“And your name, Sir Knight?So I might remember as well?”Oh, she was bold.Bolder than was wise, but she didn’t care.She needed to know.Had to know.
“Christien.”
A true soldier of Christ.Surely she would go to hell for desiring a soldier of Christ.
He tipped his head to the side.“Say my name before I take my leave, Madelaine, so I may remember it upon your lips.”
Her gaze went to the lips he spoke of and her face heated.“Christien,” she breathed, almost afraid to speak it aloud.
He smiled, extracted her fingers from her kirtle and raised them to his lips where he pressed a kiss.“Au revoir,my Madelaine.”
Lainie woke with a start and glanced around, confused until she recognized her apartment in Milwaukee.
Not in France.
Milwaukee.
Twenty-first century.
She sat up, rubbed her eyes and yawned, shocked to see she’d only slept an hour and was still on her couch, fully dressed, the night relatively young.
Her gaze fell on the painting of a castle hanging on her wall.The castle stood high on a hill, the enshrouding mist lending it a mysterious aura.She’d discovered it in an antique shop in her hometown and had fallen in love with the mystery and romance of it.All those years ago she knew she had to have it and didn’t even quibble over the outrageous price she paid.Now goose bumps raced up her arms as she stared at it.No longer was it just a pretty painting that made her think of chivalry and jousts and knights in shining armor.
The castle in the painting and the castle in her dreams were the same.
Was it coincidence or did she dream the castle because she bought the painting?Except she’d had the painting for years and never dreamt about it before.
She thought of the dark, gloomy castle in her dream and of the dark-haired knight named Christien who walked into the hall, commanding the attention of the woman named Madelaine.Even now it made Lainie shiver in longing.A longing that transferred to the twenty-first century for a dark-haired, silver-eyed man who was not a figment of her imagination but very real.
With a strangled sound of frustration she surged off the couch.
This was bordering on the ridiculous.Since meeting Christien two nights ago, she’d slept, but it wasn’t a peaceful sleep and she woke more tired than before.The dreams were beginning to affect every part of her life and if she didn’t get it under control, she was afraid it would start affecting her work to the point where Giselle would notice and question her.
She had to stop this or she was going to go insane and everything she’d been working for was going to fall apart.She looked around her apartment, desperate to find something to take her mind off the dream.
She could clean.Her mother always said a good spring cleaning would clear her mind and the result would be an uncluttered home and an uncluttered mind.
But her gaze locked on the small table by her front door and the white card lying on top of it.Since Christian handed her the card, she’d been drawn to it.Once she attempted to throw it away, but ended up digging it out of the trashcan.
As she had so many times before, she felt its pull and walked over to the table to pick it up.The letters were embossed in gold as well as a small emblem of a knight on a rearing horse.Her mind flashed back to the dream.Maybe she got the image of the knight from his card and her mind created an entire story from it.It made sense.If she was the creative type.Which she wasn’t.
She turned the cream-colored cardstock over.Written on the back in spiky handwriting was a different phone number.His personal number, he said.
Why would a man who didn’t even know her, a man who seemed to be as important and popular as Christien Chevalier, leave her his private phone number?
Frustrated she tossed the card in the trashcan—again—and deliberately walked away, refusing to heed the irritating voice telling her to dig it out—again.
Outside her apartment door, she heard people speaking and recognized Giselle’s voice.When Giselle told her about this apartment and urged her to rent it, Lainie had no idea her boss would be living next door.She wasn’t exactly pleased when she found out either.Apparently it wasn’t enough she had to put up with Giselle at work, now she had to put up with her outside of work.But to give Giselle credit, she never bothered Lainie at home.In fact, it seemed she went out of her way to avoid Lainie as much as possible.Which was more than fine.
Lainie’s good sense fled and she stepped closer to the door.She wasn’t one of those neighbors who noted the comings and goings of everyone who lived around her.But Giselle’s voice on the other side had her curious to see who she was talking to.
The rumble of a male voice drew her closer.What was this?Giselle hadmalefriends?
Unable to help herself, she peered through the peephole, trying to get a glimpse of the man Giselle had brought home with her.
He was too close for her to make out many details, but he was tall with wide shoulders and blond hair.Not the pale blond like Giselle but a deeper blond cut short.
As if he sensed her perusal, he glanced up.Quickly she stepped back.Her heart knocked in her chest and she took a deep, shaky breath.The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.She checked the lock on the door before looking through the peephole again.
