Now and Forever:: A NEW ADULT TIME TRAVEL ROMANCE NOVEL (RAVENHURST SERIES Book 5)

by Lorraine Beaumont

“Not really.” Reed lifted his hand and ran it through his hair, mussing it in aggravation. He was pressed back against several pillows, his shirt open, revealing his muscled chest in the dim candlelight with his long muscular legs spread out in front, his ankles crossed. A light trail of hair disappeared down into the waist of his pants on an otherwise bare chest was distracting to say the least. If he looked like a cologne ad before when he was wearing his tailored suit, he certainly looked like one now—very sexy.

  “Raven?” Reed shifted his position.

  “Hmm,” she said distractedly, chewing on her lip.

  “What are you looking at?” he asked and nudged her leg with his foot.

  “What?” she snapped, pulling her eyes back to his. Her breath caught and immediately she wished she hadn’t. The look he was giving her made her uncomfortably warm. “Oh,” she said opening her mouth then closing it suddenly. “Sorry, what were you saying about the treasure?”

  “What are you looking at?”

  Your freakishly hot body, she wanted to say, but didn’t. “So,” she said, lifting her hand to her hair and pulling the length absently over her shoulder. “What are you going to do?”

  “Damned if I know,” he exhaled.

  “You don’t think Cecily is involved… in this.” She waved her hand in the air.

  “You tell me.” He gave her another one of his pointed looks. “She is your friend, isn’t she?” he prodded.

  Raven heard the accusation in his voice and pulled her legs closer trying to shield herself from his growing animosity. “Yes, I guess you could say we are friends but I don’t know what she is up to. And I would like to point out that I was as surprised as you were when she stormed into the foyer.” She didn’t mention that she was even more surprised when she threw her arms around Reed and practically smothered him with her oversized bosom.

  “Sorry.” He exhaled, shaking his head. “I didn’t think you were involved.”

  Raven couldn’t stop her mouth from falling open. He thought she was involved? “Gee thanks,” she deadpanned, suddenly irritated.

  “Hey!” He gave her a sharp look. “Give me some credit,” he said. “If I truly thought you were involved I would have shoved you into the hall earlier when that thing was trying to get inside the room.”

  “What?” she spluttered shocked and then gaped at him. Like hell you would, she thought. She would have shoved his ass out first. Fear made her freakishly strong.

  A slow wicked smile broke across his face. “I was wondering if you were listening,” he said.

  “Of course I was listening,” she defended and then saw the look he was giving her. “Why you…” Reaching forward she tried to smack him gently on his thigh but missed and hit him somewhere in the middle.

  Reed grabbed hold of her hand, holding on to it. “Careful wife…” He lifted his brow. “You don’t want to break the goods before you get a chance to try them out.”

  Her eyes boggled and her face flamed with color. She was glad it was somewhat dark in the chamber or he would see how red her face was. “Have you always been this conceited or is it some trait you have recently acquired for my benefit?”

  “Oh, I don’t think it can be called conceit if it is true.” He gave her another one of his dashing grins. It made her stomach flutter.

  “Oh stop.” She laughed suddenly not able to help herself. She would never admit this to him but she was actually enjoying their time together. “You are so messing with me.”

  “Am I?” He gave her a heavy lidded stare.

  “Um…” Her train of thought was broken by the look he was giving her. Damn. It should be a sin to look as good as he did. She lifted her hand and fanned her face.

  “Do tell Raven, am I messing with you?” he prodded.

  “I um, well, you…”

  “I don’t believe it.”

  “You don’t believe what?” she squeaked, her voice cracking awkwardly.

  “I am making you blush.”

  “No you aren’t,” she defended.

  “Yes I am. Your face is turning red.”

  “Puh-lease get over yourself would you.” Oh yes I am. “It is merely hot in here,” she lied.

  “Really,” he breathed, not sounding like he believed her lies for a minute. “I think it is rather chilly.”

  Normally she would have made a joke and said it was because he didn’t have the amount of fat on his body that she did and have a good laugh. But suddenly she didn’t want to bust on herself. She wanted him to look at her like he did earlier in the library, his eyes smoldering with passion. She shifted uncomfortably on the bed, and picked at a hard spot on the velvet coverlet. It felt like glue or….

  Sitting up quickly, Reed pressed forward on his hands and leaned toward her, his face close. “Are you afraid?”

  “No.”

  “Then why are you breathing so heavily?”

  “I am not,” she disagreed, even though she was.

  “Really?” he breathed, his warm breath wafting out across her face. She shivered in response.

  “You aren’t afraid?”

  “No.” She bit her lip, feeling a bit afraid but not for the reasons he was implying.

  “You can tell me,” he whispered, moving even closer.

  She swallowed hard. “No,” she repeated. “I am not afraid.” Gathering the coverlet in her hand, she clenched the velvet fabric, crushing it with her fingers.

  When he gave her another one of his heavy lidded stares, her heart picked up pace. Actually it more like a dead heat in a race. She felt like he could read her mind.

  “Your heart is pounding…,” he breathed, sliding the tips of his fingers over the column of her throat.

  She wanted to say… because your ass is too close to me. Instead, she dumped out another lie. “Fine,” she said. “I am scared, terrified even.”

  “What of?”

  You. “The situation,” she lied.

  “You don’t think I will protect you?”

  “Yes…I mean no. I mean…”

  “Yes…or… no…” He inched forward, his lips nearly touching hers.

  God, he was beautiful. She wanted to lean in just a bit so her lips would touch his…if only for a moment. Instead, she shook her head. “What?”

  He leaned back suddenly and laughed.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “You,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “You want me.”

  YES! “NO I don’t!”

  “We’ll see about that,” he murmured, leaning forward until his mouth captured hers. At first she was too shocked to do anything but when his tongue slid over her lip, she opened her mouth maybe to protest, but instead she merely let him enter. Clenching the coverlet tighter, she sat perfectly still, willing herself not to jump right on top of him.

  He pulled back a bit and looked at her, confusion in his eyes. “Do you want me to stop?”

  NO! “Yes.”

  “Really?”

  “Yep I do.”

  “We are married, you know.”

  “Yes. I know.”

  “Then why don’t you want to …” He lifted his brows up and down.

  “Ah…” Oh hell. How am I supposed to deny that face? “Okay.”

  “Okay….what?” he practically purred, sliding his strong hand up her thigh, the stretchy fabric of her yoga pants doing very little to buffer the heat of his touch. Gooseflesh rose on her skin and she shivered. Trying to get her rampant emotions under control she blurted, “Ah…what about the treasure?”

  He lifted his hand and sat back against the pillows and she instantly wanted to kick herself.

  He sighed. “I guess once the lights come back on, I am going to find it.”

  “If it is that easy why haven’t you tried to find it before?”

  “It’s a long story.” I was afraid to disappear like my father. He shook his head. He didn’t need to explain to her the sordid details. Reed still half expected to see him behind the
library desk each morning he walked down the stairs or to come walking through the front door.

  “Where did the treasure come from?”

  “The Raven Knight, the original owner of this donjon… or castle… or pile of rubble.”

  Raven gave him a startled look.

  “Depends on who you ask,” he elaborated.

  “Anyway, the Raven Knight,” he lifted his hands in the air and did air quotes, “was early on favored by the King.”

  “What King?”

  “King Arthur.”

  “King Arthur? The one who had knights at a round table and Merlin was his sidekick?”

  “I suppose it was the same one.” He shrugged.

  “So what happened?”

  “From what I gathered from Milford, earlier, when he finally told me of the tale, apparently, the Raven Knight was having some kind of dark issues and he did a lot of damage, raiding, conquering, etc. If the histories are to be believed, the Raven Knight was also drawn and quartered by the same king that had originally favored him and the gold, the wealth, he had accumulated during his darkest hours was never found.

  “What do you mean if the histories are to be believed?”

  “Well some speculate he was in fact drawn and quartered while others say he merely disappeared one day into the swirling white mists that surrounds the castle like a shroud.”

  “Wow.” She let out a slow breath. “Which one does Milford say is true?” When he gave her a questioning look, she elaborated, “Well I am just saying, if, and mind you, I am reaching here, if what Marguerite say’s is true and Milford is from the past shouldn’t he know what happened to the man, the Raven Knight?”

  “I asked him that very same question.” He shook his head.

  “And…” she prodded. The suspense was killing her.

  “Well…you see…” he paused, releasing a long slow breath of his own. “ He says he doesn’t know what happened.”

  Raven inflated her cheeks and released a big huff of air. “Oh—Kay,” she said, not sure what to think of that.

  “So you see the entire thing is just so messed up.”

  “I agree.” Raven said. “Poor Milford.”

  Poor Milford? Reed thought, right, more like poor me!

  “So where do you think it is?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine.” He raked a hand through his hair.

  “Well I am rather good at figuring out puzzles. You want to try me?”

  “I was going to try you out earlier but you said you didn’t want to…remember?” he said, lightening the conversation.

  “Ah…” Her breath caught in her throat, but then he smiled again and she knew he was teasing her. “Oh my God!” she said in exasperation. “Stop messing with me.”

  “I can’t,” he said, chuckling lightly again. “You are too easy to mess with.”

  She tried being angry but he was just too irresistible.

  Lifting his hand, he rubbed the back of his neck. “Damn, I wish I had a masseuse,” he said offhandedly.

  “I can rub you,” she blurted and then slammed her mouth shut, mortified. God, I sound like an idiot.

  “I was hoping you’d offer.” He gave her a devilish grin and then shrugged out of his shirt exposing his incredible body. “How do you want me?”

  Any way you want. “Um, lie down on your stomach.”

  Promptly he turned over on his stomach, gathering a pillow under his arms. “I am ready whenever you are,” he said propping his head on the pillow.

  “Oh—kay,” she said, leaning forward she placed the tips of her fingers on his back.

  “Damn!” he yelled, jumping slightly.

  “What?” She pulled her hands back.

  “Your hands are cold,” he grumbled and then laid his head back down on the pillow.

  “I told you I was cold,” she argued, happy for once one of her lame excuses actually worked in her favor. Rubbing her hands together, she tried to heat them up and then tentatively placed them on his back once more. “Better?”

  “Umm,” he muffled out from the pillow.

  Moving closer she began to rub his muscled torso in earnest. The one time she had went to a “spa” she had somehow ended up with a masseuse that was deaf and mute. All she could hear was a grunting sound each time the woman pressed on her back and rubbed her shoulders raw. It was not a relaxing experience. This wasn’t either. Actually the more she touched him, the more she wanted to do other things as well.

  “Climb on my back,” he said, shifting slightly under her hands.

  “I am too heavy,” she protested, suddenly wishing she was ten pounds lighter.

  “Raven,” he said, turning. “I am not a weakling you know. Come on, climb up on my back,” he urged.

  “Fine, but if you can’t breathe it’s not my fault.”

  He gave her a reassuring look. “I am sure I will be just fine.”

  Lifting one leg, she climbed over his back, straddling him and sat down lightly.

  He immediately started shaking and kicking his feet.

  Oh. My. God! Completely mortified she sat up and tried to move off him. Before she made it off his back, his laughter grew louder and in a fluid motion, he flipped onto his back. Lifting his hands, he placed them on her thighs stopping her. Now seated right on top of him, he moved his hands slowly up her thighs, his thumbs kneading the sensitive skin under the thin fabric of her pants. “You…you…are…”

  His eyes smoldered. “Yes,” he coaxed, his laughter gone for the moment.

  “Insufferable.”

  His fingers glided further up her thighs. “Am I?”

  Her breath hitched. “Are you—?”

  “Insufferable,” he finished her sentence.

  She shook her head up and down, saying yes since her words were stuck in her throat. She wanted to wiggle down against him. Actually, if she were to be truthful with herself it made her want to do just a bit more than that.

  “Hmm,” he said, in that sexy way of his. It made her shiver with delight.

  “Reed,” she shifted on top of him, almost squirming now.

  “Yes?”

  She cleared her throat. “What are you doing?”

  “You want the truth?”

  “Of course,” she said.

  “I am about to make love to my wife…that is what I am doing,” he explained and then lifted his brow almost as if he was daring her to deny him. “Unless…”

  When he didn’t say anything more she had to ask, “Unless what?”

  “If you’re not in the mood…” he began but then left his sentence open.

  Hell yeah she was in the mood, but telling him so didn’t seem like an option at this point. What if he was only kidding? And then she would look like a desperate idiot. And that was not a risk she was willing to take …yet. So instead, she lied. “I am kind-of tired.”

  The heat in his eyes dimmed and she immediately wanted to kick herself. Stupid. Dumb. Stupid…she silently berated herself. She was a complete nincompoop. Before she knew what he was about, he flipped her on her back and now was hovering above her, his mouth inches from her own. “WH—what are you doing?” she squeaked.

  He smiled. “You said you were tired, right?”

  “Uh—huh.” She nodded her head.

  “I’m not, so I will do the work.” Slowly he dragged his fingers down the column of her neck, and then lightly brushed his fingers over the side of her breast. “All you have to do is say yes.” He smiled again.

  Raven pressed back into the pillows. She could feel the heat emanating from his body. Was he serious? Well there is only one-way to find out, her little voice piped in. “Oh—kay,” she agreed.

  Reed rolled off the top of her quickly and landed on his back, laughing all the while.

  Oh. My. God! If it was possible to die of embarrassment, she would have been a goner. “What is so funny?” she had to ask, since apparently she was a glutton for punishment.

  “I knew you wanted me.” He l
aughed harder.

  That was it—the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. In a huff, she sat up and started to crawl off the bed.

  “Wait…Raven…don’t leave me,” he said in a rush.

  She froze, not knowing what to do. He sounded so…

  He crawled up behind her. “Come here,” he said, pulling her back against him. He lifted his hand and smoothed it over her hair. “I’m sorry,” he breathed into her ear. “I was only kidding.”

  She didn’t turn to face him. “About which part,” she heard herself asking like a pathetic peon and then wanted to kick herself again.

  “Well…” he paused debating how much he should say. Reed wasn’t good at discussing his feelings with anyone since it would leave him exposed, vulnerable, which was not something he did… ever and yet he didn’t want her to think he wasn’t serious so he said, “I do want you.” His breath was a whisper across her flesh. “How could I not…”

  Raven wasn’t sure how to react, his words made her feel all warm and fuzzy and breathless and excited and…

  “Oh hell!” Reed didn’t wait for permission. Reaching forward he turned her around so she was facing him. They were both on their knees staring at each other and then he dipped his head down and covered her mouth with his own. In minutes, they were lying on the bed, his body covering hers, nudging her legs apart with his.

  “Take these off,” he demanded throatily, sliding his hand over her pants.

  Raven shimmied out of her pants, when they stuck on her thighs Reed moved her hands and peeled them down her legs, all the while kissing each bit of flesh he exposed. Luckily, she was wearing her “special occasion panties”… just like her heated dream.

  The storm raged outside, rattling the windows, and shaking the house. But none of that mattered right now. The only thing that mattered was Reed and the way he was making her feel. His mouth went even lower, his lips on her inner thigh as he spread her legs wider with his hands.

  Normally she would have been embarrassed but right now she was so turned on she was past caring. Then his mouth was on her hip and he was nipping the delicate skin playfully. She clenched the velvet coverlet with her hand.

  “I want you…bad,” he growled, not stopping his assault. “Say it,” he pushed.

  “Hmm,” she mumbled barely coherent at this point. She was too wrapped in the moment.