10 Timeless Heroes; A Time Travel Romance Boxed Set
Page 205
But a quick glance around the darkening car revealed she was still on the same train—a comfortable but sterile silver snake that silently wound its way across the United States. She hugged herself and stared out of the window, willing the light to stay with her a little longer to keep the long, dark night at bay. By breakfast, they would be nearing Seattle, and the trip would end. Her hopes of finding Robert would end.
Had Robert ever really lived? Or had he been a figment of her imagination? The aching sense of loss in her throat and chest seemed too real and painful to suffer over a mystical dream lover. She remembered the day she’d imagined Robert, Constance, Stephen and Malcolm dead and buried a hundred years later. The memory still made her shudder. Perhaps she could go to the library in Seattle and see if any of them had ever really existed.
Perhaps find their graves? Was it possible?
Ellie brushed away the tears from her eyes with the back of her hands. She turned her face away from the aisle as a tall man approached. In the moment before she looked away, something about the waves of his dark hair caught her attention. She gasped and swung her head back in his direction.
The tall man glanced down at her, nodded pleasantly and passed.
It wasn’t Robert! How could it be? She shook her head and pressed a hand to her racing heart. What was she thinking?
Ellie closed her eyes once again and dozed fitfully. During the night, she heard the conductor’s monotone as he passed through the car with a quiet, “Spokane, Washington. Spokane, Washington.” She pulled up her legs, hunched her shoulders and pressed tighter into her corner.
“Wenatchee, Washington, five minutes. Wenatchee, Washington.”
Ellie pried open one eye to the faint rosy light of dawn. Her ears pricked. Wenatchee?
This was it! This had to be the moment. If she were ever going to find Robert, this had to be it! She jumped up from her seat, stumbling against the back of the seat in front of her. She had to get off at this stop. This is where Robert would be. She bent down to look out the window. Tall pine trees hugged the train tracks. Streaks of daylight broke through the openings in the forest. This had to be right.
The train slid into a smooth halt, and Ellie tripped down the stairs. She hopped off the train and surveyed the area around the concrete platform. Up and down the length of the gleaming train, other passengers descended to stretch their legs. Something was wrong. Nothing looked as it should.
She turned to the young conductor who stood by the door of the car. “Excuse me. Is this Wenatchee?” The modern concrete platform, paved parking lot and steel and glass station bore little resemblance to the old wooden station surrounded by dirt.
“Yes, ma’am.” He pointed to the sign over the station which read “Wenatchee” in glaringly huge letters. Ellie stared at it for a moment, and her exhausted knees wobbled. Then Wenatchee wasn’t the answer! Robert did not appear. He didn’t stride up to her and take her hand in his. He didn’t fold her in his arms.
Ellie’s feet began to move with a will of their own, and she headed toward the train station. A large round station clock read 5:35 a.m. She pushed open the glass and steel door and stepped into the deserted lobby. Modern acrylic benches in a multitude of colors decorated the room. No one waited for her. The lobby was desolate.
This had been her last hope! Gone!
A bout of dizziness and a wave of nausea overtook her. Her knees buckled and she fell against one of the benches. She gave in to a strange urge and laid her head down for just a moment, hoping the world would soon right itself. But the world continued to slide, and Ellie slipped into unconsciousness.
“Miss. Miss, are you all right? Did you fall asleep?”
Ellie woke up to gentle prodding of her shoulder by a kindly, bespectacled, gray-haired man sporting a train conductor’s uniform. She tried to raise her aching head but slumped for a moment.
“I-I’m fine. I’m okay. What time is it?” she asked assuming only a few moments had passed.
“It’s 5:45 a.m., Miss. The station is closed. How did you get in here?”
Ellie met the older man’s kind blue eyes and looked behind him to see weathered wooden walls and a dusty floor. The varnished pine bench under her legs bore no resemblance to the acrylic bench onto which she’d slumped. Her heart began to pound.
This was it! She’d done it!
The loud whistle of the train brought her to her feet.
She rushed past the startled stationmaster and pushed open the wooden door, careening to a halt. The train no longer stood in front of the station. A puff of black smoke was all that remained of the gleaming black vintage train as it barreled out of the station on its way to Seattle.
“Wait!” Ellie screamed as she ran across the dusty wooden platform toward the empty tracks. She stopped for a moment and bent over, bracing her hands on her knees to draw in a deep breath.
“Wait!” she screamed even louder. “Wait for me!” Her throat burned, but she kept screaming. “Robert! Wait for me! Please don’t leave me! Robert! Come back for me!”
“Ellie, wake up!” Strong arms enveloped her.
Chapter Seventeen
“Ellie, wake up!”
She awoke with a start, tears streaming down her cheeks, and burrowed her face into Robert’s neck. He held her against him and kissed the top of her head as he rubbed her back in long soothing strokes.
“Another dream, my love?”
Ellie nodded, rubbing against his warm skin.
“Were you running for the train again, sweeting?” Ellie calmed to the rumble of his voice in his chest.
“Again,” she murmured. She drew a deep breath to calm her racing heart. “I still haven’t caught it,” she said with a watery chuckle.
Robert’s low laugh bounced her face on his chest, and she craned her neck to look at him. He bent his head and kissed her lips in a slow, lingering caress, pulling her closer to him, molding her body against his as they lay together. He lifted his head and studied her face with warm green eyes.
“Maybe the dreams will end someday, my love. I hope so.”
She buried her face against him again. “I hope so too,” she mumbled. “I don’t think they’re good for the baby.”
Robert slid his hand down to her rounded stomach. “The baby will be fine, Ellie. She has been a hundred years in the making. She must be strong, don’t you think?”
Ellie chuckled at Robert’s logic. “Yes, dear. I think he will be very strong.” She leaned up on one elbow and stared into her husband’s soft, dark-lashed eyes. “I love you, Robert. I cannot tell you how much I love you.”
“And you are the only woman I have ever loved, Ellie. I waited for you a long time.” He stared at her as he reached to brush the tangled curly brown hair from her face. “I hope the baby looks like you. I hope she has your hair.”
Ellie grinned. “Well, your grandmother just hopes I have a baby with two arms and two legs. You know she thinks I’m too old.”
Robert smiled and his eyes twinkled. “If only she knew how old. Almost one hundred and fifty years, I would say.” He snorted. “You look remarkable for your age, Mrs. Chamberlain.”
She gave him a playful smack on his shoulder.
“Thank you, Mr. Chamberlain.”
His face grew serious. “Thank you, Ellie, for marrying me and having our child. Thank you for coming back in time for me.”
Ellie wrinkled her nose. “You know I still don’t believe in time travel, Robert, though it appears likely that this isn’t a dream. No one could possibly dream up a man like you...the love we’ve shared...the nights.” Her face burned at the light in his eyes. She looked down on her rounded belly. “And the baby we created together.”
“This is no dream, my love. Though Mr. Wells wrote back to tell me he thought I had taken his book a little too seriously, I know you heard my loneliness and came through time for me.”
She pressed her lips against the adorable cleft in his chin and tilted her head to study his face
.
“I can’t imagine how a handsome man like you could ever be lonely, Robert.”
His eyes narrowed seductively. “Well, it took you forever to come to me. I waited and waited, though I understand you had quite a long journey.”
Ellie laughed, and the baby in her stomach moved in response. She lay back and reached for Robert’s hand to place it on her stomach. He rolled over on his elbow and looked down into her face. His green eyes sparkled, reminding her of another set of eyes.
“Robert. Do you think it’s possible that I could have met my grandchildren in the future? There was a man on the train...” She let her voice trail off as Robert began to kiss the corner of her mouth.
****
Edward awoke to the voice of the conductor.
“Wenatchee, Washington. Wenatchee, Washington.”
He rubbed his eyes and turned to look at his seatmate. She was gone. He checked his watch. 5:45 a.m. The hour was early. Muted light broke through a few cracks in the curtains. Maybe she’d gone to the restroom.
He stood to stretch his legs with a fervent wish that he could get a cup of tea at this early hour, but the snack bar would not open for another fifteen minutes. He eased himself back into his seat and waited for the young woman...Ellie...to reappear. Maybe she would like to join him. There was something about her that intrigued him. He wasn’t certain what it was. The color of her hair, the hazel of her eyes, the tilt of her lips as she smiled?
Edward studied her empty seat for a moment and suddenly he stiffened.
Ellie! Good gravy! That was his grandmother’s first name! How had he not remembered that? The name was not that common. He’d always just thought of her as “Grandma.” He shook his head with a bemused smile. What a coincidence.
He turned to the window and watched the first rays of dawn streaking through the tall pine trees of his home state. Memories flooded in as he recalled his youth, playing at his grandparents’ house on the hill...the house he still owned. He smiled as he remembered his grandmother’s odd mode of dress for gardening—an old skirt she fondly referred to as her “jeans skirt” and the open-backed shoes she’d called “clogs,” as if she were some Dutch woman. How odd that both styles had recently come back into fashion. The cyclical nature of fashion!
He and his older sister had adored spending time with their eccentric grandmother and doting grandfather. No one else had grandparents quite like them, but all their playmates envied them the big house with nooks and crannies suitable for playing hide-and-seek and a sloping lawn that turned into a wonderful sled hill on rare snow days. Grandma Ellie had always been the first to acquire any new gadgets on the market—the first car, the first radio, the newest kitchen appliances. She and Grandpa had taken them on their first train trip to Glacier National Park, where she’d shown them mountain goats and old historical trains like the one where she had met Grandpa.
Great Aunt Constance had often said that he looked just like a younger version of his grandfather. Uncle Malcolm agreed. He always agreed when Aunt Constance spoke. She and Great Aunt Melinda often speculated whether he would grow to be as tall as the handsome silver-haired man he’d worshiped. And he had. Edward stretched out his legs.
Grandma Ellie used to make him blush whenever she bent down and peered into his eyes. He was never quite sure what she was looking for, but she always smiled, kissed his forehead and told him he was the “spitting image of Grandpa and would some day grow to become a handsome old gentleman.”
Edward smiled at the memories. Grandma Ellie had always been ahead of her time, full of new ideas, controversial thoughts and strange colloquialisms...for the time. He remembered whispers from other parents behind covered hands, but his grandparents shook their heads and kept laughing.
He looked at his watch again. 6:00 a.m. The snack bar was open, and still the young woman had not returned. Neither did he see any of her possessions. He stood and scanned the boarding passes above the seats. Only his pass remained. She said she was going to Seattle. Where had she gone? Had she ever even been on the train?
He shook his head and smiled. He moved down the car toward the snack bar. Maybe she had just been a dream.
Books by Bess McBride
Time Travel Romance
Forever Beside You in Time
Moonlight Wishes in Time
(Book One of the Moonlight Wishes in Time series)
Under an English Moon
(Book Two of the Moonlight Wishes in Time series)
A Train Through Time
(Book One of the Train Through Time series)
Together Forever in Time
(Book Two of the Train Through Time series)
A Smile in Time
(Book Three of the Train Through Time series)
Finding You in Time
(Book Four of the Train Through Time series)
Train Through Time Series Boxed Set
(Books 1-3)
Across the Winds of Time
Love of My Heart
Contemporary/Romantic Suspense
Will Travel for Romance Boxed Set Books 1-5
A Shy Woman in Love
A Sigh of Love
A Trail of Love
A Penny for Your Thoughts
Jenny Cussler’s Last Stand
Contemporary/Ghost Story
Caribbean Dreams of Love
On a Warm Sea of Love
About the Author
I began my first fiction writing attempt when I was 14. I shut myself up in my bedroom one summer and obsessively worked on a time travel/pirate novel set in the beloved Caribbean of my youth. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to hammer it out on a manual typewriter (oh yeah, I’m that old) before it was time to go back to school. The draft of that novel has long since disappeared, but the story still simmers within, and I will finish it one day soon.
I was born in Aruba to American parents and lived in Venezuela until my family returned to the United States when I was 12. I couldn’t fight the global travel bug, and I joined the U.S. Air Force at 18 to “see the world.” After 21 wonderful and fulfilling years traveling the world and the birth of one beautiful daughter, I pursued my dream of finally getting a college education. With a license in mental health therapy, I worked with veterans and continue to work on behalf of veterans. I continue to travel, my first love, and almost all of my books involve travel.
I write time travel romances, light paranormal/fantasy romances (lovelorn ghosty stuff), contemporary romances, and romantic suspense. Visit my website at
www.BessMcBride.com
CAPTIVE HERO
(Time-shift Heroes Series-Book One)
By
Donna Michaels
**2012 RONE Awards Finalist for Best Time Travel**
**2013 Reader’s Crown Finalist RomCon**
**Winner Affaire de Coeur’s Almost Kiss Cover Contest**
Phantombird VL Zero Three initiating invisibility.
Okay baby, her thumb hovered over the red toggle switch as she silently implored the craft, Maria and I are allergic to flames so this is no time for fireworks.
With a dry throat and sweaty palms, Sam gazed out at the sparkling blue horizon and flipped the switch.
“Did it work?” Maria asked a moment later.
“I’m not sure.” Outside, the bright blue sky took on a gray, almost smoky sheen. Odd. Sam frowned. “Command, this is Phantombi—”
A sudden intense jarring cut off her attempt to contact base and rattled the aircraft. With a tight grip on the stick, she increased their altitude, her brain seeking a reason for the jerking while she worked to regain control of their shaking craft. Only one explanation came to mind.
“That felt like…we were fired at.”
“Because we were.” Maria’s finger shook as she pointed to the radar.
Multiple green blips glared out a warning. There shouldn’t be any blips, and yet dozens of planes filled the skies seven hundred feet below.
“Who the hell is that?�
�
A deep male tone barked in Sam’s headset, sending shivers straight to her booted toes.
That was not Command Central.
What they’re saying…
About Her Uniform Cowboy:
**Voted BEST COWBOY in a Book/Reader’s Choice-LRC**
“I loved this third installment of the Harland County Series. Ms. Michaels creates characters that are very real and believable to her readers and she wraps a storyline around them that fit each one perfectly. I’m a huge fan of her writing and can honestly say I eagerly look forward to any new stories she writes. If you haven’t read anything by her, now is the perfect time to start. I highly recommend this book and the Harland County Series!”
—Night Owl Reviews, Reviewer Top Pick
About She Does Know Jack:
“This was a wonderful book about a "reality show". I could just imagine I was watching it live. So fun and light hearted. The Hero (Jack) and heroine (Brielle) had met at another undercover mission. Though neither knew the other was working on the same side. I loved the part where they went horseback riding and until the end of the night. I laughed so much I almost couldn't finish reading it. I felt like I was there. You need to get this and read it yourself. I will be reading more from Donna Michaels.”
—Amazon Reader Review—DAA
About Cowboy-Sexy:
“A blend of military man and cowboy …ohh my. The connection between these two is electric. This book is full of real life struggles that military couples face. These details give the story a lot of depth and heart. Yet despite the difficult topics tackled, the upbeat dialogue makes this a fun read. Readers will race through this story and then preorder the next book in the series to see what is in store for outrageous Brett.”