Time Travel Romances Boxed Set Read Free Page B

rain!”
    “ They’ll come.” Baird’s
voice was low with conviction. “They always come to Beauforte
properties.”
    “‘ Every guest is royalty to
us’ and all that,” Julian echoed the firm’s motto. “But all the
same, this is a miserable place.”
    Baird caught a glimpse of Julian’s Italian
leather loafers, their patina looking somewhat the worse for wear.
Typically, the lawyer was dressed to the nines. Julian would never
abandon his suit and tie, even in the most inclement weather.
    But Julian was too much of a California
child to ever completely succumb to the conservativeness of
business dress. Though he wore a suit and tie, the boldly cut
Armani suit was of a grayed eggplant shade, the tie a brilliant
yellow.
    Julian had only recently allowed his
signature blond ponytail to be lopped off - after a young,
attractive woman had joked that he was compensating for the
increasing baldness on the top of his head by growing what hair he
had overly long.
    The ponytail had not survived the hour.
    Forty could strike a man hard, even one so
trim, well-groomed and successful as Julian.
    Baird, on the other hand, had taken to jeans
and Gore-Tex within hours of arrival here. It was true it had
rained in some way or another every single day, but he loved all
the myriad shades of blue and green mirrored in the shifting sea,
not to mention the clouds drifting above it.
    Baird’s newfound attraction to the sea was
odd, really, given that he had been raised in the southwest, far
from a sea of any kind.
    “ I think it’s beautiful,”
Baird said mildly, earning a scathing glance from Beauforte’s legal
counsel.
    Julian snorted. “Beautiful. Far from
it.”
    “ Just look at the sea. It’s
quite a soothing place.”
    “ Ha! I don’t have to look
any further than my own stomach. This is no place for a vegetarian.
No country that willfully murders innocent vegetables could be
beautiful!”
    Baird had to grin despite himself. An ardent
vegetarian, Julian should have become accustomed by now to having
culinary adventures whenever he ventured far from a city’s bright
lights. “It’s not that bad.”
    “ Oh, yeah? Last night in
that horrible dark pub in town - you know the one - the only
vegetables they could give me was this heap of something called
clapshot.” Julian flung out his hands in exasperation. “Clapshot!
Even the name is horrible! What the hell is clapshot?”
    “ You should know.” Baird
returned to his clipping with a philosophical shrug, more than used
to Julian’s monologues on the subject of food. “You’re the one who
ate it.”
    “ I did not!” Julian
grimaced. “It was orange and lumpy, like it had been put through a
blender or something. Baby food.”
    Baird grunted as he conquered a particularly
thick vine and cast it aside, only to find another right behind it.
A more whimsical man might have thought the briars were
deliberately blocking his way. “Could be neeps and tatties together
in one.”
    “ Neeps and what? I can
guess that tatties must be potatoes in some overcooked form, but
what the hell’s a neep?”
    “ Turnip. Or rutabaga. Those
orange things, whatever they are. Mashed.”
    Julian shuddered with mock horror. “Just
like mother used to make. Ugh! I’m glad I didn’t eat it.”
    Baird’s mouth quirked. “Maybe we should bill
this as a weight loss resort for vegetarians.”
    “ Very funny.” Julian folded
his arms across his chest and tapped his toe. “I’m not asking for
much, you know. Why not a few roasted red peppers? A little
rosemary? Maybe they could let some daylight in the place, instead
of all that brooding dark wood. Ferns. Brass. Here’s a thought -
attractive waitresses.”
    Baird spared his friend a glance that spoke
volumes before turning back to his clipping. He cleared another
step. “Just like some chichi bistro in North Hollywood?”
    “ Well, yeah. I mean, why
not?”
    Baird shook his head. “Because it’s not
California. Wouldn’t the