Free Love of Her Lives by Sharon Clare Page B

up to her at the elevator.
    “Thanks,” she snapped and tucked the bag under her arm.
    Back at the room, he held his tongue as she left Matthew a message explaining what had happened and where she was, omitting mention of Calum. He felt intolerably uncomfortable about the whole thing. He’d rather be slashed with a broadsword than think about Beth with another man. Her voice dripped honey when she begged the irritant to return her call. Her senses should be filled to the brim with him, and he should be the one getting honey dipped.
    “He didn’t answer,” she said, as if he’d not been eavesdropping. She plopped down on the bed and laid back, her face hidden under her hands. When he sat down beside her, the bed depressed, but she didn’t move.
    “Are you all right, lass?”
    “Peachy. Do you know anything about the missing jewelry?”
    “I do not.”
    “So let me get this straight. You knew I might be accused of a crime because … oh yeah, you’re psychic.”
    “Well, not — ”
    “And this is a much better situation. Hiding in a Hilton.”
    “No, I think we should leave.”
    “I’m not going anywhere with you, Calum. You need to start talking. You got a psychic message when you surveyed me at the door yesterday?”
    Would she believe that? “Yes,” he answered cautiously.
    “Yeah, right.”
    Ah, he didn’t think she’d believe that, but he had no idea how to tell her the truth. He had a story to tell, to be sure, there was no way around it. Perhaps he should start at the beginning.
    “Beth, do you believe in past lives? That people have lived in other places, other times.”
    She took her hands off her face and gave him an exasperated look. Clearly she’d not been expecting that. “I’ve never thought about it. Could we just focus on this issue please?”
    Damn, there was no easy way to say this. “I’m trying. It wasn’t the questions I asked at your door that gave me insight into your future.”
    She had her arms crossed under her breasts now. “No kidding.”
    “But I did see you in a vision from another place. I saw you in anguish. In prison, for a crime you didn’t commit. It’s related to that satchel of money you found, but I don’t know how it comes about. The reason I saw it is because we are connected, bonded by love, for as long as a millennium, over many lives. It’s difficult to explain how I know it to be true — ”
    He watched the whites of her eyes grow, and then she burst out a spray of laughter that had him fairly annoyed by the time she stopped.
    She finally composed herself enough to ask, “That is the best line I’ve heard in ages. A thousand–year love?”
    He had stuffed their toiletries into a plastic bag while she finished her hysterics.
    “We need to go now,” he snapped. “I didn’t come all this way to be laughed at. You’re worse than a child, and if you accuse me of deceit again, I’ll have you over my knee and teaching you a lesson.”
    She rose off the bed to give him a full view of the opposition. “Just you try.”
    His mouth twitched. By all that was holy, forgive him his carnal lust; he wanted her sweet bum at his mercy. Bloody hell, it wasn’t easy being human.
    “Sorry, lass, I didn’t mean to snap at you.” Softening his tone took no little effort. “It’s not so bad, is it? Being here with me, that is?”
    A faint smile crept back on to her face. “No, a little weird, but not bad. Listen, I don’t believe you’re a threat, or I wouldn’t be here with you. I’m going to tell you a gut truth, Calum. The thought of handling this on my own worries me. You have sincere eyes, and I trust what I see. Don’t take that for anything more than it is. I will stay with you until I talk to Matthew and get some legal advice. I’m not sure if it’s because I don’t feel threatened by you, or if it’s the exact opposite — I’m not going back over your shoulder.”
    She wasn’t wrong. He would not allow her to walk away.
    “Even