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All he’d said was they had to go back to the stones.
As they drove through the village she turned to look out the window as the village went by. She paid extra attention to the buildings and tried to remember what they had looked like when she’d walked to the pub for lunch the other day.
The only difference she could really see was the signs in the café and the village store saying hippies not welcome. She hadn’t noticed enough yesterday. The crazy old woman in the store talking about magnetics, solstices, and water had taken all of her attention. Reaching for the window winder inside the door, she gripped it tightly and it creaked as she wound down the window and the sweet fragrance of honeysuckle drifted in. Megan looked across the narrow street as David drove the old van slowly past the pub. The village looked as quaint as it had the other day. Geese dotted the green, and the whitewashed walls of the pub contrasted with the soft blue of the sky.
An idyllic scene, but sinister. The uncertainty of what lay ahead of her filled her veins with an icy fear and she fought the panic that rose in her chest. Unfolding her arms, she reached out and placed her hand on David’s thigh, and immediately a calm stole over her, and the fear disappeared as quickly as it had come.
“I feel safe when I touch you.” She looked across at him. His skin was fair, with a flush on his high cheekbones, and contrasted with the black curls tumbling past his face. “The fear disappears.” As she watched he briefly closed his eyes and placed his hand on top of hers.
“And when you touch me, I feel decidedly unsafe.”
“What do you mean?”
His gaze dropped to his jeans and heat rose from her chest to her neck. Not to mention the heat between her thighs.
“Right, you need to do some explaining. Forget about this feeling we seem to create whenever we’re around each other.” She changed the subject to get her thoughts away from pulling him into the back of the van and taking her clothes off. “Tell me exactly what’s going on.”
David glanced over at her before he pulled the van onto the side of the road, steering with one hand as he kept his hand on hers on his thigh. His dark lashes fanned his eyes and she couldn’t see his expression. His lips were tight and his brow was wrinkled.
“Don’t you dare close up on me, David…or Davy? You are Davy Morgan, aren’t you? As crazy as it seems I know it’s true.” Megan snatched her hand from beneath his and tried to ignore the fear that crept back through her when she moved away from his touch.
David took the keys from the ignition and put them on the floor beneath the seat before he reached over and picked up his guitar. Without looking at her or speaking, he opened the car door and came around to her side and opened her door. The guitar was slung over his shoulder and he held his free hand out to her.
Megan looked up at him as she took his hand. “Well?”
“Come on, I’ll tell you everything as we walk.” He inclined his head towards the field on their left. Low bushy trees blocked her view past the field. “We have to cross two fields to get to the markers.”
He tugged her hand and they set off through the gate in the fence. The grass was soft and cool beneath Megan’s bare feet. A couple of black-and-white cows stood silently and watched them as they crossed to the middle of the field.
“I didn’t know how much to tell you because this has never happened to me before.” David’s voice was low and Megan leaned closer as he continued. “I’ve always gone through the stones deliberately. Tell me what happened to you yesterday. When I left, you were wandering around the garden of your cottage. How did you get to the stones?”
“I was looking at the flowers while I had my cup of tea and I saw you go out. And then you disappeared and I thought you’d collapsed.” Megan closed her eyes, remembering the feeling that had overtaken her. “I ran over to help you and when I got to the big stone monument thing something happened. I can’t remember if I touched it but the most peculiar feeling came over me.”
“What happened then?”
“I don’t know.” She stared through the gap in the trees to the next field. In the distance, the three grey markers were highlighted against the clear horizon.
A shiver ran through Megan and she leaned into David as he stopped and put his arm around her.
“Don’t be frightened.”
“If you tell me more about what’s happening—or going to happen I might not be so bloody scared.”
David looked up at the sun. “It’s not quite midday. We’ve got some time.”
“Time before what? You’re talking in riddles.” Megan’s temper rose and she pulled away from him, ignoring the cold that trickled through her veins when she let him go. “All I know is I’m—we’re—in 1971 and you’re about to whisk me back to 2011. What’s going to happen? Is some sort of time machine going to arrive and send me back home? Tell me, David.” Fear cracked her voice and she shivered as the anxiety about the unknown snaked down her back.
David took her hand and led her over to the stone wall He turned, lifted her easily, and sat her on the flat stone on the top before sliding his guitar from his shoulder and placing it safely in the shade. Gently, he parted Megan’s legs and stood between her thighs. The warmth of the stone beneath her legs was nothing compared to the heat that filled her when David leaned into her and held her waist gently.
“Last year—1970—I was touring the pub circuit in England. My songs were becoming well known and I’d played the pubs for a couple of years. I had made enough money to live comfortably in a flat in London.” He held her gaze steadily. “I came down to Glastonbury to the festival and stayed at the pub, and that’s when I met Bear and Slim.” He held her gaze and Megan tried to focus on his words. His closeness was sending delicious quivers all over her. “We hooked up and played a set at the first festival. It was very informal back then. We put down an album after last year’s festival and it sold really well. We got a publicist allocated to us by the record company. That’s when everything started to come unravelled. Emma was an addict, and we got linked to drug rumours because of her actions.”
Word for word, David—Davy—was reciting what she’d read in the article on the way over. As he spoke, his voice deepened and the hint of that sexy Welsh accent tinged his words. Her stomach fluttered and the ever-present heat pooled between her thighs as she stared back at him.
“Ken, the publican, told me about Rose Cottage being vacant and I moved in after we finished the tour after the album was released.” He dropped his forehead to the top of her head. “Are you with me?” He lifted his head and looked at her. Their eyes were level and Megan nodded.
“I’m with you. It’s 1971 and you played at the first festival, which if I’m working things out correctly was last year.
“So Bear and Slim live in the seventies and you live in the present. I mean, in 2011? This is doing my head in.” Megan scrunched her nose trying to follow his explanation. “But they were at the pub here? I met them when I was having lunch? The other day when I arrived. That wasn’t 1971. And I still don’t know how you found the present.” She shook her head at the confused thoughts. “I mean, how you found my time. Where I was yesterday.”