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“Hollingswell Hall?”
He nodded.
She knew the stately home he mentioned and was intrigued to discover it was his family home. “Hollingswell still stands in 2020.”
His eyes gleamed with interest.
“It’s what called a Heritage House now. A private consortium bought it and it’s open to the public. For a fee, people can visit and experience the heritage of the house and its grounds.”
He shook his head, his forehead wrinkled as he tried to picture it. “Imagine that...time served us well.”
“It’s a beautiful estate.”
“It is,” he replied, looking deep into her eyes as they shared the moment and the image of Hollingswell.
“What do you oversee?” She wanted to know more about him.
“Land, the tenants. I’m not one for life in town, if truth be told. I don’t fare well in genteel society.” He grinned. His smile had a maverick quality about it that tickled her. “I’d rather be out overseeing the land. I often work with the tenants, I enjoy their company. I learn from them as they do from me, and it makes for a good bond, even though my father thinks I’m a heathen. He swears I’m not one of his offspring.”
She chuckled. “And you oversee your little sisters, too?”
He looked pleased she’d remembered. “Yes, I also oversee my troublesome little sisters.”
She couldn’t imagine it, having to duel over such a trifling affair, but she knew from her school days that matters of honor were treated very differently in the past. “What will your life be like, in the New World?”
“An adventure, to be sure. I must fill the time well, make something of the challenge.” He gave a wry smile.
“I sense you don’t particularly want to go.”
“I have to go somewhere. I’d rather stay here. I love this place, have done since I was a child. We grew up at the Cornish estate and I often stayed here in Raven’s Landing with my friend, Nathaniel. Cornwall is my home.”
She would rather he stayed there, too. Her mind had begun working overtime. She wondered if he would take on an adventure of a different kind. “Cullen, I heard a story recently, about a disappearance, a traveler who’d gone missing. My friend indicated it was folklore, but perhaps...perhaps it was because of you the story came about?”
He nodded, pursing his lips as he contemplated it. “I’d fit the description, but my intention is to one day return.” He gave a tight smile. It wasn’t wasted on her.
He didn’t want to leave his beloved Cornwall, but he had to go away from here for at least a few years. If she could work out how to get back to 2020, perhaps he could come with her and spend his exile there instead. The strangeness of the whole situation, together with the red-hot sex and the growing attachment she felt for him, made her thoughts wild and ambitious. “I know it sounds far-fetched, but if I made it here, I must be able to make it back to my time. And, if I can, maybe you can come with me.”
“To your time?” He was frowning as he tried to make sense of it.
“Yes, here, but in my time. You’d get your wish to stay in Cornwall for the years you have to be away.”
He nodded, his gaze still searching her face for answers, as if she truly were a witch or a magician, not just some lost soul hoping to make this dream real.
Her confidence faltered. Would it even work? “Do you want to try it? I mean, I have no idea if it’ll work, but we can try. If it doesn’t work, you can be back here at the harbor when the ship docks tomorrow.”
Fear and hope riddled her—fear of being stranded here, or worse, stranded here alone without him. He kissed her again, redirecting the flow of her emotions. The desire to be with him churned through her.
“So, instead of spending five years in the New World, you think I could spend time with you in this future world you spoke about, in your...place?” He looked her up and down, and a slow smile spread over his face.
He was flirting with her, and she liked it, but she worried because he had to take the situation seriously.
“Cullen, you have to want it. I mean, five years. It’s here, but it’s...well.” How did she explain it? “It’s just, different.”
“I’m not sure I understand what you’re telling me, Sunny, and I’m stuck on the idea you may be using witchcraft on me.” He paused to smile again and indicate he didn’t mean to have her burned at the stake. “It seems incredible, but hell and damnation, I’m willing to give it a try as much or more than any other adventure, if it involves being with you.”
“Oh, Cullen.” The fact he’d go along with her made her feel braver about the whole thing and happier, too. “And there’s no one special you’ll be leaving behind? A girl, another wench?”
His eyebrows shot up when he sensed her curiosity. “Oh, there’ll be a few broken hearts, I’ll warrant.” Then he pulled her into his arms, and reassured her with a kiss. “Take me with you, cast a spell if you can, witch, for I am willing to act as your protector and stand by your side wherever you should wander.”
