High Society (The High Stakes Saga #3)

“Miss?” he prodded gently, as the world faded away.

* * *

When I woke, I was laying on my back. A pale piece of canvas was draped overhead, the stiff fabric flapping in the cool breeze. I was in a tent. The pain I’d felt from impact was gone, replaced by a dull ache radiating throughout my muscles.

Stretching my arms and raising my head, I found I had total control of my limbs once again. I wiggled my toes and a knot formed in my throat. When my suit didn’t heal me as fast as it had the last two jumps, I thought that maybe it wouldn’t this time, or that it couldn’t.

An arm lifted the door flap and a young man ducked inside. “It’s me – William,” he offered cautiously. “I’m not sure if you remember me.”

“I do,” I replied, leaning on one elbow and sitting semi-upright. “Thank you for helping me.”

He removed his hat and worried the edge, spinning the triangular leather around and around. “Of course, Miss. I’ve just come to see if you are well.”

I gave him a slight smile. “I am. Thanks to you.”

William gave a sheepish smile.

Just then, the flap opened again and Asa stepped inside. He was so tall, he had to bend down just to fit inside. “William,” he announced darkly, erasing the young man’s smile. “You are dismissed. I don’t want to catch you near her again.”

William swallowed thickly and inclined his head at me. “Miss.” Turning around, he ducked his head and exited the tent.

“That was rude,” I chastised, instinctually reaching for one of my stakes and realizing I no longer had them.

“Don’t bother,” Asa intoned. “I’m not nearly as foolish as my brother.”

“Where is he?”

“You just missed him, actually. He mounted a horse and rode away just after dawn this morning. William told me where he found you. It’s quite possible he may have passed you by.” My stomach turned a somersault. I remembered the sound of a horse galloping fast over the ground, but had no idea it was Enoch.

“And Abram?”

“An ever-present thorn in my side, even when he is leaping through the centuries. I must admit that we made the mistake of underestimating his zeal. Though, I wish I had sired him.”

I pushed the quilt off my legs and swung them around, off the cot. My feet hit dry grass. “You’ve found him, though?”

“I’ve sent scouts to apprehend him. They’re following the trail of bodies he’s leaving as we speak. It seems that traveling through time makes a vampire rather ravenous.” Enoch’s eyes were warm despite their cool, green color. Asa’s warm brown ones, on the other hand, were cold.

“How do you know they’re his?”

He grinned. “I have my ways.”

“What year is it?”

“The year of our Lord, seventeen-hundred and seventy-seven. And to head your next question off at the pass, you landed in the colony of South Carolina. Those under my command are preparing to move, and you’ll be coming with us. I’ll ask you to please dress and meet me outside as soon as you are able. This tent will be taken down as soon as you step out of it.”

I stood up. If Asa hadn’t been blocking the door, I would have made a run for it.

“Do not think for a moment that I will treat you as softly as my brother does. I am in charge here. You will do as I say when I say it, or I will end you.” He glanced at something over my shoulder. “All the trappings you should require to appear like a lady in this time are hanging in the corner. Get dressed and join me outside. Do not bother trying to escape; I have a man posted at every corner of the tent. They’ve been ordered to shoot if you try anything, and they are very good at following orders.”

He looked at my tech suit, his eyes settling on my stomach. “This was supposed to protect you from us?” His knuckles grazed my arm. I jerked it away and took a step back. “I wonder… Will it protect you from a bullet? Not that I’d aim for your body, when I could take off your head instead.”

I stared at him emotionlessly until he gave a mirthless chuckle and turned on his heel. Just before he exited the tent, he paused and glanced over his shoulder. “Oh, and when you step outside, my men will assume you are my fiancé. You will act the part… or you will never see my brother again.”

“Why would they think that?” I scoffed.

He gave me a look of warning before leaving the tent. His fiancé? Why in the hell would they think I planned to marry someone like him? Maybe in this time, it was safer for a woman to travel if they were married, or about to be.

Then I turned to see what he wanted me to wear. I expected a simple, plain, cotton or linen dress, or maybe a canvas bag with holes cut out for my arms, but no… Asa apparently expected his fiancé to wear something much finer. Hanging in the corner was a pale green gown with a bodice that looked impossibly tight. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to breathe in it, but maybe that was the point. A wide skirt flowed from the cinched waist. I tugged the gown off the hanger and cursed, realizing I would have to roll down the top of the tech suit and shimmy into the gown like I had the whore’s gown in Brutulo.