Twice Upon a Time (Lovers' Leap 2)

“You most certainly will not,” Reece said. “I want answers, not your death.”

“Is there a problem here?” a feminine voice said from behind Reece.

He glanced at the woman behind him. She was very beautiful, wearing next to nothing, and commanded an unmistakable authority.

“I believe this man was trying to poison Princess Farima.”

“The best way to test your theory is to have him taste the food he has purportedly poisoned,” she said.

“I offered to do so,” the man said.

“Well, there you are,” she said, “Problem solved.”

“No,” Reece said. “The problem is not solved. If he tastes the food and dies, we won't know who sent him to kil her and if he doesn't die, then I'm hard pressed to explain why he ran away like that and attacked me with a knife.” The woman's cold eyes roved over Reece's chest. “You should have that wound looked at.”

“The princess's safety is more important than my own.”

“Depends on who you ask,” she said and turned to leave, walking in graceful steps, hips swaying with practiced seduction.

Reece watched her suspiciously until she vanished around the corner.

“Who is that woman?” Reece asked.

He should have been paying attention to his captive. An elbow connected with his temple and he lost consciousness.

Chapter Seven

“Nasir,” a gentle voice drifted down from above him. Reece pried his eyes open, but a brilliant flash of light made him groan and close them again. A relieved sigh graced his ears. “Open your eyes, Nasir. Please. Say something.”

“Farima?”

“I'm here,” she said, and gentle fingertips stroked his hair. “I want you to open your eyes and look at me.”

“Don't eat the food,” he murmured. “It's….poi…poisoned.”

“I didn't eat it,” she assured him. “Can you open your eyes for me?” He forced his eyes open and the beautiful face of Princess Farima swam in his vision before his gorgeous Lara appeared before him.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I think I saw the woman who is trying to have you killed.”

“Who?”

“I don't know. One of the harem women.” He sat up, groaning in protest. They were in the corridor where he'd been knocked unconscious. “What are you doing out of your room?”

“I came to look for you. When you didn't return, I got worried.”

“Someone could have hurt you.” His head was throbbing unpleasantly. He touched his left temple and flinched.

“I'm fine. You're the one who's been hurt. You're bleeding and you have a huge bruise on the side of your face.”

“I'll be okay.”

“Let's go back to the room and get you cleaned up, then we can talk to the governor's mother and see if she can do anything about this.”

“I wish your husband would return,” he said. He leaned heavily on her as she helped him to his feet. “I know that is strange, but I don’t think they’d be as likely to hurt you with him here.”

He was still a little wobbly. Lara wrapped his arm around her shoulders and supported some of his weight as they made their way back to the room.

“Somebody real y hates me,” Lara said, frowning.

“It isn't you, sweetheart. No one sees you when they look at you, except me.”

“Reece, will we ever get our lives back? Be ourselves? I don't real y care when I live, and seeing different times and places is exciting, but I would like to be me, not someone else.”

Reece sighed. “I don't know. I really wish we had the other half of the amulet.

Maybe we could get it to work the way we want it to, instead of being at the mercy of these random leaps.”

“So why don't we set up a trap for Carl? We could get the other half of the amulet from him and see if we can return to our time.”

“Too risky,” Reece said, heart thrumming. He didn't even want Carl to breathe near Lara. If he told her what he knew about Reece's past or that he had been responsible for her death, she'd never forgive him. He couldn't stand to lose her. Not when they were growing so close.

“We can't leap through time forever,” Lara said, “and how else are we going to get the other half of the amulet? I don't think Carl is going to hand it over just because we want him to.”

“I’ll think about it. Carl's no push over.”

“Well, neither are you,” she said, her fingers gently tracing the unbroken skin above the gash across his chest. She grinned up at him. “Don't you know better than to bring a fist to a knife fight?”

He chuckled, sending a spear of pain through his skull. “I've been to a lot of dangerous places in my travels, but I don't think I've had this many malicious attacks on my life before. I never would have guessed there was so much danger in a harem.”

“Well, at least your wounds don't seem to jump through time with you. That bruise you got jousting is gone.”

“Yeah, but poor Reg still has to contend with it. On his wedding night.”

“He'll probably be able to suffer through it.”

Reece laughed and then grimaced in pain. “Sweetheart, would you mind not making me laugh? It hurts.”

She examined the wound across his chest more closely. “This looks pretty deep.

You might need stitches.”

“I wonder if the eunuchs have a physician.”

“I'll ask Farima's mother-in-law. She seems trustworthy to me.” When they arrived back at the room, the food that had been set out for the princess's breakfast was gone.

“Covering their tracks, I guess,” Reece said.

“Lie down.” She directed him over to the bed where he col apsed.

“I'll go get my mother-in-law.”

“No!” he protested. “You aren't going anywhere without me. Just let me catch my breath and I'll come with you.”

“Don't be ridiculous. You're injured. I'll be fine.” He struggled out of the bed and back to his feet.

She tried to reason with him. “What good will you be to me in this condition, Nasir?” She glanced around warily and leaned closer to Reece to whisper in his ear.

“Someone's in here with us.”

“How do you know?”

“Try to cal me Lara,” she whispered.

“You know I'll protect you, Farima, even if I have to die to do so,” he declared loudly.

“You're right,” he whispered.

He wobbled around to the back of the bed where there were draperies hanging from the wall. He pushed them aside cautiously. There was no one there. Lara's heart thudded in apprehension, eyes searching the room for potential danger. A movement in the drapes surrounding the doorway to the bathing pavilion caught her attention. Reece saw it, too. He raced across the room and grabbed the figure behind the curtain by the arm.

There was a startled cry as a smal girl was pulled from her hiding place. Lara clutched her chest and let out a relieved breath. The girl's large brown eyes overflowed with tears and she let out an anguished wail. Reece released her as if she were hot to the touch.

Lara approached her and squatted down to the child's level. She couldn't have been more than seven. “Are you hurt?” she asked the girl. When the girl cried louder, Lara turned her head and scowled at Reece. “You scared her.”

“Why were you hiding in there?” Reece asked harshly.