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fairy-tale princess garment.
    "Okay," she breathed, running her hand along the intricate gold embroidery on her
    sleeve. "It's a dream. I can cope with a dream where I'm Sleeping Beauty or
    something."
    "It's not a dream," he said quietly.
    Channon laughed nervously as she sat up in his lap and glanced around. The sun
    was high above as if it were well into the afternoon, and they were traveling on an
    old dirt road that ran perpendicular to a thick, prehistoric-looking forest.
    Something was wrong. She could feel it in her bones, and she could tell by the
    stiffness of his body and his guarded look. He was hiding something. "Where are
    we?"
    'The where of it," he said slowly, refusing to meet her gaze, "isn't nearly as
    interesting as the when part."
    "Excuse me?"
    She watched the emotions flicker in his eyes, but the most peculiar one was a
    fleeting look of panic, as if he were nervous about answering her question. "Do you
    remember last night when I asked if I could take you home with me and you said
    sure?"
    Channon frowned. "Vaguely, yes."
    "Well, honey, I'm home."
    An ache started in her head. What was he talking about? "Home? Where?"
    He cleared his throat and still refused to meet her gaze. The man was definitely
    hedging. But why?
    "You said you like research, right?" he asked.
    Her stomach knotted even more. "Yes."
    "Consider this a unique research venture then."
    "Meaning what?"
    His jaw flexed. "Haven't you ever wished you could
    go back to Saxon England and find out what it was really like before the Normans
    invaded?"
    "Of course."
    "Well, your wish is granted." He looked at her and flashed an insincere smile.
    Okay, the guy was not Robin Williams, and unless she was missing something
    really important from last night, she didn't conjure him from a bottle. If he wasn't a
    genie...
    She laughed nervously. "What are you saying?"
    "We're in England. Or rather we're in what will one day soon become England.
    Right now, this kingdom is called Lindsey."
    Channon went completely still. She knew all about the medieval Saxon kingdom,
    and this ... this was not possible. No, there was no way she could be here. "You're
    joking with me again, aren't you?"
    He shook his head.
    Channon rubbed her forehead as she tried to make sense of all this. "Okay, you
    have slipped me a mickey. Great. When I sober up from this you do realize I will
    call the cops."
    "Well, it'll be about nine hundred years before there are cops to call, about a
    hundred more years after that before you have a phone. But I'm willing to wait if
    you are."
    Channon clenched her eyes shut as she tried to think past the throbbing ache in her
    skull. "So you're telling me that I'm not dreaming and I'm not drugged."
    "Correct on both accounts."
    "But I'm in Saxon England?"
    He nodded.
    "And you're a dragon slayer?"
    "Ah, so you remember that part."
    "Yes," she said reasonably, but with every word she spoke after that, her voice
    crescendoed into mild hysteria.
    "What I don't remember is how the hell I got here!" she shouted, sending several
    birds into flight.
    Sebastian winced.
    She glared at him. "You told me there wouldn't be any Rod Serling voice-overs, yet
    here I am in the middle of a Twilight Zone episode. Oh, and let me guess the title
    of it, Night of the Terminally Stupid!"
    "It's not as bad as all that," Sebastian said, trying to decide the best way to explain
    this to her. He didn't blame her for being angry. In fact, she was taking all this a lot
    better than he had dared hope. "I know this is hard for you."
    "Hard for me? I don't even know where to begin. I did something I've never done in
    my life and then I wake up and you tell me you have supposedly time-warped me
    into the past, and I'm not sure if I'm insane or delusional or what. Why am I here?"
    "I..." Sebastian wasn't sure what to answer. The truth was pretty much out of the
    question. Channon, I practically kidnapped you because you are my mate and I
    don't want to be alone for the next