An Original Sin (7 page)

She wanted him. She couldn’t have him. In a last desperate effort to gain control, her mind shrieked that her duty was to bring him home, not sample what he had to
offer. Forging a sexual bond with him would be dangerous, futile.
He’s not meant for you.
Her emotions rose to do battle with her logic. It wouldn’t be a pretty fight.

The decision was wrested from her as, suddenly, someone jerked open the curtain and grabbed her shirt and jeans. With a small cry, she pushed Leith away and again covered her breasts with her hands.
Too late,
her mind suggested.

With a muttered curse, Leith whirled. “I canna believe it. A kiss like no other, and some bloody fool interrupts it.”

Even his savage tone couldn’t stop Fortune’s glow.
A kiss like no other.

“He’s taken yer dough!” Leith ripped the red bra from its hook and raced after the thief.

Fortune came crashing down to earth. This is what you got when you lowered your guard, allowed your emotions to overrule your head, she thought. In a way, the thief had done her a favor, had kept her from making a massive mistake. It wouldn’t happen again.

Attempting to remain calm in the face of impending financial ruin, she yanked the curtain down and wrapped it around herself. This was starting to become a habit.

As Fortune hurried from the dressing area, she met a bemused saleswoman. Obviously she’d sighted Leith. “A thief just stole my clothes, my money. Could you get the manager for me?”

Never losing her dazed expression, the woman nodded.

Fortune finally sighted Leith racing through what must be the menswear section in pursuit of a small man who looked like he was running for his life.
Rightly so.
Leith’s murderous expression would lend wings to anyone’s feet.

Fortune gained on Leith as he paused to reach down toward his leg. When he lifted the material at his ankle, a flash of metal warned her of what was coming.
The knife.

No!
“Don’t do it, Leith!” Her words came in short gasps as she strained to run faster. “No violence!”

Whether he heard her words or feared the thief would escape before he could use his knife, Leith straightened, then flung the red bra he still clutched around the man’s neck.

The man came to a gasping halt and clawed at the bra closing off his air, but he didn’t drop Fortune’s clothes.

“We can discuss this calmly, work out a solution.” Fortune panted as she raced to reach Leith before he could…She didn’t want to contemplate what he intended doing.

Salvation launched itself from the highest shelf of a display labeled
JOCKEY SHORTS
and landed atop the thief’s head.

Ganymede!
Fortune didn’t question the why or wherefore. As the thief struggled with the howling mass of black fur intent on gnawing off his left ear, he dropped the clothes.

As Leith reached for the clothes, the thief disengaged himself from Ganymede long enough to take a swipe at the man who’d relieved him of his ill-gotten goods.

“Uh-oh,” Fortune murmured.

Leith hit him with all the pent-up rage and frustration he’d built up over this fearful day. The man bounced off a wall and staggered toward the doors. He still wore the red bra around his neck. Leith watched with grim satisfaction.

Leith closed his eyes for a moment, allowing some of the anger to seep from him. When he opened them, it was to face a mob of curious shoppers who’d gathered, and an authoritative-looking man hurrying toward him.

Then Leith saw her. Wrapped in the curtain, Fortune stood wearing a confused expression.

He had no time to consider how Fortune felt, because the store authority had reached him.

“I can’t tell you how sorry I am something like this happened in my store. I’ve been the manager here for six years and nothing…What can I possibly do to make up for it?” He wiped his hand across his sweaty brow and shook his head apologetically.

Leith glanced at Fortune, who’d worked her way to his side. “Ye can give us the clothes we choose free.”

The manager nodded. “And I hope this won’t discourage you from visiting our fine store again.” His expression said
I don’t want to be around if you come back.

Without speaking, Fortune grabbed her clothes and headed back to one of the small, curtained rooms. Leith waited impatiently outside and wondered where Ganymede had gone. He hoped he wouldn’t have to search for the cat, but he also knew he couldn’t abandon the animal. Strangely, he felt a growing affection for the creature. Ganymede had shown a warrior’s fierceness in attacking the thief.

Suddenly Fortune pulled open the curtain. His gaze collided with her wide-eyed stare. His glance slid down to her lips, still swollen from his kiss. His body reacted to the memory of how she’d felt, tasted.

“You hit that man.” Her tone suggested he’d boiled the man in oil, then torn him limb from limb.

He scowled at her. “Damnation, woman, the bastard meant to steal all our dough. What would ye have me do?”

She winced at his curses, and that made him even angrier.

“Maybe you could’ve discussed it, given him some options, before you hit him.”

“
Discussed
it?” He snorted his opinion of that. “There
are some things beyond discussion, and ye’d better learn that quickly if ye mean to survive here.”

“I’ve never seen anyone hit before. We don’t have—”

“Violence. Aye, I know.” He was mad. He longed to slam his fist into someone’s belly, blacken a few eyes. Where were the bloody MacDonalds when you needed them?

She hadn’t shown a bit of gratitude for his rescue of their dough. “And I enjoyed it. ’Twould have been a bonny brawl if the coward hadna run away.” He smiled evilly.

She seemed to shrink from him. “I have to show the manager the clothes we want. You’d better check on Ganymede.”

Nodding, he walked from the store and headed for Blade’s taxi. He couldn’t contain a small, triumphant grin, however. She’d still held the colored panties clutched in her hand. Too bad about the red bra, though. Red suited her.

When he reached the taxi, he found Blade standing beside it with a harried expression on his face.

“Damn cat. Leave it home next time. I only cracked the window this much.” He demonstrated how much with two fingers. “A roach couldn’t squeeze through, but he got out somehow. Must be part greased pig.” Blade glared into the backseat. “Anyway, as soon as I saw he was gone I went looking for him. Got all hot and bothered for nothing. Came back here thinking I’d lost your cat and there he was, asleep, looking as innocent as a newborn.”

He spit on the ground for emphasis. “Give me a dog any day. Dogs are up-front. Cats are sneaky.”

With that said, Blade opened the door and climbed in.

Leith could see Fortune swaying toward him. He loved the way her hips—He mentally shook himself.
Besotted.

Forcing himself to look away, he opened the back door so she could get in.

Ganymede stretched, then gazed up at him.

Leith froze. For one searing instant, it seemed as though a mask had been torn from Ganymede’s eyes.

Ganymede blinked, and the moment vanished.

Leith shook his head to clear it. He had to get something to eat soon. Hunger did strange things to his mind. Of course, he’d only imagined the ageless intelligence he’d seen in the cat’s gaze. Ganymede was only a beast.

Ganymede purred his agreement.

“I can’t believe you
hit
him.” She should feel disgust, indignation. Instead, for one frightening moment, she’d wanted to jump up and down and shout, “Take
that,
you dirty thief!”

“Ye’re like a dog gnawing an old bone, lass.”

“Violence is
always
wrong.” OK, so Leith had saved their money. But her feelings of unholy glee at the mayhem made her uneasy, as though Leith had put his mark on her, making her forget everything she’d ever believed.

“If that is what ye truly think, ye’re lucky to have a violent primitive along to protect ye and yer noble foolishness.”

Ignoring his sarcasm, she stared out the window at dusk creeping up on her first day in this new world. Time to put philosophical arguments aside. “I’m hungry.” She’d lived on a schedule all her adult life, and she’d already missed exactly—she glanced at the taxi’s clock—two and a half meals.

“Aye. I feel as though I could eat an entire sheep.” Leith leaned over to Blade. “Where might we find food?”

Fortune grimaced. An entire sheep? Leith was a walking ad for excess—too much emotion, too much aggression, too big an appetite.
Hmm.
She remembered his body’s splendor. Probably too big an appetite for many things. “Nothing fancy,” she added.

“If you want someplace fast, how about McDonald’s?” Blade pointed to a brightly lit golden arch in the distance.

Leith’s expression turned thunderous.

Fortune moaned inwardly. Even though she’d known this man for only one day, she recognized the signs of an imminent explosion. Well, if she didn’t get something to eat soon, her stomach would do some exploding of its own.

“McDonald’s! Ye canna expect me to eat at a place named after my sworn enemies. ’Tis impossible.” He glared at both Fortune and Blade in turn. “I thought the one good thing about this new world would be that there were no more cursed MacDonalds. Bloody burrs. Ye canna get rid of them.”

Oh, boy.
Just what she needed to end a perfect day, a berserk primitive challenging the chef to a fight in the name of clan honor.

She glanced into the taxi’s mirror and met Blade’s puzzled stare. She smiled weakly. “In Tibet, this Mac-Donald family lived next door to the monks. Real slobs—never mowed their lawn, let their dog run loose. You know the kind.”

Blade shook his head and glanced away. Leith groaned his disgust. “ ’Tis the worst excuse I’ve ever heard.”

He was right. She wasn’t doing such a great job thinking on her feet. That should put an end to her budding feelings of superiority. “Could you take us somewhere else, Blade?”

Blade nodded. He must think they’d escaped from some asylum. Maybe he was right. Maybe this whole awful experience was a figment of her warped imagination brought on by too much agonizing over her newest creation, Wicked Walter, the first bearded man she’d attempted. He wasn’t turning out quite like—

“How do you feel about Burger King, big guy?” Blade sounded weary.

Leith nodded. “ ’Tis…OK. I know King William rules England, but what land does the Burger King rule? Burger. ’Tis a land I’ve ne’er heard of.”

Blade turned and grinned at him. “I like your sense of humor. Strange, but funny.”

He stopped in front of a brightly lit building. “I’ll drop you guys off here, then pick you up in half an hour.”

Hesitantly, Fortune climbed from the taxi and stood staring at the building. The excitement she felt surprised her. She thought of her favorite restaurant, a soothing beige building with dim, stress-reducing lighting and thick, sound-absorbing gray carpeting, that catered to tranquil women dressed in calm, neutral shades. Serene.
Boring.

Mournfully, Fortune watched Blade drive away with Ganymede’s outraged face suction-cupped to the back window. Somehow the taxi had seemed a safe cocoon from the reality of this new time. She glanced at Leith, who stared at the Burger King as though it were a dragon he’d have to slay. Maybe for him it
would
be a dragon. “Let’s get something to eat.”

She automatically started walking ahead of him, but before she could react, he’d stepped in front of her.

“We must be cautious in this time.”

When they reached the door, he held it for her, glancing around as though he expected a sneak attack.
Ridiculous.
The only danger they faced came from a direct hit by one of the noisy black birds perched on the branch above them.

Fortune controlled her irritation. He was taking this “protecting the helpless female” thing too far, but she was too hungry to argue about it now. She studied the menu.

Didn’t they have
anything
that didn’t involve dead animals? “I can’t believe the stuff they serve here. My arteries are clogging just reading the menu. Where’s the scientifically formulated imitation beef patty guaranteed to taste like the real thing even though it’s made from inorganic material manufactured on Quellum?”

Getting no response from Leith, she turned to look at him.

He stood staring glassy-eyed at the menu, and he didn’t look hungry anymore. “I dinna understand any of this.” His admission seemed torn from the very heart of his pride.

Even though he’d cut out his tongue before saying the words, Fortune knew he needed her. Somehow the thought made her glad. No one had ever needed her before. Her friends shared their company with her, but they’d survive just fine without her. And her mother? She wouldn’t think about her mother.

“Tell me what you’d like to eat, and I’ll get the closest thing I can find.” She reached out to touch him in a comforting gesture, but he jerked away from her. This man and his pride would drive her crazy. She sighed. “After you tell me what you want, find someplace for us to sit.”
Oh, no.
Now he looked offended that she’d dared order him to do something.

“I want meat and potatoes with something cold to drink that willna poison me.” With that declaration, he strode to a back table. A ripple of interested female glances followed his progress until he sat down. Fortune could almost feel the collective sigh of yearning.

She turned back to the perky-looking girl smilingly waiting for Fortune to give her order.
OK, meat and potatoes, cold drink, no poison.
From what she could see in this time, that last order would be hard.

A few minutes later, she tottered back to their table bearing a tray laden with death-by-cholesterol. She set it down in front of Leith, then plunked herself in the seat across from him. “Here’s your dead animal, French fries cooked in goo, and cola, which can also take varnish off floors. I’ve read about the health habits of my ancestors.”

Leith ignored her. He tentatively bit into the burger, then ate a French fry. His expression cleared as he took a cautious sip of his cola. “ ’Tis delicious, even though it looks a wee bit strange. What are ye eating?”

She frowned down at her food. “A salad and orange juice.” She cast a contemptuous glance at his half-eaten meal. “You won’t live to old age eating that stuff.”

He offered her a crooked smile, and once again she realized the power he wielded just by being male. All the rationalizations in the world couldn’t stop her heart from thumping out a rapid rhythm of excitement.

If only she could capture the impact of his smile in one of her models. Maybe her Hunka Hunka Burning Love Leroy model.

“Aye, but I’ll die happy.” He broke off a piece of his burger and offered it to her. “Dinna ye even want to try it?”

Uncertain, she studied the food. She’d never had
real
meat in her whole life, only healthy imitations. Choice: eat meat or starve. She breathed a silent apology to helpless animals everywhere. Amazing how hunger could reduce her to the level of the savage grinning at her from across the table.

Leith watched as she took the piece of food in two fingers. She looked as if she expected the spirit of the cow to appear at any second and moo accusingly in her face. As she bit into it, her eyes widened in wonder. “Our imitations
never
tasted like this.”

“Real is always better.” He remembered she’d said she made men. Her eyes showed that she knew he spoke not only about food. He slid his fries over to her. “I’ll purchase more.”

When he returned laden with more food, his cola had disappeared and Fortune wore an expression of blissful satiation. He knew with a fierceness he couldn’t deny that he would someday put that same expression on her face.

Before he could question his sudden need, a low growl sounded from under the table, and a black paw rose from the depths to swiftly swipe a fry off his tray. He froze.

In unison, they peered under the table. Ganymede stared at them while he calmly licked salt from his mouth. Leith sat up without comment. He met Fortune’s gaze and she shrugged. Blade would be furious when he picked them up. He hoped their new friend didn’t spend too much time searching for the wee devil.

Playing with her fries, Fortune didn’t meet his gaze as she spoke. “Why all this anger about a place named McDonald’s?”

He felt the customary fury flood him at the hated name, even in this distant time and place. “They are my enemies.”

She finally looked at him, and he could see her puzzlement. “OK, I can understand that. But this is a long way from Scotland. Anyone named Mac-Donald here wouldn’t be your enemy.”

“The name carries bad memories, lass.” How could he make someone who’d never known hate and betrayal understand?

She sighed, and he knew she found him unreasonable. The truth? He directed as much of his anger at himself as he did at the cursed MacDonalds.
If only
…He forced his thoughts away from the event that had made his only brother an enemy. Wishes never changed anything. He’d learned that as a child watching the slaughter of his parents.

“ ’Tis time to leave.” His appetite gone, Leith handed his burger to the creature beneath their table. He pulled his fingers back quickly lest they be considered part of the offering.

Fortune nodded. She seemed strangely quiet. He didn’t know whether to treat her silence as a blessed event or a
warning of unpleasantness to come. It would do no good brooding upon it, though. Scooping Ganymede from under the table, he rose and strode from the Burger King while Fortune trailed behind.

Complications. Always complications.
Fortune pulled herself from her reverie long enough to realize the taxi had reached home.
Home
? No, this little house wasn’t home, would never be home. It was merely a temporary place to stay while she figured out how to get Leith and herself back to her
real
home.

She wouldn’t think about that now. It was too soon. Much too soon. She remembered very well the old sayings about the bearer of bad news and shooting the messenger. From what she’d seen so far, Leith would
not
react calmly and logically to her revelation.
No, indeedy.
She’d just wait awhile.

Leith climbed out, then held the door while Fortune and Ganymede followed. He slammed the door, then turned to Blade, who rolled down his window and glared at an unconcerned Ganymede.

“Ye’ve taught me some curses I’ve ne’er heard before, Blade. For this I thank ye.” Leith absently stroked the taxi’s surface. “I could wage wondrous battles with this machine.”

Blade ignored his last comment, intent on his own complaint. “You’ll hear a lot more if you keep that mangy cat around. I tell you, I only rolled the window down this much.”

Leith nodded. “I know. A roach couldna crawl through.”

“Damn right.” Blade scowled at the cat. Ganymede stood, yawned, then paced regally up the walk with his tail waving dismissively over his back. “Scruffy ball of hair and deceit.”

Leith smiled. “Aye, I think I’ll keep him.”

Blade shook his head, then drove off with a squeal of tires.

Fortune waited for Leith to follow her in. She remembered to switch on the lights, then stood staring at the cracked floors, peeling paint, and worn rugs—all somehow softened in the dim light. She felt Leith behind her and suddenly the room shrank, dwarfed by the large man fate had cast her with.

He yawned. “This hasna been an easy day. We need a long night’s rest so we may think clearly on the morrow. Where is our sleeping chamber?”

“
Our
sleeping chamber? We each have our own room, buster.”

He smiled—not a nice smile. “There is but one.”

OK, she could handle this. “You’re used to primitive conditions, so you can sleep on the couch.”

He wore his
you have to be kidding
expression. “If by couch ye mean that monstrous pink thing in the living room, I’d rather sleep on the floor.”

She smiled brightly. “There you go. Problem solved.”

Or not.
She’d once seen the same expression on a mule.

“I’ll sleep in the bed beside ye.”

She briefly considered the couch and the floor for herself. Very briefly. She was used to some semblance of civilized comfort, and she refused to be ousted by a hulking savage. Her conscience chided her on the “hulking savage” label. He really wasn’t. But he
was
an overbearing, dictatorial—

“ ’Tis too late to stand here arguing. Come.”

Come
? Before she could react to the command, he’d grabbed her hand and pulled her down the hallway to the “sleeping chamber.” He flung open the door and stepped inside, then remembered to flip on the light switch.

The sleeping pad—no,
bed
in this time—loomed huge in the tiny room. Until she glanced at Leith. Large, solid, and…disturbing, he leaned against the door frame.
Swallowing hard, she looked at the bed again to find that its faded blue mass had miraculously shrunk to the size of a dwarum’s head.

“Well, guess I’ll clean up a little.” Before he could respond, she grabbed her nightgown and rushed to the bathroom.

Minutes later, she tried to relax under the shower’s warm spray. She didn’t feel quite so panicky now. She’d approach this situation in a calm, rational—
No!
She absolutely, positively would
not
sleep in the same bed as Leith Campbell. And this wasn’t about logic. It was about pure gut instinct. Sleeping with Leith would be a contradiction in terms. Her eyes would be glued open the whole night, remembering—his body with its smooth expanse of warm, golden skin stretched over supple muscle, his heat that would touch her, tempt her, even if she clung to the bed’s edge.
Uh-uh.
She was no dummy. It was the couch for her.