Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (14 page)

Baird’s errant mind supplied the feel of
Aurelia’s breast in his hand at this most inopportune time.

Powerless to stop himself, Baird glanced to
Aurelia’s perfect feet. She was wriggling her toes against the
bathmat. His mouth went dry as desire roared to life once more.

A hot flush passed over him, heating his
flesh from heat to toe. Baird wanted to kiss Aurelia again, taste
her, caress her, savor the weight of that breast in his hand. He
wanted to peel off his clothes, tear off that bathrobe with his
teeth.

Baird wanted to climb into the tub with
Aurelia - or better yet, the shower - massage her, lather her with
soap, tease her until she moaned with pleasure. He wanted to bury
himself to the hilt in her softness and never come back. His need
for her was primal and so overwhelming in its intensity that he
felt dizzy.

It was the steam from the bath. Baird was
too hot, in more ways than one.

He had to get out of here.

“
Well! That’s settled,
then.” Baird pushed to his feet, not believing that for a minute.
“So, now you know how the bath works. I guess I’ll see you at
dinner, say about six?”

Aurelia frowned in childish confusion.
“Six?”

“
Six o’clock, in the west
hall where the restaurant will be.” Baird cocked a finger at the
rising bathwater and ducked toward the door. “You’d better get that
before it runs over.”

“
Oh. Oh!” Aurelia pivoted
and dove for the tap. The steaming water had nearly crested the
overflow valve, and she scrabbled at the knobs in her haste to turn
off the water.

The pose showed her legs to distinct
advantage, making Baird suddenly very glad that he had ordered the
short bathrobes for the resort.

Even if it meant special torment for him in
this moment.

“
Enjoy your bath,
princess.” Baird ducked for the door and problems multiplying
faster than even he could solve them.

It wasn’t any help that one particular issue
on that list had claimed his attention wholesale. That just meant,
Baird resolved grimly, that it had to be solved first.

He had to find Hekod and he had to find him
soon.

*

Aurelia sank up to her chin in the scented
bathwater and considered her predicament. Bard, son of Erc, was a
man full of enough surprises to keep any woman on her toes. Never
would Aurelia have imagined that he would take a pledge to her -
though what his word was worth remained to be seen.

The gesture alone was astonishing and hinted
at a man of vastly different character than she expected.

But perhaps he only toyed with her. Aurelia
chewed her lip and hated that she could not be certain of his
intent. Clearly, Bard’s priest believed that Bard should wed
Aurelia, though his whore, not unexpectedly, did not share that
view.

But what did Bard think?

He had been uncommonly gracious in showing
her this water marvel that they all took for granted. And he had
not pressed any advantage he might have seen by being alone with
Aurelia in the chambers she had been given for her own.

That made twice he had not raped her.

It was most unlike a savage barbarian -
which she knew Bard to be - to show such restraint.

Oh, he was handsome, that was for certain,
and his charm was undiminished with further acquaintance. That
little smile that tugged at his firm lips, the warm gleam in his
eyes when he looked upon her, the way he arched a dark brow as
though they two shared a jest. Aurelia’s breath caught at the mere
recollection.

And the way he kissed.

Aurelia sat up hastily and felt around for
the soap, determined not to let her mind dwell on such
inappropriate thoughts. She took a soapy cloth and scrubbed the
taste of his kisses from her lips with a vengeance. Her breast
earned an extra savage cleansing.

Here was a man who knew his asset and played
it masterfully. And, just to make matters worse, Aurelia could not
keep herself from responding to his touch.

She had to find her father, before it was
too late.

And what of the others? There had been
hundreds on the walls this morning to counter Bard’s attack, yet
Aurelia had not seen one familiar face.

Had Bard slaughtered them all?

There were the dungeons. Perhaps they
survived there.

One way or the other, the truth of Bard’s
deeds would be discernable. No one could hide the fate of hundreds.
At first opportunity, Aurelia would check the dungeons - just one
warrior left alive might have news of her sire.

*

Marissa was not amused to have a tempting
package like Aurelia materialize out of the blue. And just to add
insult to injury, she had to outfit the invader or risk looking
petty in Baird’s eyes.

As if looks like that needed any help at
all. Every man in the place was watching Aurelia like a dog in
heat, and her skin - well! - you didn’t get skin like that living
out in the wilds of Scotland. Marissa knew the work of a good spa
when she saw it.

Which meant that Aurelia was far from the
wacko innocent Julian thought she was.

More like an opportunist on the hunt.
Marissa easily recognized her own kind and didn’t appreciate the
competition. The entire point of Marissa being in this godforsaken
place was to have Baird to herself.

Period.

This was supposed to have been her moment in
the sun, her chance to persuade Baird for once and for all that
they two were made for each other.

Not that Marissa really believed any such
romantic nonsense. The math alone said that Baird Beauforte was the
man for her, and said it loud and clear.

But Baird just didn’t seem to get it. Oh,
Marissa had tried to get him to notice her feminine charms, but
Baird seemed so oblivious that she wondered whether he was made of
stone.

Marissa dug savagely through one of her
Louis Vuitton trunks. Baird had never come to meet her with a rise
in his Levis before. For a breathtaking moment, Marissa had dared
to hope that she was making real progress.

Marissa didn’t need to be a rocket scientist
to notice the way Baird’s gaze followed Aurelia and know what it
meant.

And when they had gone upstairs? Well. Baird
hadn’t come back to look at her travertine marble samples, that was
for sure! Imagine - luring Baird upstairs with some nonsense about
not being able to work the bath! And Baird hadn’t seen through the
ploy - almost as if he wanted some excuse to go to Aurelia’s
room.

Marissa ground her teeth in frustration.
Having to lend clothes to a woman who had already claimed Baird’s
attention wholesale made her want to spit.

Her only hope was to come up with something
hideous.

It was no help at all that Marissa’s trunks
were carefully packed with clothes that showed her figure to
particular advantage - sensuous silks and delicate lingerie that
would contrast wonderfully with rugged outdoor wear. It was
clothing she had planned to wear herself to capture Baird’s
attention and she didn’t want to part with the advantage of a
single item.

Marissa came up with her favorite silk dress
and nearly shoved it aside before she froze mid-gesture. She stared
at the soft shimmer of the silk pouring over her hand for a long
moment. Its creamy hue highlighted her dark coloring spectacularly
well.

But blond Aurelia would look like dirty
dishwater in such a pale shade.

Marissa fanned out the dress’s fullness
across the top of the open trunk and a hint of a smile curved her
lips. The dress brushed her own ankles with dramatic flair - but
she was a good six inches taller than the blonde.

All these yards of silk would dwarf the
little unfortunate. With luck, despite the luster of the fabric,
she’d look like a lost child dressing up to be a woman.

Wouldn’t that be sad.

And Marissa, by lending a silk dress Baird
knew she favored, would appear to be sweet and generous.

Perfect. Marissa tossed the dress over her
arm and smiled. This could work all to her advantage in the
end.

*

Marissa rapped on the door of the room
Julian said he had given to Aurelia. The door swung immediately
open.

“
Oh! Hello.” Aurelia was
obviously both surprised to see Marissa and fresh from the bath.
Her hair hung damp and gleaming past her hips, the towel she had
wrapped about herself covered her only from underarm to
mid-thigh.

And there was not a dot of cellulite on what
Marissa could see of those slender but muscled thighs. Aurelia was
the very image of dewy innocence. Thank God Baird wasn’t here to
witness this!

Anger surged through Marissa at the thought.
She gritted her teeth and managed a smile that she hoped appeared
friendly. “Didn’t you look through the peephole before you opened
the door, darling?” she asked sweetly. “You never know who could be
knocking at your door otherwise and you certainly wouldn’t want to
just let them in!”

Aurelia blinked, obviously not
understanding.

“
The peephole,
darling.”

Aurelia’s blank expression didn’t
change.

“
In the door. The peephole
in the door. Surely, you’ve noticed it?” Marissa tapped impatiently
on the brass insert in question, amazed that the ditzy blonde
didn’t seem to know what it was. “You look through it, darling, to
see who is outside before you open the door.”

Aurelia frowned. “There is no hole in this
door,” she said carefully, looking at Marissa as though she was the
dense one.

Marissa barely controlled her exasperation.
“You know, you can’t just open the door, especially dressed like
that! What if there had been a workman here?”

Or Baird. He’d likely blow a seam in his
jeans!

Marissa refused to think any further along
such lines. “Go inside and look through the peephole, darling,” she
instructed, incredulous that she had to explain something so
simple. “You’ll see exactly what I mean.”

Was it true that blondes were as dumb as
bricks?

Aurelia shut the door obediently. Marissa
waited a second, then waved and smiled. There was an audible gasp
from inside the room and Aurelia tore open the door, her eyes
narrowed with suspicion.

“
How did you get in there?”
she demanded.

Marissa barely refrained from rolling her
eyes. Dumber than dumb. But then, hadn’t Aurelia insisted that she
was a princess? Obviously, reality was a distant concept for this
one.

“
I’m not in there, darling,
I’m out here,” Marissa explained patiently. “You looked through the
peephole in the door and saw me out here in the hall. That’s how it
works, very simple really.”

Aurelia appeared unconvinced. She glanced to
the peephole, then back to Marissa, her doubts clearly
unabated.

Did she think Marissa was lying about
something so painfully pedestrian?

“
You were only this big,”
Aurelia insisted, holding her finger and thumb an inch apart. “How
did you make yourself so small?”

Marissa blinked, but Aurelia held her gaze
stubbornly. Incredibly, the woman was not putting her on. She might
be drop-dead gorgeous, but Baird’s attraction wouldn’t last long if
he had to explain every little thing.

Maybe she really had been incapable of
drawing her own bath.

Maybe there was hope, after all. Marissa’s
spirits soared and she felt uncharacteristically generous.

“
It wasn’t me, darling.
There’s a lens or something in there, a special kind of glass that
makes things look smaller when you look through it. It lets you see
whatever - or whoever - is out here before you open the door. It’s
perfectly marvelous, of course.”

Aurelia went back and looked through the
peephole again, swinging the door and staying right behind it to
stare through the peephole as the door moved.

Pathetic. When Aurelia reluctantly abandoned
the game, she looked impressed. Marissa’s bored tolerance must have
shown.

“
You are used to this
magic,” Aurelia commented.

“
Oh yes, I wouldn’t have a
door without it.” Marissa shrugged. “You never know who is going to
come knocking these days, darling, do you, and one can only be
prepared for every eventuality.”

Aurelia nodded understanding, her gaze
trailing back to the marvel in the door once more. Marissa, though,
had no intention of wasting any more time watching Aurelia
gawk.

“
Look, darling, I’ve
brought you some clothes, nothing too terribly swish but something
to get you by. Here’s a dress for dinner and some undies - don’t
worry, of course they’re clean! - some pantyhose. I’m not sure
whether any of my shoes would fit you, darling, but here’s a pair
just in case they do.”

Marissa handed over the lot. Aurelia
fingered the silk and Marissa smiled with the certainty that she
would take the bait and wear the dress.

That made her almost laugh out loud. “Oh,
and here’s a bit of makeup that just might be perfect for you,
darling.” Marissa handed over a vibrant pink lipstick and a
glaringly blue eyeliner that she hadn’t gotten around to pitching.
“I thought the colors would suit you.”

In one way or another.

Aurelia stared at the cosmetics as though
she had no idea what they were. Maybe they packaged them
differently here - God knew most everything else was backwards in
one way or another. People even drove on the wrong side of the
road!

“
At any rate, it will get
you by until you can get some things in town.”

Then Aurelia glanced up and something
flashed in her eyes that made Marissa wonder whether she had
underestimated the woman’s intelligence.