elewys stabbed into her pot. Something thick, grey and gloopey burped. She brandished a spoon at Laura. “This is all you. Whispering in my boy’s ear and making him doubt his mother.”
“Yes, it is.” Laura kept the table between them. “Given William’s age, and Oliver’s age, there is no way they could be father and son. Brothers, perhaps, but I have my doubts about that too.”
Turning back to her pot, Elewys’s face went crafty. “Then you have discovered the truth.” She heaved a sigh. “De Wolfe is Oliver’s older brother.”
How amazingly convenient. Laura bit back a snort.
“My older brother.” Oliver glanced at her and then back at his mother. “If that be true, then why did you tell me he was my father?”
“I was young.” On a long, shuddering breath Elewys sniffled. “I was with child by a man who sought to kill me. It all began with one lie and grew and grew.”
“Stop it.” Oliver’s voice cracked through the cottage. “You’re lying again.”
“Oliver!” Eyes huge, Elewys stared at him. “She has you twisted around her finger. How could you think this of me?”
“Stop lying!” Oliver grabbed her shoulders. “I need you to tell me the truth and tell me now.”
“Oliver.” Laura put her hand on his arm. “Breathe.”
He released his mother and spun away from her. “She lied to me my whole life and now I just want to know why.”
“I hate him.” Slumping, Elewys sank onto the bench. “De Wolfe. I hate him.”
“Why?” The rawness in Oliver’s voice made Laura wince.
“He killed my child. Mine!” Elewys thumped her chest. “My sister had child after child. Three boys she bore. Three born healthy and sturdy and me with only withered little souls who died before I could carry them to life.”
“You have a sister?” Oliver frowned.
Laura motioned him to silence.
“Then I fell pregnant again and I knew he would live.” Elewys twisted her hands in her skirts. “I carried him my full time. The midwife said he had died in my womb. Did not even draw his first breath. I knew why. Watching that devil spawn clinging to my sister’s skirts, I knew he had done it. Born with those devil eyes that stared at my belly and sucked the life from my child. My child died and the devil spawn thrived.”
“You had lost children before?” Laura inched closer.
“Seven lost little souls.” Elewys trembled, and her hands dug into her thighs. “Seven beautiful little souls all lined up in a row.” Twitching, she drew lines with her finger. “Lying there together when they should have been in my arms.” Elewys railed and rocked forward. “Everyone said this one would be live. I carried him all the way. And then Devil Eyes took him from me.” Spit flew from her mouth. “Took the breath from him.”
Twisted, delusional but it made sense to Elewys. Laura couldn’t imagine the pain of losing child after child. No modern medicine to help the women of this time. Obeying her instinct, Laura asked, “Is Oliver even your child?”
Oliver sucked in a breath.
“He is mine.” Elewys thumped her chest again. “He is mine. I raised him. I loved him. The Lord took my boy and gave me one to make it right.”
“Gave you?” Oliver was so pale Laura moved nearer to him and pressed him onto the bed.
“Dirty witches.” Elewys’s face constricted into a mask of hate. “Filthy witches did not deserve a sweet baby. They would only infect it with their evil.” Throwing her head back she cackled. “Like my sister, they had so many and I only wanted the one. They left him, there for me to find with the sword right beside him. I took them both.” She looked at Laura, gaze clear and lucid. “Do you not see? It was a sign from God. The babe and the sword together. The instruments of my revenge.”
Huddling her arms around her chest as she muttered, Elewys rocked back and forth.
Shit! Peeling back the scab on this wound opened more and more infection. Laura didn’t rate their chances of getting anything sensible out of Elewys right now.
In one devastating blow all that Oliver knew about himself had been blown away and he concerned her more. She sat beside him on the bed and took his hand.
“I am all right.” He wrapped his arm about her shoulder. “Could be in an hour or two I lose my shit but for now, I’m doing okay.”
Laura nodded. “Can I get a promise from you?”
“Anything.” His gaze filled with warmth.
“If or when you feel yourself losing your shit, you’ll tell me.”
“You have my word.” He kissed her forehead. “In a strange way it’s a relief.”
“Huh?”
“The older I got, the more things did not make sense. It’s like I had these doubts all along and now they’ve been confirmed. Something always bothered me about de Wolfe as my father, but until you helped me put the pieces together, I couldn’t see it.” He huffed. “It sounds so stupid. Never in all the time I spent hating the man, did it occur to me to do the math.”
“How many times have you met him?”
“Including the two occasions when I found him to kill him?”
“Yes.”
“Two,” Oliver said. “The first time landed me in your time. The second was with you.”
/> “There you go then.” She leaned against him. Strong and warm, he provided the stable point in her shifting world. You could live your whole life without something and never know what you were missing until you had that thing. She would go home and Oliver would stay here. “What happens now?”
Oliver chuckled. “I have no bloody idea.”
Elewys jerked up right and cocked her head. “Listen?”
Laura didn’t feel inclined to listed to much Elewys had to say anymore.
“What is it?” Oliver stood.
“Horses.” Elewys dashed to the window and tugged aside the waxy covering. With a shriek she leaped back. “We are undone! We are dead!”
Dear God, the drama, always the drama with this woman. “What’s wrong, Elewys. Use your words.”
“De Wolfe comes.” Elewys flew into action, running around the cottage gathering things. “He recognized you from before, and the villager must have betrayed you to him. He comes.”
“Shit!” That wasn’t good, and maybe the drama was justified this time. Laura jumped off the bed, and with no idea of what to do next, stood there. “Shit! I don’t suppose he’s coming here to talk this through.”
Oliver looked at her.
“No, I suppose not.”
“You must go.” Elewys shoved clothing and food in a pack-type thing. “He remembers you as the man who nearly cut him down.”
Oliver ran to the casement. “How long have we got?”
“No time.” Elewys shoved the pack in his arms. “He draws near.”
A cloud of dust hovered over the horizon.
“Horses.” Oliver frowned. “We can hide in the woods and slip away after he leaves.”
“No.” Elewys snatched up the sword and pushed it into his arms. “Use it. Use the sword and get away from here.”
“Not without me.” Laura scrambled to Oliver and held on tight.
“But it’s not reliable.” Oliver stared at the sword as if he had a snake in his hands. “I can never be sure where we will end up.”
“Think about what you wish for.” Laura wrapped her arms around his waist. “Just think about it fast.”
The rumble of hooves shuddered through the ground. How many bloody horses did de Wolfe have with him? Men shouted from outside.
Romancing the de Wolfe Collection: Contemporary Romance Bundle Page 25
