Tom Fleet was a bit of a misfit as the second son of a minor English noble in the 1880s. Once he finished his schooling he had little to do. His grandfathers had left him adequate finances for his needs and with his elder brother set to take the title, he gave in to his fascination with gadgets and began to tinker and invent. His goal was to create a sky craft to go to the moon. Surely if Jules Verne’s characters could go there and many other places, he could do as well.<br><br>Rowan Farrell followed in his Uncle Gordon’s footsteps, joining the UniFleet, but went a step farther and became an officer. Assigned to his first command level post, he takes a small patrol ship out to scout a region of interest to the Council and report if any signs of the enemy Angevirian Empire in the area. When one of his crew spots a strange, tiny craft, he decides to capture and study it. After all it could be an Angevirian Trojan horse. But the odd cylindrical vessel holds only one man, unconscious and suffering from hypothermia and lack of oxygen. When the man comes to, he claims to come from the earth ... five centuries in the past!

Tom Fleet’s Machine

Desperate grabs for support became frantic groping as two pairs of hands clutched and pressed, passing from awkward to eager. Rowan shifted, feeling Tom’s firm body beneath his, along with the sudden thrust of a stiff prick stretching the soft fabric of the other man’s trousers. His own rose in response to fight the restraint of his flight suit’s sturdy knit cloth.


Moving a bit more, he found Tom’s face inches away—a pair of brilliant blue eyes flaming with excitement and a pair of lips beckoning for the touch of Rowan’s. He answered that call. For an instant, he thought the claxon was just a strange response to the power of that kiss. Then he realized the sound came from the speakers in the lounge ceiling.


Alarm!They were in danger or under attack. He fought free from the mist of arousal and struggled to his feet.


He stuck one hand down to Tom. “Something’s wrong. Come on. I have to go find out.”


Chapter 9