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

by Lorraine Beaumont

  “I need to show you something,” Darias, said excitedly, grabbing hold of her hand and pulling her across the clearing.

  After Darias had somewhat recovered from his episode…ordeal…or whatever you may want to call it. He had not declared his undying love to her like she would have thought or wished.

  No. Instead, he took to acting like a bit like a child. Smiling often, touching the bark of a tree like it was something extraordinary and he even tried to touch a dragonfly. Now, he was more pensive, but still, a quick smile would slide over his beautiful face at the slightest provocation.

  “Look what I found.” Darias stopped abruptly and released her hand.

  Marguerite stared dumfounded at the sizeable frog settled on a rock near the embankment. She looked up at him. His face was full of wonder. “Darias, tis only frog,” she said.

  “A frog?” he said, giving her a questioning look.

  “Yes, a frog,” she sighed.

  “What does it do?”

  “It hops around and eats bugs.” And if you believe in fairytales and kiss enough of them, one will turn out to be a prince.

  He sighed and apparently losing interest in the frog, let his gaze settle elsewhere.

  Marguerite looked down to see what had caught his interest now. Apparently, it was the exposed part of her bosom.

  “These,” he pointed to her breast, “look like soft mounds,” he commented as though he were speaking of the weather. With a bewildered expression on his face he asked, “Why is that?”

  Marguerite took a breath. This was not the first odd question to come out of his mouth this morning. “Women do have breasts, Darias. I do not know why this is so fascinating to you all of a sudden.”

  “May I touch them?”

  Marguerite had a list of reasons lined up like little soldiers in her mind for him not to touch her. But the longer she looked at his handsome face she could not deny his simple request. “Go ahead.” She lifted her hair out of the way.

  Darias reached out his hand and tentatively touched her breasts. “They are very soft, just as I imagined,” he mused.

  Well there it was. Her breasts did nothing to stir his memory. She glanced down at them. Fine, they were not that memorable but he did say he liked them.

  “I would like to kiss you now. May I?” he asked, his face now mere inches from her own.

  Finally. Now, this was the man she remembered…the one she longed for…well almost. “Yes.”

  Darias leaned forward and touched his lips to hers for the briefest of moments. Then he pulled back, giving her an odd look.

  That one small kiss had sent tingles racing over her skin, making her breathless and ended too soon for her liking.

  “I like the way your face flushes with color when I am near you. Has it always been like this between us?” he asked candidly.

  She nodded mutely.

  “Good.” He smiled and lifted his hand to her face, brushing a piece of her hair over her shoulder. His hand lingered there. “I do remember you. Well,” he amended. “I remember kissing you. You taste sweet, I remember that.”

  “I do? You do?” She was completely flustered.

  He nodded his head. “Yes, I do.” Suddenly he looked up to the darkening sky and then let his gaze settle back to her face. “I will attend to you later, I think, but now I must fetch us something to eat.” And with that, he dropped his hand, turned on his heel and strode away.

  Marguerite stared at his departing form, now with a bewildered expression of her own on her face. What the bloody hell was that about?

  Young Milford had made a point to make himself scarce around the keep, after his visit with Merlin. He was afraid Morrigan would come and find him. Now he was hiding out on the battlements. The day was nearly gone now. A heavy fog rolled in across the fields in the distance. A chill ran up his spine, making him shiver—not with cold but dread.

  He shook it off.

  Mayhap his master had found the girl. Mayhap even now he was turning back to the man he once was. Merlin said he was interfering, but what exactly did that mean?

  With no answers readily available, Young Milford did the only thing he could think of. He lifted his hand to the side and made the sign of the cross.

  North.

  South.

  East.

  West.

  He turned around full circle and only then did he leave the battlements to make his way back into the keep.

  Sticky situation

  PRESENT DAYRAVENHURST

  “GET off of me you son of a bitch!” Cecily railed, struggling to get past another barbed bush. The sound of Dior silk tearing, rent the air, when she finally yanked free. Pitching forward, arms flailing, she windmilled them helplessly in the air. Not able to catch her balance, she fell to the ground. Her face hit soft mud, and her mouth scooped it up like a shovel. Gagging, and coughing she rolled over, and tried to stand.

  “Why me?” she cried, spitting mud from her mouth. She looked down at her feet and more tears welled in her eyes. “Oh no, Jimmy,” she wailed harder, “where did you go?” She had lost one of her leopard Jimmy Choo pumps.

  Hobbling forward, she made her way out of the forest into a clearing. The sun beat down on her mercilessly, baking the mud into a hardened mask in minutes. Wincing, she twitched to the side, trying to dislodge whatever was stuck in the back of her now ruined Dior blouse.

  A Raven swooped down from the sky, dive-bombing toward her head, cawing loudly. Shrieking, she covered her head with her arms, and took off running. By the time she made it across the clearing, she was breathless—exhausted. Crawling up onto the porch of the cabin she screamed, “LUCIAN!”

  Every which way

  THE PASTTHE HIDDEN GLENN

  THE massive horse bounced its head up and down while Darias diligently wiped down the sleek coat with dried grass.

  “I know my friend. It has been one of those days,” he said, patting the side of his neck and then he dropped the grass he held. This was the first time he felt close to his old self. Earlier, it was the strangest thing. He felt like an unschooled lad. Like he had no notion about the simplest of things, or pleasures he knew he had enjoyed throughout his life. The girl, Marguerite, he knew he remembered her as well but on some level he did not. It made no sense. He felt like he was starting all over again, which in some ways was a Godsend and he welcomed it with open arms. But at the same time, he still felt different, almost as though parts of him were odds with the other. Things around him seemed fresh and new, but at the same time familiar. Like he was walking in a shadow of his former self and that terrified him most of all.

  A shiver of unease rippled through him. He glanced over his shoulder and looked at the girl, Marguerite. She had been keeping her distance from him, for most of the day. With the exception of the time he pulled her across the clearing to look at a frog—“A frog,” he scoffed, shaking his head in disgust. Since when did he care about bloody frogs? But in that moment, he did. However, his interest in the little green frog had waned quickly enough and instead he became very aware of her. The way the light made parts of her hair look almost bluish, like a raven’s feathers. The swell of her breasts, the fullness of her lips. Yes, his awareness of her became intoxicating …overwhelming.

  There were so many things he wanted to say to her, things he remembered but he did not tell her. And yet she had still let him touch her… kiss her. And when he did, flashes of the moments they had spent in one another’s arms became clearer but when he let her go, they faded out just as quickly.

  Mayhap he needed to touch her more. Mayhap that would break the damn that had formed in his mind, stopping the flow of unwanted memories, but was also stopping him from remembering the very things that made him who he was.

  “Bloody hell!” he muttered, feeling disheartened and saddened to his core. He felt like he should say something to her, try to explain his actions or lack thereof but he did not have any answers readily available to give her, so he kept his
distance, and in doing so stayed silent.

  Marguerite looked at Darias desperately wanting him to come across the clearing, wrap his strong arms around her and tell her everything would be just as it once was between them. But she did not put much stock in that. After he had almost sliced her throat open with the tip of his sword she had thought, no, prayed, he would remember her. But any recollection that he may have had vanished quickly. Now she was back to square one.

  Scratch that.

  Not square one, but too close to it for her liking. Of course, she should not complain overmuch since at least he was here with her now.

  A brisk breeze kicked up dead leaves drawing her mind back from her musings. The light, what was left of it, was dwindling quickly though, so she set those thoughts aside and moved around to the side of a tree to empty her cloak out while he was preoccupied attending to other things. She did not want him to see all the modern marvels she had stored in the folds from her visit to the future Ravenhurst. If he did, he may slice her neck for real this time.

  Once she was sure he was not paying attention to her she quickly ducked around the tree, the one she had found with the large hole burrowed between the oversized roots and began unloading the contents inside. A dish slipped from the folds and clattered against the trunk, making a loud ding.

  “Bloody Hell!” She jumped up and peered around the side of the tree. About thirty feet away, Darias was standing with his broad back to her, his muscles rippling under his tunic as he snapped a large branch in half and dropped it to the ground at his feet, near the fire he had built. Exhaling, she watched him a moment more and when she was sure he wasn’t going to storm across the clearing and demand to know what she was doing she continued to unload the items from her wet cloak.

  A squirrel scampered toward her, pausing long enough to give her what she supposed was a squirrel’s version of a disgruntled look. She stuck out her tongue at it. The squirrel swished its bushy tale in the air, took three lunges in her direction and picked up a nut off the floor of the forest, then took off.

  “Yeah you better run,” she muttered, rubbing her rumbling belly. Darias had caught another rabbit and she could smell the meaty flesh cooking and hear the juices releasing onto the hot coals underneath, which only made her hungrier. She hoped he was in a sharing mood, if not she was going to starve. The little candies she taken from the future Ravenhurst were still tightly wrapped in their foil covers but she was reluctant to eat them as of yet. She may have need of them later.

  Standing up she wiped off her hands and looked down at the leaves she had dumped in the hole to cover her things. Satisfied all of her goodies were safely tucked away and out of sight, she lifted her now empty cloak up and twisted the length with both hands. The excess water pooled in a puddle at her feet, turning blades of still green grass a reddish color, reminding her of the now dead men that had attacked her earlier. Blood from their bodies, still stained the carpet of the forest across the clearing.

  Earlier, Darias had disposed of the bodies and for that, she was thankful. The last thing she needed to see was another reminder of what had almost happened to her person. If she had not used her wits, she may never have escaped their clutches and she would have become a victim of the foul deed they had intended for her. She still was not real sure how exactly the ruffians had met their maker but was glad for it just the same.

  At least her travels through time had taught her a thing or two. So, in a way, the hell she had already suffered through had actually given her enough survival skills to live another day. She glanced upward and said, “Thank you.”

  A gentle breeze blew through the clearing rustling the leaves remaining on the heavy limbs above her head. Wiping her damp hands on the dry part of her gown, she grabbed up her cloak, walked over to the fire, and hung it on a low hanging branch to dry.

  Darias turned and looked at her and unreadable expression on his face. Her breath caught in her throat.

  “It is getting late. If it is your intent to wash the filth from your body, now would be the time to do it.”

  She stood there, blinking at him stupidly. Well at least he sounded like a man once again…but also he was acting like a stranger. Mayhap the boy was not so bad after all. At least before, he seemed quite happy to be in her company. Now…not so much.

  Oh, take it!

  Darias inclined his head in the direction of the glistening pool of water.

  “Oh,” she said. Only now realizing what he was saying. Washing had not been her intent of course, but now that he mentioned it, she suddenly wanted to very badly. “Where will you be?”

  “Right here,” he said, and pointed to the ground at his feet.

  She looked between the spot he had pointed to and the pool of water. Only a few feet separated the two. “But you can see…me?” she squeaked, feeling suddenly shy.

  A mischievous spark flitted across his darkened gaze, instantly reminding her of the man he once was but it faded out just as quickly. Her chest tightened.

  “I will not look at you.” He turned his back. “See,” he said over his shoulder as though he could read her thoughts.

  Yes. She could see quite clearly. His long curling hair, once as dark as a raven’s feather was sprinkled with silvery pieces intertwined in the length. With a sigh, she walked back over to the tree across the clearing and lifted out a fresh gown, a small linen towel, and a bar of her scented soap. She had left them on one of the larger roots jutting up from the ground. Once she had gathered everything in her arms she would need, she walked back across the clearing.

  He gave her a curious look.

  “What?” she finally asked.

  “Where do you put such things?” he asked pointing to the bundle she held in her arms.

  “These?”

  “Yes.” He nodded his head.

  “Ah…I brought them with me.”

  “I can see that.” He muttered something unintelligible under his breath and then said, “Never mind.” He settled back on his haunches and turned the spit on the fire. It reminded her of the last time they were together. She stood there staring at him.

  He turned back to look at her. “Are you waiting for something … company perhaps?” he asked and then shook his head as though he couldn’t believe he had just said such a thing to her.

  “No!” as soon as she said the word, she wanted to kick herself. “Stupid.”

  “What?” He gave her a look that could only be described as shock.

  “Oh no,” she tried to explain, “not you…me.”

  “You are stupid?”

  “NO!” Yes! “I mean… Oh take it.”

  “Take what?” he asked, not sure why he felt like he had had this conversation before.

  “Oh never mind.” She was getting nowhere fast. She knew she should just quit while she was ahead but could not seem to stop herself from saying the next thing. “Do you want to bathe…” with me, she wanted to ask but instead said, “first?”

  He raked his eyes over her body and then leveled her with his piercing gaze. “No.”

  Her stomach turned over. She swallowed hard. Nodding her head, she pulled her bundle closer to her body. “Well, I guess I will be taking that bath now.” She stepped backward toward the pool of water.

  “I will be right here.” He shook his head, making his long veil of hair fall forward.

  She waffled in place, not sure what to do—he would see everything. Granted they had already lain with one another and he had seen her then as well…but this was different. He was a stranger now… even though for fleeting moments he did seem just as he was.

  Then a thought occurred to her. Maybe he needed to see her as she once was. Oh, she knew she was reaching but maybe she could trigger his memory. Now if only she could put her modesty aside everything would turn out the way she wanted. So he could remember what they once met to one another. Seeing him in all his naked glory had certainly made quite an impact on her. Maybe just maybe, if he could see her naked as wel
l…”Oh take it! Not bloody likely,” she muttered despondently.

  “Did you say something,” he asked turning back to look at her.

  “What?” She played dumb. “No, just singing a song. La la la…” Just singing a song? What am I saying? “Ugh, I’m so stupid.” She trudged forward, her shoulders slumping in defeat. Once she was at the embankment, she made a big show of placing her things on the ground and sat down to take off her boots. He did not even look.

  Gathering her nerve she stood and lifted her gown up, pulling it over her head. Completely naked now, she stood there, wondering if she should say something…jump up and down maybe? Gooseflesh rose on her skin, and her teeth started to chatter. Well hell.

  Apparently, he was immune.

  Irritated and suddenly freezing she reached up, pinched her nose, and jumped into the frigid water.

  A splashing sound, followed by a shriek alerted Darias she had finally jumped in the water. He did not turn to look although he was finding it very hard not to look since she was making such a ruckus. Still he forced himself not to look back at her. He had a feeling that if he did, he would not be able to turn away.

  Beware of the wolf in sheep’s clothing

  THE PRESENTTHE CABIN IN THE WOODS

  “WHAT the hell happened to you?” Lucian asked, placing a bowl of water and a towel on the table.

  Cecily didn’t even bother to answer. Instead, she grabbed the bowl with both hands, and shoved her face into the water, opening her mouth several times, like fish breathing under water, to get rid of all the dirt she had inadvertently eaten when she fell on her face.

  Once she was satisfied all the dirt was gone, she grabbed the towel off the table and scrubbed it over her tongue and teeth. Then she slammed it down on the table. Filthy water sloshed over the sides of the bowl onto the scratched surface. “What happened to me?” she yelled her eyes bugging. “What didn’t happen to me?” she screamed even louder.

  Stepping back, Lucian gave her a wide berth. “Now Cecily,” he said. “There is no need to scream.” He retreated even further away. Once he was on the other side of the room, he added, “You should really calm down.”