He gave her an admonishing look laced with humor. She had a saucy spirit and a viperous tongue. She–his gaze dipped to her stockinged feet.
“You shouldn’t be walking.” Before he had time to think about what he was doing, he leaped out of the settee and scooped her up off the floor.
He made the mistake of looking down, so close to her face, her eyes. She was staring up at him with a dreamy look.
“Did you… Did you carry me to your bedroom yesterday?”
“It’s not my bedchamber,” he answered. “But yes.”
She began to smile and he was glad when she caught herself and pushed against him. “I’m fine. Put me down.”
“No walking, Miss Ramsey,” he said sternly, carrying her back to bed.
“I walked all the way here on these same feet, Your Grace.”
“I know.” He hadn’t set her down but stared steadily into her eyes. “What in the world was so bad that you had to run so far from it? Were you running fromhim?” The man you were praying about in the garden?”
Her eyes seemed to grow rounder, more fearful. Ben found himself hating the man who frightened her so.”Why is he after you?”
“It’s better if you don’t get involved.”
“I involved myself when I took you in,” he told her, then asked his question again.
“I have something of his,” she answered.
“Did you steal it from him?” And what if she did? Would his rigid code demand that he toss her on the street?
She shook her head against his chest. “He wasn’t there and then…and then he was. He had a pocket watch in his hand. I called the police and when they came he grabbed me from behind and held a sword to my throat, threatening to kill me. Hedid something with the watch. I don’t know how, but one minute I was near my alley on 46th Street and 9th, and the next, I was here in 1718. I think he followed me. In fact, I’m pretty sure he did.”
What was she saying, Ben wondered as he bent with her to the bed. “Where did he take you from?”
“The twenty-first century.”
A man wasn’t there and then he was? A pocket watch with the power to send her back in time? It was madness.
“You almost make me believe you can protect me from this,” her voice was low against his ear while he set her down on the mattress.
He’d be a fool to involve himself with her further. She obviously wasn’t right in the head.
He stared into her eyes, calming the turbulent seas within her. “What makes you think I can’t?”
The faintest hint of a smile played around her coral lips but then she looked away. “Your confidence can be dangerous for you.”
“Let me worry about myself.” He stepped away, already feeling the emptiness of not having her in his arms.
“Why don’t you sit?” she invited like a fiery temptress too irresistible to ignore. “Share a word with me. I’m lonely.”
He backed up and fell into the chair close to the bed as if he had no power to stop himself. He didn't.
She laughed and tossed back her head. “You believe my story just like that. Do you like me or something, Your Grace?” She stopped to cast him a curious smile, and then rattled him senseless when she winked. “Would you try to protect me from something you don’t even understand?”
Would he? He blinked.Why was he hesitating? He wanted to tell her of course not. He wasn’t a mad fool, putting his lifein danger for someone he didn’t know, but when he opened his mouth to tell her, his tongue deceived him.
“What does my understanding of it or not have to do with anything? If you’re in danger, I can protect you.”
“I’m not helpless.”
“I disagree.”
