An Original Sin (18 page)

Fortune ignored Leith as he held the door open. She stepped outside with him close behind. They stopped at the same moment.

Closing her eyes, she counted to ten, then opened them again. Nothing had changed.

Melting ice cream littered the driveway and lawn. Ice-cream wrappers hung from tree branches and festooned nearby bushes. And crouched in the middle of the havoc was Ganymede, happily lapping up a cone. Ominously, their favorite ice-cream man was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh, my God!” Fortune murmured.

“God’s teeth!” Leith muttered.

“Meow,” Ganymede explained.

“ ’Tis passing strange.” Leith walked over and peered behind a tall hedge. “I dinna see a body.”

“What could’ve happened?” Ganymede, the only witness, wound around Fortune’s legs, purring his description of the battle.

“Mayhap someone mugged him.” Leith stared at the branches of a towering live oak, its leaves dripping a colorful pattern of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream.

“Mugged?” Fortune turned in a dazed circle, wondering who could’ve done something like this to a harmless ice-cream man. Glancing down, she shook her head at Ganymede, who looked distinguished with his vanilla-coated whiskers.

“Aye. I heard the word on television. ’Tis when criminals attack a person while he walks along the street.” He turned to give her a tight smile. “Dinna worry, ye’re safe wi’ me.”

Forgetting the ice-cream man for a moment, she realized she believed him. She felt safe with Leith, a warm, glowing feeling of security in a world that offered precious little of that commodity. What had he done to earn her trust? Nothing that would give him superhero status. But her heart knew and trusted him to protect her more than anyone she’d ever known.

The admission made her uncomfortable, as though she’d given him a piece of herself. She’d already given him a piece of herself when she’d mated with him. How many pieces did she have left?

“I’ll tell Mary.” He started back toward the door.

“Wait. I’ll go with you.” She felt vulnerable for some reason, more vulnerable than she’d felt since first waking in this past time, as though if she took her gaze from Leith for a moment he’d be whisked back to his time, and she’d never see him again. And today, in this place, the thought sent shivers of fear trailing down her spine. Fear? Fear of being alone in the year 2000, fear of never touching him again. “I…I just remembered that I left something up in the study.”

He nodded, and she followed him back into the castle.

Climbing the winding stairs, she thought of her growing hunger for him. She, who’d never hungered for much of anything in her life other than models with tighter tushes and bigger biceps, found she couldn’t satisfy this new yearning. She could never be close enough, touch him enough.

Her life’s mantra had been control, and now she couldn’t control her need. It was like a black hole in space—dark, impenetrable, drawing her against her will into its depths.

Think of something else.
Why had the ice-cream man been here, and what had happened to him? Nothing made any sense. Of course, the very fact that she stood here in this time and place made no sense. Cosmic forces had picked a dud for a delivery person.

Fortune descended the stairs to join Leith and Mary, who stood in the doorway looking out at the destruction.

Mary shook her head. “Where did this come from?”

“ ’Twas from the ice-cream truck.” Leith walked out to look behind a large statue of an angel, still searching for a body.

“Ice-cream truck?” Mary looked bewildered. “Ice-cream trucks never come here. They couldn’t get past the gate.”

Leith frowned. “ ’Twas here today.”

Mary turned brisk. “You must be mistaken, but who could have done this?”

“I don’t know, but if I were you I’d get a scan-glow protection system with corvan-repel beams as soon as it’s invented.” Fortune mentally clapped her hand across her lips.

“Corvan-repel beams?” Mary stared at her as though she’d just announced that a Moccan giant had landed on Earth.

Thoughtfully, Leith’s gaze settled on Ganymede. “ ’Twas the fall. Fortune tumbled down yer stairs, and her wits are addled.”

Mary seemed to forget about the repel beams in her concern for Fortune. “I’m so sorry, dear. Are you all right?”

“Fine. I’m just fine.” She glanced helplessly at Leith. “Here comes our taxi. It’s been…interesting.” She smiled inanely at Mary. “See you tomorrow.”

“Of course.” Mary smiled. “I’ll get someone to clean up this mess, then look into a security system for that gate. I don’t like the idea of strangers wandering in.”

Leith and Fortune waited silently for the taxi to stop. Preoccupied, Leith held the door while Fortune and Ganymede climbed in. Leith told the driver where to take them, and quiet reigned again.

Fortune almost sighed. She’d expected Leith to be gleefully triumphant at her blunder, would’ve preferred it. Brooding silences irritated her.

All she’d done was make one little slip. He had a lot of nerve getting mad at her after all the times she’d had to cover for him.

She waited until they were finally in the privacy of their house before she let him have it. “I don’t know why you’re all bent out of shape. So I made one mistake. So what? I mean, is this some sort of primitive code where the man
gets to make all the mistakes, and the woman has to be perfect?”

He seemed weary as he collapsed onto the lumpy couch. “Ye canna leave my primitive nature alone, can ye, lass? I wasna angry wi’ ye, and I dinna know why ye thought such.”

“Oh.” Talk about feeling stupid. “But you didn’t say anything.”

“I was thinking.” His gaze challenged her. “Even primitives think, but ’tis a chore that drains a man’s strength and leaves none for speaking.”

Fortune dropped her gaze. “I’m sorry.” She deserved his sarcasm.

He rested his head against the back of the couch and stared at a corner where a hopeful spider spun its silky web. “Dinna fash yerself. I know I’ve asked many foolish questions, and I dinna blame ye for saying what ye said.” He continued to stare at the spider, which had decided to add a deck to its home. “That is not what bothers me.” He turned his gaze on her.

“Why were we sent here together, Fortune?”

“I thought we’d worked all that out. I believe cosmic forces want me to bring you back to my time to save humanity. You believe the powers that be want you to help Mary Campbell and teach me the…well, you know.” The only thing they’d managed so far was the “well, you know.”

He returned his attention to the spider, which had now expanded its living space to include a two-hovercraft garage. “Ye dinna understand me. When ye spoke to Mary about repel beams and such, I realized how truly far apart we were. We dinna have anything in common.”

We have one thing in common.

“If ye’re right about my purpose here, then I dinna
understand why yer cosmic forces chose me. I’m a savage, by yer standards. Why didna these forces choose someone closer to yer time, someone who would understand yer way of life?” He abandoned the spider’s ongoing construction to shift his gaze back to Fortune.

“Hmm. Let me think.”
Your eyes, green like the evening light on Chima, beautiful, mesmerizing. Your lips, masculine, but with a full lower lip that would tempt a holy woman of Sirent. Your body, warm skin and hard muscle, sheathed in power.
“Your mind. They definitely chose you for your mind.”

“Hmmph.” She didn’t need to see the amused slant of those great lips to know what he thought of
that
. “If ’twas my mind ye were thinking of, ye were staring at the wrong part of me, lass.”

She was blushing. She could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. She never blushed, even when explaining to customers how to get the greatest pleasure out of her models’ most intimate parts. “OK, so they probably checked out your genes too.”

“Jeans?” He frowned. “Why would they care what I wore?”

She sighed. He was right. Cosmic forces had gone back a long way to find the right man. But he
was
the right man; she was convinced of that.
For the world or for you?

“And what about ye? Why did they send ye?”

“That’s obvious.” She felt on firmer ground here. “I know all there is to know about men. I make their bodies. I’ve studied their habits on history disks. I’ve listened to women’s fantasies about their ideas of what the perfect man should be.”

He smiled and shook his head. The dark silk of his hair settled across one broad shoulder, and she yearned to slide her fingers through the shining strands.

“Ye dinna know men at all. Not here.” He tapped his
chest. “Do ye want me to tell ye why I think ye were sent here wi’ me?”

No.
She shrugged.

“Ye need loving more than any woman I’ve ever known.”

Love
? The word exploded in her heart; then her logic kicked in. He didn’t mean love; he meant sex. “That’s ridiculous. I could’ve mated with any man.”
Wrong.

Patiently, he shook his head. “Nay, lass. Ye needed the right man for
ye
.”

Arrogance, thy name is Leith.
“Okay, smart guy, tell me why you’re the right man for me.”

“Nay,
ye
tell me.” His whisper sliced through her acid thoughts of a particular Highlander’s astounding pride.

Her mind zipped right past her previous catalog of his physical attributes to something deeper, more profound, and completely unexpected. She stared at him in surprised realization. “You gave me a yellow flower. No one ever gave me a flower before, not in my whole life.”

He smiled at her, a smile filled with mystery and hidden knowledge. “Mayhap ye needed that flower.”

“Ridiculous. I mean, it doesn’t make any sense. I’m a grown woman. I don’t need a flower to fulfill me.” Uncertainly, she reached down to pet Ganymede, who wound around her feet, purring his support.

“Ye’re right. ’Tis not a flower that makes a man and woman right for each other, but the many small things they share each day, things they dinna notice until ’tis too late.”

Nevermore.
For some reason, the closing word of an ancient poem she could hardly remember popped into her head. Would she sit years from now watching the rain beat against her workroom window and think of all the small things she’d done with Leith, regretting all the small things she’d never done?

She blinked. No, she wouldn’t let her thoughts meander
fruitlessly down that path. She’d forgotten the original point of this conversation. Something about security systems and a missing ice-cream man.

There was a knock at the door, and she turned to open it.

“Stop. Ye’re too trusting. Ne’er open a door till ye’re certain a friend stands on the other side.” He offered her a self-deprecating smile. “I forgot. Ye come from a time where people have nothing to fear.” His smile turned grim. “Unless ye’re male,” he amended.

Fortune tried to ignore his last dig. She swung the door wide and smiled a welcome as Blade and Lily entered the room. “I’m glad you stopped by.”

Turning to lead them into the room, she caught Leith’s dour expression and heard his muttered comment. “I dinna blame ye for being glad. No doubt ye couldna wait to get relief from our talk.”

Blade grinned and walked over to sit on the couch beside Leith. Lily paused to pet Ganymede.

“Why do ye think women canna let that cursed cat alone?” Leith mumbled to Blade.

Ganymede stared at the men. For a moment, Fortune saw amused intelligence in the cat’s amber gaze. Then Ganymede returned his attention to a cooing Lily. Fortune drew a deep breath. She’d obviously worked too hard today.

Blade reached over and clapped Leith on the shoulder. “Lily and I were talking about you guys. We know you’re trying to get on your feet, so we thought we could help you get your act together. How about talking it over? We can go to dinner, then take in a movie at the mall.”

“I’d love that.” Fortune knew she sounded overeager. “How about you, Leith?” She needed some time to relax, forget.

Leith rose and walked to her side. He put an arm across
her shoulder and leaned close. She controlled her urge to move away. His knowing smile mocked her; his husky whisper taunted her. “When ye look at me that way, ye could almost convince me to return to yer time. Almost.”

Straightening, he nodded at Blade. “Aye. ’Tis a good idea.” He frowned. “What is a…mall?”

Both Blade and Lily looked at him as though he’d just sprouted another head. “They dinna have malls in Tibet,” he hurriedly explained, and Fortune could tell he was trying to avoid making eye contact with her.

Fortune’s reaction surprised her. Before this, she would have bemoaned his carelessness, and thought nothing more of it. Now? She sympathized with his puzzlement, yearned to ease his embarrassment. “You’ll find out soon enough.” She forced a laugh. “Let it be a surprise.” She hooked her arm through his—offering her support, her promise that she was on his side.

Blade glanced at his watch. “Great. Let’s go.” He paused to let Fortune join Lily, then fell into step beside Leith. “By the way, noticed any strangers around here?” His quiet words didn’t reach the women walking in front.

Leith shook his head. “Why?”

“Bones, that big guy you took a chunk out of, won’t let it rest. You whipped him in front of everyone. That’s never happened before. He won’t forget it. Better watch your back.”

“Bones?” Leith wasn’t worried for himself. He’d dealt with men bent on vengeance before. But he must make sure Fortune saw none of it. His deep need to protect her didn’t surprise him. Nothing about his feelings for Fortune shocked him anymore.

“Yeah, Bones. That’s usually all that’s left after he gets through with someone.”

Leith nodded his understanding. “Thank ye for yer warning.”

As they all climbed into Blade’s taxi, Ganymede made an attempt to leap in behind them. Leith took great pleasure in slamming the door shut in the cat’s face. It was small of him, he knew, but it made up a little for the attention Fortune had lavished on Ganymede instead of him. He refused to contemplate what this said about his vaunted skill with women, that he felt threatened by a cat.

It was only a short drive to the mall, and he barely had time to examine the wonders of the many stores before Blade steered them into the restaurant.

As Leith studied the varied food choices, he realized if it were not for his desire to make peace with Hugh and his love of Scotland, he’d almost be content to remain here. If Fortune remained also.

He glanced at Fortune. Why would he want to remain with someone who planned to—

“Ready to order, big guy?”

Blade’s question startled him. Order? He didn’t understand half of what was on this…menu.