Lonely is the Knight (Merriweather Sisters Time Travel Romance Book 3) by Cynthia Luhrs Page A

shook on the wheel, blonde hair whipping in the wind, blowing across her face.
    She couldn’t stop. The authorities would arrest her. Not only to question her about what happened, but for stealing the car. If she failed to go back in time, she’d have a big ole mess to clean up.
    As her breathing slowly returned to normal, Charlotte pulled out her phone, tapping the maps app for directions. Once she got to Falconburg Castle, she’d anonymously call and tell them where they could find the car.
    Boy oh boy, that guy was gonna be furious when he saw the damage. A piece of banana-yellow plastic flew across the road and skittered over the edge. Charlotte winced. She wouldn’t think about how much it would cost to fix the beautiful car.
    There were ominous storm clouds gathering above her and still no place to pull over. “Please let there be a turnoff soon.” Thunder reverberated through the sky and lightning flashed as the first drops of rain started to fall.
    One good thing about going fast? The faster you drove, the less wet you got. Charlotte hit the gas coming out of the curve. It was pouring now and the thunder was getting louder. In the middle of the storm, Charlotte swore she heard the familiar haunting tune. She didn’t see the piper anywhere, but she knew it was him.
    “My lady, beware!”
    Lightning hit the car, surrounding it. Blinding white light filled the vehicle as her body went numb. She felt tingly all over, like her entire body had fallen asleep. Charlotte couldn’t feel the wheel; her fingers were numb. The electronics in the car went haywire. It was like driving in a bubble of energy. She hit something in the road and the car started to spin. There was a partial guardrail, and Charlotte prayed it would hold. Sparks flew up around her, mixing with the lightning, and a horrible screeching filled the air as the guardrail gave way.
    Charlotte screamed as the car went over the edge. For a moment the car seemed to hover in the air. Then she smelled something burning, heard a crash, and everything went black.

    Charlotte came to, choking on seawater. Her fingers desperately worked to free the seatbelt as the car sank deeper and deeper and she was pulled under.
    The seatbelt finally came loose, and she swam toward the surface, lungs bursting. When she surfaced, Charlotte found herself in the midst of a terrible storm. Waves crashed over her, sending water up her nose. The salt water made every cut from the accident burn. How had she survived going over the cliff?
    She held her hand up and saw the blood. Fear filled her. Out of all the thousands of time she’d swum in the ocean, Charlotte had never worried about sharks. But here, bloody and in the middle of the ocean? She couldn’t catch her breath. This was it. Now she’d never find her sisters. It was too late. She was dying. The wind howled and waves crashed over her as Charlotte struggled to take a breath. The certainty she wasn’t alone in the water was the last thing she remembered.

    They were half a day’s ride from Ravenskirk. Out of all his family’s estates, it was Henry’s favorite. His eldest brother, Edward, lived in the largest castle. Robert was lord over the most ornate estate. Henry teased him that it was too beautiful to be formidable. His youngest brother, Christian, had the smallest home, yet it controlled a strategic point, its bridge the only access across the river.
    Henry thought of his second-eldest brother, John. He felt the loss every day. Once in a while Henry woke in the middle of the night, sure he had heard his brothers laugh. The feeling John was still alive would fill him. Those nights he could not sleep and would pace the battlements until dawn. John’s castle was the scariest. ’Twas rumored to be haunted, and Henry wondered if the servants had all fled without their lord there. Mayhap not. Edward would see to it in John’s absence. Henry let out a breath. He should visit. Make sure ruffians hadn’t invaded.
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