Through The Leaded Glass (3 page)

“
And no one probably wants, judging
from the looks of it,” she added as she handed over the cash. How
many times a day did he tell this same story?

“
Oh, trust me, there’s not another
one like it anywhere.” He patted her hand. “Have a wonderful
adventure here today. And be sure to visit the glass blower’s shop.
It’s on your way to the joust.”

Kate slid her arm through the leather straps
as she left the ship, praying they’d hold together for the rest of
the day, but she wasn’t holding out much hope.

She felt the heat from the glass blower’s
ovens before she saw the shop, but the tinkling butterfly wind
chimes were what got her to stop. They’d look pretty outside Emma’s
bedroom window.

She followed the cobblestone pathway lined
with garden sculptures past the
Enchanted Forest Gifts
sign.
A fountain gurgled beneath pergolas overflowing with flowering
vines, silk butterflies, and twisting iridescent glass objects,
like something you’d find in a fairy forest. Unfortunately the
sounds of an airplane overhead and the trucks rumbling by on the
Pennsylvania Turnpike just beyond the faire walls stole a little of
the magic.

Lord. Now she was sounding like
Alicia.

An alcove held more glass objects amid scented
sachets, potpourri, and candles. She ran a finger lightly over a
delicate blown-glass tulip’s petals that appeared to be covered in
dew, and a ceramic frog peeked out from under a bundle of cinnamon
sticks beside a green-horned glass unicorn.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a
flash of purple and silver as someone darted out from behind a
statue at the end of the shop.

Had Master Griff
followed
her?

She went after him, peering around the corner
where he’d run, but what she saw there stopped her cold.

A two-foot tall stained glass window, arched
like something from a gothic church, leaned against the wall, with
a design…

It was a picture of a woman. A woman with long
auburn curls, and a green and burgundy dress just like
she
was wearing.

Exactly
like she was
wearing.

Kate walked toward the window. She wasn’t a
fan of coincidences, so either Alicia had had this outfit specially
made or—

Or what?
Kate shook her head. This
place was getting to her, what with tales of magical rings and
fairy forests.

But then a fairy
did
approach her. Or,
rather, a teenager dressed as a fairy. Which was so much more
normal than the road she’d started going down,
thankfully.

“
May I help you, my lady?” asked
the sales clerk.

“
That.” Kate ignored the “my lady”
and handed her some cash. “I’d like to buy it.” Well, not really
like
to buy it; more like
compelled
to. She wanted to
get to the bottom of the coincidence.

“
Okay,” said the clerk. “I’ll be
right back with some tissue paper to wrap it up.”

Kate nodded absently, her attention caught by
the vibrant colors of the piece. The green was so brilliant it
looked like what the emerald on her ring ought to, and the woman’s
auburn hair gleamed like sherry when the sun hit it. The
resemblance was amazing.

Kate brushed the long sleeves of her surcoat
up her arms, hiked the shield higher, and reached for the
window.

All of a sudden, the air around her
stilled.

Then it began to shimmer.

Then, with a heart-thudding
whoosh
, it
spiraled around her like a cocoon, blocking out every sound but her
heartbeat. A brilliant burst of color whirled around her like a
tornado, her world tilted, and…

…
she started to fall.

Chapter Two

Kate did a two-step to keep her balance, shook
her head, and turned around. Then back again. How had she gotten
outside
the shop?

With the stained glass window in her
arms?

Kate shook her head. This was weird. Odd.
Strange. And the whirling sensation in her head wasn’t helping any.
She probably shouldn’t have skipped breakfast this
morning.

She hiked the window beneath her arm. She
needed something to eat before she passed out. Let the clerk keep
the change, she needed to find food and Alicia. In that
order.

The heralds started trumpeting the moment she
stepped out of the shop, and the street became crowded with a
teeming mass of humanity all headed in one direction, dragging Kate
along with it. Oh well, at least the crêpe shop was this
way.

Then a woman with the most amazing shade of
tangerine hair bumped into her, almost knocking the window out of
her arms.

Kate scrambled to keep it from crashing to the
ground while the woman just gave her an uptight little sniff and
looked down her nose at her.

The lady-in-waiting beside her did the same
thing.

Kate raised an eyebrow, waiting for an
apology.

Which didn’t come.

Instead, the woman raked her gaze over Kate
while smoothing a hand over her own velvet dress that was covered
in every colored gemstone there was, with enough silver braiding to
ring a castle twice.

Velvet in this weather? No wonder the woman
looked like she’d sucked on a lemon.

Yeah, that apology wasn’t going to
happen.

But then Velvet Woman looked at the window and
was suddenly all smiles—which was actually worse since she could
use some serious dental work. She should have spent her money on a
trip to a periodontist instead of that dress.
Wacko
.

As the crowd surged, Kate lost sight of the
woman and her maid because they blended in with everyone else. Not
one person was in normal dress. And the smell… This was a special
“Members Only” opening Friday; she would’ve hoped that they
would’ve washed their costumes since last season.

The crowd bypassed the food stands, instead
flowing into the jousting arena where people in the wooden stands
waved colorful flags and cheered as the actors rode in on horseback
beneath a blue banner. Ah, that’s where she’d find Alicia. It
figured that it was on the opposite side of the arena.

Kate worked her way to the edge of the crowd,
then ducked beneath the seating area scaffold, a more direct route
than trying to shove her way through the throng. And she obviously
wasn’t the only one to think so. The path beneath the scaffolding
was littered with discarded wooden cups, scraps of fabric, and
crumpled little flags.

She followed the path out to a small hill
overlooking the staging area that was dotted with horses and the
actors’ dressing room tents. Some were non-descript; others had
fringed awnings with heraldic crests emblazoned on all sides. It
was pretty, almost like something from a painting, but she didn’t
have time to admire the scenery. She needed to find Alicia and grab
a seat so she could put these bulky things down. She should have
bought them on her way out of the faire.

She looked for the quickest path to their
rendezvous point. There had to be one since the actors had used it,
but where there’d been signage galore in other parts of the faire,
there wasn’t any now. If this were her account, she’d—

Kate laughed at herself. Even on her day off
she was thinking of work. Apparently, you could take the woman out
of the boardroom, but you couldn’t take the boardroom out of the
woman. And, boy, was the boardroom where she wanted to be right
now, not lost in some re-created English village.

Luckily, a member of said village crested the
hill just then, a bridle in hand.

“
Excuse me,” Kate said, realizing
the “guy” was little more than a boy. They sure started them
young.

The kid slammed to a halt. “My
lady?”

Okay, this was getting old. Kate exhaled. “I
was wondering if you could tell me where I could find—”

“
Aye. M’lord is in yon tent. I’m
off to bring him a new bridle. By your leave, my lady.” The kid
bobbed his head and ran off.

Yon tent
. The medieval equivalent of an
information booth? These re-enactors sure liked to be
authentic.

She hiked the window beneath her arm, then
looked at a pile of rocks ringing a tree. An opening between them
looked just big enough to hold it, and keep it safe and
hidden.

After checking to see that no one was
watching, Kate made an executive decision and slid the window into
the niche. One less thing to carry and she wouldn’t have to worry
about it getting damaged in the arena. She’d grab it on her way
back.

She walked to the blue tent, then stopped.
What was the protocol? Did one knock? Clear her throat? Yell,
“Ahoy, the tent”?

“
Come on, Nick,” said a male voice.
“I’ve a joust to see to and a woman to woo.”

Finally. Someone who—

The tent flap smacked her in the arm, knocking
her sideways. Great. Perfect. Lost
and
injured.

Then
bruised
as someone grabbed her
arms before she hit the ground and yanked her upright.

Arms covered in armor.

“
My pardon, my lady.”

She looked up. Yeah, she’d take his pardon—and
a lot more. The guy was gorgeous. Black hair pulled into a
ponytail, a set of cheekbones and jaw that looked as if some master
sculpture had carved them, blue eyes that matched the almost
turquoise tunic beneath more armor, and a mouth that was
specifically designed for kissing.

Well, hello.

“
My lady?” he said, and this time,
Kate had no argument with the term. “You are unharmed?”

Yes, but if he wanted to kiss her and make
everything all better—

God, woman. Get a grip
. It wasn’t as if
she wasn’t around male models with her job on a regular basis. He
was just another good-looking guy.

Times ten.

“
I’m fine. Thanks for the, um,
catch.” She shook her head and pulled out of his arms. “So who are
you supposed to be? Sir Galahad? Or just any ol’ knight in shining
armor rescuing damsels in distress?” Not that she needed rescuing,
but if she did, he’d be the one for the job.

“
Galahad? Surely you
jest.”

“
Oh. My mistake.
Arthur?”

He just raised an eyebrow.

Not into Arthurian legend then. Who knew
re-enactors could be so fickle?

Another man, red-headed and as big as the
first, pushed through the tent flaps, his hand on the hilt of a
sword—which was more than just a little disturbing.

“
Ah, yes,” he said with a darn good
English accent. “Just what you need. A fair maiden to sway your
mind from Isobel.”

“
Nick, you are drunk,” said the
first man. Alex.

“
And, you, Alex, are a fool.” Nick
gripped the hilt, sliding it a few inches from the
scabbard.

Okay, the testosterone and alcohol were
obviously flying and she should be going. She brushed her fingers
through her hair. “Um, never mind, guys, but thanks—”

Alex grabbed her hand. “I won’t pay
you.”

“
I don’t recall asking you
to.”

“
Good. Because I’d sooner see your
pretty head removed from your shoulders.”

Okay, then… She wrenched her hand back. “Look,
buddy, I don’t know what you’re talking about, so if you’ll excuse
me, I seem to be at the wrong tent.”

His eyebrow arched and he took another step
into her personal space. “You want me to believe you’re
innocent?”

Great. Another wacko. Kate backed up, ready to
make a run for it.

Nice plan, bad execution.
She winced at
the pun as the red-haired man ran behind her at her first step,
zipping the sword from the scabbard to tap it against his
palm.

She didn’t know what she’d stumbled into, but
she wanted out. Big time.

Taking a deep breath and praying her twenty
bucks was well spent, Kate hefted the shield in front of
her.

Alex’s laugh was not the response she’d been
hoping for, but, yeah, the thing was in pretty bad
shape.

“
The shield, too? You’re foolish to
have brought them with you.”

The other guy sheathed his sword, but he then
wrapped a meaty paw around her arm. “Well, Alex, ‘twould seem we’ve
found your villain...
ess
. Now you can thrash Farley in the
lists without a worry. What do you want me to do with
her?”

Kate wasn’t waiting around for that answer.
She twisted, trying to pull her arm free, but Nick was too strong.
“Look, there’s obviously been some mistake. I’ll just be on my way.
My friend’s waiting for me.”

Alex held up his hand. “Your friend can wait.
I demand an explanation.” He nodded at the other guy.
“Nick.”

Next thing she knew, she was being manhandled
into the tent.

So not good
. She’d taken a survival
class after her divorce—personal defense, CPR, wilderness living,
that sort of thing—and knew going with an attacker was not
conducive to survival. Especially a huge, drunk
attacker.