Free Some Enchanted Dream: A Time Travel Adventure (Seasons of Enchantment Book 2) by Lily Silver

dine with more than anything, I believe."
    They reached their building. Tara opened the door for them and Gisele went up the stairs ahead of her.
    "How old is he?"
    Gisele paused on the third landing. She turned, and gave a little shrug. "I do not know for certain. My grandfather's age, perhaps?"
    So that was it. She was interviewing to become an old man's darling? What would happen to Gisele when the old man died? She'd be turned out, more than likely, homeless again, forced to return to the dance hall or to take up trade in the streets.
    You can't save them all. The nasty thought hovered about like a wasp. Tara shook her head, willing it away. Not everyone, perhaps, but one person along the way?  
    "Come visit me when you return, Gisele, in the morning. I'll want to know how you fared, please. As a friend, not a judge. I just want to know you are safely home again."
    Gisele nodded and went into her apartment.
    Tara moved up the stairs to the rooms Adrian rented for them. It was just five in the afternoon. She hoped Adrian had thought to bring something home for dinner, but likely he had not. He was accustomed to servants doing those things for him. Tara gritted her teeth as she entered the apartment. She'd be damned if she was going to be slaving over a hot stove all day. There were plenty of corner cafes and restaurants in the area where they could purchase a meal. 
    She opened the door, and was greeted by the sight of not one man, but four, all looking at her with anxiety.
    "Where have you been?" Adrian demanded.
    "I went out with Gisele."
    "You didn't leave word for me," her husband argued, his temper ready to flare.
    "And who would I leave it with, my lord ?" Tara used his title with sarcasm as she gestured about the sparsely furnished room. "The butler, or perhaps the cook?"
    Dan was the one to laugh at her jest as he sat at the table with a newspaper spread out before him. Mick and Riley's features were impassive as they stood at the window.
    Adrian's face darkened. "Don't be ridiculous. You could have left me a note."
    "Did you buy paper and a pencil during your forays beyond our humble lodgings?"
    " No . . ." Adrian's reply was less aggressive, more uncertain as he ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated by the realization that those simple items were not provided for him by a diligent housekeeper as they would be in any one of his properties in Ireland. "It did not occur to me that we needed them." His face suffused with color at the admission.
    Tara was taking too much pleasure in this conversation. She softened her tone. "I was bored, so I walked about for the afternoon with Gisele. We rode the omnibus, had lemonade and croissants, visited a few dress shops. It was lovely."
    "I fear for your safety when you are not here," Adrian stated in a rational tone. "You could be set upon by thieves in this neighborhood, or drunkards looking for sport--"
    "Stop it," Tara hissed. "I have had enough of being kept indoors because I'm a 'fragile little woman'. You kept me cloistered at the castle and then at the townhouse in Dublin because of your constant worrying. I'll not be told when I can go out and when I cannot, not ever again."
    "I only desire to keep you safe," he turned to her, his arms extending in a plea, "why are you making me into a villain? I care about you. I worry about you when you are--"
    "She's not a little girl." Dan folded his paper carefully and precisely as he looked from Tara to Adrian. "And in case you haven't noticed, there aren't soldiers at every street corner waiting to arrest you and your cronies. We're not in Ireland anymore, Adrian."
    "That's right." Tara added, giving her friend a grateful look for taking her side. "We're not under military surveillance. You are not wanted by the authorities for suspected treason. We're in the Belle Époque , a time of peace between the wars and uprisings."
    Mick and Riley were no longer following the conversation. With heads bent together they whispered