Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine (reading an ebook TXT) 📕

with a shopping cart. You must try not to let it upset you too much, Jo. Try and see the amusing side. Think of it as a personalized horror film. You got front-row seats and no ice cream in the intermission. But, apart from that, thank God there's no harm done this time. "

"That doesn't sound very scientific. " She forced herself to smile. Standing up slowly, she pulled the belt of her robe more tightly around her. Then she headed toward the kitchen and pulled open the freezer door. "There's pizza in here or steak. " The normality of her action calmed her. Her voice was steady again.

"Pizza's fine. What intrigues me is where you dredged all this information up from. The details all sounded so authentic. "

"Dr. Bennet and Bill Walton both said that they usually are. That's one of their strongest arguments in favor of reincarnation, of course. " She lit the oven and put two pizzas in. "Where it is possible to substantiate things apparently they are usually uncannily accurate. I'm going to check as much as I can. Is there any whisky left?"

"I'll get it. "

She took down two plates and put them to warm. "Here, let me make a salad to go with these. Neither Bennet nor Walton was a fake, Nick. I was wrong to think it. They didn't ask any leading questions. Bennet didn't influence my 'dream' in any way. If he had, I'd have heard on the tape. Look, if there is any period of history I would say that I should like to identify with at all it would be the Regency. If he'd been a fraud he would have found that out in two minutes. " She poured vinegar and oil into a jar and reached for the pepper mill. "I daresay I could have reenacted a dozen Georgette Heyer novels. I read everything of hers I could lay my hands on when I was a teenager. But he didn't ask. He didn't guide me at all. Here, give this a shake. Instead I find myself in medieval Wales. With people talking Welsh all around me, for God's sake!"

Nick shook up the dressing and poured it over the salad. "If it was Welsh, " he said quietly. "God knows what it was you said. If you had jumped up and down shouting Cymru am byth I might have been able to substantiate it!"

"Where did you learn that?" she laughed.

"Rugby. I don't mess about when I go to Twickenham, you know, it's very educational. " He touched her cheek lightly. "Good to see you laughing. It's not like our Jo to get upset. "

She pushed a plate at him. "As Dr. Bennet pointed out, it's not every day that 'our Jo' witnesses a full-dress massacre, even in a nightmare, " she retorted.

They ate in the living room. "Bach to eat by, " said Nick, putting his plate down and riming through the stack of records. "To restore the equilibrium. "

She did not argue. It meant they didn't have to talk; it meant she needn't even think. She let the music sweep over her, leaving her food almost untouched as she lay back on the sofa, her feet up, and closed her eyes.

When she opened them again the sky was dark outside the French windows onto the balcony. The music had finished and the room was silent. Nick was sitting watching her in the light of the single desk lamp.

"Why didn't you wake me?" she asked indignantly. "What time is it?"

"Eleven. Time you were in bed. You look exhausted. "

"Don't dictate, Nick. It's time you went, for that matter, " she said sharply. "Wouldn't you like me to stay?"

She pushed herself up on her elbow. "No. You and I are finished, remember? You have to go back to your cozy love nest with the talented Miss Curzon. What was it you said on the phone, 'working late'—she won't believe it, you know, if you stay away all night!"

"I don't much care what she believes at the moment, Jo. I am more concerned about you, " Nick said. He stood up and turned on the main light. "I don't think you should be alone tonight. "

"In case I have nightmares?"

"Yes, in case you have nightmares. This has shaken you up more than you realize, and I think someone should be here. I'll sleep here on the sofa if the idea of me in your bed offends you, but I'm going to stay!"

She stood up furiously. "Like hell you are!" Then abruptly her shoulders slumped. "Oh, God, Nick, you're right. I do want you to stay. I want you to hold me. "

He put his arms around her gently and caressed her hair. "The trouble with you, Jo, is that when you're nice, you're very, very nice, but—"

"I know, I know. And when I'm horrid you hate and detest me. And I'm usually horrid. " She forced herself to smile. "Well, tonight I'm being nice. But it is only for one night, Nick. Everything will be back to normal tomorrow. "

In bed they lay for a long time in silence. Then Nick raised himself on one elbow and looked down at her in the faint light that filtered through the blind from the streetlamp in the mews.

"Jo, " he said softly. "You haven't told me yet about Richard. "

She stiffened. "Richard?"

"Your lover in that castle. He was your lover, wasn't he?"

Restlessly she moved her head sideways so he could not see her face. "I don't know. It wasn't me, Nick! He left the castle. He wasn't there at the end. I don't know what happened next. I don't suppose I'll ever know. " Agitated, she tried to push him away, but he caught her wrist, forcing it back against the pillow so that she had to face him.

"You're planning to see Bennet again, aren't you?"

She shook her head violently. "No, of course I'm not. "

"Are you sure?"

Something in his voice made her stare