Time Travel 02 Nothing but Time

by Angeline Fortin

  She wanted his possession not just of her body but of her heart. She wanted a meeting of souls. She wanted to truly share with him in a meeting of body and soul.

  Kate closed her eyes, vacillating between bliss and despair. Clutching his head to her breast, Kate stroked his hair. Her heart welled with emotion that nearly brought tears to her eyes.

  She wanted his love.

  What if she never earned it?

  Brand fought to regain control of himself after one of the most breathtaking bouts of love play he’d ever experienced. Never had he met a woman who wasn’t content to greedily prostrate herself to a man’s plunder however many times he chose to do so. No, his Kate insisted that they find paradise together even if they could not become one in the doing. And he had lost himself to her, lost control of his will.

  No aloof participant was good enough for Kate, she had demanded that he fall victim to his lust, that he let it take him as her passion took her. He had thought that he might allow her caress without giving into his release but her hot words, her pleading in his ear had done him in.

  The release wouldn’t satisfy for long. Having gotten a taste of the depth of Kate’s passion, Brand knew he would not be content until he had all of her.

  Rolling onto his side, Brand drew Kate against him brushing a kiss to her temple. She snuggled against him with a sigh that brought a smile to his lips. How high might she take him? he wondered. Where would they go from here?

  “What would your third base entail, I wonder?”

  “I think it’s safe to say that you’ve made it to third already,” Kate told him. The shiver that ran through her body told him he how thoroughly he had taken that base. “All that’s left would be the home run.”

  “Hmmm.” Brand nuzzled her neck. “I rather imagine that there would be a variety of different ways that one might accomplish that third base without risking going too far.”

  “Don’t you have guests you should be getting back to?” Kate asked though she hugged his head close and arched her neck in encouragement.

  “No one knows where I am,” he whispered. “I told Geoffrey I had to turn in early to rest for my race tomorrow.”

  “This doesn’t seem like a good way to rest,” Kate smiled into his hair.

  “On the contrary,” he told her. “I feel more invigorated than any night’s sleep might allow.”

  Kate watched him as they lay there together, a secret smile on his lips, before their hands once more began to roam. Lips found the other’s in teasing kisses that held the edge of passion and Kate had to wonder how thoroughly Brand meant to explore third base in that single night.

  But it wasn’t meant to be. A knock on her bedroom door almost had Kate jumping out of her skin. “Who is it?”

  “It’s Janice, miss. Master Nathan is calling for you.”

  Kate met Brand’s gaze with an apologetic smile. “I’ll be right there.”

  Footsteps faded down the hall before Kate rolled off the chaise, searching for her clothes. “Sorry, Brand. Duty calls.”

  “I think I might forgive you if you didn’t go to him when I need you so badly.”

  Kate cast a glance down Brand’s thick body as he lounged back against the chaise with his arms locked behind his head. The pose accented his shoulders and pecs and kept his abdomen tightly clenched revealing a fair twelve pack of abs that rippled down into his loosened trousers. A shuddering sigh escaped Kate but rather than give in, she bent over him brushing a light kiss across his lips. Her hand danced across his stomach before dipping into his trousers, the touch light and brief but enough to make Brand tense.

  “Dream of me,” she teased with a smile before she left him alone.

  Chapter Thirty

  Henley Royal Regatta

  Day Two

  “Wherever did you find her, Harrowby?” Susan asked softly the next morning as the earl came up into the nursery hall to find his sister leaning against the door, just as he had so often, watching Kate and Nathan within. Her presence brought him up short. Surely she would question why he was there, would begin to speculate about his relationship with her son’s tutor if the events of the previous day hadn’t already given it away.

  To Harrowby’s surprise, his sister said nothing about it.

  “She was just a maid, Susan,” he answered peeking around the corner to find the pair across the room. Kate was kneeling before Nate, tying his tie and speaking with him in a low voice. Nathan was nodding solemnly and Harrowby gathered it was a reiteration of their conversation the previous afternoon. Harrowby turned back to his sister. “Are you disappointed in her progress with Nathan?”

  “On the contrary, I doubt anything Miss Kallastad chose to do at this moment would disappoint me since she quite assured me of her caring for Nathan yesterday. And look at him,” Susan sighed, looked more emotional than Harrowby had ever seen her. “She’s worked wonders with him. Do you know he said to me last night? He said we needed to talk.”

  “You needed to talk?” the earl parroted.

  “Yes, apparently your Miss Kallastad told him it was ‘unhealthy’ not to talk about one’s feelings and that maintaining his silence could only harm others,” Susan went on. “Nate apologized for hurting my feelings. He sat in my lap as he hasn’t in an age and let me rock him as we talked about Charles and his illness and a dozen other things of which we’d never spoken. He says he wants us to have more ‘alone time’, as well. Have you ever heard of such a thing before?”

  “I haven’t, but knowing Miss Kallastad, I’m not overly surprised.” Harrowby turned to his older sister and wondered if there were any chance that, even if they might not ever have the familial closeness Kate shared with her family, Susan might at least share the same with her son. “Kate wasn’t raised as we were, Susan. She has spoken of a close-knit family such as I can only imagine. Kate is urging Nathan to have that bond with you and I think you should encourage it.”

  “What can I do to encourage such a thing?” she asked with interest.

  “Being a part of his life each day,” he said recalling the things of which Kate had spoken. “Play games together, talk about his schooling, read to him or let him read to you. I know you think these are tasks for his nanny but I can’t help but think you’d both be happier for it. I think I would have been.”

  “Mother wouldn’t allow it,” Susan argued, though Harrowby could see the longing in her eyes. Having lost her husband, Nathan was all she had and Harrowby knew that, beneath her social veneer, his sister was a woman longing for a change as much as he was. It was a far more difficult task for her to obtain such a goal as Susan had had the unenviable duty of housing their mother for the past eight years. He could only imagine how little say his sister had had in the running of her own household or the raising of her only child.

  “Then Mother can go live at Standon Hall and ruin someone else’s life,” Harrowby said fiercely referring to his family estate in Manchester. “I believe it’s about time to retrieve the reins of our own lives, don’t you?”

  Susan toyed with the locket that hung around her neck, shifting it back and forth along the chain thoughtfully before she smiled up at her brother. “That does sound terribly appealing, doesn’t it?”

  “It does,” he agreed. “What say you? Shall we stand together on this?”

  “I think so, yes,” she said, though a shaky laugh escaped her. “I cannot believe I’m saying such a thing but it’s rather invigorating, is it not?”

  Harrowby nodded. “Yes, it is.”

  “Nate invited me to go with him and Miss Kallastad to watch the races today,” Susan said with a smile. “Perhaps I will go and try to – oh, what was it that he said? – be a bigger part of his life.”

  “Perhaps it would benefit us all if we embraced such a notion,” Harrowby added softly, drawing his sister’s attention.

  “Even you, Harrowby?”

  A little smile turned up the corner of Harrowby’s mouth. “Why not? Perhaps someday you might e
ven call me Brandon again as you did when we were children.”

  “Mother wouldn’t…” Susan bit her lip and released a little laugh. “Yes, perhaps I might.”

  They fell into a comfortable silence for a moment, perhaps the first they had shared since childhood watching Nathan and Kate from the door. After a few moments, Susan turned curiously to her brother. “What brings you up this morning, Har… Brandon? I thought you had to be at the Leander Club early this morning or is that simply an excuse you gave Mother to avoid her breakfast this morning?”

  Harrowby flashed a grin. “Perhaps to a small degree. I do need to be in Henley before the first of the races begin but I had thought to ask Nathan to join me in the carriage and enjoy a bit of the fair before I needed to ready myself for my race.”

  “Just Nathan?” Susan asked bestowing upon her brother what might have been the first mischievous grin she’d delivered in more than a score of years. “Oh, you needn’t attempt to inveigle me. It took not a moment yesterday to see that Miss Kallastad holds a particular attraction for you, but worry not. Miss Kallastad quite won my favor with her actions yesterday. You needn’t worry that I will say anything apart from this, having found joy if only for a brief time, I would think anyone a fool who did not embrace it for any length of time they might have to enjoy it.”

  Harrowby studied his sister for a moment absorbing the conspiratorial smile that masked a hint of sadness. Seeing those expressions grace a face that for years had held nothing but impassive detachment warmed his heart. It was a moment of sibling affection unlike any they had shared since they shared a nursery together. Kate had given them that by daring him to take control of his own life and by influencing Nathan to reconnect with his mother.

  “Shall we be off then?” Harrowby asked, giving nothing away regarding his relations with his nephew’s tutor. He’d promised to do his best to protect Kate. Though his sister seemed oddly supportive of what might be considered a scandalous situation, he made no effort to affirm or deny her implication.

  “Yes, Brandon, I believe we shall.”

  ***

  Instead of traveling south directly into Henley-on-Thames, the quartet first made a short detour north after Kate expressed an interest in seeing Temple Island where the races began. One mile upriver from Henley, Temple Island was an elongated oval island splitting the Thames straight up the middle.

  The summer sun hadn’t yet burned away the morning fog and, as a result, a hazy mist lingered over the river and the island. As they descended the carriage to gain a better view, Kate found herself wishing that she had a camera with her for the sight before her was truly magnificent. The mist filtered the morning light shedding a soft glow on the water. Willows backlight by the morning sun appeared as dark silhouettes in fog.

  The folly itself sat among the trees at the southern tip of the island. It was a squat, two story white stone building that bowed at the southern end with a bank of windows facing the water. That curve matched above by what looked like a replica of a Grecian temple sitting atop the building. It was an open circular space edged by a dozen stone pillars and topped by a green dome.

  It looked hauntingly surreal in the hazy light, with the fog clinging to the water and perhaps as lovely a sight as Kate had ever seen. A handful of artists were present on the shores, their canvases before them, as well as a photographer confirming Kate’s opinion that she couldn’t be the only one to appreciate such a sight.

  Trading murmurs of appreciation with Susan, Kate listened in on Brand and Nathan’s conversation, which was predictably not focused on the view but rather on the bustle of activity near the western point of the island where preparations for the morning races were taking place.

  After a few more minutes, they climbed back aboard the carriage to head back along the river to Henley at the end of the mile-long racing route from the island.

  Casting an impish look at her charge, Kate filled the silence that fell over them. “You know, if I have it right, Ramble House sits on the river just about halfway between here and Henley.”

  “That’s right,” Brand replied though his glance was quizzical as if he knew she was up to something.

  “Why I don’t think we even need to go all the way into Henley to watch the racing today,” she said. “We could just watch it from your dock.”

  Brand saw his nephew’s eyes widen and head begin to shake in denial and knew Kate was about to tease the poor boy devilishly. Susan must have seen it as well for she smiled also, adding, “Perhaps you’re right. There was such a crowd yesterday!”

  “But, but,” Nathan began, his gaze darting back and forth between the women.

  “There was!” Kate sighed dramatically. “It was just too much!”

  “Yes, too much,” Susan chimed in with equal drama, even while Nathan squirmed in his seat. “Surely you wouldn’t mind, Brandon? We would get to see you as you passed, of course.”

  “Oh, of course you would.”

  “No!” The protest burst from Nathan like a cannonball. “We’ll miss the finish!”

  The adults all laughed and catching on at last, Nathan crossed his arms and slumped back against the seat. “That wasn’t funny!”

  “Sure it was.” Kate laughed and rumpled his hair. “Can I help it if you’re an easy mark?”

  They arrived in Henley a short while later. Brand helped Kate and Susan descend the carriage giving his sister a smile and holding Kate’s hand perhaps a moment too long and brushing his thumb across her knuckles before reluctantly letting her go.

  Offering his arm to his sister, Brand cast a regretful look at Kate before the foursome turned toward the river and the crowd that was already cheering raucously as the first of the races headed toward completion.

  “Why do some of the boats use two oars per man and some use only one?” Kate heard Susan ask Brand as they walked up the cobbled way that bordered the river. It took them farther from the finish line but away from the worst of the crush of onlookers.

  “Rowing allows one oar per oarsman while scullers have two oars apiece,” Brand explained in answer to her question.

  “Oh, so when you do the single scull you’ll have two oars?”

  “I’d go nowhere but in circles if I had but one.”

  The words were teasing ones and for a moment, Kate thought that Susan might take offense at what might be the first volley of sibling torment delivered between the pair in quite some time. However, with an aggravated gasp followed by a grin, Susan elbowed her brother with a laugh. “That wasn’t very nice!”

  “Can I help it if you’re an easy mark?” Brand echoed Kate’s earlier words and they all laughed comfortably together.

  Kate thought she’d never seen anything quite so wonderful as the blissful smile that lit Brand’s face, though perhaps the squeeze of the siblings’ hands might have come in a close second. The reserved, solemn nobleman and haughty woman of a week past were nowhere to be seen. In their place were a brother and sister, comfortable and teasing. Perhaps it would take some time before they found their way to what Kate considered normal family behavior, but this giving and receiving of playful taunting was an excellent first step. Kate couldn’t be happier for them, feeling as if the Ryder clan might be on the precipice of something truly wonderful.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  “There he is! There he is!” Nathan yelled as Brand came into view a couple of hours later.

  Today, they’d managed to gain a spot for their carriage on the bridge to watch the races and Nathan, who was perched up with the coachman, had an excellent view of the competitors approaching in the single sculls.

  As they’d made their way back to Henley Bridge that morning, Brand said his goodbyes and left them after gaining their promises that they would all cheer for him. Since time was plentiful before Brand’s race, Kate and Susan each took one of Nathan’s hands and the trio wandered back up Hart Street to let the boy play some games leaving the coachman behind to work his way onto the bridge in hopes
of securing their view.

  The announcement of the race several minutes before had given the news that Harrowby for the Leander Club would be racing in the Buckinghamshire lane against his competitors, Playford and Labat, both from the London Rowing Club. Since there was just one rower per boat in the singles, the race itself would be longer in duration when compared to an eight or four-man team. With their disappointment evident upon hearing Harrowby’s lane assignment, Kate, Susan and Nathan all waited for the appearance of the boats, sure that Harrowby would be running last.

  “Where is he, Nathan? Can you tell?” Kate asked from her place on the bridge.

  “Yes! Yes! He’s in the lead!” Nathan cried out excitedly, jumping up and down on the carriage.

  Though Kate and Susan had urged him to go up on top of the conveyance in hopes of avoiding a repeat of the previous day, Kate couldn’t help but wonder if they had merely set him up for a greater mishap. Her concerns were driven away, however, as the competitors finally came into view through the lingering mist.

  Brand was, indeed, in the lead! Gripping Susan’s hands, Kate bounced up and down cheering for him with all her might and Susan even gave in to do the same as the racers neared the finish line. It was a close one, all three boats coming up even as they came out of the turn that provided the advantage to the Berkshire side boat.

  “Come on! Come on, Brand!” Kate screamed at the top of her lungs. “You can do it! Yes! Yes! Woo-hoo!”

  Brand crossed the finish line just a nose ahead of his competition and drooped over his oars as the crowd went wild over his performance. Residual momentum kept his scull drifting along as Brand caught his breath before twisting about to look up at the bridge which was just behind him.