After some lighter conversation about why her brother felt the need to visit Lady Jane at such an hour and why he chose the balcony to enter rather than the door, Elizabeth reluctantly made her excuses. It was time for her to tend to the needs of Lady Margaret and she dared not be late. She cast me a worried look and made her leave.I pondered briefly over why Elizabeth would be concerned about leaving me alone with her brother. After all, hadn’t she been the one to introduce us and assure me that he wouldn’t harm me? The look she shot me was clearly a look of worry or concern. Things just weren’t making sense.An uncomfortable silence spread through the chamber while I debated if I should ask the dangerously alluring Lord Rufus to leave or invite him to stay and converse with me a bit longer.  There were still many questions that I had for him about the time traveling he was doing.  If Duncan and I were to get back to the future, we needed

Dawn had barely broken when Elizabeth summoned Garth to my chambers and, after swearing him to secrecy, had him assist us in moving the wardrobe far enough away from the tapestry to allow us to slip behind it.  We decided it was best to travel with Garth along.  Now we not only had to worry about Vivian and her crazy abductions, but we needed a watchful eye for Lord Rufus as well.Although neither of us was eager to bring Garth into our confidence, we were forced to divulge a bit of information to him concerning Lord Rufus’ obsession with me in order to get him to cooperate.  Even though he now realized I wasn’t Lady Margaret, I’d won him over during the time he thought I was and his loyalty to me was astounding. Although I’d paid it little attention, I was now extremely grateful for it.Elizabeth informed Garth of our early morning rendezvous and had asked him to make certain we had horses waiting for us at the opening of the tun

The rich savory aromas of chicken stew wafting under my nose was all it took to roust me out of my slumber. It was at least a day since I’d eaten and my stomach walls were beating and growling for attention.  They were so loud I couldn’t blame Anna for the giggle that escaped her as she leaned forward to slip a spoonful of the delicious broth between my parched lips.“What day is it?” I asked after swallowing the hot broth and savoring its delectable flavor.“’Tis the end of your second week, Lady Jane,” she replied. “Ye have been sleeping for most of the days, with little coherence in between.”“Ach,” I moaned as I pulled my body into a sitting position.I was weak.  Although they’d given me sponge baths daily, I longed to immerse my entire body into a soothing lavender bath. I felt like tiny creatures took residence in my head and were chopping wood or something on a consi

I have no idea how long I sat staring at the door of the shack before Helen entered. It could have been hours or it could have been only minutes. It really didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore.“Come, dear Jane. You must rest,” she cooed as she eased me back down on the cot. I obeyed her willingly. There was no sense in fighting it. Besides, falling back into a blissful abyss was what I longed for anyway.“You told him, then?” she asked.Unable to speak, I nodded my head vigorously.“Splendid, that,” she said with a smile.“He hates me,” I managed to moan as I rolled onto my side.“He loves you, m’ lady. Ne’r have I seen such love in man nor vampire. ‘Tis a rarity,” she mused.“Why do you say such?” I whined. “He left upon the story’s end.”I don’t know why I slipped back into her speech pattern. Perhaps it was out o

Duncan resembled a waxed doll when they laid him on the cot in the back of Rosalie’s enormous tent.  I searched for signs of life.  His chest showed signs of shallow breaths being taken.  Shallow breaths meant he still had life.  I’d take that for now.He needed to feed immediately and it had to be human blood.  Knowing how he felt about drinking the blood of humans, I asked if there was another way to save him.  There wasn’t.This was my fault.  If I hadn’t come back into the past, Duncan would be safe in the future, as would Isabelle.  My foolish, thoughtless actions caused the death of a dear friend, and possibly the death of the one true love of my life.  It didn’t matter that he was no longer in love with me. Through him, I’d experienced a love I never thought possible and I would always remember that.I took a deep breath and looked around.  Rosalie had put the word out f