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

he saw just floored him. Not only was she reading, she was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt that said "The Stone of Scone Rocks." Thomas opened his mouth to comment on that, then shut it and shook his head. Best to leave that one alone.

"Och, turn the page, ye silly twit," she snapped at one of her men. "Cannae ye see I'm finished with that one?"

"Sorry, lady," came the abashed reply of a bekilted soul who then apparently used most of his energy to heave a simple page over. He fell back on the floor, spent.

Iolanthe cleared her throat. "Here we are then. 'See the knight run. See him run after the dragon.' " She looked at her audience. "The dragon's snatched the wench, ye ken."

The men nodded obediently.

Iolanthe turned back to her book. " 'See the dragon turn and spit fire.' " She cursed at another of her guardsmen. "I'm finished again, Robert. Follow along more closely next time."

"As ye will, lady," Robert said, struggling manfully to turn the page. "But I ken naught of this reading business."

"It's past time you learned," she said sternly. "Must we turn Thomas's computer back on for another go at the alphabet?"

There was a hearty chorus of nays in answer.

"Well, then," she said. "Follow along and see if you can't keep up." She looked over her shoulder at Roderick, who lounged behind her. "Sit up, you fool. This is the difficult part, and I may need help."

Thomas smiled and leaned against the doorframe where he could look at her but be hidden behind several substantial guardsmen. He listened in wonder as she plowed through the simple book. So the book was easy. The fact that she'd learned to read in the short time he'd been gone was nothing short of amazing.

What surprised him even more was suspecting that she hadn't done it just for herself. She'd had centuries in which to learn to read. That she had chosen the past two weeks while he'd been gone had to have some significance.

A half hour and twenty guardsmen later, Iolanthe had finished her book. The final pair of book holders collapsed with groans, and the rest of the guardsmen, those who hadn't been incapacitated by their labors, got to their feet and filed out of the doorway. Thomas stood back to let them pass. Connor MacDougal looked at him with a scowl.

" 'Tis drivel, that," he said curtly.

"Sounded like a good story to me."

The MacDougal looked down at him disdainfully. "No doubt it would to a simpleton such as yerself."

So things hadn't changed that drastically if Connor MacDougal was still being nasty. Thomas leaned against the doorframe until the last man had passed, then looked inside. There were several bodies still littering the floor. Roderick sat next to Iolanthe, sprawled in some chair of his own imagining.

But it was Iolanthe who Thomas could not tear his gaze from. She was looking over his desk, apparently selecting her next tome for the enlightenment of the garrison. What he wouldn't have given to have walked into the room, put his arms around her, and spun her around to kiss her soundly.

Actually, he was willing to give quite a lot for the privilege.

"What think you of The Ogre and the Troll?" Iolanthe asked absently.

"Oh, please no," Roderick begged. "I can't listen to that yet another time."

"Then I'll find someone else willing to aid me—"

"How about me?" Thomas asked, stepping into the room.

Iolanthe spun around and gaped at him. "You're home."

You're home. Sweeter words had never caressed his ears. He smiled at her.

"Yes. I can see you've been busy."

She looked as if she couldn't decide if she was pleased or horrified. She smoothed her clothes self-consciously, then finally clasped her hands in front of her and looked at him in consternation.

"You look nice," he said.

"At your sister's feet lies the blame," she said with her chin up. "She lured me into all manner of shops in the village."

He felt his jaw go slack. "Megan was here?"

"For a se'nnight."

He wasn't sure what he was more surprised by: that his sister had been up without having let him know she was coming, or that she and Iolanthe had bonded enough to go shopping together. In fact, the more he looked at the woman he loved, the more he could see his sister's stamp on her wardrobe. Jeans, sweatshirt, Keds. Megan's standard uniform.

"She sent me the books as well," Megan said, gesturing behind her.

"I recognized her favorite titles," Thomas said. He looked at her and could hardly believe the change in her. It wasn't just her clothes that had changed. Something had happened to her over the past couple of weeks. He shuddered to think the things his sister had introduced her to.

But that wasn't what affected him the most. It was looking at her and realizing how much he'd missed her. He should have called her every day. He should have sent her gifts, filled her room with flowers, written her letters. He would make up for it. He wouldn't leave again.

Well, unless you counted the little trip he planned to make to Jamie's castle to use that forest time machine.

He walked over and picked up one of the books. "I'll turn the pages for you, if you like."

"I've only just learned," she said defensively. "You would find these books quite beneath you."

"Would I?" he asked. "Why don't you let me be the judge?"

She pursed her lips. "Your sister said that often about you."

"Well," he said cheerfully, "of the lot of them, Megan knows me best." He reached around and picked up one of the books. "Let's go read."

She wasn't moving.

He smiled encouragingly at her. "Come on, Iolanthe. It'll be fun. Do you want to go back to the inn, or shall we stay here?"

She shrugged. "I don't care."

"It's your choice."

"Nay, you choose."

"I'll choose," Roderick said, standing up with a curse. "I cannot listen to the two of you any longer. Let us away to the inn and see what the