Electra went to the bed and peeled back the coverlet. “The pillow and sheet are made of silk.”
Roger nodded. “I asked the prince if he wouldn’t mind doing this for me. A favor from one noble to another.”
She pressed down on the mattress wanting to see why it was so puffy. “Oh feathers. Another perk of nobility. I’m liking this Comte-Prince connection.”
“It comes in handy.” Roger stepped close and removed her cloak and tossed it onto one of the chairs. He moved her braid to gain access to her neck, kissing her throat as he began to unlace her gown.
Electra tipped her head, loving the warmth of his lips as they traveled from the sensitive skin beneath her ear to the well of her collarbone. How she’d missed his touch. Those calloused palms she’d grown to love. When they’d first gotten together he’d worried she’d be put off by his hard hands toughened from sword work in the reenactment group. She only recently realized they were really toughened by his life as a medieval man.
She bent her head the other direction and her nose touched his cheek, giving her a whiff of the scent that was his alone. At night the breeze off the river had constantly reminded her how he always smelled like he’d just come in from the outside. Even when he wore a tuxedo, there was the scent of wind and leather about him.
She closed her eyes and just took in the reality of the moment and that they were together again.
Her nipples hardened and gooseflesh dotted her arms as he sucked first her left shoulder then her right while pushing the sleeves of her gown down.
“Roger...”
“Shh.”
He slipped the straps of her chemise down and cupped her breasts, forcing the ribbons loose so the top fell away. He tugged chemise and underskirts to the floor and lifted her legs one by one to kick all the clothing away.
She started to turn around, but he stopped her. “Stay still.”
She heard him stripping his clothes off. When he finished, he wrapped his arms around her so all she could do was raise her hands and clasp onto his forearms.
He held her tight with one arm and with the other he roamed and prodded, provoked and stirred deep within all her most secret places. His fingers glistened with her eagerness. She thought she’d go mad if he kept on much longer. “Roger, please. Make love to me. Now.”
“Not yet.” He released her and helped her onto the bed and then climbed up behind her. “Turn around.”
“But I want to make love to you.”
“Today is your day. You have reminded me that I am French. I will play my part.” He laid her back and kissed her gently at first then with increasing passion. He kissed the tiny veins at her temples and her eyelids then down her nose.
His lips on her left cheek, he whispered, “Mon amour.”
She knew enough French to know that meant my love.
His lips on her right cheek, he whispered, “Mon seul amour.”
My only love.
If he kept whispering French to her, she might die from adoring him for it.
He moved to her throat and collarbone. He’d kiss, then touch his warm tongue to the spot, then blow on it, sending all thoughts she might have into oblivion. If he spoke, she had no recollection.
She grabbed his head and tried to bring him up. “Roger, I need you inside me. Please now. No more kissing. I need you. You. I shall die if you wait longer.”
He pushed her hands away and smiled a wicked, wicked smile. “Not yet.”
“I shall never forgive you.”
“Yes, you will when I am done.” He gathered her breasts together nosing the dip between them. “My pale peaches. I know how to make the rosy parts rosier.”
He circled and swirled her aureoles with his tongue. When he took the nipple and drew hard, she thought she’d melt into the silk sheet. “Roger,” she cried out, when he continued to suckle.
Then, he slid down on the bed and dragged his tongue across her stomach, repeating the action of kissing a blowing warm breath over the tiny hairs there. This time he whispered, his voice husky, “Tu es mon coeur.”
He knew she didn’t understand and licked the inside of her thigh and said, “You are my heart.”
He turned to the inside of her other thigh and bit lightly. “Tu voles mon soufflé.”
She knew what soufflé meant in her culinary world but doubted he meant it in the same way.
“You steal my breath away.”
She shuddered. “That’s so beautiful. You’re going to make me cry.”
“I’m not done, mon amour.”
He teased the soft skin behind her knees and she thought she’d go mad. The silk sheets heated her flesh. The heat from Roger’s flesh marked the front of her. She tossed her head this way and that, wanting it to end, wanting it to never end.
Then, he pushed her knees up and winked. “Je t’aime. I love you. Now, I’m going be very French.”
She arched high as he buried his head between her legs and his tongue deep within her. He ignored her pleas and demands and refused to leave until she found her release. When she caught her breath, he let her have her way with him.
****
They arrived in the early afternoon as the captain predicted. As soon as they docked Oliver pulled Electra and Roger aside. “I suggest that you not piss around and put off talking to Simon and explaining the truth.”
“I wasn’t planning on waiting too long, but what is the rush?” Electra asked.
“If we’re lucky enough to catch a lightning storm of the magnitude we need, it will most likely come as a summer storm.”
“That’s a pretty short window,” Roger said.
“Exactly. In my opinion, it’s best he know in advance so Electra isn’t wasting precious time trying to explain when the four of us need to be at the outcropping just in case.”
Behind them, Percival and Horatio were busy unloading their horses. They’d stay at the castle for a couple of days to let the animals unwind from being cooped up on the ship. Afterward, they’d ride back to Wales.
Roger gestured for Oliver and Electra to move several yards down so they wouldn’t be overheard.
“The more I think about it, the more I feel talking to Simon is not something you should do alone,” he told Electra. “I know you think it best because I am an enemy of the king but I am a man and this is very much a man’s world still. I insist we face Simon together.”
“Fine.” Deep down, she hadn’t wanted to face him alone.
Percival and Horatio had been to Elysian Fields before and knew to take the long road around. They left to take that route while Electra, Roger, and Oliver hurried to Elysian Fields the back way from the river. Simon, Emily, and Richard were waiting for them at the rear gate.
Emily ran to Electra. “I can’t believe you’re here.” Emily squealed and the sisters hugged. “I wondered when I’d see you again. I thought the prince would drag you off to London and it’d be forever until you came back here. How was he? Did he treat you well? He didn’t get...” She wiggled her brows. “You know, pushy?”
“He treated me very well and he was a perfect gentleman. As a matter of fact, he tried to marry me off to one of his knights. You’ll see the two he picked out later.”
“Eww.”
“Not eww. They were...are nice men. But thankfully, Roger got to me before it went any farther than discussion. We’ll talk more on that in a bit. I want to hear what Roger is saying.”
The sisters joined the men.
“How did you know we were coming?” Roger asked Richard.
“We didn’t know who it was. The guards just said a party of three was rushing up the hill from the river. We thought a boat might’ve sunk or there was some other kind of trouble.”
“Why are you still in England?” Simon asked.
Roger handed the prince’s letter to Richard. “This will explain. It’s from Prince Edward. I was told to give this to you.”
Richard inspected the seal before breaking it. He unrolled it and o
pened the missive so both he and Simon could read it.
Emily peered over Simon’s shoulder trying to see but gave up. “I don’t know why I tried to read the thing. All that old world curlicue writing is Greek to me,” she whispered to Electra.
“I’ll tell you later what it says,” Electra told her.
After a few minutes, Richard asked Simon, “Finished?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you mention your relationship to Electra when you were here?” Richard asked Roger.
“It would’ve cast both her and Emily is a dangerous light. They aren’t spies. They posed no threat to England. At the time, the important thing was for me to gain freedom for myself and poor Oliver and find Electra. Once I accomplished that, I’d work on rescuing Emily, which is why we’ve returned.”
“You are all welcome guests for as long as you wish,” Richard said.
As they crossed from the gardens toward the kitchen they passed the burned remains of what were the store rooms. Several men worked at clearing away the charred rubble while others were busy rebuilding.
“What happened?” Roger asked.
“You’re lucky you got here when you did. You missed a series of nasty summer storms. The past three weeks we were inundated with dreadful storms, thunder and lightning like we haven’t seen in years. A lightning bolt hit the storeroom two nights ago,” Richard said.
Roger looked from Electra to Oliver, knowing they all shared the same excitement hearing about the lightning storms as terrible as they were for the castle. “Sorry about our timing. The last thing you need is extra mouths to feed.”
“Not to worry. We have full pastures and the kitchen pantries were full. Plus, all the knights are broken up into hunting parties and out now. We’ll replenish our stock in no time,” Simon said.
“Do you have plans for where you want to go from here?” Richard asked.
The three had practiced their story on the boat. They decided to keep it simple. They’d stay for an unknown amount of time at Elysian Fields but at some point, perhaps before the worst of the winter weather set in, they’d go to Roger’s chateau. Richard and Simon smiled and chatted with them as they went inside.
Emily walked with Electra. “Obviously, you’re hoping for another storm. But you can’t just vanish. There’s more to this, right?”
“We’ll tell Simon the truth,” Electra said.
“We haven’t decided who should be told,” Roger corrected. “Richard might be the better choice. You could just disappear, Emily. Simon doesn’t need to know why.”
“I don’t want to disappear. I’d never want to hurt him in that way.”
“Emily, are you involved with him?”
“I’m in love with him.”
Electra stopped and pulled Emily down a corridor away from the rest of the group and hugged her close. “I don’t know whether to congratulate you or shake you. You weren’t supposed to fall in love with anyone here, you goose.”
“I know. It snuck up on me.”
“And of all people, Simon. He was so mean to us when we first got here, an old bear of a beast, like a cranky red panda.”
“But my red panda.”
“Yes, your red panda. We’ll deal with your Paddington panda man tomorrow. Today, let’s drink wine and put our heads together and figure out what we’re going to say to convince him we’re from the future.”
Emily stepped back, her eyes filled with tears.
“What’s wrong?” Electra asked.
“He’s not going to believe me or any of us. He’s going to think we’re gaming him.”
Of the three sisters, Emily was the easiest to read. She wore her heart on her sleeve, she couldn’t lie to save her soul, how she managed to stay the course with the concocted Greenland story was a miracle. She was incapable of holding onto anger. If you made her mad, she blew up and then forgave and moved on. For the first time in memory, Electra couldn’t tell what Emily was thinking.
“Emily, what’s your goal with him? I understand you want him to know the truth. But to what end? To understand why you’re leaving or is there more to it?” Electra had a strange feeling it was the latter.
“I don’t want to repeat myself. Let’s go up to Roger and Oliver’s chamber and I’ll say my piece to all of you there.”
She turned and as they entered the corridor Simon blocked their path.
“One day, I’d like to hear how you define truth and trust.”
Electra spoke up to defend her, “She didn’t really lie to you, Simon. It was more a case of an omission of fact.”
The corner of his mouth lifted in a bitter lopsided smile. “It’s of little difference to the receiver.”
****
The four met in the chamber Roger shared with Oliver. Richard had a straw mattress and bedding sent up and arranged across the room from the large bed Roger slept in before.
“It’s not much but it’s light years nicer than my previous digs when I visited the first time,” Oliver said when the sisters entered.
The group gathered around the table and served themselves a ploughman’s lunch and wine while they discussed the details of the next day.
Roger leaned back with one foot propped against the wall and a goblet of wine in one hand. “Oliver and I talked it over on the way to the room. Although we originally planned to tell Simon the truth, on the rethink we feel that of the two, Richard is the most reasonable to reveal the truth to. Simon is never going to buy into the truth.”
“Do you really think Richard will? I don’t.” Electra asked.
“No. If it hadn’t happened to me, I wouldn’t buy into the notion of time travel. You saw what happened with the prince. But we discussed this. If the time comes, we have to be left alone to do whatever is necessary. I’m sure he’ll believe us truly crazy. With that in mind and the letter from Edward, he should leave us to our own devices.”
Emily raised a finger in the air. “I object.”
“To what?” Roger asked.
“To only telling Richard. I am telling Simon.”
“Why?”
“Because I want him to come with me.”
Roger shook his head. “He can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Emily, this isn’t some lark. You can’t ask him to change his entire world. The twentieth century is totally alien place to him. You might as well ask him to come with you to Mars.”
“How dare you. You talk like he’s not as smart or adaptable as you and Stephen. If you two can do it, then so can he.”
She jumped up, strode to the window and unlatched it, throwing it open. “England is still England. Oh, it’s changed. London for sure, but—” She thrust her hand toward the window. The shire is still the shire. And London or the shire—doesn’t matter, Stephen manages to get around and he’s bloody blind.”
She stomped to the table and grabbed a hunk of bread and tore a bite off with her teeth and threw it at Roger, who deflected with a flick of his hand. “Bread is still bread.” She took a bite of cheese and spit it into the palm of her hand and stuck her hand out. “Cheese is still cheese, so don’t tell me the future has turned to Mars.”
“Emily, all I’m trying to say is adjusting is an enormous problem. It’s more difficult than you can imagine. You can’t tell me you aren’t traumatized by life here at times.”
“I want him to come and I won’t be moved.”
“She loves him, Roger,” Electra interjected.
“I figured that out.”
“Putting aside your selfish wish, why do you feel the need to do this to him?” Roger asked.
“Think how much better life would be for him. He wouldn’t have to go around on crutches for one. He’d have a blade leg. He could run if he wanted. He wouldn’t have to suffer some of the pain he has now from that old wound. He’d be back with Stephen. He misses his friend. He loves me and we’d be together.”
Roger looked at the other three. “Shall we take a vote?”
“So much for democracy,” Oliver said and took a long pull from his wine.
Roger wrapped a light hand around Electra’s elbow and led her a few steps away out of earshot. “She’s fragile, you said. She’s not made of the sterner stuff you are, you said. Where’s that sister?”
“On Mars?”
****
Electra had searched everywhere for Roger: the public rooms of the castle, the bailey, the lists where the knights were practicing. She’d even walked down to the river. She went up to the parapets for the view, hoping to see if she could spot him somewhere. There he was, alone, arms crossed, boot up on a crenel, looking like his thoughts were a thousand miles away.
She looped her arm through his. “You’ve been very quiet the last few days. What’s bothering you?” Probably the same thing that preyed on her mind, preyed on his. It was time to leave Elysian Fields.
“I’ve tried to hold onto hope we’d get the storm we need but we’re into fall now. We’ve had no rain, barely a sprinkle for the last few weeks. I see no reason to wait any longer. Let’s go to France. Let’s make our life there.”
She was right. They’d been of one mind. With every sunny day, her hope for getting home slipped away. And if she had to be in this place and time, then she wanted to be married and start her own family with Roger. “Darling, I am more than happy to be on our way. When do you want to leave?”
“Tomorrow.”
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “Let’s find Oliver and Emily and give them the news.”
They walked slowly, both turned their faces to the breeze, having no reason not to enjoy the warmth now.
“Will your servants hate me because I’m English?” Electra asked as they reached the stairs.
In Time for You Page 27
