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delightfully
feminine, her ruby lips sweet and full. She was small and
delicately built, her hands slender and gracious.
    And Baird wanted to kiss her more than
anything in the world.
    Which had to be the weirdest damn thought
he’d had in quite a while, perhaps ever.
    Baird couldn’t explain his conviction,
illogical as it was. It came out of nowhere, but seemed
uncontestable. Baird found himself bending closer to her as though
a will greater than his own drove him on.
    He couldn’t stop.
    “ Baird!” Julian exclaimed
in horror behind him. “What are you doing? Have you lost your
mind?”
    But Baird was deaf to his friend’s protest.
A sweet perfume rose from the woman’s skin, a beguiling mix of
flowers mingled with her own scent that swept every objection from
his mind.
    He had to taste her. Baird knew when his
lips were a finger’s breadth from hers that he should stop, that he
should step away, that this was crazy.
    But he couldn’t. It was as though there was
nothing else he could do in this place at this moment. The woman
seemed to sense his intent, for her head turned slightly towards
Baird and her lips parted in mute invitation.
    His gut clenched at the sight. And Baird
bent to brush his lips chastely across hers. The welcoming heat of
her lips burned against his mouth, their breath mingled, and time
stood still for a tantalizing moment.
    Then the woman’s eyes flew open, their
blue-gray shade echoing the colors of the sea just beyond the
walls. She caught her breath in alarm and sat up hastily as Baird
took a guilty step back. Her hands clutched the shards of her dress
to her breasts, but not before Baird glimpsed their creamy
perfection.
    Then she glared at him with undisguised
hostility.
    And Baird didn’t need Julian to tell him
that he had just made a big mistake.

    *

Chapter Two

    What was this?
    Two strangers bursting into her chambers.
And her robe in tatters about her! Aurelia would have words for the
seamstress about this garment, that was for certain!
    The tall one who led the way was oddly
dressed, his heavy blue chausses showing the lean strength of his
legs to shocking advantage. He was dark of hair and broad of
shoulder, square of jaw and proud of profile. He was a handsome
man, a warrior by his stance, his stern expression, and the
determined line of his lips.
    But the bright gleam of his eyes unsettled
Aurelia so much that she had to look away. Something lurking in
those green depths gave her the sense that this man could read
one’s very thoughts.
    Had he had the audacity to kiss her? Aurelia
hated that she could not be certain. Her mind was filled with
stardust and she could not manage to collect her thoughts.
    But he had been dangerously close when she
awakened. And her lips were warm in a most odd way.
    The second man was dressed strangely, too, a
bright length of silk knotted around his neck and the finest
leather shoes Aurelia had ever seen upon his feet. His cloak was
fabulously detailed, though the familiarity of the plaid lining was
oddly reassuring. The top of his head was bald, his fair hair left
in a thick ring from temple to temple.
    Had she not heard that the priests from Rome
shaved their pates in such unusual fashion?
    Aurelia tried to sit up straight and hold
the shards of cloth over her nakedness with a measure of decorum.
She would need all the grace drilled into her to meet the measured
gaze of the tall one once more.
    But what were foreigners doing in her
father’s home, so free with their ways that they could burst into
her chambers? Her mind felt as fogged as the bay on an autumn
morning, but Aurelia fought to collect her wits.
    And this place smelled like a cellar! With a
start, she realized that she was not in her chambers at all.
    “ Who are you?” she demanded
regally. “What gives you the right to invade my privacy
unannounced? And where is my father?”
    The men exchanged a glance, though their
features did not show any sign of comprehension. Where had