Free Hearts Across Time (The Knights of Berwyck: A Quest Through Time Novel ~ Books 1 & 2) by Sherry Ewing Page A

He found that, for the life of him, he could not move away. Instead, he stood his ground, wondering what she would do next.
    “You look so very real today,” she declared softly.
    “As do you, Lady Katherine,” he said, giving her a small grin.
    The smile she gave him in return was most serene. Even her eyes lit up at the reference to her name as it passed his lips. She reached up to touch him. Neither of them should have been surprised when her hand went right through him. She stepped back sadly and put her hands inside some odd fabric sewn into her hose.
    Seeing her sorrow, he took a hesitant step towards her. Holding his hand palm up to her, he watched in fascination as she removed the white glove she had been wearing. She seemed uncertain, ’til she at last gave in to the impulse. Ever so slowly, she placed her hand but inches from his own. A tingling occurred in his palm, and from her expression, she must have felt it too, since she wrenched her hand back and rubbed her fingers together.
    “What I would give to feel your heartbeat next to mine.” She gasped when the words left his mouth, afore he realized he had said them aloud. Once suggested, the words hovered in the room, as if to give them some semblance of hope, even as both realized ’twas obvious they could never be together. ’Twas too late to recant his hastily spoken words, but he would have done so, if only to lessen the hurt flashing momentarily in her eyes.
    “I would cross time itself, if it were possible, just to find you, Riorden de Deveraux.”
    “You know my name,” he drawled the obvious.
    “Yes.”
    “Who are you?” he asked solemnly.
    Her face lit up again whilst she gazed upon his face. “I’m someone who loves you.”
    He kept his features expressionless. “I guessed as much, my lady, and yet you know nothing of me.”
    “That’s true, and yet I’ve dreamed of you my entire life, enough to know you pretty well, I’m guessing.”
    He was taken aback. “How is this possible?”
    “I feel we are connected somehow,” Katherine began hesitantly. “I think perhaps our souls were meant to be together, but the centuries of time between us are keeping us apart.”
    “Centuries? Surely, you jest, mademoiselle ,” Riorden said with a raised brow of disbelief.
    “I would never joke…err…jest about something as important as this. The fact we see each other as spirits speaks for itself, don’t you think?” Katherine asked quietly.
    “Are you attempting to tell me you are from the future?” he questioned aghast.
    Katherine smiled slightly. “Yes, I suppose I am, from your perspective.”
    “Impossible,” Riorden said gruffly.
    She shrugged her shoulders. “Apparently, it’s not as impossible as we may think, given we’re both having a conversation with a ghost.”
    He took a step closer and stared at her for several moments, his face masking the inner emotions that were to the point of consuming him. “And if we are not losing our minds, then from whence do you hail?”
    He watched Katherine take a deep breath and release it, afore quietly answering him. “For me, it’s the year 2014, and I live in a country called America. It doesn’t even exist in your day...um...well, that’s not entirely true. It exists. It just hasn’t been discovered yet.”
    He was not truly prepared for her answer. A low laugh escaped him, just as surely as his features cracked, whilst hoping he portrayed himself in control of the crazy situation he found himself in. It could not have been further from the truth.
    “2014 you say? Ha! ’Tis the year of our Lord 1179. Now I know you but jest with me. Everyone knows the world shall not endure that long.”
    “I understand your doubt of me, but my clothing alone must have you a little mystified, at the very least.”
    “’Tis true, I cannot account for such strangely fashioned garments, and yet I hear some people dress differently abroad.” Riorden folded his arms across his chest.
    She