Page 10 of Promises to Keep

I turned off the water and put my hand through the door. He passed me a towel. “I know you conquered me long ago and I never ever, or at leastrarelysay no, but I can, I just don’t do it very often, but I can, I can if I want to.”

He chuckled.

I stepped from the shower. “What do you mean by that laugh? You don’t think I can say ‘nae’?”

“Never, I think if I settle my mouth on yer throat, right here, near yer jaw, nestled there, and if I exhale through m’nose right against yer ear... and then if my finger trails right up yer stomach tae yer... ye winna be able to resist me.” He did indeed get very close and trailed a finger up my skin.

“Oh my god, Magnus, is that how easy you think I am? That’s all it takes? One finger...?”

I tilted my head back to receive his kiss on my throat.

He laughed, his mouth near my ear. “It takes much less than that, mo reul-iuil, the finger trailin’ is for me, for ye all it takes is the breath against yer ear. Next moment ye are pullin’ up m’kilt.”

I laughed and dropped my towel.

He chuckled again. “All I hae tae do is see ye, want ye, approach, breathe against yer ear, and… I barely hae tae lift a finger.”

“Ha! Well,fine, I might be that easy, but the truth is, in that scenario, I am just sitting there, minding my own business, andyousaw me,youcame over, andyouseduced me with a breath — guess what I had to do? Literally nothing. You want me from across the room, so who is conquered?”

He said, “When ye put it that way, it must be me.”

CHAPTER 7 - KAITLYN

Quentin and James collected gear and weapons. They were going to a day before Hayley and me.

We found a jaunty Roaring Twenties suit that fit James, but we only had one, so Quentin was going to wear modern clothes and try to stay out of sight. As he packed, Quentin grumbled, “When we came up with this plan, I didn’t think about the waiting. I’ve been on vacation, sitting around for days, literal days. Now our rescue mission involves more sitting around? Great. The only cool part about this mission is I have weapons.”

James said, “You also have me. Aren’t I enough? My job is to keep you from getting bored and to keep you company. Believe me, no one wants a bored Quentin, especially a bored Quentin with weapons.”

Quentin laughed.

“I’m carrying weapons too, in case I need to put your ass down—” He glanced at Beaty, whose face had gone white as a ghost. “M’apologies Beaty, I was just joking. I’m going as Quentin’s buddy, I will bring him back safe.”

She gulped. “Tis verra hard on me, Master James, that m’husband must hae dangerous work tae feel comfortable, tis verra tryin’.”

James said, “Well, shit, now I am so sorry, I feel about three inches tall.”

Beaty laughed. “Twas my turn tae joke, Master James. I fell in love with Quennie when he was the only black man in a castle full of Campbells and he was the bravest and strongest of them all. Now he has risen in the ranks of King Magnus’s army and has kept our whole family safe for many years. I am verra proud of his nature. I ken I made him take a vacation and it almost killed him, believe me, I hae learned a lesson.”

We laughed.

CHAPTER 8 - KAITLYN

Our plan seemed well-laid: Hayley and I were going to a party. We had memorized maps and scrutinized schematics of the museum, but we also knew nothing was ever well-laid when time travel was involved.

That was literally the one thing I knew. The other thing we knew? We would need dresses.

Hayley and I went up four flights of wood stairs with an ornately carved banister and then down to the end of the hall and up a small creaking stair to the attic and immediately tripped over an overturned box of board games. “Great, the children wreaked havoc up here already.’’

I scooped up the games and returned them back to the box while Hayley wandered down to the end where racks stood. “So many clothes!”

There was dim light streaming from a window at the end, but I found a switch and turned on a bright overhead light to see.

It was like traveling through time: Lady Mairead had a large collection of fashion from every time period, including from the future kingdom of Riaghalbane. Much of the collection hung in dress-bags. The front of each dress-bag had a tag that listed the year and if applicable, the designer.

“What are we thinking, Hayley — anything from 1920 to 1929?” I flipped a few dresses and found one with a tag that read: 1925, Vionnet.

I pulled the dress-bag from the rack, laid it across the top, unzipped the length of it, and pulled the dress from it. “Wow, this is a gorgeous pale green, such a pretty fabric, and the beading is beautiful.”

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