by Gloria Gay
They sat on a bench for a while and Kate leaned her back on the bench and sighed.
“So, Lady Bunright is to launch her daughters,” she said as she glanced at the twittering birds and fluffy scattered clouds hanging above that were reflecting the pink and salmon of the rare sunlight.
“This will be Herlinda’s second season and Sally’s first,” Michael said. “Herlinda did not take last year but I am hopeful she will this year. I have furnished the girls with adequate dowries but I never hear the last of it from Augusta, who would like for me to provide duchess wardrobes for two green girls.
“She also wheedled me into hosting a ball for them before they head out to London. She is hoping Herlinda will snatch Fordham Soloby, Marquess of Landbury before they leave for London.”
“And does she have a chance? He sounds fearfully important.”
“He’s not as exalted as his title sounds. He’s a twenty-year old green boy who inherited early through his father’s untimely death and is still controlled by his mother, the dowager Lady Landbury and his trustees.
Fordy is as shy as Herlinda, which is probably why they have gravitated toward each other since they were children. When they were younger, Herlinda and Sally were often at Arcadia with their mother so they have been friends with Fordy and his sister, Dorothy since childhood.”Our county seat lines adjoin with Landbury’s, so as the leading families of the area we attended each other’s functions when we were all younger. Because of this there may be a chance for Herlinda.
Augusta repeatedly pressed me to increase Herlinda’s dowry. I finally complied, because I realized Herlinda wouldn’t stand a chance with Soloby unless she owned a large dowry. Lady Landbury would see to that.”
“She’d be burying land mines to prevent him from marrying her,” Kate said.
“Land mines?”
“Just a private joke to do with her name,” Kate said with a big smile which Michael kissed.
“Tell me more about the Solobys,” she added.
“Their mothers were friends before his father’s death but the Dowager Lady Landbury was unable to grow colder toward Augusta when her son became the Marquess of Landbury because her son, although shy, is insistent on keeping his friendship with Herlinda.”
“Wouldn’t that marriage, if it came about, make Augusta go about like a peacock, with such a feather on her hat!”
“Yes, more so, if that is even possible. She brags about her friendship with Lady Landbury wherever she goes.
“One thing stands on the way, though: the family does not approve of Cortland.”
“Join the club,” Kate replied. “What is Cort like?” she asked,
“Well, the bland nickname—short for Cortland—does not describe him in the least. He is a large man, as tall as I but extremely robust. He is also ruthless, and has a penchant for deflowering young barmaids or helpless dairy maids. He is not allowed entrance at Lanquest Hall when I am not in residence, and I never hear the end of it from Augusta.
“I put that rule in place after an incident with one of our upstairs maids. I was in London at the time and Cappy sent me an urgent missive.
“Augusta blamed the maid rather than the culprit, her son, Cortland, which is typical of her.
“From that day forth I forbid Cort entrance to the estate when I am not in residence. The staff here has instructions to bar him access even if Augusta should be here as a guest. They know to immediately send a message to the magistrate if he should try to force his way in when I’m away.”
Kate shuddered. She didn’t think she could keep the man away from the house if Michael were away, not with his mother inside.
“Tell me about the other son, Theodore.”
“From the beginning, Teddy took to his studies like a fish to water and this placed him away from Cortland’s influence. Cortland skipped both Teddy’s graduation at Eton and at Cambridge.
“Cortland is barely literate, having wasted his forced time at Eton before he was expelled for bad behavior, so he and Teddy have little in common.”
“I’m pleasantly surprised,” Kate said, “that only one of the siblings is of bad character. I cannot say I enjoyed meeting their mother.”
“I’m sorry you had to put up with her rudeness.”
“I feared she was ready to pounce on me at the slightest word I uttered,” Kate said with a laugh. “So, I said little, not anxious to get her going.”
“She’s skating on thin ice already,” Lanquest frowned.
“Please don’t say anything to her on my behalf,” Kate said quickly, “I’d rather you threw a black widow spider at me.”
“I’ll do neither,” said Lanquest with a laugh. “But there is a limit to what I can take from her and she’s getting very near the edge of my endurance.”
“And now,” Lanquest said with a sigh, “I must return to the house, for I have a meeting with a mason that is to restore the flagstones that have eroded in the back terrace. And I must give him instructions for other repairs in the estate while I am away.
“I’m glad that you and my Aunt Amy have become better acquainted, Kate. If you keep each other company when I’m away. I’ll be doubly at ease.”
“Yes, I look forward to pleasant hours chatting with your sweet aunt. I am so glad I will have her as company.”
“She is happy for your friendship, too, although she has expressed regret that you will be leaving us, when you find your portal. Aunt Amy has taken a dislike to the mere mention of the portal, as have I.”
Kate laughed. “Would that I could find it as easily as your aunt thinks I will.”
“I was wondering,” said Lanquest, stopping at the doorjamb, “if you would like to go riding with me again at dawn tomorrow. I hope to be with you one more time before I leave.
“We should take advantage that my aunt is not here to try to make us feel as guilty as we are, he added with a wry smile. Maybe we could go to that bush hideout from which you appeared like a wood nymph and captured me from the first moment.”
“Not from the first moment,” Kate said with a laugh.
“The second moment, then,” Michael assured her with his heart-stopping smile.
“I would love to meet you at dawn. But at what time, exactly? I wouldn’t like to be waiting for you in that scary wood all by myself,” Kate added.
“I’ll meet you in the stables before dawn, at four exactly and from there we’ll go to the forest together, on Blue, my sweet. No one is about at that hour.”
When they parted, Kate went in search of Amy.
“You don’t look well, Aunt. Is anything the matter?”.”
“Last night’s dinner did not settle well with me, my dear. I must rest for a bit.”
“Is there something I can do for you?”
Amy shook her head. “Marinda will prepare a posset for me and I will rest with a much- needed little nap to settle my stomach.
Kate kissed Amy’s soft powdered cheek and bid her good-night when Marinda came to help her up the stairs.
CHAPTER 17
Maybe it was better that Michael had to go back and forth between Arcadia and his estate in the north and thus she did not spend too much time around him. Her eyes were drawn to him like a magnet to metal even though her heart knew she would disrupt his life were she to even consider it.
If Michael ever married, it would be to a girl that fit his tradition and was not a ‘Colonial’ who in the tight circle of the ton, would be the object of gossip and derision.
Kate blew out the breath she was holding. She realized she was in danger of falling in love, if she wasn’t already, in spite of the many times she told herself this was not the place for her.
She looked forward to each moment spent with him and just the accidental brush of his hand or arm was enough to send tingles shooting all over her. Tingles that lingered long after he had moved away.
And the effect was not merely on her body. A feeling of well-being, of being lifted by the realization that he was
in love with her, warmed her heart and soul.
Each night she fell asleep with the image of his dear face as the last thing on her mind. His voice had melted her frozen heart just as his touch caused a rioting of pleasure on her skin.
She hated that each time she considered her growing attraction to him the ugly facts reared their heads: even if she were ever accepted by the society he belonged to, how could she adjust to a society that regarded women the chattel of men and treated them as one more child in the marriage in matters of even slight importance?
Also, should she stay in the past she would have to say goodbye to the sister she adored and to Aunt Martha, her mother’s sister, who had been like a mother to her and Stacy when her mother had died.
***
Just as Kate was examining her growing feelings for Michael, so was Michael examining his growing love for Kate. He realized with chagrin that he had fallen in love with her almost at first sight. He had gazed at her lovely eyes awash in tears as she sank into the meadow grass as a result of his harsh words.
It was at that moment that he had surrendered his heart to her.
His feeling of protection and attraction toward Kate had become a love that grew by the minute.
And just as he knew this, he also knew that Kate was not a girl who would consider remaining in the past. He did not think she could spend the rest of her life in a place that was two centuries behind in everything. Kate thought that women in his age were chattel—just as much a piece of property as the house they were to dwell in once married.
As he tightened Blue’s saddle, he felt a pressure on his chest at the realization that she was as substantial to him as a will-of-the-wisp and yet had invaded his heart and mind and even his soul in just a few days.
And he could not even try to convince her to stay with him in the past as his countess because Kate was in danger every minute she stayed here. She was a danger to Cortland, as Augusta did not bother to hide. And Cortland was a dangerous man.
He realized that his heart now considered time spent away from her a waste of his time.
“I’m in deep trouble, Blue,” he mused as he reached his horse at the stable. “My heart belongs to a woman who not only cannot ever belong to me but cannot even belong in my time.”
He waited with his horse until Kate arrived at the stables and admired her in the wine-colored riding habit that had belonged to his sister, Lucy, and fit Kate as if it had been designed for her. He sighed and smiled as she reached him.
“A wonderful dawn breaking in splendor just for us,” she said after she greeted him. He helped her up the mare she rode, Sky Girl, and they were soon following the trail into the forest.
“I’m so much looking forward to our ride today,” Kate said.
Riding side-saddle alongside him, Kate stole a glance at his profile and suppressed an inward sigh at the thought that just his classic profile had the power to send a quiver throughout her body. Michael, she thought. She just couldn’t think of him as Lanquest, as all others did.
She sighed when she reminded herself that in his era she was as insubstantial as a puff of smoke, temporarily stuck in a shard of time over which she had no control.
Her mind told her she must put all her efforts into finding the way back to her own time. Her heart told her the opposite.
She was certain Madame Enlia was aware of her predicament and would soon take her back to her time, thus taking choice from her. Kate was sure Madame Enlia had given her the clue to her return—she just had to find that clue.
She hoped this was so for she could not live in this era. Her 21st century character would crash at every turn with women such as Augusta, who were in great abundance.
She should think practically of a way to interpret Madame Enlia’s instructions carefully and get back to her own time where there was her family who loved her.
She must keep this goal firmly before her and suppress her growing love for Michael.
It terrified her that just riding alongside him made her legs weak and had she been standing, her legs would not have sustained her. He happened to glance at her just as she turned to look at him and their glances locked. An explosion of feeling threatened to shatter her commitment to finding the way out of this era as she willingly lost herself in his wonderful blue eyes for a few moments.
She forced her eyes away from him and made a comment on the weather as she tried to calm the ache in her heart at the realization that once she left she would never see him again.
Never.
She looked down at her hands on the pommel and saw that they were trembling.
She should stop meeting him alone because each time she did it made it that much harder to part from him when the time came to leave.
She was a misfit in his time and class. This is what she must press into her brain. They may have been equal in her time but she was not home, she was in the Nineteenth Century, under the rules of his time.
Michael stopped his horse and motioned for her to alight.
“Let’s leave the horses here, tied to a tree. It’s better if we make our way to your hideout without them, so they won’t give us away. I’m about the only one who comes through this wood regularly but we cannot take a chance, even so. Once we are in your little bush hideout, which is quite a distance from the horses, we will be safe from prying eyes.”
“I think so, too.” Kate took the hand he offered and they walked away from the horses and made their way along the horse trail. She felt wonderful, as the warmth of his hand reached all the way to her heart.
“You’re very thoughtful today, Kate,” Michael’s voice and smile sent a warm shiver through her body, even though there was no physical contact between them except for their hands. How was she to live without him if just his voice filled her heart?
When he looked at her and smiled it was as if he blocked the world and only they two remained, alone and together in their own wondrous space where there were no rules of his era.
The road widened in a clearing as they headed to that hideaway of bushes where she had spent an uneasy night and where she had awakened by the muted sound of horse hooves.
She glanced at him as he looked ahead and she was close enough now to see the blue of his eyes through his dark eyelashes and felt a grip in her heart. How often would she remember this moment when she returned to her time and how often would she regret that she had the choice to remain with him and had tossed it aside, never to see him again?
She felt a hurtful grip on her heart as if the hands of time itself were showing her how it would be without him.
The sky above through the lacy branches of the trees was blue and clear. The same sky of her time and yet so different. She wished she could capture this memory and come back to it when she was long gone, when she would realize that she would never be with Michael again and would have only a fading memory of his dear face to go back to.
“There are tears in your eyes, Kate,” he said, halting in the path. “What is it, my darling?”
“Don’t say that—don’t call me that, Michael, please.”
“That’s what you are to me but I will respect your wishes. Please tell me what brought tears to your eyes.”
“I—I just—I wish you didn’t have to travel back and forth to your other estate. Travel is so dangerous in your time.”
“Those long silver machines you call jets are not dangerous to travel in?”
“According to statistics, you’re more liable to die in a car crash than in a plane crash,” Kate said, wiping away her tears and glad that they were talking of mundane things.
“Well, that’s comforting to know,” he said with the devastating smile that sent tingles to her loins. She turned away from him so that he would not see his effect on her.
But although she felt close to Michael in this moment, the barriers between them were unsurmountable. Because although she felt his love toward her like the wings of an angel wrapping around her, she could not in good conscie
nce surrender to his love. There was no future to their love and the faster she realized it the faster she would make her heart stay away from what could never be.
But that was not about to keep her from making love to him. Just one more time. They might never have another chance such as this one.
Lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t realized they had arrived at the bush hideaway. Michael pulled the tight branches of a bush aside so that she could squeeze through and then followed her inside. He then took her in his arms as if he had been waiting only for this moment and Kate sighed with happiness.
“Here we are, Kate, in the place from which you emerged that morning and changed my life forever.”
“I love you with all my heart,” he added as he pressed her to his heart.
Kate felt his kiss not only on her lips but in her heart and soul.
She would pretend just for this one time that they would be together always, that the chasm between them had been pushed away and the shimmering golden canopy that had guided her to him was above and around them. They could forget their worlds and be together in just one.
“Maybe this will not be the last time,” she said, hope in her voice. “I haven’t solved the riddle.” Kate remembered how uneasily she had slept last night, waking several times at every little noise, thinking that the solution to her departure would suddenly come to her and she was afraid—afraid of leaving Michael. Afraid of being taken away from him, suddenly, and never seeing him again in her life.
He moved his arm so that she could lie against his chest, with her head cuddled below his chin.
“I want your face against my heart,” he said as he ran his fingers through her hair.
She wished they could stop time and she would be with him like this for a long time before she had to return to the future.
How would she feel without him once she had left? Oh, that she could know this because she was making the most important decision of her life and she did not really know how it would be without him. How she would wake each morning and know that she would never see him again.
