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“Hurry, Eleanor,” Alyssa said, tugging on her wrist. “You’ll see Reg in less than an hour, and then you have a whole lifetime ahead of you to grow tired of each other. We need to get you dressed and your hair fixed.”
“Just a moment,” she said, shaking off Alyssa’s grip. “Don’t go anywhere,” she said to Reece.
“I’ll be right here,” he promised.
Forcing the feeling of dread down her throat, she turned and went into the room. Alyssa worked quickly, helping her remove her dress and replacing it with a beautiful white gown. Lara sat on the vanity bench and a maid began working her hair into ringlets around the headpiece of her veil. Eleanor was a lovely bride. Lara’s eyes misted as she stared at Eleanor’s reflection. The young woman was beside herself with happiness. She really did love Reg. Lara wondered if it was some of Eleanor’s feelings for Reg dictating her feelings for Reece. As soon as her thoughts drifted to the man waiting just outside the door, her heart raced and butterflies filled her stomach. No, she loved Reece for who he was. Knights in shining armor had nothing on the guy.
The faint humming sound coming from inside her bridal gown made Lara’s heart skip a beat.
“The amulet,” she whispered. “I have to go!” she said to the maid fixing her hair.
“Don’t move. I am almost finished.”
“You don’t understand. I have to go, right now.”
Alyssa appeared behind her. “Are you going to be sick?”
The hum was growing louder. Her stomach churned with nerves. This wasn’t wedding jitters though. It was time to leap again. Lara stood up, ripping a lock of hair from her scalp in the process. She was too terrified to feel much pain. The maid made a sound of impatience, but Lara was already halfway to the door.
“Reg!” she called.
The door opened immediately. He’d kept his word.
“Is it the amulet?”
She nodded, colliding with his chest and reveling in the comfort his embrace provided. Reece stumbled back into the corridor, but did not release her from his tight hold.
“Almost time to go.”
“Say the chant now, before he gets here,” she pleaded.
Reece shook his head. “That won’t work. Both pieces of the amulet have to be near each other for them to work. I can’t start chanting until he arrives.”
She looked up at him, clenching the amulet in her fist. “Hold onto it, in any case. Get ready.”
“Are you afraid?”
She nodded.
He kissed her brow and enclosed her hand in his. “I won’t let him take you from me, Lara. That’s a promise. He will never take you from me.”
She nodded again, wanting to believe his words, but her fight or flight nervous system refused to let her calm down. The amulet’s hum grew incrementally louder. The strange tugging sensation she always got from the artifact intensified until she thought she might be sick.
“I want to see you in a dress like this again someday,” Reece said. “You walking down the aisle towards me.”
She couldn’t understand how he could be so calm.
“You make a beautiful bride, Lara.”
There was a loud crackle followed by a crash in a room down the hall. Lara winced, clutching the amulet tighter.
“Where are they?” Carl’s voice bellowed. “God damn it, I asked you a question.”
Sir Clayton’s bedroom door crashed open and Eleanor’s father charged out of the room. His image flickered to Carl’s and then back to Sir Clayton’s.
Reece was reciting the words that would allow them to escape. “Hurry, Reece,” Lara whispered, unable to take her eyes off the huge man advancing in their direction.
Carl’s raced toward them, hand extended. He was within inches of grabbing Lara’s arm when his angry face bled into blotches of contorted colors. She watched, transfixed, as things moved past them, blurring together in a cacophony of smeared scenery and sound bites. Her feet came in contact with the earth. Lara was almost afraid to look at Reece. She knew he would look like a stranger at first and she doubted she’d ever get used to it.
“If you wanted to get me out of my pants, all you had to do was ask,” Reece said.
The first thing Lara noticed about her surroundings was the blazing heat. Desert stretched endlessly in every direction. Lara was wrapped in layers of red cloth. Even her face was concealed behind fabric. Reece, on the other hand, was entirely naked.
“Apparently, whoever is wearing the amulet arrives with clothes, the passenger, isn’t quite so lucky,” he said. “So, what do I look like?”
She looked him over. Much better than the Viking, not as easy on the eyes as the knight, but still, no comparison to the real Reece. The man looked young. Pretty even. His features were striking. In Lara’s time he probably would have been a runway model. Black hair and dark eyes. Smooth, deeply tanned skin. Her eyes raked down his lean body and caught sight of something she wish she hadn't seen. She winced. “It doesn’t matter what you look like, Reece,” she said, her heart thudding. “I love you no matter whose body you happen to borrowing on any given day.”
“You love me? Do you really mean that?”
“Yes, I really do.”
The man before her smiled and while he looked nothing like Reece, she could see Reece’s soul gazing out from the man’s dark eyes and that’s all that mattered.
“I love you, too, Lara, but I think you already know that.”
She grinned. “I don’t mind if you tell me.”
He touched her face with trembling fingers. “I love you, Lara. I’m afraid we’ll have to keep leaping through time for our entire life span just so I can keep you. Will you stay with me? Make our future together in the past?”
She nodded, tears springing to her eyes and it had nothing to do with the sand swirling through the atmosphere. “I always wanted an adventurous life. You’ve definitely given me that.”
“And isn’t it nice of us to help couples find a love like ours?”
“There is no love like ours.”
Reece drew her against him and a hot desert wind whipped her sari around her legs. He held her for a long moment and the woman who currently shared a body with Lara grew breathless with unrequited love.
“I wonder how sunburned my ass will be after I make love to you right here in the sand for hours and hours,” Reece murmured.
“I’m not sure that’s possible, sweetheart,” she murmured, snuggling against his shoulder.
“Why not? I thought you said you loved me.”
“I do, Reece. That’s not the problem.”
“Then what? This guy is totally head over heels in love with this chick. Holding her is so thrilling to him, I think he’s about to faint. He and I are both ready for some hot monkey sex in the sand.”
“Are you sure?” She looked up at him, trying hard to stifle a laugh. “Seems an unlikely activity for a eunuch.”
Reece’s eyes widened. He rubbed his forehead with one hand and groaned. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I wish I were. How are we supposed to help this couple find true happiness if we can’t make love?”
Reece winked and wriggled his tongue at her. “I’m sure we’ll think of something.”
To be continued...
