Once Upon a Valentine (15 page)

Frankly, Ashlynn subscribed to the latter idea. It seemed incongruous to her that any ancient kings—notorious gold grubbers as they were—would have left something precious behind.

But whether she believed it or not, men had killed for less than a castle full of treasure.
And they might kill you just for the chance to find out it’s there.

“Okay, princess, we should cover a little more ground.”

She fell into step beside him. “I’m no princess.”

Flexing his hand, which was reddened from her bite, he replied, “No, I guess you’re not. Princesses don’t fight dirty.”

She snorted. “
Nobody
fights dirtier than a princess in a world where they outnumber the princes two to one.”

“Why is that?”

“Because stupid princes are always trying to find a way to prove their manhood, so they go out and try to slay dragons or capture hydras and get themselves chomped into tiny bits.”

A hint of a smile appeared on his lips. “I meant, why were you willing to fight so hard when you could end up getting hurt?”

“You wouldn’t have hurt me,” she insisted.

“No, I wouldn’t have. How’d you figure it out?”

“Intuition, I suppose.”

“That and I’m slightly less intimidating than the knife-wielding wonder-thug back in the village?”

She chuckled. If he were like most men she knew, he would be acting sulky or angry that she’d managed to get her bag back without telling him anything. Instead, he seemed good-humored. “Well, at least you’re cleaner than he was.”

“Wow. Thanks.”

“And you don’t have a black eye and blackened teeth.”

“His teeth weren’t black. That was just a big giant hole where they used to be.”

“What did his two companions look like?” she asked.

“During your Disney-movie marathon on Earth, did you happen to catch Alice In Wonderland?”

She sneered. “I did. Ridiculous. As if the Queen of Hearts’s courtiers were giant-size playing cards!”

“Did you happen to notice Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee?”

“You mean that’s what the other two men looked like?” That didn’t sound too threatening.

“Not exactly. More like Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee’s mom had sex with a giant and produced Tweedle Dangerous and Tweedle Deadly. They’re each at least seven feet tall with big bodies, tiny heads and lots of scars. They have mean scowls but soft voices, which, in my world, means that like Alice, they’ve been popping some ‘eat me and you’ll grow’ pills.”

“Oh, dear,” she murmured.

“Speaking of Disney movies and Earth, what exactly were you doing over there for so long, anyway?”

“Looking for something.”

“In every bookstore in Philadelphia, yeah, I know.”

“How do…oh, right. You were following me.” She wrinkled her nose, surprised she’d been oblivious to his shadowing. Then again, she had been in another world. Everything had felt strange and unusual, so maybe that was why the presence of a secret bodyguard hadn’t stuck out.

“What was it you were looking for?”

“That’s classified.”

He chuckled. “You watched some spy movies while you were there, didn’t you?”

She couldn’t deny it. “That James Bond, he’s a scary man, isn’t he?”

“You went to a Bond flick?”

“There was a—what do you call it?—a movie marathon? It was on the television at the hotel once when I had nothing to do.”

He hesitated, then asked, “You do know those movies are fictional, don’t you? I mean, you didn’t really think one guy went from looking like Sean to Roger to Timothy to Pierce to Daniel…but was always the same man, right?”

She waved a hand. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I know that. But considering your people have fictionalized so much about my world, who’s to say Mr. Bond doesn’t exist on yet another plane of reality that neither of us knows about? Personally, I hope there’s one where that little boy wizard lives. I quite enjoyed those books during my recent stay.”

He paused midstep. “Touché. I never thought of that.”

Pleased that he didn’t immediately tell her she was wrong, like one of her colleagues had when she’d dared to suggest there might be more than two worlds, she smiled and continued. “He could be utterly real and might very well watch movies in his world about men walking on the moon and think they’re the most ridiculous thing he’s ever seen.” Then she thought about it, tapped her fingertip on her mouth and added, “Of course, that’s also what most people here think.”

“Hey, don’t sweat it. A lot of people on Earth think that, too. They’re called conspiracy theorists,” he said with a grin.

She liked that grin. Liked his laugh. Liked that they were walking through the forest in the darkness of night, utter strangers—well, at least, he was a stranger to her—yet she was actually enjoying herself.

She could like this man. A lot. Which would normally be a good thing. But when combined with the heated attraction she’d felt for him at first sight, was probably a bad one instead.

“Now back to what you were looking for....”

Or, maybe she couldn’t like him. He was far too persistent.

“Does it have something to do with a book?”

Figuring he wasn’t going to let up unless she gave him something, she admitted, “I was researching two brothers named Grimm. They visited Elatyria centuries ago and caused all sorts of mayhem.”

“Uh, yeah,” he drawled. “I’ve heard of them.”

“It was bad enough for them to share Elatyria’s history as make-believe stories on Earth, but they also created mischief
here.
”

Including terrifying children with ridiculous tales of an evil time called the Inquisition.

That was one bad part of visiting Earth. She could have happily gone through her whole life without discovering that those Inquisition stories were true. And people thought the ancient practice of sacrificing virgins to dragons was barbaric? Yeesh.

She shook off the images she’d seen in an Earthen textbook, focusing on the success of her trip. Now, she felt nothing but gratitude toward the Grimms. She suspected it was one of them who’d hidden the map piece between the lining of one of their own books, where she had discovered it.

“By the way, how do you know so much about Elatyria?” she asked. “Obviously you’ve been here before.”

He reached out and swept a jagged branch out of their way. “My parents were from here.”

That surprised her. “Really? And they…emigrated?”

“Yeah. They were from different villages and were told who they had to marry, all that stuff. So they ran away together.”

Interesting. What would it be like, she wondered, to love someone so much you’d move to another world to be with them?

“You doing okay? I know you’ve been walking all day.”

She glanced at the sky, gauging the passage of time. “I’m fine. And I think we’ve gone far enough, don’t you?”

“How far’s far enough?”

“Far enough that we’re safe to wait here until those three Hunters drink too much ale and fall into such a deep sleep that they won’t notice me sneaking back into the village.”

“Maybe I didn’t make myself clear,” he said, stopping. His chin was thrust out and his brow pulled down, all evidence of good humor gone. “We’re not going back to that village. We’re heading the other way—toward Riverdale. You’ll get home, I’ll get paid, and we can say sayonara.”

Ashlynn tried not to feel a twinge of sadness that he so easily talked of saying…whatever the word was that he’d said, which she assumed meant farewell. But she forced the sensation away, angry at herself for getting distracted by his easy manner and friendly charm. Not to mention his appearance.

“You hear me, princess?”

“Stop calling me ‘princess.’ I’m a historian.”

“You hear me, historian?”

“I heard you.” Spying a big, graceful white pine, Ashlynn walked to it, then lowered herself to the soft cushion of fallen needles below. It would do for a bed. It couldn’t be any worse than that creaky, lumpy one she’d slept in for the last thirty nights. Had she been a real princess, she would have been black-and-blue after sleeping on that thing. She didn’t imagine it had any peas beneath it—it felt more like boulders.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m taking a rest.” She lay down on her side, hugging her bag close. “I’ll sleep for a while, then head back to the village in a few hours.”

“But I just said…”

“I heard you. Still, I
am
going back there.” Knowing he wouldn’t let it go, she explained, “I left something there when I passed through last month, something I need very badly. And I intend to go get it.”

His mouth dropped open. “You’re crazy.”

“No. Just determined. Now you can go, with my thanks. Your warning came in time and I appreciate it. But there’s nothing you can say that will stop me from going back to Foxglen.”

He thrust a hand through his thick, black hair, frustration rolling off him. As if he just wasn’t used to anyone—any woman—refusing to do whatever he desired.

You might not be refusing if he desired something else.

She pushed that thought away. This man might have been friendly and protective, but he was still a stranger. And, judging by his readiness to say goodbye, a disinterested one.

Expecting him to leave, she was shocked to see him drop onto another pile of needles, muttering a curse. “Look, lady. I don’t get the rest of my money unless you get safely home. So, if you’re going back to that village, I’m going to have to go, too.”

She opened her mouth to refuse, not liking that some unknown entity had hired this man to take care of her. Was it someone from the museum? Or perhaps someone sent by Queen Penelope, who had shown great support for the arts, history and science since reclaiming her family’s throne?

“This man who paid you, what was he like?”

“Old. Long gray beard, but well dressed.”

A face appeared in her mind. “This man, did he sneeze a lot?”

Raine chuckled. “Yeah, he went through a half-dozen handkerchiefs during our single conversation.”

That cinched it. Uncle Edgar, her father’s closest friend—Ashlynn’s own godfather—was one of the few who knew about her quest. He’d wanted to be her escort, but his health wouldn’t allow it. He’d obviously still found a way to get to Earth and make sure she was looked after. “I know who it was.”

“Care to fill me in?”

“A dear old family friend who knows what I’m working on and was worried.”

That was very nice of him. But, as much as she appreciated the thoughtfulness, that didn’t mean she was happy about having this man, Raine, second-guessing her every move. She’d been raised to be independent, to think for herself, not to be one of those silly females who needed a man for every little thing.

Though, she suspected it wasn’t a
little
thing she needed from this man. In fact, she imagined it was a
big
thing. A
very
big one, given how big and masculine he was everywhere else.

Stop it. He’s not interested.
That was very obvious.

She, on the other hand,
was
interested. She had been from first sight and was growing more so by the minute. He might be pushy and bossy, but he was also intelligent, self-confident and had a sense of humor. She liked that. She saw it often in males from Earth, but not so much here, where men were too busy being rugged and tough to ever just laugh at life. Or at themselves.

Yes, she thought she might be able to enjoy her time with Raine Fowler. As long as he didn’t try to stop her from doing what she needed to do, she might actually be glad he’d come into her life so suddenly.