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Nicholas stood.
"Then let's go ask Quinn if she knows."
It wasn't the same instrument. The harpsichord she had played once before, but the Steinway was magnificent as her fingers danced over the keys. She was so lost in the music that she didn't realize she had an audience until the last note faded and the clapping started.
"That was beautiful, Quinn," Nicholas said sincerely.
"It's a beautiful instrument."
"Yes, but it takes talent and skill to play it," he said and she lifted her eyes from the keys and met his gaze.
"So you've read it."
A small smile touched his lips before he answered. "Yes, but I already knew. You are sort of a legend in my family."
"Meaning?" she asked.
"Your story, yours and Archer's, has been told through the generations," he paused. "I suppose most think it's a lovely fairy tale but I knew differently. He left you things you know."
Quinn reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the burlap bag. "I found this in Nickie's nursery."
Nicholas didn't hide his look of surprise. "In the nursery? Where?"
"Baseboard in the closet."
"Damn, I missed that one!" His excitement was almost palpable as he gestured towards the sack. "May I?"
"Please."
As he unveiled the horse and note, Quinn noticed that his hands weren't quite steady when he saw the initials.
"My namesake," he whispered and then his brow furrowed. "But who's he warning you about?" he asked. Suddenly, Gabriel's curiosity peaked.
"Derek," Quinn offered coolly as she contemplated Gabriel. He hadn't signed up for falling for a time-traveling woman with serious emotional baggage and to have it all dumped on him was really unfair. When his attention turned to her, she could see he was still fully in temper.
She stood and started from the room. "I've something else to show you."
She knew they followed, could hear their footfalls, but her mind was elsewhere. Once Derek was stopped Quinn decided she was going to move back to the States. Being this close to Whispering Winds, Nicholas, and most especially Gabriel, it was too much. Gabriel didn't want this. He didn't want her. Well, he may have wanted her at one point but her colorful past was clearly more than he wanted to deal with since he couldn't seem to look at her and not clench his jaw. Being so close to him would keep her constantly hoping and hoping would prevent her from moving on. They entered the room and Quinn gestured towards the fireplace where she had hidden the treasure in the past. Before she could speak, Gabriel's hand closed around hers and he announced to Nick, "The top left panel."
Then he gently ran his finger along her jaw and whispered, "I'm sorry. I haven't handled any of this well but I do want you more than I've ever wanted anything in my life. And apparently, I always have -- in more than the one lifetime."
"You remember?" she gasped.
If she only knew everything he remembered. But he couldn't tell her, not yet, and so he settled for a simple, "Yes."
Quinn felt the tears as Gabriel pulled her into his arms. Nicholas had already worked the panel free and was pulling and emptying the sacks onto the Persian rug.
"My God," Cole whispered as he held a gold chalice that Quinn knew, when dated, would go back to the eleventh-century. "This is priceless."
Quinn turned her head as it rested against Gabriel's chest and looked at Nicholas. "It's also Scarcliff property. This is what Derek attempted to steal when he went back. I saw him burying it so together Thaddeus, Nickie and I hid it here. I know before it can be added to your insurance you're going to need proof that it belongs to you but how you're going to do that, I don't know."
"He already has the proof," Gabriel offered. "A detailed accounting of these items is locked in the family vault."
Quinn lifted her head to look at Gabriel and Nicholas finished his friend's thought, "Yes, courtesy of Archer Scarcliff."
Later they sat around the table in the dining room, the same table where Quinn had sat three hundred years earlier, and discussed Derek and what it was he sought. According to Nicholas there was rumor of a treasure with enough allure to draw Derek's attention.
"What is this treasure?" Charles asked as he settled back in his chair.
