Trapped in Time Read online

  “Proceed,” he told Judge Cartwright. “I am most eager to claim my bride.”

  “Yes indeed, my Lord.” The judge nodded his bewigged head gravely.

  “Now listen to me,” the other mother hissed in her ear as she took up her position beside Caroline. “The only words I want to hear coming out of your mouth are ‘I do’. Do you understand?”

  Caroline glared at her. Her tongue might be frozen again but at least she was able to make her face obey her.

  “And wipe that nasty look off your face and smile,” the other mother instructed. “This is the happiest day of your life—act like it.”

  At once, Caroline felt the corners of her mouth bend up into an approximation of a happy smile. Damn it, was she really going to have to beam at the hateful Lord Harkens throughout this sham of a ceremony as though he was the man of her dreams?

  Unfortunately it seemed so. While the real man of her dreams—the one she’d been Dream Sharing with for years—was stuck in her own world, probably wondering what the hell had happened to him.

  Richard, she thought desperately. If only you were here now! What am I going to do?

  It was a question without an answer. She stood at the altar, facing the pudgy Viscount and knew that her life was about to change forever—for the worse—and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  “Sylvan, it’s been hours since the window first went down. Will it be up soon? Poor Caroline must be married by now and who knows what that horrible Lord Harkens is doing to her?” Sophie said.

  “Well, he poisoned his first wife to death slowly so I doubt he’s going to change his MO and do something more violent,” Kat pointed out.

  “Still,” Liv objected. “What if he wants to, you know—”

  “It just came back up,” Sylvan announced, sounding relieved. “I wasn’t sure it would take the line of code I inserted to allow non-living objects to be transported along with living people. But it seems to be working well. Hopefully Dr. Lambert is still all right.”

  Richard felt a surge of concern when he thought of Caroline in the clutches of that blackguard, Harkens. Then he reminded himself that she was not his Caroline. His Caroline was lying cold and dead in the morgue here aboard the Mother Ship. The woman he was going to rescue was a trickster—an imposter. A woman who had played with his heart for her own amusement.

  I’ll rescue her and see that she gets back to her own world, he told himself grimly. But that will be the end of my association with her.

  Of course, Sophia had attempted to soften his outlook on Dr. Lambert while she gave him tea, but Richard remained unmoved. Whatever she and her friends had learned by watching Caroline during her time in his world, they could not know her heart and so their claims that she loved him moved him not at all.

  He had no idea why Dr. Lambert had chosen to act as she had—to give him false hope and feed his desperate desire for the love of his wife—but he was not prepared to forgive her for it or assume it came from some pure motive he was not privy to.

  “Have you got everything you need?” Olivia asked him anxiously. “You understand how to use the blaster and the disk?”

  Richard nodded shortly. Not only had he been supplied with new clothes and shoes, he had also been given some Kindred weapons and taught how to use them. Given that fact, he was as ready as he would ever be to rescue Dr. Lambert and return her to her own world.

  “Remember, you have to bring her back to the park,” Sylvan instructed him. “Though we can watch you on the PORTAL, the window is only effective for transportation where it was first created.”

  “I will go to Thrashings Hall, procure the good doctor, and return her to your world as soon as possible,” Richard said blandly. “Thereafter you may do with her as you please, only pray, do not trouble me again as I will be endeavoring to get on with my life in my own world.”

  “That’s it?” Kat stared at him, as though shocked. “You’re just going to go get her, bring her back to the park, shove her through the window, and never see her again?”

  Richard raised an eyebrow at her.

  “What else would you have me do? She is not my wife—she is nothing to me.”

  “Don’t you think you’re being a little harsh?” Sophia asked quietly. “You told Caroline you loved her not twenty-four hours ago. Can you really turn off your emotions so easily?”

  Richard felt a deep, uneasy stirring inside himself at her words but he hardened himself against it.

  “The woman I was speaking to was my wife—or so I thought. I have no love for a stranger I have only known for three days.”

  “But—” Olivia began but Richard held up a hand to stop her, despite the rudeness of a gentleman interrupting a lady.

  “Please—no more entreaties. I am only retrieving Dr. Lambert because I am the only one able to go through the window and bring her back. If it were not for my Kindred honor, I would even not do that much, after the way she has tricked me and played upon my heart.”

  “Leave him alone.” Sylvan spoke with quiet authority. “The way he feels about Caroline is between Richard and the Goddess. It is no one else’s business.”

  “Thank you.” Richard nodded, approving of this descendant of his. At least Sylvan knew when to leave a male alone.

  At that moment, the large brass frame which comprised the window of the PORTAL machine flickered to life. It showed mostly darkness but Richard could hear the rustling of leaves and knew it was open to the park at night.

  “All ready to go?” Sylvan asked, looking at Richard.

  He nodded back, silently confirming that he was ready.

  “Good—then stand in front of the PORTAL’s frame.”

  “I will. And…thank you,” Richard said. He nodded his head to include them all in his gratitude. “If it were not for the four of you, I would still be under a grave misapprehension about my wife. Though it pains me to know the truth, it is better than living a lie.”

  Then he turned and took a step towards the rectangular brass frame. At once he felt a sucking sensation, as though some mighty otherworldly wind was tugging at his entire being. With a low gasp he felt himself lifted and then he was once again flying between universes, back to his own world.

  * * * * *

  Sylvan, Sophie, Kat and Liv watched anxiously as Richard was restored to his own world.

  “It’s so dark over there!” Liv said tensely. “I can’t tell—was he able to keep the clothes and weapons we gave him or not?”

  “Let me see…” Sylvan frowned. As a Kindred, he had much better night vision than any of the girls. “It appears that the suit Kat made him remains intact…except for the neck piece.”

  “Oh—I saw that!” Sophia exclaimed. “When he touched it, it just crumbled away!”

  “The rest of his suit seems all right, though,” Liv remarked as they watched Richard pat his chest as though to reassure himself that only his cravat had disappeared. “Let’s hope the weapons I gave him are intact. Otherwise he might have a hard time rescuing Caroline.”

  “Oh dear—I wish I’d never told him she wasn’t his Caroline!” Kat exclaimed. “Now he hates her and it’s all my fault!”

  “Truly, it wasn’t our secret to tell,” Sylvan acknowledged. “But there is no helping some things. Don’t worry, Kat—the Goddess will work everything out according to her will.”

  “I’m sure she will,” Kat said but there was no disguising the anxiety in her voice as the four of them watched the window, where Richard was leaving the park and hailing a nearby wind-up cab.

  Everything was up to him now—there was nothing they could do but watch and pray.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  “Here we are, my dear—your new home. I’m sure Thrashings is glad to have a mistress again.” Lord Harkens sounded quite jovial as he helped the unresisting Caroline down from his carriage and led her to the front door, where the creepy Tick-Tock butler was already in attendance