Page 36

“She headed down the high street towards the cottages. You’ve only just missed her. She went around the corner as I got the keg off the truck.”

“Thank you.” David ran down the street in the direction Ken pointed, his breath hitching by the time he got to the corner.

Megan was walking slowly along the edge of the road only a couple of hundred yards ahead of him.

“Megan!”

She lifted her head as his call reached her and stepped into the shadow of the hedgerow, waiting as he closed the distance between them.

His feelings were in conflict as he ran towards her. The relief at finding her safe in this time warred with a surging excitement. His body still hummed from the experience with her last night. Never in his life had he been filled with such pure joy when he’d been with a woman. It rivalled the emotion he got from his music and that frightened him. He let his gaze wander over her, from the line of her shoulders down her back where her auburn hair hung like a silk curtain.

“God, Megan. Where did you go?” He gently took her by the shoulders and stared down at her, before pulling her against him, warmth surging though his body as her skin touched his. Her dark eyes were hooded and her mouth was set in a straight line. He’d been going to kiss her lips but he dropped his head and kissed her cheek instead as she stood rigid in his arms.

She stiffened in his grasp. “Why didn’t you come back? I thought you’d left me.”

David stepped back and held her gaze. Her face was pale and there were dark shadows beneath her eyes. “I got held up. I’m just so happy to see you safe.”

“Why wouldn’t I be safe?” She looked at him with a strange expression on her face. “I gave up waiting for you and now I’m heading to the cottage to have a shower and get my stuff. It was the craziest night and the morning’s not been much better.”

“You can’t.” He racked his brain for a good reason to convince her to come back with him, because crossing the time gate right now was not a good idea. But he drew a blank.

“What? I want to go home, have a shower, and take a nap before I come back to the festival.” Megan pulled away from him. “There is so much material, I have to come back and do some interviews.”

“You can’t.”

“I can’t what?”

“You can’t go back yet. You have to come with me.”

“Like hell. Who do you think you are to tell me what to do?” She turned around and strode down the road in the direction of the cottages. “Just because of what happened between us last night gives you no right to boss me around.”

He had to think of a way to get her to come with him. He wasn’t going to be responsible for putting her in danger. He ran his fingers through his hair.

But that’s the least of my problems. He had to find a way to get her to the time gate without telling her what was going on.

Striding behind her, he caught up to her and grabbed her arm. She jerked away angrily.

“Leave me alone.”

“That’s not the message I got from you last night.”

She glared at him. “Yeah, well, last night was last night and this is today.”

“Look, it’s still about three miles this way to the cottage. Come back with me.”

Megan frowned at him and bit her lip. He could almost hear her thoughts. She was totally pissed off with him. “Look, we had sex. It was great. But you left me and now you’re trying to tell me I have to come back with you?” She looked down at her bare feet and he waited for her to make a decision. “Give me one good reason why I should.”

“I’ll borrow Bear’s van and drive you home as soon as we finish our set. You can listen to the band again and you won’t have to walk back in your bare feet.”

If that didn’t work and she decided to keep going, he was going to have to force her to go with him, and he didn’t want to have to do that, especially since he couldn’t think of any way to do that, apart from putting her over his shoulder.

“All right,” she said begrudgingly and he let out the breath he’d been holding. “I suppose that makes sense and I get to hear your band play again.” Finally, she flashed him a strange smile. “You do a brilliant cover version of your uncle’s music. I’d really like to interview you about why you only play his songs.”

“We’ll talk about that later. I need to get back. We’re on stage at ten.”

She stared at him with that strange smile on her face.

“What’s wrong?” he said.