Through the Mists of Time

by Teri Barnett

Overview

London 1865Valerie Sherwood Brooks has lived her entire life vicariously through books.Due to a childhood accident, which left her with a permanent limp, Valerie has grown up under the watchful eye of her protective parents. When her banker father announces he's taking the family to Italy to look into an investment opportunity, Valerie is overjoyed at the prospect of leaving London for the excitement of exploring the ancient ruins of Pompeii. But the romantic young woman who yearns for adventure is unprepared when an earthquake shatters their visit to the old city. Valerie is flung back in time to 79 A.D. where she's thrust into a world of intrigue and danger in the grand home of the darkly handsome, Christos Marcellus. As Valerie tries to keep her wits about her, she is torn between her growing and complicated feelings for Christos and the impending doom of the coming eruption of Vesuvius-knowing it will bring death and destruction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781732813823
Publisher:	Lucky Crow Press
Publication date:	08/27/2019
Series:	Oracle Dreams Trilogy , #1
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.55(d)

Read an Excerpt

ProloguePompeii, Italy79 A.D.

The soft breeze entered through the bedchamber window and moved like a lover over Christos' naked body. A low moan escaped his lips as he turned onto his stomach. The breeze continued upward, over his thighs, and across his shoulders, stopping to tease the thick black hair curled at the nape of his neck.

Christos stirred, kicking away his rumpled bedding. He turned his face toward the window. Could it be she was here again? He opened his eyes drowsily. Ah, yes. She was here.

The finely woven linen curtains that flanked the window danced around her where she stood, casting an ethereal quality to her form. How she came to be in his room, night after night, he had no idea, but she continued to appear before him just the same. Always when he was asleep, always when he was alone.

Long golden brown hair cascaded down her arms and to her hips, concealing her breasts where the strands fell. The hair lay across her belly almost bidding him to lower his gaze to her sweet gate. Ah, but he was hard pressed to remove his eyes from her gentle face. She wore only jewelry as she stood there--a necklace with a single large emerald and dangling earrings that matched. The gems echoed the color of her eyes and they sparkled and winked in the moonlight, teasing him, daring him--to touch.

He ground his hips into the mattress, his loins aching with desire as he stared at her. He would've reached for her, tried to make love to her then and there, but knew it would do no good. He'd tried to touch her before, but she always managed to elude him during these nocturnal visits.

Christos' eyes drifted closedfor a moment and he felt the breeze again. When he opened them, he found that this time it wasn't the breeze, but the woman's fingers moving over him. She leaned above him, her hair brushing against his skin, and delicately ran her nails across his back and down his thighs. Oh, but she was a treasure, this woman of the night. He sighed, savoring the delicious feel of her touch. He had stopped asking long ago from whence she came and now only enjoyed her nearness.

Then the touching stopped and, all too soon, she was moving away from his side. Though knowing it would do no good, he still reached for this restless spirit that haunted him in the night. But all he caught was the night air as she drifted toward the window, a sweet smile on her lips. What was this game she was playing with him?

He found his voice. "Please. Wait," he whispered, his words urgent. "You must tell me this time. Who are you?"

She turned to him and smiled. He thought his heart would break from the kindness he saw in those emerald eyes, now darkened by the shadows of the room. "I am yours," she answered simply. Her voice carried the sound of garden chimes in the summer and soothed the fever that had begun to build inside him.

Christos let his breath out slowly. "You say you are mine, but I know you are going to leave again." He pushed a black curl off his forehead and sighed. "Will you ever stay or will you only continue to pass through my chambers on your nightly journeys?"

"The next time you see me will be in the flesh," she murmured. "You have my word."

He watched in silence as she turned to face the window. Her body, bathed in the silver moonlight, glowed for a moment, then slowly vanished into the darkness.

At her disappearance, Christos awoke with a start. "By the gods," he cursed under his breath, the tension tight in his belly. How long would he continue to dream of her, this beautiful, nameless entity that followed him into the arms of Morpheus? Was it possible to desire a ghost, for truly that's what she must be?

"How soon 'til you return to me, my sweet one?" He closed his eyes, his words a soft prayer. "How soon?"