Flirting With Forever

Praise for Gwyn Cready and her tempting
time-travel novels

“Tackling both time travel and the concept of authorial intent in fresh ways, this romance debut is a joy and its author is worth watching.”

—
Publishers Weekly

“Ingenious! This heartwarming, laugh-fil ed ride through time has everything a great novel needs. Cready adds even more spice with a dash of mystery and plenty of adventure.

Don’t miss this story and be sure to keep your eye on this talented new author. Bril iant.”

—Romance Junkies

“Keeps its promise of a wild ride into the past and zips through the present at warp speed. Time-travel enthusiasts wil have a field day.”

—
Winter Haven News
(FL)

Winner of the 2009 RITA® Award for

“Sexy fun.”

—
BookPage

“Hot, adorable, and irresistible. Rip its sexy white shirt off and have your way with it.”

—DarcyWars

“If I had to choose a passenger pigeon search team, Flip Al ison is the first person I’d cal .”

—Tim Gal agher, author of
The Grail Bird
These titles are also available as eBooks.

ALSO BY GWYN CREADY

Tumbling Through Time

Seducing Mr. Darcy

FLIRTING

with

FOREVER

The sale of this book without its cover is
unauthorized. If you purchased this book without a
cover, you should be aware that it was reported to
the publisher as “unsold and destroyed.” Neither the
author nor the publisher has received payment for
the sale of this “stripped book.”

Pocket Books

A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2010 by Gwyn Cready

Excerpts from Viscount Lee of Fareham’s 1932 article by kind permission of
The Burlington Magazine.

Al rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY

10020

First Pocket Books paperback edition April 2010

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Cover design by Lisa Litwack

Cover il ustration by Gene Mol ica

Designed by Jil Putorti

Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN 978-1-4391-0724-9

ISBN 978-1-4391-7124-0 (ebook)

For Karen Flo, Josh Russell

and Linda Mullens,

and all the people who miss them.

A big thank-you goes to Manuel Erviti, who as always was wil ing to break every rule to get me the information I needed. The 1932 article entitled “Lely’s Love Story” by Viscount Lee of Fareham that Cam receives from
The
Burlington Magazine
real y exists and was, in fact, what inspired me to write this book.
The Burlington Magazine
and its editor Richard Shone were especial y gracious in letting me use excerpts from the article. I altered the details of Peter’s love story only modestly. I’d like to thank Christine Lorenz for her insight into the world of art history and art historians. Thanks goes to my cousin Lynne Crofford as wel , who, in an attempt to help me appreciate the historical context of my name when I was a girl—my ful name is Nel e Gwyn Cready—gave me the article about Nel Gwyn that first excited my curiosity about the Restoration period.

I real y appreciate the exceptional guidance my editor Megan McKeever gave me after reading the first draft. You have her to thank for the book’s far more straightforward story arc. Al the people at Pocket have been great and do their jobs so professional y. Thanks to Lisa Litwack, Gene Mol ica, and Shirley and Victor Forster for this book’s gorgeous design. I stand in awe, as always, of Judy Steer, the world’s best copy editor. A special shout-out goes to my friend Wileen Dragovan, who has always been wil ing to share her love for, and deep understanding of, painting with me. And, of course, I have to thank Tracy Chevalier for her wonderful book, which made me ask, “What in God’s name would Vermeer think?”

I have friends who have gone out of their way in the last year to cheer me on. Among them are Katie Kemper, Scott DeLaney, Joe Gitchel , Betsy Tyson, Ted Kyle, Mark Prus, Jeremy Diamond, Mike Brown, Dawn Kosanovich, Mary Irwin Scott, Marie Guerra, Val i El is, Teri Coyne, Donna Neiport, Mary Parish, Bev Crofford, Jean Hilpert, Gudrun Wel s, Stuart Ferguson, Nick Cole, Doris Heroff, Lloyd Heroff, and Sheila Washington. Diane Pyle is among them, too, and she also gets credit for the fabulous line, “Her backstory is so bogus.” The line in Latin engraved in Peter’s ring, on the other hand, came to this book with the most appreciated assistance of Dr. Judith Hulick, whose
joie de vivre
is truly contagious.

Thanks to Kate Zingarel a, Mark Zingarel i and Mary Nel Cumming, who, each in their own way, inspired me to change my life. Thanks as wel to J.T. Smith, who made a difficult time fun. For filmmaking magic, I tip my hat to Karl O’Janpa, Drew Nicholaus and Glen Richards. I’d like to thank three great writers—Todd DePastino, Mitchel James Kaplan, and Vince Rause—for many hours of great coffee and conversation. Thanks goes as wel to writer Elaine Knighton, who, among her many lessons, taught me the importance of making space in my life for good things.

I can recommend
Painted Ladies: The Women at the
Court of Charles II
(Catherine MacLeod and Julia Marciari Alexander, editors; National Portrait Gal ery, London, in association with the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven), and
Sir Peter Lely
(Oliver Mil ar, National Portrait Gal ery, London) for a more in-depth understanding of the life, times, and breathtaking work of my hero. I also found
How to Paint Your Own Vermeer
(Jonathan Janson, Lulu Press), very helpful for this story. Pierre Bonnard and Alex Katz continue to inspire, but, like Peter, I would choose Katz and his Ada. You wil find the Carnegie Museum much as I described it, though the administrative wing as it appears in the book is purely a product of my imagination.

Claudia Cross is an outstanding guide and companion on this journey. I hope it continues for a long time. Wyatt, I love you, and thanks for tel ing me about the woman next to you on the Metro. Love as wel to Cameron, who charms me daily with her feisty and uncompromising view of the world. It’s as if I’m looking in a mirror sometimes. Final y, Lester Pyle is my partner in crime, and every day is made better by him being in it.

COVENT GARDEN, LONDON, 1673

Peter pressed an exquisitely cobbled shoe against the side of the desk drawer and rubbed his aching temples. Despite al the appointments of success—the fine clothes, the freedom to paint when and what he chose, the admiration of a highly appreciative king, row upon row of apprentices at his command, a ful waiting room and an even ful er account with his bankers—he felt nothing but despair. Even the fat emerald ring, once such a prize, was a torture, for it reminded him of Ursula and how he had treated her. It had been heartbreaking to live through that part of his life the first time. And now to be asked to live through it again was a sorrow so exquisite he could barely speak.

“Peter,” Mertons said, “I hope you know how much the Guild appreciates this.”

Peter grunted. The Executive Guild managed the souls passing through the Afterlife, specifical y those within the artists’ section, and Mertons was the time-jump accountant who had been assigned to this case. Time-jump Accountant was his official title, but Peter knew the unofficial reason the Guild had sent him was to ensure the moody, unreliable painter they’d enlisted managed the mission properly and stayed within the prescribed rules, so perhaps
nursemaid
would be more appropriate.

“It wasn’t as if I had a choice.” Peter slitted his eyes and let the dying November sun warm his face. The evenings were the hardest. During the day he could lose himself in painting, but at night … At night, al he had was wine and his memories. How could he have once held success in such esteem?

Mertons shrugged. “You wil get what you want, Peter—a new life as an artist.” The Guild had the power to choose the new life into which a member of its constituency—in this case, painters—would arrive, bundled in his or her new mother’s arms, with only an obscure hint of the sadness or joy of their former life to tint their memories.

And while Peter desperately wanted a new life as an artist—he couldn’t imagine himself, or at least his soul, spending the next sixty years as a barber or dairyman—

what he real y wanted was a chance to redeem himself, which he knew he would never find. He had final y agreed to slip back into the pinched, desiccated skin he had sloughed off at his death two years earlier for one reason only—to try to return Ursula’s good name to her, an intention he had purposeful y not shared with Mertons, who had been assigned by the Guild to accompany him and who monitored the attacks on his precious time-travel constraints with the ferocity of a mother lion.