The Sunstone Brooch : Time Travel Romance Katherine Logan (no david read aloud TXT) 📖

flip a switch in my brain and get back into the game immediately, psyched up and ready to play, even after twenty-four hours.” Austin went quiet and swiped at his nose. It took a few moments before he continued. “Pops raised a family that loves to play games. It gets rowdy at the O’Gradys’.”

“How large is your family? Do you have many brothers and sisters?” TR asked.

Austin’s eyebrows knitted together. “I grew up believing I had one sister and four brothers, but when I got older, I discovered that my brothers were my uncles, my sister was my mother, and my father was my grandfather.”

In the torchlight, she saw shock register in TR’s eyes. “That surely caused a scandal.”

“Nah. The secret stayed in the family.” Austin took his white checkers and arranged them on the backgammon board. “I was mad at them because they lied to me, but I eventually got over it. They’re still the same people, and it didn’t change how much I love them.”

TR placed the black checkers on the board, and then they both rolled one die. TR had the highest roll, so he went first. The game moved quickly, and they were soon down to the same number of checkers on their home board. TR lost by one checker and asked for a second game. He won the second game and requested a third, but Austin stood and stretched.

“I’d like to walk a bit before I turn in, sir. But I’d like to play another night.” He reached for Ensley’s hand. “Will you walk with me, cousin?”

Austin caught her off guard. She didn’t want to be rude in front of TR, so she said, “Sure,” and accepted his offer to help her up. “I know you want to catch up on what James Cullen has been doing, and we haven’t had a chance to talk.”

Her hand looked like a miniature in his foot-size palm, and when she stood, her head barely reached the middle of his chest. The difference in their sizes was stark. He was a giant redwood, she was a sapling, and he could easily block out all the light. She wasn’t sure if that thought had a deeper meaning or revealed something lurking in her subconscious. But she decided not to waste time thinking about it.

They strolled through the adjoining campsites, and even though his stride equaled three of hers, she managed to keep up with him. They detoured and walked through all the other camps. The men at each one gave Austin an appreciative nod. After making the rounds, he directed her back toward the river. It wasn’t until they reached the water that she realized what he had done.

“You made a name for yourself today.”

“I didn’t intend to bring attention to myself, but when I saw what those assholes did to Mr. Roosevelt, I couldn’t help it.”

“What’d they do?”

“They made fun of his glasses, and a guy from Texas called him Storm Windows.”

“What’d Teddy say?”

“He told him to put up or shut up, fight or be friends.”

“And…”

“The guy let it go. It took guts. So after watching the way Roosevelt handled it, I took his advice, more or less, and did it the only way I knew how.”

“And you did it brilliantly. But I think this walk through the campsites was about something else.”

“Like what?”

“You were telling those men that I’m under your protection and not to mess with me.”

“I saw the way they look at you, Ensley, and I wanted to knock the lustful smirks off their faces. I won’t tolerate their disrespect. Tonight, though, not one of them glared at you. They all nodded and then looked away.”

“Was that a signal?”

“Yep. They received my message. But I can’t promise the men will behave, but if anyone steps out of line, the rest will deal with him.”

“How do you know? This is a different time.”

“Maybe, but men aren’t any different. They still act like jerks.”

“Coming from you, that’s a real ha-ha.”

He dropped his chin and gave her a half shrug. “Look, I’m not a complete jerk. Pops made sure I always minded my manners and respected women. So I know I acted like an ass this afternoon. I wasn’t mad at you, but you were a handy target.”

She couldn’t hide her flash of surprise that he’d intentionally taken it out on her. “If I’d been a man, would you have been so obnoxious?”

“It wouldn’t have mattered, even if you were a kid. Well, I take that back. I wouldn’t have done it to someone who couldn’t fight back.”

“And you thought I could? At five foot two?”

“I have a couple of aunts who aren’t any taller than you, and what they have in spirit and drive more than makes up for their short stature. And I knew it would piss off Remy and Tavis. But it’s not them I’m pissed at. It’s Pops and Elliott. They shouldn’t have done this to me. I can deal with almost anything except when people lie.”

That yucky rush of adrenaline a person got when they did something wrong and knew they were going to get busted surged through her once again, and she turned slightly so the moon wouldn’t illuminate her guilty face.

“I don’t think they lied to you,” she managed to say.

“Sure they did. If you know something and don’t tell the person it affects, then it’s a lie of omission.”

“Sounds like you haven’t gotten over the first big lie your family told you, so all lies since then are just dumped on top and compound the pain.” She picked up a handful of rocks to try to skip them by moonlight and threw one. It bounced once and sank.

“Are you a shrink, too?” His afternoon tone of voice was rising to the surface.

“No.” She wasn’t even an amateur psychologist. But she had edited a book by a real one. The author explained that self-improvement, when done correctly, was the key to getting everything you wanted. Self-improvement would either light a fire under