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

clean and empty, except for Elliott’s signature scent of leather and cloves and balsam.

She walked around the room, searching for evidence—clothes, Dopp kit, attaché case—that he’d even been there.

She had an old memory of him leaving Edinburgh without telling her. It had almost broken her heart. So why remember that now? Because just like then, he left unexpectedly. But where would he go now? Anywhere he wanted. He had a brooch.

And that fact skewered her heart with terror. She dropped into a wingback chair and fought the tears that swamped her as fiercely as she had wept for James Cullen. Elliott was gone, and there was only one place he’d go. Back in time a week or two to prevent what happened to James Cullen.

If she’d been standing in front of a speeding freight train, she wouldn’t have been any more terrified than she was at the thought of Elliott confronting that evil Viking.

She buried her face in her hands and tried to process, which wasn’t easy with her heart traveling at ninety miles a second. He didn’t leave from here. There was no smell of peat. So maybe he hadn’t left yet. He could be activating the brooch from somewhere else on the farm.

But where?

The cabin? The cave? Ensley said she told Elliott about the cave. He had traveled without telling anyone before—several times—but he always had Remy with him. Remy wasn’t here, but Paul was. And Paul felt guilty enough right now that he’d do whatever Elliott asked of him.

Oh, God!

She raced out of the room and down the stairs.

“Meredith, what’s wrong?” Austin asked.

“Have you seen Elliott?”

“No,” Austin said. “Is he not in his room?”

“He’s gone.”

“I’ve been here for most of the past hour, and he hasn’t come down these stairs. If he went out, he must have taken the back staircase.”

Meredith headed toward the door. Her determination had changed from saving her marriage to saving her husband’s life. “I have to find him. Now!” She flung open the door and raced across the veranda.

“Meredith, where are you going?” Kenzie asked.

“I have to find Elliott. He might be at the cabin or the cave.”

“We’re heading in that direction as soon as the wagon gets here to carry the equipment.”

“I can’t wait!” Meredith hurried past them toward the path that would take her to the cabin. The freight train was barreling down on her, and Elliott’s life hung in the balance.

“I’m coming with you,” Kenzie said as she reached Meredith’s side with long strides.

Ensley caught up with them. “So am I.”

“I’ll get horses and meet you there,” Austin said. “Unless you want me to go with you.”

“I’ll get the horses and the wagon and meet ye at the cabin,” Sean said.

“Get the gear loaded on the wagon,” David said. “Austin and I will saddle the horses.”

Meredith started jogging. “Come on. We have to hurry.”

“Why?” Ensley asked.

“Because Elliott has your brooch, and I believe he intends to go back and try to stop James Cullen’s torture.”

“Shit! That’s a horrible idea,” Kenzie said. “He’ll just make a bigger mess of things.”

“Maybe we should take Austin or David in case we have to restrain Elliott,” Ensley said.

Meredith stopped and looked back to where the guys had been standing, and Ensley and Kenzie stopped as well. “Maybe we should.”

“Oh, ye of little faith. I can take Elliott down,” Kenzie said.

“I know you took JC down, but you caught him off guard. If Elliott sees us coming, you’ll lose that advantage.” Meredith started running again, hoping they wouldn’t have to use force. But if it came to that, she’d help Kenzie do whatever was necessary. “Just do it before he opens the brooch.”

“If he opens the brooch, I’m running in the opposite direction,” Kenzie said.

Meredith had run hundreds of miles with Kenzie, and although Kenzie could run at a faster pace, she never did. Now running in layers of cotton and silk and laced-up ankle boots, she wished Kenzie would run faster, but Meredith knew she wouldn’t. Kenzie was pacing them to get there quickly yet still fired up and ready to respond to the situation.

“If we don’t stop him,” Meredith said, “he’ll go confront Sten, and the Viking will use James Cullen to extract information from Elliott. If Erik has to choose which one to save, he’ll choose the Keeper, and James Cullen will die.”

“Don’t you think Elliott knows that?” Kenzie asked.

“I’m not sure what he knows, or even if he’s thinking straight. He sees a problem and has to fix it, regardless of the cost.”

They stopped talking and concentrated on running over the uneven ground, lifting their skirts like cancan dancers.

They reached the clearing in front of the cabin before David and Austin caught up with them.

“Wait here. Let me go in first. I don’t want to put either of you in danger.”

Kenzie stood in front of Meredith. “You’re not going in there alone.”

Meredith didn’t have time to argue with them. “I have to find out what he’s doing. Sit on the porch. If I need help, I’ll yell, and you can storm the cabin.”

“I don’t like that idea at all,” Kenzie said.

“I know you don’t, but that’s my husband in there, and I get first dibs on dealing with him.”

She got a snort out of Kenzie and a reluctant grin from Ensley. Occasionally Meredith was pretty good at defusing tense situations—if only her luck would carry her through the next few minutes.

Kenzie stepped aside. “You can have first dibs, but if he continues to act like an asshole, I’m going in there, and it won’t be pretty.”

Meredith jogged up on the porch and didn’t bother to knock. She barged right in to find Elliott sitting on the bed, clean-shaven and dressed immaculately. But when he looked up at her, his eyes told a different story.

“Elliott!” She shuddered with relief so deep and absolute that tears burned her eyelids and spilled over and down her cheeks.

“You’re here!” A vise gripped her heart, squeezing so hard she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, as her