Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (111 page)

He was almost better looking dressed than
half-naked, though it was a close call. He was certainly all man.
Barb took a good look to confirm her conclusion and silently sighed
with almost forgotten longing.

“
Are you not hungered this
morn?” Niall asked, the direction of his thoughts as obvious as the
perfect nose on his ruggedly handsome face.

Barb snorted at her own reality check and
took her cup to the sink. “One hundred percent prime, all right,”
she muttered.

Niall frowned and Barb felt his gaze follow
her. “I must apologize to you for this morn. I did not know the
marvels of this washroom…”

Barb waved off his apology. “What’s done is
done.” She fired a glance his way. “I and the Siberian Iris would
appreciate no repeats.”

Niall bowed and Barb disliked that she was
so easily impressed by his manners.

Viviane looked between the pair of them with
obvious confusion. “You know each other already?”

“
We met in the garden,”
Barb supplied crisply, unable to resist tossing one hard look at
the man in question. He held her gaze steadily and she credited him
with not wincing.

But it wouldn’t hurt Viviane to have all the
facts. “Funny what you said about not staying long,” she said
flatly. “Viviane seems to think you’re here to stay.”

He inhaled sharply and Viviane gasped, her
smile banished. She turned to Niall with dismay and Barb felt a
surge of satisfaction that at least she’d moved everything out into
the open.

“
Go on, take the day,” she
said with a cheerful wave and a wink for Viviane. Her employee was
busy looking daggers at Niall, who was glaring at Barb. “Get your
boy toy fed. It’s going to be slow today, anyhow, what with the
rain.”

It would probably take them all day to sort
that one out.

Barb almost wished she could watch.

*

To Niall’s relief, Viviane seemed
disinclined to chatter, which could only mean that she was hungered
as well. She marched along beside him, with nary a glance his way.
And ’twas easier to not be tempted by her charm this way, that much
was certain.

Though after a few moments, Niall began to
wonder whether there was more at root than hunger.

“
You seem less than
amiable,” he ventured. “Did this Barb complain of my pissing in her
garden?”

Viviane flashed a lethal glance his way.
“So,
that
was how you met. Did you have a nice long
chat?”

“
Nay.”

The lady sniffed and hauled open the door of
a shop, firing a glance over her shoulder that would have made a
lesser man cringe. “Then isn’t it strange that you had time to tell
her of your plans, when you haven’t told
me
.”

She let the door close right behind her,
leaving Niall to open it again and stride after her.

“
Viviane!”

“
I have nothing to say to
you,” she snapped, then made a show of examining the pastries on
display. “After all, you’re not even staying.” She smiled
deliberately for the man behind the counter, her manner turning
sweet as honey. “Good morning, Joe.”

A burly man with thinning hair and
perspiration on his pate smiled a greeting from behind the counter.
“Morning, Viviane.” He jerked a thumb toward Niall. “This guy
giving you trouble?”

Her smile broadened, though she did not even
glance at Niall. “In a way, yes, but there’s no need to worry
yourself.” For the first time, she looked at Niall, though the
characteristic warmth in her eyes had faded.

That hurt lingered there again and Niall
knew that he was responsible for it.

“
I’m sure it’s just a
misunderstanding,” she added softly, the hint of vulnerability in
her tone twisting a knife in Niall’s heart.

Oh, if she had not been a witch, he would
have been a base villain! He could not help feeling the part,
though he knew that she deliberately toyed with him.

The baker looked doubtful. “If you say
so.”

Niall’s belly knotted at the smell of fresh
bread and he knew he would not be able to think matters through
without a good meal. He eyed the goods on display and his hunger
grew a thousand-fold. They even had pastry filled with sausage
meat, his favored treat, though the pastries were over small.

Niall frowned. Though ’twas not uncommon for
merchants to cut portions to ensure higher profits. Surely even
here there was a master of the market to ensure the measures were
being met?

But no one seemed prepared to complain
besides Niall.

“
What would you like
today?”

Viviane stepped forward and opened her
mouth, but Niall did not like the gleam in the man’s eye. Why did
this one take Viviane’s protection upon his own shoulders? And what
would he desire of her in return? Niall could readily imagine and
did not like the thought.

Indeed, he would win her favor once more by
showing himself respectful of her honor. Then she would be irked
with him no longer. Niall immediately stepped up beside Viviane and
asked for a dozen of the small sausage-filled pastries.

After all, he wanted to ensure that they had
enough.

Viviane caught her breath and flicked
another cold glance his way, but Niall realized that his plan to
win her favor was not working over well.

“
Anything else,
sir?”

“
A measure of ale would be
most welcome.”

The man behind the counter snorted. “Not
here. No need for a liquor license in a bakery.”

Niall was astonished. “A man cannot break
his fast with ale?”

“
Only in the tavern, and on
some days, not before midday,” Viviane confided in an
undertone.

Niall shook his head. “And you call this
paradise,” he muttered, earning a sympathetic grin from the man
behind the counter.

“
I’m with you. Nothing like
a cold brew first thing in the morning to start the day off right.”
He winced. “And nothing like the old L.C.B.C. to take the fun out
of that.”

Niall knew of no Elsie Beesie, and thus knew
not what to say. How could a woman keep a man from selling ale in
the morn? He could not imagine, but dared not ask Viviane under
this merchant’s bright eye.

The baker propped an elbow on the counter,
clearly warming to a favored theme. “Nothing like the government
putting their dirty fingers into everything, taxing the life out of
us, that’s what they’re doing. I say they should get out of the
liquor business, privatize the selling of booze like they’ve done
in Alberta. They’ll never do it, though, bunch of weenies, because
they’re making too much money to bear to give it up.”

He nodded crisply and Niall slanted a glance
to Viviane. She looked as confused by this monologue as he, and he
was startled to find himself again feeling a sense of kinship with
her.

Niall nodded, because it seemed some
acknowledgement should be made. “You speak good sense,” he allowed,
and the baker sniffed approval.

“
Then
you’d be able
to have your brew in the morning, because you can be sure I’d have
it right on tap, right here.” He winked. “Though it wouldn’t be the
most profitable enterprise I ever took on, if you know what I
mean.”

Niall did not, but refrained from saying
so.

“
Usual for you,
Viviane?”

“
Yes, please,
Joe.”

“
And what is this
concoction?” Niall asked her as the balding man bustled away to mix
things together. He couldn’t help but wish that she would at least
glance his way, even knowing ’twas her spell that left him yearning
like a pup.

’
Twas most disconcerting to
have her resolve to ignore him before he could apologize, then
proceed to keep his distance from her.

“
Is it of the same ilk as
Paula’s potion?”

Viviane smiled for the balding man, but not
- Niall noticed with disappointment - for him. “Joe’s café au lait
is so good that you’ll believe it’s made by magic alone.” She
tossed her hair over her shoulder and smiled again for the baker
Joe.

That man beamed as he set a cup on the
counter. The warm gaze he spared for Viviane was duly noted by
Niall.

Who heartily disapproved.

Aye, this man wore a ring upon his finger, a
gold band of import that could not be missed. And Viviane was not
his spouse!

Niall was prepared to dislike this
concoction on principle alone, at least until the steam rising from
the frothing cup teased his nostrils. It smelled so exotic and
unlike anything else he had known that he immediately decided to
take Viviane’s advice.

Perhaps that would win her favor.

But nay, she seemed not to note his choice,
not at all.

Niall’s mood soured yet further. When the
tally was made, he tried to pay with one of the coins he had moved
from purse to pocket on Derek’s vessel, but the baker frowned at
it.

“
We don’t take foreign
money,” Joe said crisply and handed it back. “U.S. dollars at par,
unless you go to the bank. Sorry -” he shrugged “- but it’s so busy
that I don’t have time to screw around with exchange
rates.”

Niall looked to Viviane, embarrassed by his
inability to pay for their victuals. She dug in her own pocket,
producing an odd array of colored coins and paper.

The balance was paid while Niall’s ears
burned, though none seemed to find him less of a man for so relying
upon his female companion’s largesse. Indeed, friendly greetings
exchanged as they gathered their purchases, and the shop filled
with familiar talk about the weather. The merchant had provided
small tables and chairs in his shop, perhaps the reason for his
small portions.

Niall followed Viviane’s lead with brown
powders she called sugar and cinnamon, his first sip of this
beverage making his eyes close in wonder. ’Twas marvelous and he
could quickly see that he would have need of another.

Niall consumed several sausage rolls in
silence before his belly was appeased, then met Viviane’s cautious
gaze. The deed could be avoided no longer. “I would apologize to
you, for ’tis clear you are angered with me this morn.”

Her lips tightened and she avoided his gaze.
“If you’re leaving, it doesn’t matter whether I’m angry with you or
not.”

“
Viviane…”

She put her cup back down on the board with
force. “
Are
you leaving? And if you are, how could you tell
Barb but not me? You don’t even know her! And why did you ignore me
this morning?” Her lovely eyes clouded with tears, which must have
been the only reason Niall’s innards clenched. “What’s wrong? How
could you even think of leaving? I thought that we…”

Niall reached across and snared her hand,
wishing the others in this establishment were not so interested in
their conversation. He looked into Viviane’s eyes, knowing he
couldn’t lie to her despite her witchery, but needing to reassure
her.

And zounds, he had to ensure she did not
cry!

Some parts of the truth would simply have to
be avoided, there was naught else for it.

“
Viviane,” he said in a
voice low with determination. “If I had joined you in your
showering chamber, we should still be there.”

That was true enough.

She caught her breath, her eyes widening
slightly as she stared at him. Her gaze was so full of hope that he
could not imagine the expression was contrived.

Niall held her gaze and smiled slowly,
liking how her hand relaxed in his and her gaze softened. He
stroked the back of her hand with his thumb, unaware he intended to
do so before he felt the smooth sweep of her skin pass beneath his
touch.

“
And if I had but looked
upon you,” he murmured, “then I would have joined you. Matters
might well have moved too quickly and we might have done what would
later be regretted.”

“
Oh, Niall!” Viviane smiled
at him then, for the first time since he had come into the shop
seeking her and Niall’s heart clenched. “Trust you to be worried
about something like that!”

And she reached across the table, framed his
face in her hands and kissed him soundly.

Niall’s heart leapt, but Viviane did not
pull back, her lips soft against his own. He could smell the sweet
scent of her skin, of that cursed lotion she had used in the
shower, and his body responded with vigor.

When she flicked her tongue against his lips
like a thirty kitten sipping milk, desire raged hot through his
veins. Zounds, he would take her right here and care naught for the
consequences!

Niall caught at her wrists, and with a
herculean effort, lifted her hands from his face. He broke their
kiss, knowing his gaze simmered into hers but unable to stop
it.

His breathing was ragged, the sight of
Viviane’s flushed cheeks doing naught to ease his state.

Then, she smiled.

’
Twas only because he had
affirmed the effect of her spell upon him, Niall was certain.
Though now he realized the folly of what he had done, too late to
undo it.

At least, the tears had disappeared from her
eyes.

Indeed, she leaned closer and Niall’s heart
skipped a beat, his mouth going dry. “Oh, Niall, I just knew that
everything would come out right. I knew that you had to desire me,
just as I want you and now that I know that you’re not leaving,
well everything will be just fine! Barb said you would be shy about
confessing your emotions, but I think you’ve done a wonderful job
already and now -” she pinkened in a most delightful way as she
smiled at him “- now, I’ll just have to convince you to love me.
Don’t worry, it will be perfect!”