Trapped in Time Read online

  “Dream Sharing?” She looked confused.

  “It is the way a Kindred and his mate find each other,” Richard told her. “They dream of each other before they meet. I have dreamed of you so often, my darling.”

  “I dreamed of you too, but I thought you were only that—a dream,” she whispered back, which made no sense since they had known each other for years.

  “Caroline—” he began but just then he heard a strident voice floating up from the first floor.

  “Struck by lightning? Merciful heavens! Surely you cannot be serious, Dixon! Where is my precious daughter? I must see her at once!”

  At once the two of them jumped apart, as guilty as forbidden lovers can be, for all they were man and wife. Richard yanked his hands away from her breasts and Caroline pulled up her peignoir and tied it in a hasty bow. Then she tugged the covers up to her chin, her eyes wide and uncertain.

  “Is…is that my mother?” she whispered to Richard.

  He frowned. Could the lightning have addled her wits so much that she truly could not recognize the sound of her own mother’s voice? Apparently so because she looked extremely ill-at-ease.

  “Yes, that’s her,” he said, nodding confirmation. Inside, he was already berating himself. Clearly she was not in her right mind and he had taken advantage of her—had touched her in a way no gentleman should touch a lady. Though Caroline was his wife, he knew she was saving her chastity for another—for whatever man her mother had picked out for her, whom she would doubtless wed the moment their claiming period was up. In her right mind, she never would have invited him to touch her bare breasts.

  I took advantage of her, he thought again, and felt his fangs—as well as his shaft, which had grown hard and uncomfortable in his trousers—shrink at the thought.

  At that moment the door slapped open and Mrs. Lambert burst in, still wearing her outer wraps and hat, like a ship at full mast.

  Chapter Six

  Caroline thought she might choke with fright. The woman who was standing in the doorway was her mother…and yet not her mother at the same time. It was impossible to explain why or how she felt it but the woman staring at her and wearing a big, flouncy dress simply felt wrong in the same ineffable way that Richard felt right.

  Richard—she really had dreamed of him—for many, many nights. Strange that she hadn’t remembered until he touched her so intimately, so gently. And oh God, when he had, all the dreams had come rushing to the forefront of her brain. As though his touch was magic…

  Well, it certainly felt like magic. Even now she couldn’t forget the gentle caress of his big, warm hands on her body. Being Demisexual, she had never wanted any man to touch her as he had—well, except for James in high school but he had declined, being gay and also not wanting to ruin their friendship.

  But this was so much more than the simple yearning she’d felt for her best friend back in high school. It was like comparing a box of crayons to an artist’s palette or a tiny flower to a huge tree. It was as though her body had suddenly come alive under his fingers. When he caressed her, she felt something she’d never felt before—that spark of attraction and connection she’d heard her friends talk about so often.

  Well, spark was putting it mildly—it was more like a bonfire threatening to burn her up. She could still feel the tingling in her nipples, the wetness between her thighs. God, she was drenched down there and Richard had barely touched her! Was this what love at first sight felt like?

  More like lust at first sight, whispered a little voice in her head. If your “mom” hadn’t come busting in to break up the party, I think you would have jumped his bones, Caroline!

  She shook her head. What was wrong with her? She never acted like this—she couldn’t feel attracted to any man she hadn’t known for years.

  But you’ve been dreaming of him for years, whispered that little voice and Caroline knew it was true. Years and years of half-forgotten dreams and unrequited fantasies and Richard was in all of them—he was the star of the show. Literally the man of her dreams. He…

  He was getting up from the bed hastily so that the other Caroline’s mother could take his place.

  “Oh my dear!” she exclaimed, looking anxiously at Caroline. “Are you quite well? I told you not to go to the park like that! Storms can blow up so suddenly.”

  “Yes, it was, uh, rather sudden,” Caroline said, uncertain how to reply. “I just…just wanted to see the park, that’s all.”

  “Well I know you’re anxious to see the spot we have picked for your Joining-Release-announcement and the following reception but you really must be more careful!” her “mom” scolded.

  “Joining…release?” Caroline glanced up at Richard, who was standing now, and saw that his mouth had narrowed to a white line though the rest of his face remained blank of emotion.

  “Why yes, of course! We both know that you can’t stay married to a Kindred for the rest of your life!” the other Caroline’s mother exclaimed.

  Caroline’s eyes flicked up to Richard again. His face was still impassive but she thought she could see pain in those ice-blue eyes.

  “Mother, please,” she said, frowning at the woman who was not her mother. “Richard is right here! Isn’t it rude to talk that way in front of him?”

  The other Caroline’s mother—or “other mother” as Caroline was beginning to think of her—threw an unfriendly look over her shoulder at the tall Kindred.

  “He knows what he is—he knew it when he used that archaic law to force you to marry him against your will and mine. But soon you will be free, my little bird. And you’ll let all the world know it at the reception we have planned.” She patted Caroline’s knee. “For now, though, it’s time you started getting ready for the ball at Maplethorpe Hall tonight.”

  “A ball?” Caroline’s stomach suddenly felt like she’d swallowed a block of ice. She had social anxiety and really didn’t like parties. In fact, “didn’t like them” would be an understatement—it would be more accurate to say she avoided them like the plague.

  “Yes, the ball!” the other mother exclaimed enthusiastically. “All your friends will be there, of course. And there is someone in particular I wish you to meet.” She made a warning face at Caroline, as though she was saying something significant that Caroline ought to understand.

  Caroline didn’t understand, though—she only knew she definitely didn’t want to go to a ball in this crazy, mixed-up universe.

  “I don’t know, Mother,” she said hesitantly. “I’m not…not feeling so good at the moment.”

  “Nonsense!” The other mother frowned at her. “Stop this shilly-shallying and get up at once, Caroline!”

  “Mrs. Lambert, your daughter was struck by lightning not an hour ago.” Richard’s voice was low but intense. “By the grace of the Goddess, she survived what should have been a fatal blow, but she is still extremely disorientated. As a physician, I cannot recommend you forcing her to go to a social gathering tonight.”

  “I must inform you, Dr. Vii, that I do not care for your opinion—either as a physician or her husband—for I am certain that is to be your next complaint,” the other mother snapped, turning her head to glare up at him. “You only wish to keep my daughter bound to you and keeping her out of society where eligible men might see her is part of your plan.” She shook her finger at him. “Well, you shall not succeed! In less than a week, my Caroline will be free of you and your heathen Kindred ways!”

  “Please—please stop!” Caroline burst out. She had always hated conflict and hearing the other mother shout at Richard was twisting her stomach into a fist.

  “But Caroline, child—I am only looking out for you,” the woman who was not her mother exclaimed, turning back to her. “Someone has to put the big brute in his place! In fact—” She turned as though to begin berating the big Kindred again.

  “I’ll go,” Caroline said quickly, hoping to stop the harangue she knew was coming. “I’ll go to the ball, Mother—if it will