When she was naked, the light breeze drifting through the window was cool and sensuous on her skin. Fleetingly she thought again about the incredible events of the past hours, and of how she felt as if she’d known Dane for much longer. If she was indeed Rosalind’s reincarnation, then of course she felt she knew him. But as the thought struck her, so did the paradox it posed. Rosalind might have been Dane’s wife, but it was Thomas Denham she loved, so why did Kathryn Vansomeren—as Rosalind—cleave so passionately to Dane?
There was no time to think more, for his steps approached. He came in and his glance moved over her with lazy appreciation. “I see you are impatient, madam,” he murmured, closing the door and leaning back against it.
“Very impatient, sir.”
His eyes met hers. “Would that you had always been like this, Rosalind,” he murmured.
“If I’ve been a less than loving wife until now, I regret it with all my heart.”
He smiled and held out a hand. “Then come to me.”
She needed no second bidding, and ran to him. With a laugh he caught her close, lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed. He put her down gently on the silk coverlet, and then drew his fingertips softly across her excited nipples as he looked intently into her eyes. “Tell me you are a changeling, and I will believe you, for the woman I look upon now is the perfection I’ve always longed for. When I took you as my wife, I knew you didn’t love me, but I hoped that love would grow in time. Now, at last, it has.”
The way he stroked her breasts sent
frissons
of pleasure through her. She put a hand to his thigh, sliding it slowly up until she felt his iron-hard erection, outlined so clearly by the tightness of his breeches. “Let’s consummate that love now,” she whispered, closing her hand needfully over his virility, and gently massaging the end.
He closed his eyes, his breath escaping on a shuddering sigh, then he halted her caresses by putting his hand over hers. He smiled lazily down at her. “I’ve yet to make love with my breeches still buttoned, madam, and I don’t intend to begin now. Besides, your body is an altar at which I intend to worship with every reverence.”
When he was naked, he bent over her to press his lips to her breasts. His kisses moved down to her abdomen, and then ever more tenderly to the dark hairs at her groin. Then he lay down with her, his knowing fingers sliding expertly between her legs. “Two can play this game, my love,” he whispered as her breath caught on a gasp of pleasure.
Then he stopped her gasps with a kiss, and the lovemaking began in earnest. He was ardent but leisurely, taking her to the edge of ecstasy and lingering over the moment as if forever. Her pleasure mattered as much as his, and he took care to carry her along with him. Their bodies were warm and damp, their union complete in every way. If she was the altar, then his worship was devoted and now there was only rapture between them.
But a shadow lay across the bed, a shadow perhaps only she could see. He still wore Elizabeth’s likeness, and it seemed to Kathryn that his first wife had a mocking smile on her lips, as if she knew her successor could never completely have his heart.
He stayed for two hours that passed all too quickly, but at last he felt unable to postpone his pressing estate business any longer. She lay there watching as he dressed. Her body was warm and relaxed, her desire pacified, but as she looked at his strong slender form, she knew she could never have enough of him. It wasn’t purely sexual, though, for it went far beyond that. There was something about Sir Dane Marchwood that reached past all her defenses, something that told her again and again that he was her other half. She’d begun to feel it on first seeing him, and now the conviction was even more powerful because she loved him completely. If she, Kathryn, had really been the woman he married, she knew they would have been wonderfully happy together. Already there were times when they anticipated each other’s thoughts and words, when they laughed at something foolish to anyone else but themselves, and when they glanced at each other at the same precise moment. They were a perfect match in every conceivable way. Except they weren’t a match at all, for she was here on stolen time.
She wished she understood why all this was happening to her, but when she was with him it didn’t matter why, only that it went on and on without end. But it would end, for at dawn on Lammas Day, he and Thomas Denham would face each other because of her—no, because of Rosalind—and that would only happen because Dane found out once and for all that his suspicions were well founded. What hope would there be then for Kathryn Vansomeren to retain his love? Even presuming she could still come back to this former self...
Tears sprang to her eyes and she sat up, reaching out impulsively to him. “Hold me, please ...”
His fingers were firm and reassuring as he caught her hands. “What is it, sweetheart? What’s wrong?” he asked concernedly.
“I love you with all my heart, you must always believe that,” she whispered.
She wanted him to say the same in return, but he didn’t. He moved closer to her, though, cradling her head against his waist and twining his hand in her hair. She wrapped her arms around his hips and closed her eyes as tears welled down her cheeks.
He tilted her face anxiously. “Tell me why you’re so sad. If it’s something I’ve said or done ...”
She strove to collect herself, wanting desperately to tell him the truth, but knowing she couldn’t. “It’s nothing, I... I’m being foolish.”
“But if there’s something wrong ...”
“No. Nothing’s wrong.”
“Are you sure?”
She gazed up into his eyes. “Quite sure.”
He released her then. “I must go now, for I have a veritable plethora of pressing matters to attend to, from bickering between tenants about closed sluice gates, to stolen cheeses, a deliberately damaged wagon, and, would you believe, a potentially violent dispute about rustled hens! A landlord’s load is varied indeed, but while I’m engaged upon all this intolerable excitement, you must rest. You are to be the belle of tonight’s ball.” He smiled and bent to kiss her nose, and then left.
She watched the door close behind him. Which twin could attend the ball with him tonight? Warm, passionate Kathryn? Or cold, unloving Rosalind? She prayed it would be the former, for she longed to go to such a glittering occasion as Lady Marchwood, but she feared she’d have returned to her own time again by then.
Something made her get up and dress. She wanted to lie back and savor the warmth of the sheets where he’d lain, but was prevented by a strange urge to return to the great hall. Her golden hair was tangled and untidy, so she went through to her own apartment to use a brush and select a ribbon from the drawer.
Looking neat again, she went to the top of the grand staircase, where the first person she saw was Alice.
Chapter Twelve
The old nurse was standing on the half-landing, almost as if waiting for her, and looked up with a smile.
“Ah, there you are, my dear. Did I not promise you more passion than you’d ever known before?”
The stonemason and his apprentice were at work on the fireplace again, but were so engrossed in the intricacies of a corner that they didn’t even glance around.
Kathryn went slowly down to the landing, and faced the nurse. “Yes, you promised me.”
“And is he not everything you could ever want in a man?”
“Yes, he is.” There was something Kathryn had to know. “Am I Rosalind’s reincarnation?” she asked bluntly.
“If by that you mean has she been born again in you, the answer is no. You are two very separate persons, with nothing to link you except circumstance. When the moment is right, I will explain everything. In the meantime I must return you to your own time again.”
“No! Please! I want to ask so much. I... I know the day after tomorrow Thomas Denham is going to die at a duel with Dane.”
Alice hesitated and lowered her glance for a moment. “Yes, it would seem that on Lammas Day he will breathe his last.”
“Can’t you stop it happening?”
“No. Dane will find out about Rosalind and Thomas, nothing can prevent that.”
Kathryn was desperate to find out all she could before she suddenly found herself in the future again. “What’s all this really about, Alice? I’ve gone through all the possibilities, from books and movies, to hallucinations on account of jet lag, and ending up with reincarnation, but—”
“I don’t understand. Movies? Jet lag?” The old woman looked mystified.
“Oh, there’s no time to explain, all you have to do is tell me what’s going on.”
“It concerns a quest for happiness, my dear, and commenced with two people, but has now spread to four. You are one of them, and have the chance to bring about the change that will bring joy to all four. You are the key, Kathryn; only through you can the door to happiness be opened.”
What mumbo jumbo, Kathryn thought, but then she looked into the old woman’s bright eyes and changed her mind. There was clearly much more to this than seemed possible right now. Her thoughts hurtled swiftly on. Okay, so let’s assume it’s all genuine. Alice talked of four people being involved. The other three were clearly Rosalind, Thomas, and Dane, but Thomas didn’t have a future, he was set to die on Lammas Day. She spoke at last. “Maybe I’m being stupid, but what good is this going to do Thomas Denham? You’ve just said nothing can stop the duel, so presumably Dane’s going to kill him no matter what?”
“Yes.”
“Then I fail to see—”
“Trust me, Kathryn.”
“That’s a lot to ask under the circumstances.”
“I know, but you have a lot to gain.”
“Do I?’“
Alice nodded. “If fate is kind, yes.”
“So there’s a catch,” Kathryn observed dryly.
“Nothing is certain in this life. Or any other life.”
“Except that Dane is about to kill Thomas Denham because of Rosalind.”
Alice didn’t reply.
Kathryn eyed her. “You’re Rosalind’s nurse, and so know her very well indeed, right?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ve been helping her conduct this affair with Thomas. Oh, don’t deny it, for she met him in your cottage!”
“I wasn’t going to deny it, Kathryn.”
“Okay, so you admit you’re in on all she does?”
Alice nodded.
“And she’s supposed to be deeply in love with Thomas?”
“She is.”
Kathryn shook her head firmly. “She can’t be.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, if you know all about the duel and Thomas’s death, so does she, and if she loved him like you say, she’d do all she could to stop the duel happening. In short, she’d give Thomas up to save his life. I’d give Dane up; there’s no way I’d carry on seeing him if it meant his death.”
Alice smiled. “If only it were that simple, my dear; but Rosalind is powerless to change events here in this time. She, Dane, and Thomas are bound by their stars, but you are different.”
“How?”
“You have powers, oh, maybe not as strongly as mine, but you do have them. That is how I know you across the years. I have the sight.”
“The sight? Second sight, you mean? Being able to see into the future?” Kathryn paused. “Well, I can tell you right now,
I
don’t have the sight. I’ve never even had a premonition!”
Alice studied her intently. “Are you sure of that? Your powers are there, my dear, they just have yet to be fully realized. My gifts are fading now, soon they will be gone, but I am using the strength I have left to try to bring happiness to four people to whom it is due. Maybe I’m reaching beyond my capabilities, maybe it’s far too audacious a plan to ever succeed, but I believe it can be done.”
Kathryn was dumbfounded. Whatever she’d expected, it hadn’t been this. She tried to keep a hold on her wits. “What exactly are my powers supposed to be?” she asked after a moment.
“Among them you may count intuition, my dear. We all have it to a certain extent, but in you it is very strong indeed, and you may always rely upon it.”
“Alice, I—”
“Don’t ask me more now, Kathryn, for it’s time to return you to your own time. If you wish to attend the ball tonight, and thus see Dane one more time before tomorrow, when at the departure of the
Lady Marchwood
on her maiden voyage he will find out about Rosalind and Thomas, you must be in Cheltenham at ten o’clock this evening. Be at the Royal Well. It’s easy to find because it’s the reason for Cheltenham’s fame.” Alice put a hand on her arm. “Now look at Dane’s portrait again, my dear, and think well on how much you love him. And remember, trust your intuition.”
Kathryn started to obey, but then looked swiftly back at the nurse. Instead of the old woman from the past, she saw the guide she’d spoken to in the castle restaurant.
The woman was concerned. “I didn’t mean to startle you, my dear, it’s just that I spoke three times and you didn’t answer. Are you sure you’re all right, my dear?”
Kathryn’s heart pounded. She was her modern self again! She looked past the woman at the great hall. Another tour was just beginning, and the stonemason and apprentice of the past had vanished. How long had she been standing here? Had the outer shell of Kathryn Vansomeren been gazing at Dane’s portrait for well over two hours, while her inner self went back in time to become Rosalind?
She summoned a weak smile. “I... I’m quite all right. I was so engrossed in the portrait I just didn’t hear you.”
“Well, I saw you drive away earlier, but when you came back again a few moments ago, I knew you were smitten with Marchwood, and with Sir Dane in particular, if I’m not mistaken.”
She’d driven away and come back? Kathryn tried not to show she didn’t know what the woman was talking about.
The guide looked at the portrait. “I told you he was handsome.”
“A girl could give way to wicked fantasies,” Kathryn replied, recovering sufficiently to try to joke.
The woman laughed. “A girl could indeed,” she agreed.
There was much Kathryn needed to find out, and the Marchwood archives seemed the best bet. “Is it possible to see the castle records? Maybe there’s a library or something?”