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  Toby opened her mouth to say “I am home,” but in one movement Graydon put her down and covered her mouth with his. The first time they’d been together she’d had to coax him to not be so gentle. But not this time.

  He didn’t bother with words or undressing. He slammed her against the bedroom wall and lifted her skirt. That’s when he found out that, this time, she’d gone pure Regency. She wore nothing under her petticoat, just lots of warm skin.

  Graydon unfastened his trousers with one hand and in seconds he set her down on him. Toby gasped at the sensation and clung to him, her legs easily going around his waist.

  His thrusts were hard and fast and Toby felt them all through her body. Inside her, a growing urgency was released, building and building. Her head went back and Graydon buried his face in the soft skin of her neck. She could feel his whiskers, that very male mixture of rough and soft.

  Faster, harder he moved and Toby went with him. She braced against the wall as her thighs tightened around his waist.

  When she felt his body stiffen between her legs, she knew a release was coming within herself. She arched against him, her hips moving forward, just as his did.

  They came together in a white-hot blaze of passion, his lips on hers. For a moment she didn’t seem fully alive. It was as though part of her had escaped her body. Her eyes were closed and she thought that when she opened them, she would be back in her bedroom in Nantucket and this would all be a dream.

  “Graydon!” she whispered, panic in her voice.

  “I’m here, my love,” he said, then carried her to the bed and stretched out beside her. He pulled her head onto his shoulder, his hand buried in her hair. His other hand went to her stomach, feeling the new contour through her dress. “Ours,” he said.

  She put her hand over his. “Yes, I’m sure of it. Oh, how I wish—”

  His kiss didn’t let her finish the sentence, but then he knew what she was going to say, that she wished they could stay where they were, that they could be married and raise their children together.

  She snuggled against him and began kissing his neck.

  “We have to return,” he said softly.

  “I know.” Toby put her hands on the sides of his face. “Like last time, when we fall asleep, we’ll leave here.”

  “No, I mean, we have to return to the wedding. There’s a reason we came back here and I mean to find out what it is. If Garrett hired Dr. Hancock to attend his wife’s lying in, there must have been a previous connection between them.”

  When she looked into his eyes, she saw deep anger there. “What are you going to do?”

  “Take a sword to the man, cut him into pieces, and throw them into the sea to the sharks.” His anger was so strong that he couldn’t be still. He rolled off the bed and stood looking at the fireplace, his back to her.

  “Graydon,” Toby said as she lifted herself to her elbows, “you can’t do that! Garrett will be the one punished for it.”

  He tossed a log onto the fire. “I know, but it’s what I want to do.” Looking back at her, he began to search his pockets. “I don’t know—” He broke off with a smile as he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket.

  “You brought something with you?”

  “I thought—hoped—that re-creating our last time here would bring us back so, as an experiment, I filled my pockets.”

  “So you didn’t do all that for me but for Tabitha?”

  Graydon chuckled. “Yes. Did you not know how much in love with her I am? I especially like her little stripteases.”

  “Do you? But then, I hear she’s deeply and passionately in love with Garrett, so they’re even.” She put a pillow behind her head and smiled at him invitingly.

  Graydon looked as though he wanted to join her on the bed, but then he looked at the little desk in the corner of the room. “I put twenty-first-century coins in my pockets, a modern medical journal, some small tools, plus a timeline of history since 1806.”

  Her curiosity aroused, Toby sat up. “Is any of it there?”

  “None of it,” Graydon said, “except for a photocopy of Parthenia’s letter to her mother.”

  “Oh!” Toby flopped back on the bed. “The infamous Dr. Hancock. Please tell me you aren’t really planning to kill him, are you? Even in secret?”

  “I thought of that, but no, I fear that Garrett will only hire another doctor. I need to do what I can to make sure no doctor gets near Tabby.”

  “How will you do that?”

  Graydon picked up a quill pen. “I’m going to copy this letter and circulate it. I plan to say that it was written about someone I know in Boston. His wife was butchered by Dr. Hancock. Since Captain Caleb seems to rule the Kingsley family, I’ll get him to swear that no doctor will touch my wife.”

  She got off the bed. “To make the letter believable, you’ll have to remove the references to the island. Shall I help you?”

  “Yes, please do.”

  When she went to the desk to stand beside him, he put his arms around her waist and pulled her to him, his head against her growing belly.

  “I love you,” he whispered. “Here and now in this place and time of great freedom, I can bare my soul to you. Toby, I love you.” When he looked up at her, his dark eyes were glistening with what looked to be tears.

  She took his head in her hands and kissed his forehead. “I love you now, I love you then, and I will love you for all time.”

  For a moment he buried his face against her stomach, then abruptly he turned away and wiped his eyes. Without looking at her, he handed her the paper he’d brought.

  Toby’s hand shook as she took it. She’d only read it once before and she didn’t relish doing it again. She took a breath. “Start it with ‘My dear Garrett,’ ” she said, then reluctantly read the horrible letter again.

  Garrett was so worried about his beloved Tabby that he hired a Dr. Hancock to come from Boston. He feared that the local midwife—of twenty years’ experience—would not know what to do if aught went wrong. While Tabby’s labor went on for hours, the doctor said he could not wait all night just for a baby to get born. He used forceps on her before her body was ready. Of course etiquette declared that he could not look at what he was doing so he used the steel monster blindly. He caught part of Tabby’s womb with them, and when the baby was born, he pulled her insides out with it. He must have used too much strength as the baby died instantly, its little head crushed. While Tabby was screaming from pain, the doctor bled her profusely to make her calm down. As the odious man hurried off to catch the last ferry, he said that death was in the hands of God and that he’d certainly done all he could to save both of them. As Tabby faded away, we told her the baby was happily sleeping. She died with her silent infant in her arms, never knowing the truth.

  No one has the heart to tell Garrett that the doctor killed his wife and son. With his temper he’d go after the man. I can tell you that no woman on this island cares what happens to the doctor, but we do not want to see Garrett hanged.

  Toby wanted to go with Graydon when he went out to spread the word, but she was attacked with such a severe case of pregnancy sleepiness that she was swaying on her feet.

  Seeing it, he smiled. “You and our baby need to sleep,” he said as he led her to the bed.

  “But I want to help.” Toby could hardly keep her eyes open. “And what if I wake up at home and you’re still here and—”

  Graydon kissed her to silence. “Ssssh. I’m sure I’ll be there soon afterward.” He helped her to lie down on the bed. “Just rest.”

  Her eyes closed even though she tried to keep them open, but she held on to his hand. “What are you going to do?” she asked.

  “First, I’m going to find the local potter.”

  Her eyes fluttered in alarm. “Promise me that you’ll protect Garrett.”

  “I will,” he whispered, then kissed her again and held her hand as long as he could as he went toward the door.

  Toby heard the door clos