“I’ll tell you everything. I promise.” Beth withdrew one of her hands and reached back to touch Robert’s arm, urging him forward. “But first I want you to meet Robert. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have found my way back to you.”
The Moor instantly held out his hand. “I’m Grant. Nice to meet you, Robert. Thank you for helping Beth.”
Robert shook his hand. “In truth, I did very little, Grant.”
The Moor cast Beth a look. Robert had tried to speak modern English, but thought his accent had probably distorted it quite a bit.
The other man offered his hand and shook his head. “You brought Beth back to us. Thank you. I’m Marc.”
Perhaps his pronunciation hadn’t been that bad after all. “Pleasure to meet you, Marc.”
Across the room, Josh clapped his hands together. “Okay. Everyone has been introduced. Beth has a long, astonishing tale to tell. I’m sure Grant and Marc are as eager to hear it as I was. My scrumptious Cornish hens are eager to be consumed. So, let’s gather around the table and oblige everyone. Beth, don’t forget the pictures.”
Two days later, Robert found himself standing on the covered front porch of Marc’s two-story home. Though he had only been outside long enough to walk here from Bethany’s house next door, already damp patches formed on his shirt.
The sun beat down behind him as he turned the knob and pushed.
The door did not open. Perhaps it was barred from the inside. He had not asked Beth the custom for visiting neighbors here. But when he visited castles of friends and acquaintances in his time, he awaited his host in the great hall.
Wiping the dampness from his forehead, he tried the door again, then noticed a strange glowing circle surrounded by a golden ring embedded in the door frame. Curious, he poked it with his finger.
Bing bong.
Glancing up, he looked for the source of the curious chimes, but saw no bells. Pursing his lips, he pressed the circle again. Bing bong. It sounded as if the bells might be inside the house. Robert pressed the circle again, experimenting.
Bing bong. Bingbongbingbongbingbong. Bing. Bong. Bing bong. Bingbong bingbong.
The door swung inward. Squinting against the bright light, Marc peered out at him, keeping in the shadows. “My lord?”
Beth had revealed Robert’s title the night she had told her friends where she had spent the past two years. Odd, though. For a moment, when Marc had spoken the words, he had sounded almost like an Englishman.
“Ah. Marc. I was just familiarizing myself with your bell here.”
“So I heard,” he said with a wry smile. “Come in.”
Clasping his hands behind his back, Robert stepped inside and stood back while Marc closed the door. Robert was not sure why, but he had felt an instant affinity with this man. Mayhap it was simply because Marc seemed to have the least amount of difficulty understanding Robert’s antiquated speech, something that had even surprised Beth. “’Tis wondrous cool in here.”
Yawning, Marc nodded. “Air-conditioning is one of the best inventions of this time,” he declared, no hint of England tingeing his words now.
Robert must have imagined it. He noticed then that Marc was barefoot. His long black hair was mussed from sleep. His eyelids were heavy over deep brown eyes. Stubble coated the jawline his beard didn’t. And the only clothing he wore was a pair of faded blue jeans, which Robert suspected he had donned upon hearing the bells chime.
“Forgive me. I seem to have disturbed your rest.”
“No problem. I tend to work late into the night and often don’t go to bed until after the sun has risen.” Motioning for Robert to accompany him, he shuffled into the adjacent living room, switched on an overhead light, and sank down on the sofa.
Sofas were another grand invention of this time period, Robert decided as he seated himself at the opposite end.
“Beth didn’t come with you?” Marc asked, smiling.
“Nay. She had a doctor’s appointment. And Josh had some business he needed to take care of.”
Marc frowned. “She isn’t sick, is she?”
“Nay. She and Josh decided ’twould be best if she had something called a checkup before returning to the past.”
“I agree. Perhaps you should, too.”
Robert stiffened. “Absolutely not.”
Marc grinned. “They told you about the rubber-glove exam, didn’t they?”
Grimacing, Robert nodded.
“That’s what I thought. So, what can I do for you, my lord?”
Robert hesitated. “There is a boon I would ask of you. ’Tis of a delicate nature and I did not feel comfortable approaching Josh with it.”
“Well, I’m honored that you chose me. What would you have me do?”
“There is a secret I need your help unearthing.”
Marc tilted his head. “A secret?”
“Aye. I saw it on television, and know not where to begin searching for it, only that it belongs to a woman by the name of Victoria.”
For a long moment, Marc said nothing. Then his lips twitched. “A secret that belongs to Victoria?”
“Aye.”
“I assume you wish to procure some of Victoria’s secrets for Lady Bethany to take back to your time?”
“Precisely.”