The Sunstone Brooch : Time Travel Romance by Katherine Logan (i am reading a book TXT) π

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- Author: Katherine Logan
Read book online Β«The Sunstone Brooch : Time Travel Romance by Katherine Logan (i am reading a book TXT) πΒ». Author - Katherine Logan
βIf he was that injured,β Braham said, βye should have come home.β
βErik said if we touched him, he would die.β
βAnd you believed him?β Kenzie demanded.
Elliott slammed his fist on the countertop. Ensley jumped, Austin jerked, David glared, Braham clenched his fists, and Kenzie shot Elliott full of eye darts.
βDammit, Kenzie. I had to do what I thought was best for my son, and ultimately the family. I couldnβt risk any interference.β
Kenzie tapped her fingers on her crossed arms. βYou believed a twelfth-century Viking over Charlotteβs medical knowledge. Is that what youβre saying?β
When Elliott showed more interest in his cup of coffee than in answering her question, Kenzie looked from David to Braham, to Austin, to Ensley, and back to Elliott.
βIβve known you and Meredith for almost twenty years. You are two of the strongest, most bull-headed people Iβve ever met. If you believed in Erik and Meredith believed in Charlotte, then what we have here is the unstoppable force paradox.β
βAn unstoppable force cannot be unstoppable in the same universe where an immovable object exists, as it would no longer be unstoppable. And Meredith and I do live in the same universe.β
βI hate your esoteric arguments. You pull them out every time you need a distraction. Well, itβs not going to work this time.β
βYe started it, lass.β
Kenzie pushed away from the table and approached him. βWhen was the last time you saw her?β
βNot that long ago.β
Kenzie punched him in the chest with the heel of her hand. βYou asshole. You shut Meredith out, didnβt you? She disagreed with you, so you took JC and hid him away from her. And then you abandoned her.β Kenzie held out her hand. βGive me the damn brooch.β
βNo. Iβm theββ
βDonβt throw that Keeper shit at me. You abandoned your wife in another century. Thatβs unforgivable. Iβm going back for her, and if she never wants to see you again, if she wants a divorce, I wonβt blame her. She forgave you once, but I donβt see it happening again. Now give me the goddamn brooch.β
Ensley had never heard anyone talk to another person like Kenzie spoke to Elliott, and if she could talk to him that way, why was JC afraid to confront his father?
βKenzie, get off yer goddamn high horse. Yeβve overstepped the boundaries weβve set. After I take James Cullen to the monastery, Iβll go back for her.β
βBullshit,β Ensley said under her breath.
βLike hell!β Davidβs brown eyes turned almost black. βIf ye leave right now, ye could spend six weeks making things right with Meredith and come back, and yeβll only be gone a few minutes. JC wonβt even be awake from the drug Charlotte gave him. Ye have no excuse.β
βI just want to know one thing, Elliott.β Kenzie tunneled the fingers of both hands through her hair and held it back for a second or two before letting it go. The strands resettled like a fine curtain framing her face. βWhat was so damn important that you had to hurry back here?β
Elliott sipped his coffee. When she was very young, Ensley had once watched her mother do the same thing Elliott was doing nowβstalling, thinking of a way to explain the unexplainable.
She still had no idea what her mother had wanted to tell her father, but it was life-altering. Her mother first ushered her from the room, and by the time Ensley was allowed to come in again, the tension in the air was still there and never went away. Ever. How odd that she remembered it now, after all those years. There was probably even more that sheβd blocked out.
And then another memory of that day flashed by. When she was in her bedroom, she looked out the window and saw a man wearing a red cloak watching the house.
Ensley took a deep breath. Now was not the time to strip down those memories.
She glanced at Austin to see how he was handling the confrontation. He looked like a scared kid ready to bolt. If what was happening was a reminder of her parents, what event in his past was Austin remembering?
Elliott carried his coffee over to the stainless steel table and pulled up a stool. When the ceramic mug clinked against the stainless steel, the sound punctured the silence and reminded her of the shell casings pinging on the hardwood floor of the luxury railroad car Tavis had reserved for them. She shivered. The simplest things rolled back to painful memoriesβa bit of PTSD that probably stemmed from that horrific bull ride.
βI didnβt want Meredith to see her son like this,β Elliott said. βIf she heard his screams, if she saw the agony in his eyes, on his face, sheβd have nightmares for the rest of her life. We have unleashed monsters that will commit atrocities. I am responsible, and so is my sonβthe last MacKlenna.β
The only sound in the room was the quiet hum of the generator. And except for Elliott, everyone stared at their feet while the stink of peat mingled with the steam from Elliottβs coffee, the coppery taste of blood, and the sting of antiseptics in the exam room.
No one said anything until Ensley cleared her throat and said, βItβs not your fault. If I had gone with JC, it might not have happened.β
Then she shuddered as another memory, more vivid than the last, surfaced.
If I hadnβt gone to town with Momma that day, we wouldnβt have seen the man in the red cloak who thought I was beautiful. Who said I was born to be a warrior. Who caused the fight between my parents.
βThank God ye didnβt go, lass. They would have done horrible things to ye, and ye would have begged to die.β
Bile rushed to the back of Ensleyβs throat, and she hugged herself and wanted to curl up
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