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“I know. We all know,” Rory said, laughing. “Just back from the sea, and all you want is Tabby. But have you heard what Lavinia Weber is up to?”
“In detail,” Graydon said over his shoulder as he practically ran to the front door. It took him about a minute and a half to cover the distance from Kingsley House to BEYOND TIME. If his guess was correct, that was where Toby would be trying to find him.
She was standing under a huge tree at the side of the house, the white silk of her dress shimmering in the moonlight.
Halting, he watched her as he tried to let everything sink in. It was quite possible all this was a dream. For days they’d been inundated with everything of the early 1800s. Food, clothing, manners had all been studied. On top of that, Toby’s dreams had filled their minds. And tonight, with Dr. Huntley’s story of Lavinia and her unhappy daughter, it’s no wonder that he would have the same dream.
That’s what he consciously told himself. Inside, all he could think was that right now he wasn’t fated to be a king, and with that came a great deal of freedom.
When he took a step forward, he felt taller, lighter, as though a great weight had been taken from him. He stopped a few feet behind Toby and waited for her to turn around and see him. When she did turn, she looked as though she was about to cry.
Graydon didn’t say anything, just held out his arms, and she ran to him. He held her tightly, his face buried in her hair.
“Tabby’s mother is going to—”
“I know,” Graydon said softly. “I’ll take care of it.” He began kissing her neck.
Toby pushed away from him. “No! You don’t know what’s ahead. She’s going to make Tabby marry Silas Osborne and he’ll treat her badly.”
When she referred to Tabby as another person, Graydon realized that she thought he was Garrett a
nd he couldn’t help smiling. It looked like he could never get away from having a doppelgänger. He should, of course, tell her who he was, but he didn’t. “What should we do?” he asked, his face as serious as he could make it.
“Caleb said that—”
“My brother Caleb? He’s been on the ship with me. When did you talk to him?” He sounded jealous.
“Years from now,” Toby said and waved her hand. “That doesn’t matter. We need to let them find us in … in a certain stage of undress so Tabby won’t be forced to marry Osborne.”
Graydon’s eyes widened in shock. “You want me to undress you? Here? Now?”
“I know it’s not the done thing but—” She broke off, and for a moment she looked at him in the moonlight. “The truth is that while you were away, Tabby—I mean I—fell in love with someone else. I’m sorry for it but I couldn’t stop my feelings for him. In memory of what you and I once had, please help me.”
Graydon stared at her. This was part of the story he hadn’t heard. Maybe this was the reason Garrett Kingsley let her marry Osborne. But then, he saw a sparkle in Toby’s eyes.
“You imp!” he said and drew her back into his arms. “I’ve been frantically searching for you.”
She pulled back to look at him. “Is that why you smell like beer?”
He laughed. “I wonder if the food is as good as the beer? Maybe we could—”
“You think we were sent back in time to check out the food?!”
He was unperturbed by her tone. “Do you realize that here, in this place and time, I’m not a prince?”
She was puzzled. “What does that matter?”
“Everything,” he said. “I can do whatever I want.” He picked up her hand and began kissing it, and moving up her arm.
“Graydon,” she said slowly. “I don’t think you should …” She closed her eyes as his lips touched the inside of her elbow. The skin there was especially sensitive.
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I guess so. I can’t think when you’re doing that.” It took effort on her part, but she pulled out of his grasp. “This is Tabby’s life, not ours, and I think we need to solve her problem. Dr. Huntley said that Tabby and Garrett needed to be caught in a way so they’d be forced to marry.”
“Naked under the elm tree? That sort of thing?”
“That’s a little crude, but yes, I guess that’s what we must do.”
