Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (110 page)

With understanding of these devices, Niall
could create labor for his nephews that would see them gainfully
employed for all their days.

’
Twas perfect!

But all hinged upon his ability to prove
that this was a mechanical marvel, that this was not Avalon, but
some distant realm of men. Niall stepped beneath the stream of
water, knowing his mission had just taken on another wrinkle.

First and foremost, he had to discover where
precisely this was.

’
Twas only then, as Niall
turned his face to the beat of water, that he let himself savor the
sight of Viviane, gloriously nude. He smiled to himself in
recollection of her hasty departure from this shower, gooseflesh
over her skin, her nipples beading, her eyes flashing
sparks.

He recalled how she had looked when she
gained her pleasure, the little wordless sound she had made as she
crested the pinnacle, and part of him awakened with a vengeance. He
had been over cruel in letting her believe that he was not achingly
aware of her beauty - ’twas no wonder she was annoyed.

Surely ’twould hurt little to make amends
with her first.

’
Twas just his sense of
chivalry, Niall knew. Aye, ’twould be churlish to leave the lady
irked with him for no better cause than his own distrust of his
impulses.

Or perhaps ’twas a desire for his own
welfare. There was no telling, after all, what a vexed witch might
do to a man. Niall told himself that he had a duty to set matters
to rights, to ensure that Viviane was not irked with him. Then he
would avoid her company - at least until he had discovered all he
needed to know - lest she tempt him to forget himself.

And
then
, he would return them both
to Cantlecroft.

*

Barb took one look at Viviane and headed for
the tiny kitchen off the back of the bookstore. “You look like you
need a cup of tea,” she said in the same moment that she plugged in
the kettle.

“
Oh, Barb!” Viviane’s hands
bunched into fists and she made a little growl of frustration. She
looked like a riled pussycat, one who was so seldom riled that she
didn’t know quite what to do with her claws. “I could just
kill
him!”

“
Sit.” Barb pulled out a
chair and pointed to it, characteristically in no mood for avoiding
the point. “Who is he?”

Viviane dropped onto the seat and knotted
her hands together in her lap. Her teeth were obviously gritted and
her color was high.

She had it bad, Barb immediately decided.
The guy after all, had said he wouldn’t be here long. She didn’t
need a map to see where this conversation was going, although she
didn’t like the view. Barb reflected that, sadly, it had only been
a matter of time before a really nice woman like Viviane found some
jerk to take advantage of her.

Viviane was almost too nice. In fact,
business had improved a lot since Viviane came on board, mostly
because the younger woman was so genuine. She was a bit shy, but
once people asked her about books - especially romances! - well,
she had lots to say.

She was really interested in the constantly
changing condition of Mrs. MacAllister’s gout. She listened to all
of Mr. Ramsay’s adventures, or at least the adventures of his
amorous billy goat who wouldn’t stay home and Mr. Ramsay’s ongoing
efforts to foil the goat’s escapes.

And Viviane loved books. Barb was starting
to think that hiring Viviane was one of the smartest things she had
ever done. People came, just to visit with Viviane, just to see her
smile and hear her talk about the books she was reading.

The woman read like a demon, she seemed
obsessed with reading every single book in the store. And she was
ready to tell anyone about her latest favorite, always with such
enthusiasm that her listeners invariably bought books.

A lot of books. Barb was beginning to wish
that Viviane could be twins.

As unlikely as it might have seemed to the
casual observer, even prickly and private Barb had become very fond
of her new employee. Viviane had a tendency to bring out Barb’s
deeply buried maternal impulses, as she did right now. Viviane was
such a peach - she deserved better than some love-’em-and-leave-’em
type.

A type who had apparently left Barb with the
fun job of explaining the truth to Viviane.

What a rat!

Viviane took a deep breath and unknotted her
fingers, clearly choosing her words with care. “I knew Niall
before, where I used to live.”

“
And he followed you here.”
Barb tossed teabags into the old brown teapot, not liking the sound
of this at all.

“
Well, yes.” Viviane
frowned and propped her hand on her elbow with a sigh. Barb noted
that it was not the sigh of a happy woman. “And I thought it was so
romantic, that he came after me and that he brought me back the
pendant I had lost there and that he seemed so
glad
to have
found me…”

“
And…” Barb
prompted.

Viviane shrugged and toyed with a spoon left
laying on the table. “I thought it was like one of the books, and
that everything would be wonderful, that we were destined to be
together and that he loved me. And when he kissed me, well…”

“
So you slept with him.”
Barb grimly filled the teapot with boiling water.

Viviane lowered her voice to a scandalized
whisper as her cheeks pinkened. “We didn’t just
sleep
,
Barb.”

“
Well,
duh
!” Barb
shot a lethal glance across the room. “I figured that
out.”

Viviane bit her lip and frowned at the stray
spoon as she spun it around the tabletop with one fingertip.

Barb had seen enough of Regret to recognize
it when it showed up in her shop, guns a-blazing. And she had given
the Get Real talk enough times to have it memorized, not to mention
her own extensive on-the-ground experience.

Might as well get it over with. Barb poured
tea which was pretty thin and plunked the two mugs down on the
table. She sat down opposite Viviane and willed the younger woman
to look at her.

She deliberately kept her voice
unemotional.

“
So, now it’s done and
you’re worrying about biological souvenirs and thinking that maybe
you made a big mistake. You can’t imagine what you were thinking
last night, that maybe you jumped into the pond too fast. Maybe
you’re half worried he’s going to boot it.”

Barb turned her steaming mug in the wet ring
it left on the table. “On the other hand, you don’t really know
anything about him, not nearly enough to be making any sort of
commitment and what you’ve seen so far isn’t changing your mind.
And that part of you is wondering how you’re going to get rid of
him if he
doesn’t
boot it.”

Barb sipped, certain she had nailed it in
one.

“
Oh, no! Niall won’t
leave.”

That was news to her, but Viviane seemed
convinced. In fact, her whole face had brightened. “I mean, we’re
meant to be together.” She smiled with a sunny confidence Barb
didn’t share. “I just know it.”

Hmmm. Barb sipped her tea and decided to try
another tack. Let him do his own dirty work! “So, how well did you
know him before?”

“
Not very well,” Viviane
acknowledged with a dreamy smile. “But there was a force between
us, right from the beginning. And you know, when he kisses me, well
I just forget all about everything else. He tastes so good and he
feels so…”

“
Spare me the play by
play.” Barb waved her mug. “What’s the issue here?”

Viviane sighed. “We had a wonderful time
last night and a better time this morning. I fell back asleep, but
when I woke up, Niall was different.”

“
How different?”

“
As though he didn’t want
to be near me.” Viviane appealed to Barb with a glance. “I just
couldn’t seem to get his attention. He started fiddling with the
toilet, trying to figure how it worked or something. It was as
though I wasn’t even there!”

“
Did you say anything mushy
to him?”

Viviane looked perplexed.

“
You know, did you make any
reference to, say, your being destined to be together.”

“
Well, of course!” Viviane
looked at Barb as though she was the thick one. “It’s perfectly
obvious, after all. That’s why he’s here!”

Barb leaned across the table, losing the
battle to bite back a smile. “But Viviane, he’s a
guy
.”

“
I
know
that.”

“
Do you have
brothers?”

“
No.”

“
Well, if you did, you’d
know that they’re just
different
. Guys think different from
us, they talk different from us, but sometimes they mean the same
thing. And when emotion shows up -” Barb rolled her eyes “- they do
their damnedest to duck and run.” She gestured with her mug. “He’s
being evasive. He’s not sure what you expect from him and doesn’t
want to talk about it.”

Or he did know and didn’t want to let
Viviane down right to her face. Barb’s usually unsympathetic heart
twisted just a little.

Because anyone could see that Viviane was an
incurable romantic. Barb didn’t want to be the one to tell here
that some men never fell in love. Nope, Mr. Tall, Blond and
Handsome could clean up after himself.

As much as Barb hated the thought of him
doing it. She heaved a sigh and tried to be helpful as well as
protective. Because if anyone could reform a rat, it was sweet,
genuine Viviane.

She forced a smile for her troubled
employee. “Take a look in the relationship section when you have a
chance and you’ll see different. Men are from Mars and all that
jazz. They’re like a different species.”

“
I had no
idea…”

“
How would you?” Barb
patted her employee’s hand. “See, you’ve been reading too much in
the romance section. Great stuff, but written
by
women
for
women, if you know what I mean. Kind of how we’d like
men to be if we got to design them from the ground up, instead of
the way they really are.”

Viviane seemed to be thinking about
that.

“
They don’t read romances,
Viviane, so they don’t have a clue. In fact, they don’t read the
relationship books, either, though they whine enough about not
understanding women. Goddess forbid that they did anything to solve
that!”

Viviane smiled, just a glimmer of her usual
enthusiasm but it was enough for Barb.

“
You’ve got to look at what
he’s done. Guys put more value in deeds than words.”

“
You sound like Niall,”
Viviane charged and Barb couldn’t stop her chuckle.

“
Years in the trenches.
Three brothers - I was trained from the cradle, after all. Or maybe
I should call it trial by fire.” Barb leaned closer when Viviane
didn’t seem to follow the reference. “You said he followed you -
was it far? Expensive? Hard to do?”

Viviane’s eyes rounded. “Oh yes!”

“
And he brought you a
gift?”

Viviane fingered a pendant she was wearing.
“I dropped this when I saw him last and he brought it back to
me.”

Barb was impressed, despite herself. “That
was nice of him. Give credit where it’s due - most people wouldn’t
have bothered.”

Viviane smiled. “I thought it was a gallant
gesture,” she said softly, that smile broadening to make her
features glow. “Something fitting for a knight of old to do for his
lady.”

Oh boy, she was smitten.

“
Well, he must have wanted
to see you again,” Barb acknowledged reluctantly. “Maybe it was an
excuse. They like that - covering up a sweet gesture with what
seems like a logical one.” Or a horny one. Barb couldn’t bring
herself to say that when Viviane looked so hopeful. Instead she
reached out one hand. “Let me see it.”

The pendant was a moonstone set in silver,
an old piece and obviously of some value. There was a lot of silver
in the heavy setting and the stone was probably the biggest and
bluest moonstone Barb had ever seen.

She touched it with one fingertip and
shivered at the coldness of the stone. “It’s beautiful and
unique.”

“
My mother gave it to me,”
Viviane admitted.

A sentimental piece. The guy had played a
sentimental card and, judging by Viviane’s softened expression, he
had played it well. Barb frowned - that wasn’t the gesture of a guy
determined to cut and run.

Maybe, just maybe, he was smitten as badly
as Viviane but did a better job of hiding it. Barb ran her thumb
across the stone and wondered.

Maybe.

“
Right.” Barb released the
pendant and gave her employee a smile. “Maybe you should cut him
some slack. If he’s a creep trying to take advantage of you, you’ll
know soon enough. That kind of thing is hard to hide.” She shrugged
and finished her tea.

But Viviane didn’t look away. “Do you think
he’s a creep?”

Barb turned her empty mug in that wet mark
again, but she found it impossible to lie to Viviane.

“
I don’t know.” Barb
shrugged. “He could just be Grade A prime male, right to the
bone.”

The younger woman flashed an impish grin.
“Or maybe he just doesn’t understand that we’re meant for each
other.” Before Viviane could say anything more, the man in question
appeared on the stairs to the room above.

“
Viviane?” he said, the low
rumble of his voice filling the shop. His gaze fixed on Viviane and
he smiled the kind of slow, sensuous smile that would make every
woman with a pulse ready to surrender.