Until Forever by Johanna Lindsey

used. No one likes to get that close to the enemy in a war these days, and besides, this country happens to be at peace.”
    The word peace apparently didn’t please him. His disappointment was obvious. “And what country is this, that you have brought me to?”
    “England.”
    At that he grinned. “The English, they are never long at peace.”
    History supported that statement, so she was compelled to point out, “Since a third world war would likely wipe out the human race, countries are a bit more diplomatic nowadays, England included.”
    “There was a world war? And I missed it?”
    She rolled her eyes over this new disappointment he was displaying. “You wouldn’t have liked the last one, or the one before it. Forget it, Thorn, you aren’t going to find a handy war around here.”
    And to make sure she got his mind off battles, she added, “It’s been more than a couple of centuries since you were last summoned, and a world of differences has taken place since then. At no time in history has change ever been so dramatic as in this century. Some changes you’ll like, most you probably won’t.For instance, what you were thinking of doing to me is illegal without my permission.”
    “Illegal?”
    “Against the law.”
    He grinned now. “I make my own law, lady, with my sword arm to back it up.”
    She shook her head at him. “Sorry, but you can’t do things like that here.”
    His expression said he’d do things however he pleased. She decided they could go round and round with that subject and get nowhere. She didn’t want him arrested, she merely wanted some answers from him. And besides, she never should have introduced that subject again.
    But he changed the subject himself. “I have already seen some of these differences you mention. That painting of William, ’tis amazing how lifelike it was.”
    Hearing that, she could no longer doubt that his first appearance had been in her classroom in the States. Not that she was still doubting his existence. He was real enough. But the questions of why and how still boggled her mind.
    Her own questions would have to wait, however, because it had already occurred to her that if she got him interested in this time period, then he wouldn’t mind sticking around long enough to share his knowledge of the past.
    So she said, “That wasn’t a painting, but a blowup of a photograph,” and when he juststared at her blankly, she added, “Come, I’ll show you.”
    She moved back to the blanket and knelt down in front of her purse to search through it. She didn’t notice that he had come to hunker down right next to her until she lifted out what she’d been looking for, her wallet, and turned to find him—mere inches away from her.
    He wasn’t watching what she was doing, he was staring at her face, and for a long moment, she got caught by his eyes, and couldn’t manage to break the contact. The heat she’d felt earlier was back again, and so was the churning in her belly. She imagined lifting her hand to his cheek, then wrapping it around his neck to draw his lips to hers. Her breath suspended. She could almost taste him…
    Roseleen snapped her eyes shut. Dear God, she had to be crazy to want to keep him around when he had such control over her body—no, she corrected herself, she had to be crazy not to put into action what she’d just imagined. She groaned inwardly at such contradictory thoughts. If only she’d been raised differently, if only he were a normal man, unable to disappear and appear at the whim of a sword.
    When she looked at him again, he was grinning at her. He knew. He knew exactly what he’d done to her, and he was the very image of a man confident that he’d be getting what he wanted in the near future.
    “You had something to show me, lady?”
    Did she? Yes, the pictures in her wallet. Think of that, think of astounding him, think of keeping him so bedazzled with modern wonders that he would have no time to work his sensual magic