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

“On top of your head like I’ve done a dozen times, or did you have something else in mind?”

She grinned right back at him. “Let’s find the place first, and then we can negotiate.”

The way she looked at him made him wonder how he was looking at her. He wanted to do a lot more than kiss her, and that had to show on his face. Not that he was desperate for her, but it was pretty damn close.

He stood and reached for her hand. “I know just the place. It’s a bit of a walk. Is that okay?”

“Lead the way. After shoveling down all that food, I’d better get some exercise.”

He knew how she could burn off a few calories without taking a step, but he kept that to himself. His size was intimidating enough. He didn’t want to bombard her with sexual innuendoes.

“I was going to offer a shovel, but I didn’t want to embarrass you.”

She elbowed him in the side.

“Ouch,” he said. “Why do you keep trying to beat me up?” Her elbow punches lacked power, but it was fun to tease her. He rubbed his side. “You should see the bruises on my ribs from all the times you’ve punched me.”

“Your body’s like granite. You don’t have a soft spot anywhere. And if we checked each other out, you’d see I’m the one with the bruises. Not you.”

He didn’t miss a beat replying, “I’m game.”

She was smiling, but something changed in her eyes. They got warmer, more inviting—not uninviting, as he might have expected. And her gaze slipped briefly down to his mouth. Damn. He tried not to think about easing her down on his dick, but he couldn’t help himself, and several times he had to realign his body so she wouldn’t see the size of his boner.

“Let’s go this way,” he said, pointing. “There’s a cave about a quarter-mile from here. JC and I found it by accident years ago, and we swore each other to secrecy. We both had a cave trauma, so we used it a few times to challenge each other to confront our fears. It became our sacred ground. That’s why we never told anybody about it.”

“Did it help to be in there?”

“I don’t know. We always snuck a bottle of whisky out of the house and passed the bottle back and forth until we reached the cave. By then, we were laughing like goofballs.”

They walked for about ten minutes until they reached a grove of trees. “Come on. It’s this way.” He took her hand and tugged her along. The hem of her skirt kept snagging on briars and brambles, and he had to stop and untangle her, but each time he did, he snuck a quick kiss, starting on her head, then the tip of her nose, and both cheeks, and was disappointed when he didn’t make it to her lips. But he would get there eventually.

“In our time, this area is still in its natural state, but not this overgrown. And it’s rumored to be haunted.”

“So only the ghosts come here? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Years ago, Kit and Meredith both saw Cullen’s ghost on the farm.”

“That’s weird. I guess that was before he came here to live.”

“Traveling back and forth between centuries messes everything up.” Austin stopped and looked around for a minute, getting his bearings. “It’s this way.” They kept walking until they reached a creek.

“Does this feed the lake?”

“No. An underground stream feeds it.”

They reached a wall of trees in front of a grassy knoll with a huge boulder, surrounded by thickets. “It’s a prickly squeeze, but we can make it. Come on.”

“Wait a minute. We need a light.”

Austin dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out a penlight. “I was never a Boy Scout, but I’m always prepared.”

A corner of her mouth curled up. “Always?”

He knew what she was thinking, and he patted his breast pocket. “Always.” He was lying. He didn’t have a condom. But there was no chance in hell they would ever reach the point of needing one without a serious conversation about what they were looking for in a relationship, which for him also meant kids. He wanted four or five. None of the women he’d dated before fit in the category of his “forever girl.” Ensley was different. Not only did she fit in the category, but she defined it.

He squeezed in behind the boulder and clicked on the penlight.

“So why’d you bring a flashlight? I’m just curious.”

“Swiss Army knife and flashlight. I never leave home without them.”

“Seriously.”

“Of course. I’d think a woman like you would also carry both, along with a pistol. Am I right?”

“I used to, but not now.”

“Well, while you were checking out the laptop and battery, I picked up the light and knife.” He retook her hand. “We have to duck. The opening is only about three feet high.”

“You mean crawl?”

“You can duck. I’ll crawl.”

Once they got through the opening, Austin used the light to show her the cave’s dimensions, which were about the size of a triple-bay garage with a height of about ten feet.

Ensley ran her hand along the sidewall. “I think this is gypsum. There are a couple of sites in North Dakota with deposits of gypsum.”

“What’s it used for?”

“Fertilizer, plaster, chalk, and sheetrock—”

“Ah! Gypsum board.”

“Oh, and look at these!”

“They look like balloons,” he said. “We wondered what they were. If JC researched them, he never said.”

“They start with dripping water. The magnesium in the water becomes concentrated. If there’s enough evaporation, the magnesium forms this pasty white substance which can inflate and cause these pearly balloons.”

“That sounds very technical.”

“I think it’s word-for-word how my 4-H instructor explained it.”

They stepped farther into the cave, and Austin’s beam of light traveled along the walls, ceiling, and floor.

“Stop! Stop!” she squealed. “Look.”

“At what?”

“Those markings on the wall.” She took the flashlight from him and let the beam of light spotlight what she wanted him to see. “The markings extend from the top of