Chapter Six
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Eloise tossed and turned most of the night, her dreams plagued with images of the vivid pictures Barrett had painted. In her dreams—nightmares really—she was Amelia Goodnight. And Barrett’s face was the same as John’s—the man who completed her in mind, body, and soul.
Each time she had to say goodbye to the man she loved and the daughter she never got the chance to know, her heart broke all over again. And then the axe fell and she woke, gasping for air and tears drying on her cheeks.
Then sometime before dawn her mind quieted and she fell into a deeper sleep. It was no longer John’s face she saw when she dreamt. There were subtle differences between the two. Barrett’s cheekbones were sharper, his jaw more square, and his hair several shades lighter. But they could have been brothers so eerie was their resemblance.
And she was no longer Amelia. It was just the two of them—a lifetime of someone else’s memories shared between them and their present day bodies. But still…she knew him. Knew she could trust him as he’d asked. And she realized what she’d shared with Sam had been a mockery to the real meaning of soulmates. There was one magic that couldn’t be manipulated or falsified—true love. And what she’d had with Sam had been the biggest illusion of them all.
“You’re a very stubborn witch,” Barrett said, leaning against the door to her workroom. “I always loved that about you.”
“Lets not mix the present with the future. We’re different people now.” Eloise looked around at the familiar space and then down at the sweats, t-shirt and work apron she wore. It was disorienting considering she’d been in bed and her in nightclothes just moments before.
“It’s your dream,” Barrett said with a smile. “I’m more than happy to have you back in the bed. Minus the nightclothes this time.”
“It’s rude to peek at my thoughts.”
“I was sleeping peacefully in my own bed and all of a sudden showed up here. This is your show, honey. If you don’t want me to peek at your thoughts then you should block them.”
Eloise narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips. “You can be just as aggravating now as you were three hundred years ago.”
“I believe that’s one of the many reasons you loved me. You told me so on more than one occasion.”
“What’s happening here, Barrett? I don’t understand any of this. Minerva has disappeared and says she can’t see what’s going to happen. There’s a warning on the horizon. Then you show up out of the blue, and all I can think is that we’re preparing to repeat the past.”
She took off the apron and folded it, laying it on the work table. She wasn’t sure why she bothered. It was a dream after all.
“I wish I could give you answers, love. I wish I could have found you sooner.”
“This is very strange. It’s like I know you, but I don’t.”
“I’ve spent my entire life roaming from one place to the next, wherever and whenever the urge struck. I didn’t know the reason. But I know that journey is what led me here to you. I’ve seen things my whole life. Been given glimpses of what I shared with you last night, even as a child. I knew that ability was a gift, but I chalked it up to having a creative imagination. It’s why I became a writer.
“You were always a storyteller. You’d sit around the fire at night, carving that pipe you never got the chance to finish and telling the three of us stories.” Eloise shook her head in frustration. “Gah,” she said, scrubbing her hands over her face. “I can’t tell past from present.”
“You will,” he assured her.
“I spent a couple of years in an orphanage when I was around eight years old before I got placed in a foster home.” He laughed and rubbed a hand through his hair. “The first of many I got kicked out of.”
“Troublemaker,” she said, grinning.
“Some things don’t change.”
“But they do. And they can. And they should.”
“Ssh, I’m telling a story that has a point.” He grinned unrepentantly and she looked down at her feet to keep from laughing. She’d never been able to stay mad at him long.
“A lovely nun, Sister Bernadette, who took great pride in rapping my knuckles with a ruler told me if I was going to be making up stories all the time that I should at least write them down on paper and pray to the good Lord that I should be able to support myself with my lies. So that’s what I did. I think it kept me sane. Sometimes the visions are pretty intense. But I know now that the things I saw had truth in them. I told you I recognized you. I thought it was the statue of Amelia, but after I spoke the story, everything fell into place.”
“Just because we were soulmates three hundred years ago, how can you presume to think that we’re soulmates in the present for eternity?”
“How can you not, knowing the powers you harbor in your blood? Like I said, you’re a stubborn witch, but you’ll come around to realizing soon enough. I’m a persistent bastard.”
“My priority is the people Minerva and Lily and I have been charged with protecting. It’s our legacy. It’s why Amelia sacrificed herself. I almost screwed it up before. I can’t take that chance again, Barrett.”
He moved closer and she took a step back, her thighs bumping against the table. Their connection had always been electric, and the last thing she wanted to do was add sex to the mix before she had time to think things through all the way. Once he touched her she’d have trouble remembering her own name, much less her priorities.
“This is your dream, remember?” he said, the corners of his mouth tilting up. “You’re in control.”
“I don’t remember you having this kind of power in your last life.”
His breath feathered against her lips as he laughed and he leaned in closer. “It’s important to learn from the past. Besides, I just want to see if you taste as good as I remember.”
Her heart sighed and her eyelids fluttered closed. He’d always known the right words to say. He was smiling as he kissed her, the softness of his lips brushing once—twice—before settling comfortably and familiarly over hers. And then something powerful rushed through her with the force of a hurricane.
Her body molded against his—warm and soft and pliant—as if she’d been made to fit him perfectly. A missing piece to the puzzle. She breathed him and took the kiss deeper as his hands streaked under her shirt. His fingers were rough against her skin, but sent a thrill of pleasure up her spine as he learned her shape.
It had been so long…that’s all she could think. And she felt the missing pieces of her soul she’d lost after Sam’s betrayal click softly back into place. She hadn’t let herself want—hadn’t let herself feel the needs of a woman for so long.
Magic prickled along her skin, as if it recognized him and approved. He tasted of midnight and stars, the night to her daylight, and she gave a gasp of pleasure when he changed the angle of the kiss, his tongue sliding silkily against hers.
He savored her moans and she tasted his desperation. And the magic linked them, so their hearts and minds were truly one. His body pressed against her and she could feel his arousal, hard against her stomach.
Almost as soon as the kiss started it began to fade. Eloise opened her eyes only to see Barrett shimmering out of focus before her.
“Time to wake up, love.”
Eloise woke to the hazy light of dawn and the pitter-patter of rain pelting her windows. Her body was hot with desire and her heart pounded. She cupped her breasts, heavy with need, and fell back onto the mattress with a groan of frustration. Her lips still tingled from the kisses.
“A hell of a dream, Eloise. And a hell of a distraction.”