"Kenyon, Sherrilyn - Dark-Hunter 03 - Dragonswan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kenyon Sherrilyn)

She blinked open her eyes and looked up at him with a sleepy frown. "Where are you taking me?"
"I want to take you home with me."
She smiled up at him like an angel, then sighed. "Sure."
Sebastian tightened his arms around her as she fell back to sleep. She'd said yes. Joy ripped through him. Maybe he had done his penance after all.
Maybe, for once, he could have his one moment of respite from the past.
Holding her close, Sebastian stared out the window and waited for the first rays of dawn so that he could pulse them out of her world and into one beyond her wildest imagination.
Channon felt a strange tugging in her stomach that settled into a terrible queasiness. What on earth?
She opened her eyes to see Sebastian staring down at her. He wore an intriguing mask of black and red feathers that made the gold of his eyes stand out even more prominently. It reminded her of a Phantom of the Opera mask as it only covered his forehead and the left side of his face where his tattoo was.
She'd never considered masks sexy before, but on him, mmm, baby.
Even more inviting than that, he wore black leather armor over a chain mail shirt-black leather armor covered in silver rings and studs that was laced down the front. The laces had come untied, leaving an enticing gap where she could see his tanned skin peeping through.
Ummm, hmmm.
Smiling, she started to speak until she realized she was


on the back of a horse. A really, really big horse.
Even more peculiar, she was dressed in a dark green gown with wide sleeves that flowed around her like some 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."