Free TemptressofTime by Dee Brice Page B

laughingstock of Parliament.”
    “Only in the Commons. I doubt the Lords would admit their
wives and daughters read novels of that kind.”
    Walker’s sudden grin startled Adrian, it was so rare. “Ah
but do they ?”
    Falling silent, they stared at the picture of Diane.
    “Real and alive,” Adrian said at last, looking up at Walker.
“Do you want to meet her, here and now? Will it change our past? Maybe reveal
more of what we can’t remember?”
    Walker shrugged. “I’ve never before relived one of my own
past lives. That I remember at any rate. The question is do we want to meet her
now?”
    “Yes we do. Don’t deny it, my friend. I wouldn’t have
searched for her if you hadn’t made me.”
    Walker cocked one eyebrow but didn’t correct him. “How do we
get her here?”
    “The more reasonable approach would be for us to go to her
in the States.”
    “There isn’t an address—not even a city where she lives. Her
publisher knows but is unlikely to tell us. An email might frighten her. She’d
never agree to meet strangers, even if she recognized our names and faces.”
    “Okay, we need a plan.” Preferably one that would not
require flying or sailing across the pond. “One that will bring her to us.”
    Sipping scotch, they once more lapsed into silence.
    * * * * *
    San Francisco, California
    Present day
     
    Ohmigod.
    Sometime between being swept away and regaining
consciousness at home, she’d written a synopsis for a time travel story. Scary
as that was, she’d emailed the proposal to her editor and had already received
approval. And while she could recall every moment of her time in the twelfth
century, she could not remember typing anything about it.
    Selective amnesia? Or a sign of early dementia? Her
great-great-aunt Catherine had had that. Of course the old lady had only gone
dotty in her nineties. Still, one more thing for Diane to worry about.
    Huffing out a sigh, she thought about calling her editor and
asking about the two men on her Noble Warriors cover. Upon further
consideration, she decided not to. No sense making Jackie think Diane had lost
her mind. She’d check out the internet first, ask Jackie for the models’ names
only if she couldn’t find the guys on her own.
    Fingers poised over the keyboard, her brain froze. Which one
should she check out first? Walker or Adrian? de Vesay or Mornay? She swore to
herself and typed Belleange , not knowing why. Because it was a place and
might have fallen apart over the centuries? Hoping she wouldn’t find it at all
except as a footnote in some historic tome?
    There it was. A breath-stealing structure that managed to
encompass all its parts. It began as a rather primitive, square-towered,
moat-surrounded medieval castle then became a Tudor-era manor house. Still
later someone had remodeled it into a graceful Georgian mansion. Yet it all
still stood. At least she could see pieces of its ancestry in the pictures on
the website. She could even take a virtual tour, book a room in any or all of
its historic periods.
    Been there, done that. At least the oldest part of it.
    Praying she could avoid another journey through time, she
clicked on the home page. There they were. Both tall, both too handsome for any
woman’s peace of mind. Even their names were the same. To her utter shock, her
book cover took up considerable space on the page, as did an explanation as to
how they’d been chosen for the cover. While other noblemen could trace their
ancestry back to the Tudors, theirs were documented all the way back to William
the Conqueror.
    Diane gave a sniff of disbelief, knowing how fragile any
surviving documents were—if they even existed. Still, as reasons went for choosing
them… Hell, she would have chosen them no matter what. Cover hunks sold books.
    Would they try to find her? Did she want them not only to
try but actually do it? Should she contact them?
    She had the perfect reason. Thanking them for posing,
congratulating them for raising