That was it. She couldn’t take anymore of this nightmare. Without any warning, she turned on her heels and bolted.
“
Hell and Damnation!
Where do you think you’re going?”
He shouted after her.
Gillian had no idea where she was heading. She just knew she had to escape. Anywhere would be better than staying with
this arrogant, condescending man.
She glanced over her shoulder and saw to her horror Zachary was coming after her. Again, she wished she had her Nikes. She could feel her flesh tearing inside the dreadful shoes.
She rounded a corner to try to lose him behind the bustling crowd. Just when she felt confident that she might have a chance of escaping, her flight through the muddy street of the riverside town abruptly came to a halt. Someone grabbed her arm. She tried with all her strength to pull away, but it was useless. She’d been caught.
She looked
into the eyes of her captor,
recognizing the man who grinned down at her. In the next moment, Zachary caught up.
“Zachary old boy, did you lose something, or should I say someone?” Ellery said smiling, as he let go of Gillian’s arm.
“We were separated from each other; that’s all. In her panic, she went the wrong way. Isn’t that right, dear?”
Zachary stressed the dear part just a little too much, and she was in no mood to play the submissive wife.
Of course the jerk couldn’t let his friend think he couldn’t control his wife. Her hands balled into fist
s
. She met his warning glare with a sneer. “That’s not true and you know it. Frankly, I don’t know why you just don’t let me go. I can fend for myself. Thank you very much.”
“Whoa, a feisty gal, isn’t she?” Ellery commented, enjoying his friend’s obvious discomfort.
“Fend for yourself!” Zachary spat, ignoring Ellery
completely. “And how, pray tell are you going to do that? As far as I can see, you have not a cent to your name. You don’t even have clothes that fit you properly. Where are you to go? Please tell me. I am most curious
.”
He put his bag down and folded his arms against his chest as he waited for her to answer.
Gillian would have loved to tell him
where to go
, but on second thought decided it best to refrain. Did this man always have to be right? She realized now, it had been foolish of her to run without a concrete plan in mind. She didn’t have any place to go, leaving her at this man’s mercy. Right now, it probably wasn’t wise to make him angry. She bit the inside of her cheek and remained silent.
“Just as I thought,” Zachary continued without pity. “Now let’s get a few things straight. Neither one of us wanted to be married.”
“No kidding, Sherlock
.”
Her words dripped with sarcasm.
Ellery decided to clear up the name problem. “Just in case you didn’t catch his name at the wedding, he’s Zachary, not Sherlock
.”
Gillian rolled her eyes.
“Ellery would you mind?”
Zachary threw his friend a lethal glare obviously hoping he would get the hint and continue on his way, so he could properly deal with her in private.
Ellery chuckled, having no intentions of leaving. “No, no, I don’t mind.”
He waved his hand in front of him. “Go ahead Zachary, finish your little speech.”
Zachary’s gaze looked murderous, but Ellery didn’t look put out in the least. Brave man or maybe he knew Zachary’s bluster didn’t amount to much.
Interesting.
Zachary turned toward Gillian. “As I was saying: Neither one of us wanted to be married, to each other anyway. However, since we had no choice in the matter, the deed is now done. I am responsible for you and I take responsibility very seriously.”
“He does too,” Ellery added, meeting Zachary’s glare once more. Ellery held up his hands. “Sorry. Continue. I’ll keep mum.” He made a motion of locking his mouth shut and throwing away the key.
Zachary’s eye
lids
fluttered and he inhaled deeply before he brought his attention back to her. “I will take care of you. You will be well fed and
…
” Zachary gaze slid down her and back
up in disgust. “…
and I will make sure you have suitable attire to wear. In return, all I ask of you is to behave. That is to say, no more running away, and you must try very hard not to make my life miserable. Is that understood?”
She nodded as a misbehaving child would after a scolding. She didn’t care to be treated like an adolescent, but at the moment, she didn’t seem to have any choice. He said he would take care of her, and for some odd reason she believed him. She hoped by going with him she would figure out why she had traveled back in time. Why she had ended up with him. Surely, there had to be a purpose to this nightmare.
She thought Zachary had finished bawling her out. Then he added insult to injury. “You also owe me twenty-nine dollars.”
There went the obedient wife routine. “Owe you!
For what?” she shouted.
“For the damage to the door of the cabin. Though I am well acquainted with Captain Pike, he still demanded the money to have it repaired.”
“You threw the knife!
And those other men knocked it down. I had nothing to do with it.”
“And,” he continued, as though he hadn’t heard her complaint, “as for the wifely duties…” Zachary’s hand snaked out, pulling Gillian against him.
“Unhand—”
His mouth claimed her lips, drowning out her demand in a heated invasion. She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t allow it. He held her head and exerted a more provocative pressure with his mouth. A slow burn of desire curled through her, demanding more than she was prepared to accept. She could feel herself weakening. Her struggling lessened as she melted against him. There was something familiar about the embrace as if she’d been kissed like this before. The reasonable part of her brain knew she should push him away, but all her senses were lit on fire, threatening to consume her in one final blaze. As far as she was concerned, they were the only two people on the street, while all time stood still.
Zachary experienced the same difficulty with reality as Gillian. He wanted to tame her, to humble her, not the other way around. The small insistent voice in the back of his mind warned
him to stop, but then
… Hell and damnation! She kissed him back.
He didn’t care people stopped and stared. He didn’t care
that
Ellery’s eyebrows shot up as he watched the two succumb to whatever enchantment had captured them. Her mouth was sweet and her tongue stroked against his. She shifted restlessly, her movements a faint whisper against him. God, this felt right.
Ellery cleared his throat and tapped Zachary on the shoulder breaking the spell. “My boy, I had no idea you had a speck of passion in you, but people are beginning to talk. You
might want to take this inside…
say a hotel.”
Gently caressing her cheek, Zachary leaned back from Gillian, his brows furrowing. If he wasn’t careful, he could lose himself to her, and he didn’t have the time or the patience to woe the woman. He dropped his hand away. He forced the tenderness from his gaze and a wall of resentment went up in its place. He had to temper his out of control emotions. In a voice void of any amiability, he told her firmly, “That is what I expect from a wife, when called upon
.”
Gillian flinched as if he’d slapped her in the face. Whom did this man think he was talking to anyway? Without weighing the consequences, she swept her foot behind his leg, knocking him on his pompous behind.
Ellery laughed so hard Gillian couldn’t help but chuckle herself. She would have continued laughing, but the look she received from the fallen Zachary was deadly enough to silence her. Livid with anger, he slowly lifted himself off the ground. He turned to look at his backside all caked with mud. He glared down at Gillian, his blue eyes narrowing to slits. “Madame, if you ever do that again, you will rue the very day.”
Ellery stopped laughing long enough to put in a few words. “Oh come on, Zach my boy, no harm done. It’s just a little mud. It will come clean. With the energy this woman possesses, just sit back and imagine the nights you will have with her.”
He pounded Zachary on the back before he went on his way. “You’re a lucky man
.”
He was almost out of hearing range, when he turned back around. “A lucky man!” he shouted again.
CHAPTER FOUR
Zachary rented a horse drawn carriage to take them back to his home situated at the far side of town.
Simply worn out, Gillian rode in silence. She honestly didn’t want to argue anymore. Her feet hurt. She was tired, hungry, and she needed a bath.
Zachary pulled up alongside a two-story whitewashed house with a wooden fence enclosing the front yard as well as the walkway. There were steps leading up to the front door and wooden spokes that framed the quaint porch. She imagined how nice it would be to have a swing there, to enjoy the welcoming coolness of the evening. Though, it was hot and muggy, she shivered. Why, on earth would she think of such a thing?
She didn’t belong here. She was going back home.
“Are you coming?”
Zachary’s voice broke through her troubled thoughts like a sledgehammer.
Even if she ended up stranded in this time, she refused to spend her life with this man. She swept by him into the house
and stood in the foyer
.
“The first door on the right is where we’re heading,” he said, as he closed the front doors. She entered the room she assumed was the library for there were bookcases that reached the ceiling and covered three of the walls. She turned to face him, his lips twisted into a cynical smile. “Please make yourself comfortable. I must attend to a few things
.”
Gillian nodded as she watched him stiffly walk out of the room. She couldn’t help it. A smile of satisfaction curved her lips as she viewed his mud-caked pants. The man evidently would change his clothes before he did anything else.
Gladly throwing her purse on the drab sofa, Gillian sat down to absorb the ambience of the room, which is to say, the lack of any. It was clean, spacious and comfortable, but it was meagerly furnished. An ornate carved mantle framed the fireplace. Above it, hung a framed picture nearly faded from recognition. Immediately, her creative mind started to make minor changes, which would transform the room, making it a place where a person would want to kick up their feet and relax.
Thinking of feet. She leaned down and slowly removed her shoes, leaving only the thin stockings. She wiggled her cramped toes, hoping to restore circulation. “Much better,” she sighed. “What to do now?” Her gaze landed on the bookshelves. “Well, Mr. Creighton, if you read any of these books you must be a well educated man. Hmm, I wonder what your interests are?” She hobbled over to one of the bookshelves to discover what sort of man she’d been forced to marry. There were books on law, medicine, and mineralogy. On another shelf, there were ones on botany, history, anatomy, and astronomy. Set on the bottom shelf, she discovered a four-volume dictionary, and to her surprise, there were even books of poetry. She quickly decided to take the writings of Oliver Wendell Holmes back to her seat. She propped up her feet and opened the book.
***
Zachary wasn’t completely insensitive to Gillian’s discomfort. Now that some of his hostility toward her and their situation had subsided, he knew he had to examine her feet and treat them if necessary. He returned to the library with his medical supplies, pausing at the door. To his amusement Gillian had taken his gesture of hospitality seriously, and made herself at home. She stretched out on the couch engrossed in a book she’d chosen. Her auburn hair cascaded over one shoulder in waves that framed her angelic face. Nothing to entice him, and yet, he felt his body stir, making him painfully aware he was a man, alone with a beautiful woman.
Gillian turned her head and met his gaze. Her brows furrowed and he looked away not wanting her to see how much he desired her. They may be married in name, but he had a hunch she wouldn’t fall into his bed and appease his carnal attraction.
“I thought you might need something for your feet. Do you have any blisters?”
“You never cease to confound me.”
“What do you mean?”
“One minute you’re mean and nasty and the next you act like you care.”
He gave her a slightly wounded smile. “I do believe you’ve seen me at my worst.”
“Hmm.” She tilted her head.
“Your feet,” he reminded her of his question.
“Oh, yes…
I don’t know. I was afraid to remove the stockings.”
Placing the medical black bag on the floor, he knelt down in front of her. He gently took her feet in his hands, and slowly peeled the thin socks from her feet. When Gillian grimaced, he glanced up at her. “I’m sorry, but they have to come off.” She bit down on her lower lip and nodded her head for him to continue. The removal of the stocking revealed a nasty blister on the top part of her foot, and another on the outer side that had already burst. The left foot was in about the same condition. He was amazed she hadn’t complained more. “I’ll have to treat these to avoid any infection.”
He opened the bag he brought with him, taking out some gauze and a bottle of alcohol. Gillian tried not to squirm while he gently dabbed her feet.