Kes leaped between them and heard Nicholas swear.
“Stop it!” she demanded. “There doesn’t have to be any fighting. “I told you I won’t say another word. You can listen to my words or my thoughts, or whatever it is you do. If I speak of the future, you can send me back. But give me another chance.”
Gawaine was already shaking his head. “’Tis not up to me.”
“Just a minute now,” Kes told them. “Do you mean to tell me that you came into my life and turned it completely upside-down without thought or concern for me or my family, snatched everything away and left me to my own defenses and then you expect to waltz back into my life and do it all over again? Now, you suddenly talk about filling my place? You made mistakes, didn’t you, Sir Gawaine? And I must pay for them? Should I demand to speak to Lady Morgan or Lady Viviane?”
They actually cast each other nervous looks. Good. They deserved to shake in their pants a little bit.
She wasn’t leaving Nicholas and it was time these two knew it. He looked drained of color when she met his gaze, so maybe he needed to know it, too. “Now, you can go and find someone else to take to the future with you, because it won’t be me. I won’t leave my husband. I couldn’t live without him.”
They looked as if they wanted to say more—to deny her, but then they both looked at Elia, oddly, at the same time. “She may go in your place.”
“What?”
“No!” Nicholas turned to her. “No.”
“The ladies want her,” Sir Gawaine said.
Nicholas spun around on him. “Find someone else!”
Gawaine and Luke drew their swords and Nicholas and Charlie drew theirs.
“Stop it this instant!” Elia warned them through tight lips. “Kes and I will not put up with this much longer. Now speak patiently with each other or we will leave.”
The men stared at her in silence for a moment.
“I will gladly show you patience, Elia,” Nicholas was the first to speak. “Please do the same for me. Do not consider this.”
“But I do,” she told him. “I want to go ahead and find Charles Lancaster and help him heal if I can.” She looked at Kes and smiled.
“Give this until morning to decide,” he allowed, “and if you do decide to go, at least you will have given me a little more time with you.”
She nodded and looked at Sir Gawaine.
“Wait,” Kes interrupted. “You said the brooch wasn’t working right. What guarantee is there that she will go to the correct time?”
“If she doesn’t,” Luke told her with a handsome smile. “We will go get her and try again.”
That didn’t sound too promising. Kes gave Elia a worried look. Elia smiled at her in return.
“We’ll talk more about this, yes?”
“Yes,” Elia echoed with a tender smile.
Kes hated to lose her. She couldn’t imagine how Nicholas must feel. She was sorry she had told him about Elizabeth.
“We shall meet you outside the inn in the morning,” Gawaine announced. “You will give us your decision then.”
They agreed, albeit, Nicholas did so sounding more like a bear than a man. He dismissed Charlie when his first vowed to keep what he’d seen and heard to himself. In fact, Charlie admitted with a laugh that he didn’t understand what in blazes they were all talking about anyway.
The three of them continued on to the inn in silence. Kes felt responsible for Nicholas’ pain. If she hadn’t come here, he wouldn’t have to give up the woman who’d been like a mother to him.
Oh, what would Elia do in the twenty-first century? If she insisted on going, Kes wouldn’t let her go in blind. The shock of everything would be too much. Shehadtold Elia much already. Come to think of it, Elia always wanted to hear about her century.
When they arrived at the inn, Nicholas ordered three tankards of ale to be brought up to one of the rooms.
They had much to discuss.