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“You were here until late last night.” She laughed.

“I was indeed, and yet that was almost twelve hours ago.” He ran his forefinger gently across her cheek. “Which, in case you were unaware, is altogether too long.”

“It is rather,” she whispered.

“I am glad you agree,” he murmured, and then he lowered his lips to hers.

Her arms rose to wrap themselves around his neck, and he pulled her closer, drinking her in as he deepened the kiss. Footsteps sounded in the hall, but he gave them no heed.

“Ahem.” Someone cleared her throat at the doorway. Someone who sounded remarkably like Martha.

Slowly, Simon raised his head and looked over his shoulder. “Good day, Martha.”

She was standing with her hands on her hips, glaring at him. “Good day, Martha? You enter my house without so much as a ‘by your leave,’ accost Isla, and then have the audacity to greet me with ‘Good day’?”

Smothering a grin, Simon turned so that he was standing beside Isla with one arm firmly around her small waist. “First, I was under the seemingly erroneous assumption that I did not need an invitation to enter your house. That is how we have functioned since you were first married. Second, I was not accosting Isla; I was kissing her. And third, given that you interrupted said kiss, I thought it was remarkably decent of me to greet you so politely.”

“Isla,” Martha said, ignoring Simon completely. “Do you wish me to throw him out?”

“Not really.”

Simon pulled a face. “Not really?”

Isla’s lips twitched, and he knew she was battling laughter. “Very well. Not at all.”

“Better,” he said.

“Enough, Simon,” Martha said. “I wish to hear Isla’s side of this, and if need be, we shall have the conversation without you.”

It was the best threat she could have used, and Simon knew that if he were wise, he would wait for her fondness for ordering people around to pass. He tightened his hold on Isla’s waist and closed his mouth.

“I know proper young ladies don’t conduct themselves this way in the seventeenth century,” Isla said, “but I’m afraid I regressed to the twenty-first century for a few minutes. Please, don’t be too cross with Simon. He did kiss me, but I kissed him too.”

It may have been his imagination, but Simon thought he caught a flicker of amusement in Martha’s eyes.

“Am I to believe that you have developed real feelings for one another?” she asked.

“Yes,” Isla said.

Concern lined Martha’s forehead. “But at any moment, you may be called back to your time.”

“I realize that. And so does Simon. But it is just as likely that I will remain here.”

“Do you wish to stay?” Martha asked.

“If I am given the option,” Isla said, “I will choose to stay with Simon.”

Martha gasped, the consternation on her face melting away. “That would make us all so happy.”

“Can I say something now?” Simon asked.

“Not yet,” his sister said, moving toward them.

Simon released Isla and stepped away so that Martha could embrace her.

“I suspected Simon was developing feelings for you,” she said, “but I was so afraid that no matter your inclinations, he would be hurt again by your leaving.”

“So, you do like me after all?” Simon said to his sister.