Gift of Fire (18 page)

“Worth a shot,” Jonas said mildly.

“Maybe. What do you think of each of them, Jonas?”

“I think Doug Warwick is just a hardworking stockbroker who wants to sell that white elephant he inherited as quickly as possible. He’s humoring his sister in the process by letting me do some treasure hunting.”

“And Elyssa?”

“Elyssa is the fluff-headed enthusiastic type who gets carried away with every trendy fad that comes along—harmless. Preston Yarwood is a con man who’s cashing in on the New Age craze. Oliver Crump is the earnest, well-meaning sort who just got sucked into the psychic stuff because he’s genuinely interested in offbeat things. He probably means well.”

“And Slade Spencer?”

“Spencer is the kind who will join anything that looks like it might offer free sex and drugs. In another time and place, he would have been a hippie or a beatnik.”

Verity bit her lip. “Slade did mention that he and Elyssa had had a brief affair. At least he claims he slept with her once or twice. He also says she’s now having an affair with Yarwood. Slade even says she tried to get it on with Oliver, but he declined. Smart man. Apparently Elyssa is into psychics.”

“Or likes to get psychics into her. Sounds like you found out a lot about Little Miss Sunshine.”

“Either that, or Spencer told me a pack of lies about her. Which is possible.”

Jonas put an arm around Verity’s shoulders. “I don’t know. Personally, I’m inclined to believe it.”

“That Elyssa likes sleeping with psychics?”

“Some women get the hots for race-car drivers, some like policemen. Some go for gurus. Elyssa goes for psychics.”

“Can’t imagine why,” Verity said innocently.

“I’m crushed.”

“You’ll bear up nobly. You always do.” Verity thought about what he’d said. “What it all comes down to is that you think there really is a treasure buried in that villa, and you want to go after it.”

“This is going to sound crazy, but I feel like I’ve been challenged, Verity. It isn’t just the damn treasure I’m after. I want to know how that frozen vision works. I want to know why it’s different from anything else we’ve ever seen in the time corridor. I feel there’s something really important about all this.”

“Something more important than a treasure chest full of gold and jewels?”

“Yes.” He hesitated, then admitted softly, “I won’t be able to rest until I figure out what that vision and that hidden passageway are hiding.”

Verity hugged her down parka more tightly around her. It was cold tonight. “I think we should be very careful, Jonas.”

“I agree.”

“And whatever happens, we stick together. Understood?”

“Speaking of sticking together,” Jonas said smoothly, “what about that discussion you and I were going to have? The one about us?”

“Let’s wait until we get back to the room. Oh, Jonas, look.” Verity stopped in front of a shop window and stood gazing down at a pair of reddish orange earrings. The translucent stones were faceted, and reflected the display-case lighting. Fiery sparks danced in the core of the stones.

Verity fell in love with them instantly. “Aren’t they beautiful?”

Jonas peered into the case. “They’re okay, I guess. Same color as your hair. You should get something to go with your eyes, not your hair.”

“I like those red earrings,” she insisted. “Maybe we could stop by this shop in the morning before we leave?”

“You’re stalling, Verity. It’s time for that discussion you promised me.” He took her arm and guided her firmly away from the shop window.

Perhaps she’d been a little hasty, Verity thought uneasily as they climbed the steps of the Harbor Watch Inn. Perhaps she should wait until she’d seen a doctor or at least used one of those home pregnancy-test kits. All she really had to go on was the calendar, and Oliver Cramp’s professional opinion—for what that was worth.

But Verity knew deep in her heart she couldn’t put off telling Jonas any longer. She summoned her courage as she and Jonas walked through the quiet parlor and up the stairs to the second floor. Jonas unlocked the door, followed her inside, and watched her walk to the window.

“Well, Verity?”

She glanced over her shoulder and saw that he was unknotting his tie. His eyes were watchful.

“Jonas, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately.”

“I’ve noticed.” He slung the tie aside and unbuttoned his shirt. His eyes were narrowed. “In fact, I’ve about had it with your weird behavior lately. It’s as if you’re spending part of your time in another world or something. Or like you’re making big plans that you won’t tell me about. I’m warning you, Verity, I put up with a lot of your temperamental nonsense, but there are some things I won’t tolerate. I’ve been very patient with you, but I’ve just about reached my limit. I’d like an explanation, and I don’t want to be told it’s my imagination.”

Verity moved restlessly to stare at a nautical print on the wall. The ship was foundering, men were overboard, and shark fins cut through the churning water. She knew exactly how they felt. She cleared her throat nervously.

“Sometimes things happen that aren’t exactly planned,” she began cautiously, her back toward him. “Sometimes a person’s timing isn’t quite right. It’s nobody’s fault, it just happens.”

“For Christ’s sake, Verity, will you stop beating around the bush and just say what you have to say?”

“All right. How would you feel about becoming a father, Jonas?”

“
What?
Holy shit!”

There was a scrabbling sound, some thumping, and another muttered curse. Verity whirled around and saw Jonas staggering wildly, his arms flailing. His pants were tangled around his knees and he had lost his balance. He clutched wildly for the nearest bedpost, hopping around on one foot. The expression on his face was one of incredulous disbelief.

Verity watched in amazement as Jonas landed heavily on the edge of the bed and slid down to the floor.

She’d never seen him lose his balance before. All the effortless physical grace that characterized his movements had suddenly deserted him.

There was a solid thud as Jonas landed on his rear end, his ankles trapped inside his half-lowered pants. He sat looking up at her, his eyes filled with amazement.

“You want to run that question by me again?” he asked in a hoarse voice.

Something squeezed Verity’s stomach tightly. “You heard me the first time. How do you feel about becoming a father?”

“I take it,” Jonas said carefully as he kicked off his shoes and pants and climbed slowly to his feet, “that this is not a hypothetical question?”

Verity wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head. “I’m afraid not. I’m pregnant, Jonas.”

“How long have you known?” He tossed aside the pants and came toward her. His jaw was set and his eyes were unreadable.

Verity looked down at the floor. “I assume you’re not thrilled. I didn’t think you would be.”

“I asked you how long you’ve known.” He reached her and took her chin in his hand. He lifted her face so that she had to meet his blazing eyes.

“Not long. I had a suspicion before you left with Dad.”

“And you kept it to yourself.”

“I wasn’t about to use the possibility of my being pregnant as a way to keep you from going off with Dad.” Her eyes were alive with pride.

“Did it ever occur to you that I had a right to know?”

“I wasn’t even sure about it myself until this morning,” she said defensively.

“What happened this morning that convinced you?”

“I more or less had it confirmed,” Verity explained, remembering the strange conversation she’d had with Oliver Crump. “Please don’t yell at me, Jonas. I told you as soon as I was certain.”

“Thanks. I appreciate that,” he retorted grimly. He cradled her pale face between his hands. “Verity, you little idiot—you shouldn’t have kept it to yourself this long. You should have told me the instant you suspected you might be pregnant. No wonder you’ve been more temperamental and emotional than usual. I should have guessed.”

For some reason Verity grew furious at his words. “I have not been acting more temperamental or emotional than usual. I
never
act temperamental or emotional, so how could I be more so than usual? I always act in a perfectly reasonable, rational manner. I’ll have you know I happen to possess plenty of common sense, unlike some people I could mention, and I resent the implication that I’m temperamental and emotional and strange!”

“Hush, honey.” He laughed indulgently and pulled her tightly against him. “Take it easy.” His arms went around her and his palms moved soothingly up and down her spine. “Just take it easy, sweetheart. Everything’s going to be okay.”

“You haven’t said how you feel about being a father.” Verity buried her face against his chest.

“Well, I haven’t had too much time to think about it,” he admitted lightly. “But I don’t see that it’s any big deal. I’m a fast learner. I can always ask Emerson for advice. Look at what a great job he did raising you.”

“Oh,
Jonas,
this is serious!” Verity was torn between laughter and tears. In fact, all her emotions seemed suddenly to be too close to the surface. She clung to Jonas, her arms wrapped around his lean waist. Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Did you think I would?” he whispered into her tousled curls. “Is
that why you couldn’t bring yourself to tell me earlier?”

“I wasn’t sure how you would feel about it. I mean, it’s a big responsibility.”

“And you’ve always been a little worried about my attitude toward responsibility, haven’t you?” he concluded with a hint of exasperation. “Jesus. No wonder you were so upset about my going off with your father to rescue Lehigh. You probably saw that as an example of how life was going to be from now on. Except that in the future you’d be left behind with a kid whenever I took off.”

“I didn’t know what to think.”

He gave her a small shake. “I told you that was a one-shot deal, not a lifetime pattern. I’m different from your father. We have some overlapping interests and experience, but we’re not the same. Come on, Verity. Don’t you have any more faith in me than that?”

“I didn’t know what to think. I hadn’t planned to get pregnant. Hadn’t even thought about it. We were taking precautions most of the time and I just sort of assumed…”

“We were not taking precautions all of the time. In fact, we rarely remembered them when we came out of our trips into the time corridor,” he reminded her bluntly. “And we did a lot of practice sessions with the psychic stuff this past winter.”

She sighed. “I know. I think I somehow convinced myself that sex after one of those trips was different in some way. It always seems so urgent, so demanding. I think of it as being connected to the psychic stuff.”

“And you convinced yourself you couldn’t get pregnant as long as the sex was taking place on a higher plane? A psychic plane? Is that it?” There was laughter in his voice.

“Don’t you dare make fun of me!”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, honey. But there is something a tad amusing about you pretending the sex we have after a mind trip is different from the kind we have the rest of the time. Talk about rationalization. This from a woman who prides herself on having more common sense than other people, specifically the male of the species?”

“I’m warning you, Jonas.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, chuckling. “I hear the warning. I seem to be inundated with threats and warnings from you lately. After a while it gets hard to take them all seriously.”

“You don’t sound terribly upset.” Verity lifted her head, puzzled at the cheerfulness in his tone. “I thought it would be a terrible shock for you.”

“Well, the news did knock me on my ass at first, as you saw, but fortunately I recover fast.”

Verity started to relax, truly relax, for the first time in days. A great sense of relief began to unfurl inside her. She hadn’t realized how tense she had been. “You really don’t mind being a father?”

“If I minded,” he told her softly, “I wouldn’t have forgotten to take precautions after we made a trip into the psychic corridor, or any other time we made love. I may have my faults, sweetheart, but I’m good at details. Especially those kinds of details.”

Verity smiled tremulously and swallowed tears that seemed to have welled up out of nowhere. “My whole life is undergoing a massive change. It’s scary, Jonas. I never thought much about having children. I think that somewhere along the line I just came to the conclusion that I wasn’t the type or something.”

“I think this must be the first and only time I’ve ever seen you unsure of yourself,” Jonas remarked.

“You’ve recovered from the shock a lot faster than I have. I still feel strange. I’ve been feeling that way for days.”

“Just leave everything to me, boss. I’ll take care of business for you. All you have to do is sit back and get fat.”

“That’s not funny, Jonas.”

“I’ve been telling you for months you need to put on a little weight.”

“This is a rather drastic way to do it,” Verity muttered.

Jonas chuckled softly as he picked her up and carried her to the bed. “One of these days you’re going to have to learn a few facts of life.”

“Such as?”

“Such as the fact that there are some things even an independent, assertive, bossy little tyrant like you has no control over. I can’t wait to watch you get nice and round with my baby.”

***

Jonas lay quietly studying the ceiling an hour later. Verity was dozing in his arm, her soft, inviting body relaxed and warmed from his lovemaking. Intermingled with the faint, womanly fragrance that teased his nostrils was his more pungent aroma. The primitive part of him always took satisfaction in the combination of scents that hovered in the air after he had made love to Verity. It was a subtle but absolute confirmation of his recent possession of her.

He took enormous pleasure in the knowledge of what he could do to Verity. He could make her turn to fire in his arms—sweet, hot fire. He was thoroughly addicted to the way she made him feel, hooked on the satisfaction he got from satisfying her. He didn’t even want to think about facing the hard, lonely world without her by his side. Verity had brought him the only peace of mind he had known in more years than he wanted to count.