Trapped in Time Read online

  Caroline’s heart sank as she looked at him. She didn’t care how much Lord Harkens was worth or how exulted his title was—he looked sweaty and disgusting to her. Plus he was a smoker which she couldn’t stand. How could the other mother possibly expect her to divorce the tall, dark, handsome Richard to be with a man twice her age?

  “There he is, Lady Arrington!” the other mother hissed. “Would you be so kind as to make the introduction you promised?”

  “Oh very well.” Lady Arrington sounded thoroughly disgusted but before she could lead them over to Lord Harkens, the exulted man himself came to them.

  “Well, well, Belinda!” he exclaimed to Lady Arrington, using her first name and speaking to her in a familiar way Caroline wouldn’t have thought was deemed socially acceptable.

  “Lord Harkens.” Lady Arrington inclined her head to him coolly. She didn’t seem to like him much either. “May I present Mrs. Lambert and—” she began but Lord Harkens was already talking over her.

  “Yes, yes,” he said, barely glancing at the other mother. “But who’s this fresh-faced beauty?” He nodded at Caroline, who had a sudden uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. “I noticed her when she came in—she’s the only woman in this whole damn room who hasn’t got half a pot of paint melting off her face!”

  “This is my daughter, Caroline, your Lordship,” the other mother fluttered nervously. “She’s very pleased to make your acquaintance—aren’t you, Caroline?”

  “Oh, uh, yes. Yes, indeed,” Caroline said with all the enthusiasm she could muster—which wasn’t much.

  “Such a charming young lady!” Lord Harkens exclaimed and seemed to be waiting for something.

  “Give him your hand, Caroline!” the other mother hissed in her ear and elbowed her sharply in the ribs.

  “Oh, uh…” Feeling like a fool, Caroline extended her hand to him, grateful for the fact that she was wearing gloves. They were a pair of short white lace ones that ended at her wrists, but they should keep her from feeling his Lordship’s sweaty palm when they shook.

  But when he took her hand, the first thing Lord Harkens did was strip down the white lace glove and press a wet, clammy kiss to the inside of her wrist. For a moment, Caroline could even swear she felt his tongue on her bare flesh! The sensation made her skin crawl and she barely kept herself from yanking her hand away and slapping his round, sweaty red face.

  When at last he released her hand, Lord Harkens smacked his lips, as though savoring the taste of her skin.

  “Charming…a beautiful creature. Excellent bloodlines!” he exclaimed.

  Just as though he was talking about some kind of horse he wanted to buy! Caroline thought indignantly. What a jerk!

  Just at that moment, the pianoforte fell silent for the first time since they had entered the room and the girl who had been playing rose from the bench. A smattering of polite applause greeted this move although it was Caroline’s impression that almost no one had been really listening to the impressive performance.

  “Oh—quick my dear—now is your chance!” The other mother grabbed Caroline by the arm and dragged her over to the front of the instrument. There were several other girls with sheet music in their hands, apparently waiting to perform, but the other mother pushed in front of all of them and sat Caroline firmly on the bench.

  “Mother, please!” Caroline exclaimed under her breath. “I think other people were waiting for a turn.” She hated people who cut in line and hated the other mother for making her one of those people.

  But the other mother was not to be deterred.

  “Play!” she hissed in Caroline’s ear. “Hurry up—Lord Harkens is watching! Show him how accomplished you are!”

  Caroline was at a complete loss. She looked around for music and the first thing her eye fell on was the incredibly complicated piece the last girl had just preformed. There was no way she could manage that—all the notes swam like black dots before her belladonna’d eyes.

  Rifling through the stacks of music that had been left on the piano stand, she looked desperately for something that wasn’t too complicated—something she might possibly be able to play after not touching a keyboard for the past two decades.

  “Hurry up, Caroline—what’s taking you so long?” the other mother exclaimed. She smiled brightly at the other assembled people—especially Lord Harkens who was watching with great interest. “She’s so picky, my Caroline. Always looking for the most advanced and difficult piece—nothing else challenges her, you see. She’s so accomplished.”

  Caroline’s palms were sweating inside her white lace gloves and she felt like she might be sick to her stomach at any moment and lose the half cup of tea she had drunk earlier. Thank goodness she had eaten an extremely light lunch before her meeting with Commander Sylvan on the Mother Ship. She was certain if she’d eaten heavily, everything would have come up all over the pianoforte’s keyboard.

  Speaking of Commander Sylvan, it seemed almost impossible to think that just a few hours ago she’d been speaking to him and Liv and Sophie and Kat in her very own, shiny new lab aboard the Mother Ship and now she was stuck in a whole other universe where she had to pretend to be someone else and play the piano to please a bunch of strangers.

  What was happening to her life?

  But she had no time to bemoan her strange fate—the show had to go on. At last her searching eyes fell on a piece of music that looked relatively simple. The title was, Darling, Where Art Thou? And the notes and lyrics were printed large enough for her to see, even with her blurry vision.

  Setting her fingers on the keys, she took a deep breath and played the first chord—very badly as it turned out. She saw several people wince at the sour notes and felt her stomach clench.

  Don’t puke, she told herself. Just don’t puke!

  Trying again, she got her fingers right this time and somehow managed to fumble her way through the intro of the song. Then, however, she had to play and sing at the same time. Horribly aware that everyone in the room was watching her, she started singing in a wavering, breathless voice…

  “The birds sleeping gently,

  Sweet Luna gleaming bright.

  Her rays tinge the forest

  All are at peace tonight.

  The wind sighing by me,

  Cooling my fevered brow…

  The stream flows as ever,

  But Darling, where art thou?”

  Oh God, she was making a mess of this, Caroline had to admit to herself. She kept hitting wrong notes and though she was doing her best to make up for her bad playing with her singing, she simply couldn’t get a deep enough breath to get much of anything out. Her voice sounded whispery and uncertain and she could feel the other mother glaring at her, though she didn’t dare to look up at her directly.

  All around her, she could hear murmurs of derision.

  “What’s wrong with her—what is she about tonight?”

  “I don’t know but serves her right—she’s always pushing herself forward. Horrid girl!”

  “I thought she was supposed to be accomplished but she plays very ill. Worse than my five-year-old sister, in fact.”

  The comments were spoken softly but they were still perfectly audible to Caroline. She felt sicker and sicker—her stomach clenching like a slick fist. Panic was crawling up her throat like bile. Still, there was nothing she could do but keep on.

  She opened her mouth to sing the second verse and was surprised when a deep baritone joined her whispery singing.

  “One year past this evening,

  Thou wert by my side,” it sang.

  It was so powerful and smooth, that Caroline stopped singing herself and almost forgot to play. Daring to look up, she saw Richard striding towards her. He looked so tall and handsome in his severe black suit with a champagne-colored cravat at his strong throat and his blue eyes fixed intently on her, that her heart gave a strange double beat in her chest which made her feel faint.

  He made a motion to her with