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

at the hitching rail and gripped it tightly. “The rage and hurt I felt then fades to insignificance compared to what I think of you now.”

She walked away but stopped again. “Kit’s father is dying and might not last the night. We’ll leave right after the funeral. Until then, don’t you dare come near me.”

His stomach heaved, and he had to swallow quickly to keep from vomiting. “Please, Meredith. Give me five minutes to explain.”

She glared. “Not five, not four, not even one.” Her claws came out, and she said even more viciously, “I’ll never trust you again, and I will never forgive you.”

She turned her back and strode away, and his heart splintered into tiny shards that stabbed and drew blood and even laughed at him for being such a shithead.

Before she left the clearing for the path to the mansion, she turned back once more, and he steeled himself against another verbal assault. Why didn’t she just slap him or punch him in the gut? It couldn’t hurt him any worse.

“It would have taken me a while to forgive you for drugging me, but locking me out and taking my son away are unforgivable.”

He hovered beneath the porch’s eaves, desperate for something to say, actions to take, and it occurred to him that he’d have to shatter all her illusions to get her attention.

“His body is perfect.”

“Why, Elliott? We’ve shared everything in our marriage. Why’d you do it?”

He held up his phone to show her a video and turned it up as loud as the iPhone would play.

“I’ll kill you if you don’t get off me.”

“Settle down, son, before one of us gets hurt.”

“JC, calm down before ye hurt yer father or I hurt ye.”

“Let go of me, David. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Stop fighting yer da. Now!”

“Leave me the fuck alone. That means all of you.”

“JC, did you see Erik after you left me? Is that how you got his cloak?”

“I don’t know… I don’t remember… Aaah!”

“Drop the gun. Now!”

Meredith sat down on the tree stump, and she bent forward at the waist, looking like she might throw up. She didn’t, but her silence attested to the lockdown of her emotions, and it was much worse than vomiting or yelling at him would have been.

He was a bastard for blindsiding her like that, but he had to use everything in his toolbox to get her attention.

“Charlotte was able to sedate him before he hurt himself or anyone else.”

“How’d you get him home?”

“He woke up and asked about ye.”

“What lie did you tell him?”

Ouch.

“That we were taking turns watching over him. When he screamed, I activated the brooch, and as the fog appeared, I tackled him.”

“That’s why he was yelling to get off him?”

“Aye.”

“What does Charlotte suggest?”

“We didn’t talk about it. Kenzie was furious that I left ye behind. She insisted I return immediately, so I was only there for less than an hour.”

“I can’t believe you videotaped James Cullen in that condition.”

“I didn’t. Braham activated the audiovisual equipment as soon as the fog appeared.”

“This doesn’t change anything, Elliott. I understand how fragile James Cullen is right now, and he’s where he needs to be, but it doesn’t excuse your behavior. You know how unreliable the brooches are. It could have been years before they allowed you to return.”

“Kenzie pointed that out.”

If Elliott asked Meredith about hiring Paul right now, their delicate dance might turn into a martial arts exhibition, and they’d try to kill each other. Besides, this particular fight was about his behavior, not hers.

Meredith stood and walked toward the tree line. “I’m going to the mansion, and I’ll ask Sean to send someone down here with food later today, but I suggest you sit your ass in that damn rocking chair until we’re ready to go home.”

“Why are ye so hateful?”

“Me? Hateful? You’re the one who drugged me and kept me from my son. Then you left me, risking all of us, especially Emily, who would die without insulin. What were you thinking? Or maybe you weren’t thinking at all.”

“I didn’t have time to think. I reacted. I just wanted to get James Cullen home, and I didn’t want ye to hear him scream. Ye’d have never forgotten it.”

“But you played the video so I could hear him, and you’re damn right. I’ll never forget it. But I think the brooches have given you too much power, and if you don’t get control over them, they will control you. I thought I had a partner. But it appears I’m married to an autocrat.”

“I’m not an autocrat.”

“Really? Well, just think about how you handled this situation—even the issue with Paul. We would have talked about it before. But over the last couple of years, it’s become your way or the highway.”

“That’s not true.”

“Why don’t you ask Kenzie what she thinks?”

“She’s not here, but Braham, Austin, and Ensley came back with me. Braham wanted to see Donald before he passed.”

“Were they in the room when you and James Cullen returned?”

“Aye, they were.”

Meredith didn’t say anything for a few moments, and Elliott hoped she’d give him a break, maybe even accept his apology. He walked toward her—hoping—but she held up her hand, palm out.

“Stop!”

He eyed her with uncertainty, afraid of what she’d say next.

“As soon as we return from settling James Cullen at the monastery, I’m moving back to Napa. I don’t want the winery’s daily management. Rick is doing a great job as president. But I’d like to help him develop a new label.”

“This isn’t about the winery or a new label, is it?”

She didn’t meet his gaze. Instead, she stared off into the void for a long time, saying nothing. Then she answered him. “I just don’t want to be around you for a while.”

For a while? She was leaving the door open for him. “Ye’ve thought this all out. What do ye want from me? I said I was sorry.”

Her tense blue eyes didn’t soften at all, and she seemed to lapse into an