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

of clothes and pushed hangers back and forth, looking for something else to wear that didn’t remind him of that godawful trip.

“Elliott,” Meredith said, gently guiding him back to the clothes on the table. “Nobody will pay any attention to what you’re wearing. Men’s clothing didn’t change much. So hurry up and dress. We’ve got to get moving.”

Grumbling, Elliott took the clothes into the bathroom. “Mark my words, Sean MacKlenna will notice my lapels are out of style.”

Elliott didn’t give a flying shit what he wore. He was more concerned about James Cullen than his damn clothes. But complaining about them gave him a chance to vent without addressing the real issue. Meredith was wise to his antics and knew what he was doing, and rushing him was her way of expressing her anxiety. Of course, none of that made any sense, but after living together for almost three decades, it worked for them.

He returned to find the others were arranging trunks in a circle. “Is one of those trunks mine?” he asked.

Meredith pointed. “That’s yours over there. Check to see if you want to add anything else.”

“Did ye pack it?”

“I packed the clothes. Braham packed the weapons.”

“And the gold,” Braham added. “Spend it wisely. Kevin is already running a tab on this adventure.”

“We haven’t spent anything yet,” Elliott said.

“Two round-trip helicopter flights from here to DC,” Braham said.

“Kevin probably said we should have driven,” Elliott said. “He spends more money a year on lotions and potions and hairstylists than I spent on that damn helicopter.”

“Everybody knows that, but someone has to count pennies,” Braham said. “Ye won’t do it, and neither will I. He’s including Emily’s flight and the corporate jet’s cost to fly Tavis, Remy, JL, and Kevin to Colorado. He’ll apportion the expenses.”

“Why’d JL and Kevin go? Not that I’m complaining. I’d much rather share the expenses with a larger group. But when was that decision made?” Elliott asked.

“Tonight. She wants to make sure the guys don’t hurt Austin,” Braham said.

“That doesn’t bode well for Tavis and Remy. She’ll throw her seniority around, and they’ll all get into a fight. I’m surprised Pops didn’t go.” Elliott checked his watch. “Maybe we should wait until they go through the fog, just in case there’s a problem.”

“If there is, we’ll handle it,” Braham said. “But knowing Tavis and Remy, once they subdue Austin, they’ll get the hell out of there fast.”

“As long as JL doesn’t forewarn him,” Elliott grumbled again. “Her maternal instincts might get in the way of doing what she knows in her heart is necessary.”

“Let’s hope not,” Meredith said, giving Elliott a slight push toward his trunk. “If you need to add anything, do it now so we can be on our way. JL’s not the only mother who wants to protect her son, but we have to find James Cullen first.”

“Since Braham added the two things I need, I’m ready.”

Braham handed Elliott the diamond brooch. “I gave the lads the amethyst since it belonged to Austin’s family. It worked fine for Kevin. With Austin in the traveling party, they should take that one.”

“Makes sense.” Elliott and Braham carried the last trunk over to the circle and placed it between Meredith’s and Kit’s trunks. Elliott turned to Kit. “Why is it ye have two trunks, lass?”

“Sketching and painting supplies. I promised Sophia I would sketch everything I see.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to use yer phone and just take pictures?”

“Not this time,” Kit said. “Sophia’s giving me painting lessons, and she wants to see which objects I find most compelling in a scene. She wants my eye, not a camera lens, to describe what I see.”

“You’re already an excellent painter,” Meredith said. “What’s she teaching you?”

“Right now, some of the techniques she learned from Leonardo.”

“Leonardo?” Elliott laughed. “Ye’re calling him by his first name, too.”

Kit scrunched her face. “So what?” She gave him a one-shoulder shrug. “I tried calling him da Vinci, but it sounded like we were talking about two different people.”

“Ye’re a good painter. Ye don’t need lessons.”

“Of course I do. Just because I’m old doesn’t mean I can’t learn something new. I’ll never be on par with Sophia, and my paintings will never sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I’m satisfied with making a few hundred.”

Elliott hopped over his trunk and helped Meredith squeeze inside the circle. “I’ll give ye a thousand for that Oregon Trail picture hanging in yer bedroom.”

Kit’s head dropped with a chuckle, and then she glanced up. “You don’t stop, do you?”

He gave her a playful raised-eyebrow look. “Stop what?”

“You’ve always hated that picture. It reminds you of how I snuck off without you and spent months on the Oregon Trail.”

“Damn it, Kit,” Cullen said. “Are ye trying to pick a fight? Ye know ye never win with him.”

The playfulness disappeared, and Elliott set his jaw. “Ye left me at home worrying about ye.”

“You were in so much pain you could barely walk. It’s time to stop blaming me for something you weren’t able to do.”

“Ye put me on the no-code list, and off ye went,” Elliott answered with a wave of his hand.

Kit opened her mouth to respond, but Cullen jumped in. “I’m looking forward to seeing Sean again. So why don’t we go—now!”

The pressure doors swished open, and Charlotte rushed in. “Oh, thank goodness I arrived in time.” She stopped to take a breath. “I was checking the ancestor book for information on Sean and Lyle Ann MacKlenna. He died of a heart attack on Christmas Eve 1885—at age eighty—and she followed a year later.”

“I read that, too,” Meredith said.

“But, here’s the thing,” Charlotte said, getting a cup of water from the faucet at the coffee bar. “If you can convince him to come to the future for a medical exam, we could probably extend his life as we did with Emily, Kit, and Cullen. We won’t know until he has a full battery of tests, but we could give him more time than he would