Page 19 of The Scandal You Started
“It is relevant if I have compromised you as a result of our interaction,” he said. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable knowing I have brought ruin to your name. And if youaremarried, then I owe your husband an apology for what I did. Unless you are a widow?”
She rolled her eyes, completely dismissing the idea. “Well, I’m neither married nor a widow, and you haven’t compromised me either, so don’t feel inclined to offer me marriage. Although I wouldn’t agree to marry you even if you did.”
Shocked by her bluntness, a loud laugh bubbled in his throat, threatening to burst out. Never had a woman expressed such certain disinclination to have him save her from ruin.
Not that he’d ever accidentally or purposely ruined any lady, but he was exactly what the marriage mamas of thetonwere after for their daughters as the bearer of a title that could be traced a couple hundred years back to royalty. Not to mention, he’d expanded his family’s wealth through what some considered less noble activities for a lord. But at least he wasn’t buried in debt like the fools who refused to accept that old incomes of the peerage were losing profitability. And he knew he was bullish sized in a way that was intimidating for delicate ladies and not at all fashionable, but he wouldn’t have said he was bad-looking. He certainly wasn’t ailing,andhe had all his teeth.
But of course, Rayna Faez was nothing like the ladies he knew and clearly couldn’t care less about his marriageable qualities. And bloody woods, it was refreshing. She was a beautiful novelty, but not the kind that was so easily forgotten upon discovery.
“I see,” Dominic muttered, more to himself than to her.
Rayna’s eyes narrowed as she considered his reply, but her expression levelled quickly. “Now that that’s out the way, can you tell me the last thing you remember before you woke up and found yourself here?”
His wonder of her sobered. “Not in entirety, no. I remember riding out to meet a man at the edge of the city, not far from my country estate.”
She nodded. “That man was River Harris, right? He told you he’d like to show you the horses he was breeding in a nearby land in hopes of breeding them with your own, and to discuss potential investment for an international horse trade, didn’t he?”
He searched her gaze to discern whether it were actually true, but she wasn’t giving anything away. “Thatiswhat he said before I agreed to meet him. But I take it that was all just a ploy to lure me out. We had hardly exchanged a few words before I assume he knocked me unconscious. I vaguely remember a white light, then darkness. And then I woke up to find myself here.” He scanned the room before stopping on her again. “But where exactly ishere?”
“I will get to that—”
“I assume from your accent we are in northern Khaas, but why am I here? And who exactly are you, River, and those men in white costumes? Are you after money? Or are you holding me hostage at the request of someone else?”
“No, we’re not after money, nor are you being held hostage. It might’ve been easier to explain everything if it was that simple. But unfortunately, it’s not.”
Rayna paused, seemingly giving him a chance to comment, but he quietly waited for her to explain further. She was being rather ambiguous, and he didn’t know how to feel about it.
“River and I are researchers,” she eventually said. “Historians, to be exact. And those people in white are guards. They were wearing the suits to protect you.”
Protect me?
Dominic nearly scoffed at that. All they’d done was tie him down like he was an untamed animal and repeatedly stick some sort of sewing needle in his arm that had weakened him until he lulled to sleep. He wouldn’t call that protection. Far from it.
In his dogged silence, she set the cup of water down by her feet, then stared him dead in the eyes. “I told you I was born on the twenty-sixth of March, didn’t I? But I didn’t give you a year.”
That caught his attention, and he frowned, his back lengthening in puzzled apprehension.
“My full date of birth is twenty-sixth March 851 PR.”
He recoiled as a low, disbelieving laugh rumbled from him.
Well, that explained why this beautiful woman was unmarried.
A pretty face didn’t change the fact she was a positively balmy bluestocking.
Gosh, did she really think he’d believe she was from the future, or that River had somehow takenhimto the future? As much as those odd physicists and inventors liked to rave about creating time machines, everyone with a sane mind knew such a thing was impossible.
But Rayna didn’t wear the fanatic glow of imagination in her eyes as she stared at him. In fact, her features were still set insure lines, and there was an openness in her charcoal gaze that slowly killed off Dominic’s amusement.
She was dead serious.At least, she thought she was.
“That’s not possible,” he said, his voice firm but low with caution.
“I know it sounds impossible, but it’s true.”
“It’s completely absurd, is what it is.”
Rayna stayed quiet for a few hard beats of his heart before she let out a slow breath. “River and I are part of a group of historians that work with a team of scientists, who created something called the POTeM—the Past Only Time Machine—that allows us to travel back in time to learn about different periods, such as theTregencyperiod you’re from. We also sometimes bring people to the present to help us with certain research projects, and this time, River chose you.”
