Time Travel Romances Boxed Set by Claire Delacroix Page A

shook his head impatiently. “I
know it isn’t done, we’re weeks behind schedule, but it doesn’t
look so bad that you have to stare! Surely you can see that the
reception area will be stunning when it’s finally finished?”
    The reception area?
    This was not even the king’s hall?
    Aurelia swallowed with an effort. She had
never seen such wealth and could not imagine that anything could be
more ostentatious than this. For the son of a reviled and deposed
king, Bard was unexpectedly affluent. How had he amassed such
awesome wealth?
    Through no honest means, Aurelia was certain
of that.

    *

Chapter Four

    “ Hellooooooo, Julian!
Darling, how are you?”
    The priest and Aurelia swiveled as one to
find a woman waving her fingertips from the other side of the hall.
Aurelia’s heart lurched at the sight of King Bard looming behind
the slender woman and she cursed her own feminine weakness. His
arms were folded across his chest and he looked doubly grim.
    The woman’s black garb fit her every curve
and did not even fall long enough to cover her knees. Her features
were beautiful, her skin pale, her lips full and reddened, her eyes
thickly lashed. She tripped across the floor, somehow keeping her
balance in ridiculously restraining shoes.
    None of the other men in the hall seemed to
take notice of the woman’s bold display of her assets, though the
priest’s lips thinned tellingly.
    Aurelia understood immediately. This woman
was competition for the king’s attention, for she was obviously
Bard’s whore. What priestly advisor would not resent such
influence? A whore had more than the king’s ear in her keeping!
    And clearly, by his expression, Bard did not
want his whore showering her attention on anyone but himself. He
stalked behind her across the floor, as though he abandoned their
private conversation only because he had little choice. His brow
was as dark as thunder.
    No, he was not pleased. Aurelia concluded
that the whore must be expensive to indulge, and that Bard,
reasonably enough, considered his indulgence to earn him her
exclusive attention.
    The whore evidently had other ideas. She
laid a hand on the priest’s arm in a most friendly manner, and even
had the audacity to give him a peck of greeting on one cheek, then
the other, then the first again.
    The priest stiffened and did not return her
salute.
    The whore, though, was too preoccupied to
notice. Her cold gaze swept over Aurelia, and a glint flashed in
her eyes, revealing that she recognized the sweater as the king’s
own. The tightening of those reddened lips showed what she thought
of that.
    Aurelia knew enough of whores to understand
that the woman considered her a competitive threat. As laughable as
that was, Aurelia instinctively braced herself for a fight.
    “ How are you, Julian,
darling? It’s been so terribly long!”
    “ Really?” The priest’s tone
was cold, undoubtedly for the benefit of the king now closing the
space between them with long strides. “Perhaps not long
enough.”
    The woman laughed. “Oh, Julian.” She rapped
a fingertip on his arm playfully. “Darling! You’re such a kidder.”
She leaned against him, her breast pushing against his arm, and
eyed Aurelia with open assessment. “Isn’t he just the most
hysterically funny man?”
    She batted her lashes at Aurelia, then gave
Julian a playful pinch. “Come along now, Julian, my darling man.
Don’t be shy! Tell me, now, is this your new flame? Don’t be
naughty, darling - introduce us, do! She looks like such a precious
little waif.”
    The priest coughed in agitation and, though
Aurelia didn’t understand what fire had to do with anything, she
caught the woman’s meaning.
    Then Bard loomed beside her, his deep voice
interjecting before the priest could sputter an answer. “Princess
Aurelia is a guest of the estate.” His tone was resolute.
    Aurelia was perversely pleased that he used
her title and acknowledged her rank, then chided herself for being
so