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quietly commanded in a low,
almost gravelly voice.
    “Well, I was in the library doing some research—”
    “Whose library?” he curtly interrupted, his brow furrowed in
confusion. “There is nothing but ale houses and merchants’ shops near where I
found you.”
    “Exactly,” she replied, feeling exasperation creep in at how
he had so unceremoniously cut her off. This would all have been so much easier
to prove if she hadn’t lost her messenger bag in that fog. “But where I come
from, there is a public library. Anyway, I walked out of the library and into a
dense fog. However, when I went through it, I found myself surrounded by pubs
and shops…and British soldiers.”
    The features on Gabriel’s face softened as a look of
remembrance flitted through his eyes. “Fog?” he repeated, clearly disturbed by
her words.
    Kaitlyn nodded her head enthusiastically, excited about the
thought of someone having seen what happened to her. “Yes! I forgot that you
had been in the area at the same time. Did you see it too?”
    He nodded slowly, his eyes narrowing into obsidian slits. “I
rode through a terrible fog on my way through the village. ’Twas strange…one
moment I was in the thick of the woods and the next I found myself surrounded
by large homes, strange lanterns on tall poles and peculiar covered carriages.
And then it was gone. I thought for a moment that I had been bewitched.”
    Kaitlyn gasped in excitement and grabbed his forearms. “Yes!
That’s exactly what happened to me!”
    “Are you trying to tell me that what I saw was real?” he
asked hoarsely.
    She nodded, feeling her will falter at the sudden skepticism
that began to creep into his eyes. Quickly, she came to the conclusion that she
should lay all of her cards out on the table before she chickened out
completely.
    “What you saw was the world in which I come from. The
future,” she whispered, her voice rapidly threatening to abandon her. “The year
2008.”
    Silently, he gazed at her for what seemed like an eternity.
When he finally spoke, his voice was even and deliberate. “You are saying that
this fog brought you here from over two hundred years in the future?” His eyes
narrowed again and he searched her face intently. “These sound like the words
of the devil.”
    The sudden change in his demeanor caught Kaitlyn off guard.
“Do I look like Satan to you?” she asked, trying to sound very calm and logical
despite her shaky voice.
    Several moments passed in silence before Gabriel’s visage
relaxed. He flashed her a roguish smile, obviously deciding that she was of
little threat. “’Tis said the devil takes many guises, the most common being
that of a beautiful, tempting woman.”
    She dropped his gaze, feeling her cheeks flush. The air
around her became hot and she realized that her hands were still grasping his
forearms. She yanked them away as though his arms had turned into hot coals,
noticing a flash of disappointment crossing his face. Certain that she was
imagining the desire in his eyes, she focused intently upon the buttons of his
blue coat. “Please don’t tell anyone what I’ve said,” she quietly pleaded. “I
don’t want people to think I’m crazy.”
    He tilted her chin up with his fingertips, forcing her to
look him in the eyes. “Your secret is safe with me.”
    “Are you saying you believe me?” she hopefully whispered,
her skin burning beneath his touch.
    “I do not know.” He dropped his hand from her chin and shook
his head. “I would not have thought such a thing to be possible before now. You
did seem to appear out of nowhere and you are dressed rather strangely. I do
not believe you are lying to me now but perhaps it is simply because you have
bewitched me.”
    The seriousness of his face cracked into an easy, boyish
grin. His eyes roamed languidly up and down her body, unleashing a powerful,
primeval need deep within her. She nervously shifted her weight, uncomfortably
aware of the moisture