My Heart Stood Still by Lynn Kurland (best book club books of all time .TXT) 📕

Jane looked at him sympathetically, and Ian cleared his throat roughly more than once.

He found himself lingering over his week with Iolanthe at Artane, realizing as he did so that it was without a doubt the most precious time he'd had with her. At the moment, he suspected there was little he wouldn't give to have returned to that time and the simplicity of their relationship.

He described their first failed attempt at time-traveling, then their success. Ian had been enormously amused by Iolanthe's reaction to cars buzzing by on the freeway.

"Poor lass," he said with a chuckle. "I doubt I would have found it so startling, but then again, I am accustomed to the sounds of fierce battle."

Jane looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "We won't talk about your first ride in a taxi. Or about all the times you almost electrocuted yourself by trying to investigate various appliances—or the television insides—with your sword."

Ian looked just the slightest bit sheepish. "Finish your tale, Thomas," he said. "And make haste before my lady embarrasses me further."

"There isn't much more to tell," Thomas said. "It took us a day and a half to get from the rocks to the inn. We camped in someone's field overnight, and I guess I can just be grateful we didn't get thrown in jail for trespassing."

"That could have been ugly," Jane agreed.

"We took a day to settle in, went up to the castle, which was a disaster, then took a day to go shopping."

"Did that please her?" Ian asked. "You took her in a car, I assume."

"She didn't care all that much for that. The shopping even less. But the worst was to come. Once we were home, my family showed up."

"And?" Ian asked.

"Iolanthe ran into them on her own. I came down the stairs to find my sister strangling her, she was so happy to see her."

"And this is a bad thing?" Ian asked.

"She'd known Iolanthe before."

Before. With a capital B. He couldn't say the word that he didn't think of it that way.

"And Iolanthe? How did she react?" Jane asked.

"I think she felt suffocated. For various reasons."

"Your family couldn't have grieved her," Ian said with a frown. "Did they startle her?"

Thomas shook his head. "I don't think so. I think the problem was that Iolanthe recognized Megan. She seems to have these flashes of memory every now and then."

"That has to be unsettling," Jane said gently.

"I'm sure it is," Thomas agreed. He drained his glass, then sat back. "So there you have it. After enduring my family for an evening, she begged me to bring her home, and so I did. So there she is over there, and here I am over here. And I haven't got a clue what to do to close the distance."

"Maybe she just needs time," Jane offered. "She's been through a lot."

"I wish that time didn't have to exclude me," he said. "And I wish she wouldn't feel so indebted to me. Why can't she just let me do what I want to for her?"

"How would you feel were the places reversed?" Ian asked with a brief smile. "You saved her life, you've fed and clothed her, and you've delivered her to her home. Would you be so willing to accept such from a woman?"

"Were you?" Thomas asked frankly.

Ian smiled as he shook his head. "Of course not, though at first I had no choice."

Thomas looked briefly at Jane. "I don't want to pry into your finances—"

"We're an open book," Jane said. "I had enough money to get us to Scotland, and Ian's done everything since."

"How...?"

"Some of Jamie's wealth was mine," Ian said. "So Jane didn't have to fund us for long."

"Which was good, because I was broke," Jane said.

"Then I began my training school," Ian continued. "That

has added considerably to my funds. At the very least, it pays for nappies for the wee one."

"Tell the truth," Jane chided. "You could be living on your inheritance for decades."

"The old cache in the fireplace story?" Thomas asked, just as dryly.

"Do you know of it?" Ian asked, surprised.

"Iolanthe told me. Her grandfather had told her. Apparently it was quite a hoard."

"Was and still is," Ian said. "There is surely enough there for Iolanthe to have a share."

"She doesn't need a share," Thomas said. "I have more money than I'll ever spend in a lifetime."

"But that isn't the point," Jane argued. "She needs her own money."

"Why?" Thomas asked. "I have plenty."

Ian shook his head in warning. "Don't start her on this. There is no good reason for it, but Jane insists. She makes her own funds by weaving, so she'll have her own coin to spend." He looked at Thomas earnestly. "Spare yourself, brother, and do not argue with them on this."

"Some women need their own checking accounts," Jane insisted. "It has nothing to do with love or money. It has to do with independence."

"From what?" Thomas asked, ignoring Ian's frantic motions to stop. "From their husbands?"

"In part."

"I don't understand."

"You're a man," Ian interjected. "Save yourself and leave it at that."

Jane frowned at her husband, then looked at Thomas. "I imagine Iolanthe doesn't want to feel completely obligated to you."

"But I don't mind!"

"Well, I imagine she does. Think about it, Thomas," she said. "You saved her life, gave her the clothes on her back, and now you've brought her halfway across the island to her home. I imagine she wants to love you just because she loves you, not because she feels obligated to."

"And you think she thinks having her own money will make this happen?"

"I do."

Thomas looked at Ian. "I'm baffled."

"Aye," Ian agreed. " 'Tis the way of things."

"Some women don't care," Jane continued, "some women do. It's your job to figure out how your woman feels about it and respect that."

"I think," Thomas said slowly, "that things were a lot simpler back in the Middle Ages. The man carried a sword, and the woman didn't."

Ian laughed heartily. "Aye, you're a lucky lad to have had a wee taste of