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“One kiss…just in case.”

With a soft groan, David pulled her closer and his mouth ground against hers. She opened her lips and welcomed him as his heat filled her. Anticipation quivered through her as his tongue tangled with hers and she pushed against him, her breasts aching with the need to feel his bare skin against her. Reaching around, she ran her hands beneath his shirt and ran her fingers along his sun-warmed skin.

“Fucking hell.” His words were hot against her lips. “How do you do this to me, Megan? You’re a witch.”

The need in his voice sent heat rushing through her, and she pushed closer to him. “I don’t know,” she said and her voice trembled. “I just know I need to touch you.” The warm scent of his skin and the tight grip of his hands on her waist sent her head spinning. She knew he wanted her…or needed her…as much as she needed him. It was a physical craving and she’d never experienced anything like it before. She needed to be satisfied now.

“Quickly, let’s go back, ” she said, need lacing her words.

David pulled away and stared at her intently for a long minute before he dropped his hands from her waist. She stepped back and the urgency of her sexual need faded a little as the physical connection between them was broken.

His voice was ragged and he gulped deeply as he turned to the middle stone.

“Go around to the back side in the shadow and put your hand against the stone. I’ll follow you.”

##

When Megan woke it was dark. Disoriented, she looked around the unfamiliar room. Fear crawled through her stomach as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. It was silent except for the loud ticking of an old-fashioned clock on the table in the corner of the room.

She was alone in a large bed, and it wasn’t the bed in her room at Violet Cottage.

“David?” she called softly.

But all was quiet. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she grasped the edge as her head swam. Her eyelids began to droop and she forced them open.

She had to find out where she was. Or more importantly, when she was.

Pulling herself to her feet by holding on to the cold metal headboard, she fought the waves of weakness that washed over her. For a moment, her stomach roiled and she swallowed as saliva filled her mouth and she thought she would vomit. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and the feeling slowly receded. Letting go of the bed, she stood, opened her eyes, and the room blurred in front of her.

Forcing herself to move towards the door, she took short steps as the room swayed around her.

Where the hell am I and where is David?

The doorknob was icy beneath her hand. She turned it and let out a sigh of relief as the door opened. She peered around into a narrow corridor with a set of wooden steps at the far end. Faint light shone in from a small lace-covered window high in the wall above the steps. Her head steadied and she let go of the doorknob and walked slowly towards the stairs. A brighter light shone up from the room below.

“David?”

There was no answer and a sliver of fear trembled down her back. She definitely wasn’t in her own cottage—or rather Alice’s cottage. She could see that much in the dark. Walking quietly down the narrow staircase, she listened for any sound coming from below.

But all was quiet.

As she stepped onto the bottom step, the old timber groaned and a tall figure appeared from behind a sofa.

“Hell, Megan. You scared me. I thought you were still asleep.” David’s voice came across the room. She put her hand on her chest as her heart thudded hard and she took the final few steps to the old sofa in the middle of the room. David sat up against the cushions and the faint light shining in from the window reflected off his bare chest.

“What time is it?” Megan stood beside him and put her hand up to her head.

“Are you okay?” David stood and pulled her to him and the warmth of his skin rubbed against her bare arms. The horrid nausea and dizziness had taken all of her energy and she hadn’t even looked to see what she was wearing when she’d woken upstairs alone. She was still in the same clothes she’d had on since she’d left the cottage.

However long ago that had been.

“Just a bit shaky. Like I felt when I woke up in the first aid tent…whenever that was. But not as bad.” Megan leaned into him, and the shaking that had taken hold of her limbs slowed down and her heart slowly resumed its normal beat. “Where are we? Did it work?”

“We’re at my cottage. You went out like a light when we came through the time slip.” Although she stood in the circle of his arms, David’s face was in the shadow and she couldn’t see the expression on his face.

“I carried you back here and put you to bed so I could make sure you were okay. It’s been a long night and I didn’t want to wake you, so I slept down here.”

“The night? How long have I been out?”