Robert chuckled. “That boy has many admirers who fight every night over who will share his pallet. Whereas Dillon…” He tilted his head to one side. “I believe my brother had precious little knowledge of women and intimacy ere Alyssa stole his heart. Which is not to say he went to his marriage bed a virgin,” he hastened to add. “He merely rarely indulged those needs as far as I could tell.” His look turned thoughtful. “I never understood it, really. He is wealthy and powerful. Women think him handsome. They must have offered themselves to him fairly frequently.”
“But he declined?”
“Aye. I know not why. And he refused to discuss it despite my prodding. I admit it troubled me.”
“Why? I think it’s admirable that he exercised a little self-restraint. Goodness knows other men don’t.”
Robert shook his head. “’Tis not a little self-restraint I speak of. My brother was nigh as chaste as a monk. Did I not know better, I would have thought he had sworn some vow of celibacy.”
“Is that so bad?”
“I thought so at the time. He lived such a solitary existence and was always so solemn. Surely he could have benefitted from a little tenderness and love play. But whenever I would encourage him to tumble one comely wench or another, he would find an excuse not to.”
Beth bit her lip. “Did you ever think that maybe he might have some trouble in that area?”
His lips curled up in that familiar, handsome smile. “Alyssa was already carrying their first child when they spoke their vows.”
“Oh.” She smiled back. “Well, I guess that answers that.”
Robert nodded, his pleasure with the outcome plain to see. “He is happy now. Far happier than I ever dreamed he could be. It gladdens my heart to hear him laugh so often.”
Yet, something didn’t quite click for Beth. “If he’s so happy, why does he treat his people badly?”
Robert looked surprised. “He does not.”
“I thought you said—”
“His circumstances differ, Beth,” he interrupted. “Dillon is one of the most feared warriors in all of England. On the continent, as well. Those who followed Lionheart and King Philip in the crusades were all witness to Dillon’s ferocity on the battlefield.”
“You’re talking about Richard Lionheart, aren’t you? As in King Richard?”
“Aye.” He perked up a bit. “You recall him now? You knew him not when last I spoke of him.”
“What can I say? History isn’t my strongest subject. All those dates and names. I’m doing good to remember American history.” She shrugged. “As far as England’s history goes, unless it was in a movie, in a novel, on the news, in a History Channel program, or mentioned by my mom and her medieval literature cronies, chances are good that I don’t know it.”
His face went slack with patent disbelief. “We speak of King Richard! He perished only four years ago!”
“He’s dead then?”
“Aye!”
“Well, how was I supposed to know that?” she asked defensively. “Honestly, Robert, how much do you know about events that took place on another continent eight hundred years ago?”
His lips tightened. “Then you maintain this fantasy that you have come to me from the future?”
“It isn’t fantasy. It’s fact.”
His expression said, I’m not buying it.
She groaned. “I know, I know. It sounds insane. It can’t be true. Well, I have news for you. Time travel is no more possible in the twenty-first century than it is now, even with all of the technology we have. And, Robert, you would not believe the technological advances we have made.”
“I know not what technology means, but if mankind will truly accomplish whatever future advances you have imagined they will by the twenty-first century, why think you that time travel will not be possible?”
“Because,” she told him earnestly, “if time travel were possible in my century, the world would be even more screwed up than it already is. All it takes is one brief look at the past to know that the dumb-butts powerful enough to control the research and development it would take to make time travel possible would then abuse the ability to travel through time to change things for their own gain and say to hell with everyone else. And I am not imagining the technological advances of my time. I don’t even know how to begin to explain all that the term technology comprises, but it’s real. If I were a resident of your time, I would never even conceive of the things I see on a daily basis at home.”
“Why is that?”
“Because compared to us—and by us, I mean inhabitants of the twenty-first century—the average person of your time doesn’t know diddly squat about science and medicine.”