Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (12 page)

He watched the old man go, barely aware that
a grim-faced Marissa had come to his side. “Are you finally done
with the help, darling?” she demanded tightly when he didn’t
acknowledge her. She shuddered theatrically.

“
Yes. Let’s go back
inside,” Baird suggested easily. “I want to have a look at that
reception counter again.”

*

The rain slowed and stopped, the sun crawled
across the sky, its glow evident behind the thinning clouds.
Aurelia’s stomach grumbled, she felt the dirt press on her skin and
smelled Bard’s masculinity. She licked her lips and the taste of
his kiss made the secret part of her tingle.

How she longed to scour herself from head to
toe!

Suddenly, Aurelia realized why no maid was
being sent. Had she not guessed that her women had been taken
prisoner? And if the women of Dunhelm had been enslaved, then
Aurelia might recognize one sent to service her.

And she might learn where her sire had
fled.

Oh, it was an old trick to keep a prisoner
isolated and secured from news! And part of a captor’s devious
means to earn their victim’s trust and manipulate their thinking.
Well, Bard would not succeed in doing any such thing to
Aurelia!

Aurelia almost charged out of the room to
confront him before she recalled herself.

She was trying to play the fool! She could
not challenge Bard openly with such accusations and risk arousing
his suspicions about her intellect.

Aurelia paced the length of the room and
back as she worried over her course. What would a witless woman do?
Assume she was being denied a bath - perhaps because men of war
were not known to trouble themselves with matters of hygiene.

Yes! Aurelia smiled to herself. A fool would
think no further than her own comfort!

She looked down at the robe and tugged at
its hem with impatience. The garment was too short for her taste,
but the only other option was Bard’s own tunic.

And Aurelia would not don that again, under
any circumstance.

But clearly, she had to demand her bath.
Aurelia nibbled on her lip and worried over the issue for only a
moment before her decision was made.

As the better of two poor options, the robe
would have to do. Aurelia lifted her chin proudly and sailed toward
the door. Despite her qualms, Aurelia found herself looking forward
to matching wits with Bard.

Not that that was of any import at all.

*

Marissa’s arrival, a false fire alarm, the
complication of Aurelia and now the arrival of the exercise
equipment before the spa area was finished.

So much for the uneventful day Baird had
expected to have.

Marissa and the foreman were exchanging
insults over who was to blame about the poor coordination of
events, Julian was flipping through contracts, the electrician was
venting about the premature use of his alarm system, and Baird was
trying to find a solution as to where the exercise equipment could
be stored until the spa was done.

Anything had to better than paying to ship
it back to Sussex, then back here in a few weeks time.

“
Mr. Beauforte?” The head
plumber was closing fast and Baird groaned silently, certain he
didn’t need another thing to juggle right now. “I’m needing you to
have a look at what Joe has found. We’re going to be having a wee
problem with installing the fourth septic tank as planned - Joseph,
Mary and all the saints above!”

At the unexpected curse, Baird’s head
snapped up.

And his heart sank. He should have
guessed.

All eyes were fixed on Aurelia as she
bounced down the stairs to the reception area. Her hair was still
loose and damp, but his sweater had been abandoned in favor of a
resort bathrobe.

It covered even less of her thighs than his
sweater had.

Her skin was unexpectedly pale. Hadn’t she
had a hot shower yet? Baird muttered an oath under his breath,
uncertain why he felt protective of a woman he barely knew, let
alone one whose mind seemed to have a precarious grip on reality.
He scanned the hall to find work stopped completely as every man in
the place gaped.

Not that Aurelia would have noticed. Her
gaze was fixed determinedly on Baird, her full lips pouted like a
child denied a chocolate bar in the grocery store line. Despite her
expression, Baird felt a prickle of awareness, as though they were
the only ones in the massive hall.

“
Well!” Marissa exhaled
with a low hiss. “Well, darling, I can’t imagine where you scraped
up this sorry little bit of baggage, but she truly has no concept
of what is appropriate to wear…”

Baird impatiently waved the designer into
silence. “I’ll handle this.”

“
But darling, surely you
could send along some minion to talk sense into the
woman…”

It was easy to ignore Marissa’s plaintive
voice though Baird wished - again - that she had not managed to
persuade him to let her come to Dunhelm. Oddly enough, Marissa was
not spoiling him for all female company this time.

He wouldn’t think about that.

Baird determinedly crossed the floor, but
Aurelia was not backing down. She didn’t slow her own course until
they stood toe to toe and, despite himself, Baird admired her
boldness.

There was something on Aurelia’s mind and
Baird knew she was about to set him straight on whatever the issue
was. When was the last time he had met a woman who was so
direct?

And why couldn’t he recall this one?

Baird scanned her features with frustration.
He wondered suddenly whether there was some reason that she didn’t
want him to remember. Aurelia flushed when Baird looked into her
eyes and her gaze flicked away. Was she trying to hide something
from him?

“
Where are the maids?”
Aurelia asked in the high voice that she only used some of the
time. She sounded childish and dumb when she talked this way, and
Baird preferred her lower tones.

Baird frowned, both at her tone and her
question. “There are no maids here yet. If you need more towels or
anything, there’s a supply room at the end of the hall. Your key
will work - “

“
Me?” Aurelia chuckled as
though he was joking, although Baird didn’t know what he had said
that was funny. “There have to be maids here somewhere! There were
dozens of maids this very morning.” She smiled up at Baird and
batted her eyelashes. “Surely, you did not send them all
away?”

This morning? Baird eyed her conviction and
his heart sank. Aurelia was confused, that was for sure. She and
her father must have been very close for his loss to affect her so
deeply.

Baird felt a pang of compassion and knew he
had to help Aurelia. Baird was used to solving problems - one more
wouldn’t add much to his burden. Aurelia had no one else to count
on, after all.

At least not until he found Hekod.

Baird heard his tone soften as he placed one
hand gently on Aurelia’s shoulder. He leaned closer and was
surprised to see something flash in her eyes.

“
There are no maids,
Aurelia,” he explained quietly, “and there were none this morning,
either.”

Aurelia stared back at him for a long
moment. Baird had the sense that her mind was going a mile a minute
and wished heartily that he could have known what she was
thinking.

Or was she thinking anything at all?

“
I’m sorry, princess, but
there won’t be any maids here until the building is
done.”

She stiffened beneath the weight of his hand
and her fair brow arched. “You do not mean to bathe before the
building is done?”

Baird stifled a grin, not wanting her to
think he was laughing at her. “It’s not that serious. The plumbing
works already.”

But Aurelia didn’t seem to understand. She
folded her arms across her chest and took a trio of deep breaths.
She appeared to be choosing her words carefully.

“
If there will be no maids
until that time,” she said tightly, “then, of course, I am obliged
to wait.”

Now, Baird was confused.

Aurelia fixed a very blue glance on Baird
and he knew in that instant, from that one look, that Aurelia was
not as dumb as she wanted him to believe.

Then, she met his gaze so blankly that Baird
wondered whether he had seen anything at all. The sense that she
was playing games with him irritated Baird immeasurably.

The last thing he needed was another Jessica
in his life!

“
What’s the problem?” Baird
propped his hands on his hips with newfound impatience. “Just draw
the bath yourself.”

“
Myself?” Aurelia’s disgust
with that idea was tellingly clear.

Which could only mean that she wanted
someone else, some paid help, to draw her bath for her! Baird had
never heard anything so lazy in all his life! The embroidered motto
on Aurelia’s bathrobe taunted him, but Baird knew the resort had
never been asked to such a menial task, even for a paying
guest.

“
There’s a tub in your
room,” he reminded her, biting each word with precision.

“
That tub has a hole in its
bottom,” Aurelia retorted with a flighty toss of her hair. “And
there is nary a drop of hot water to be seen!”

This was ridiculous!

“
You are not going to have
a maid or anyone else prepare your bath,” Baird asserted in a far
more reasonable tone than circumstance demanded. “You are simply
going to have to do it yourself, as everyone else does, whether you
think you’re a princess or not.”

“
Think I’m a princess!”
Aurelia’s cheeks burned bright and her voice dropped. Her eyes
snapped with intelligence as she wagged a determined finger beneath
Baird’s nose. “I am a princess and you know it as well as I do. And
I am not going to haul water up those stairs like some common serf
captured on a raid in the East!”

She folded her arms across her chest and
glared at him as though daring Baird to insist otherwise. Aurelia
certainly wasn’t afraid to speak her mind.

All the same, Baird didn’t understand her.
He frowned in confusion. “Up what stairs? What are you talking
about?”

“
Do not play games with
me!” Aurelia glared outright at him. “I will not be mocked by the
likes of you! Perhaps you do not see fit to bathe, or perhaps you
find it amusing to torment me like this - gods and goddesses only
know what passes for cleanliness among barbarians! - but understand
that neither I nor my father will readily forget such
rudeness…”

Barbarians? There was another reference to
his being American! Did these Brits never get over themselves?

“
Rudeness?” Baird retorted.
“I’m putting you up for free in a luxury resort!”

“
Your terms are hardly
gratuitous!” Aurelia snapped. “My birthright entitles -
“

“
That’s enough!” Baird
roared and everyone who wasn’t already watching this exchange
turned to have a good look. “We’ll see this settled, for once and
for all!”

Before Aurelia could launch into another
lecture about his poor manners, Baird gripped her elbow and
propelled her towards the stairs. She had to take three steps to
match every two of his because she was so much shorter, but Baird
didn’t care.

She wanted someone to draw her bath and, by
God, Baird would do it - though not likely in the way the Princess
Aurelia had planned.

He had had enough insults about his
nationality to last one day.

“
Baird! What about these
samples, darling?” Marissa called.

“
And Mr. Beauforte, the
plumbing - “

“
Where shall we put the
step machines?”

“
I’ll be back shortly.”
Baird nodded to plumber and delivery team. “And Marissa, the tiles
will have to wait until the morning, there’s too much on my plate
right now.” Baird threw a telling glance over his shoulder that
Marissa would have been wise to heed.

She didn’t.

The designer pouted, her gaze darting to
Aurelia and back to Baird. “But Baird, it’s absolutely no trouble
at all. You’ll be back in - what? Five minutes, darling? I can wait
right here.”

Baird glanced grimly down at Aurelia and
caught a glimpse straight down the front of the bathrobe that made
his gut clench. Down there, just to the right of the creamy flesh
he could see, was the nipple that responded so pertly to his touch.
Heat coursed through him at the memory of that soft curve beneath
his hand.

Aurelia looked up in that moment and proudly
held his gaze, not even trying to hide the sharp gleam in those
blue eyes. Baird’s heart leapt. Maybe she wasn’t crazy, after all,
but just pretending to be.

Which left the intriguing question of
why.

One thing was for certain - Baird Beauforte
was going to get to the bottom of this puzzle. And he was going to
do it now.

“
This may take a while,”
Baird said and forced a polite smile for Marissa. “And we’ve done
more today than I expected. Why don’t you take the chance to relax
after your flight?”

Marissa exhaled in a hiss of
dissatisfaction, but Baird didn’t care what she thought. He was
much more interested in the fact that his words seemed to trouble
his tiny companion. It was almost as though Aurelia guessed Baird’s
intention and didn’t want her mysteries solved.

She caught her breath, then tried to shake
off Baird’s grip on her arm. “You are not coming to my chambers! I
do not need your accompaniment!”

“
You obviously do if you
want that bath.”

She glared at him and twisted her arm some
more. Just on general principles, Baird held on.