The Trillionaire's Lady (Trillionaire Wishes Book 2) (2 page)

"I know it's crazy, but we had nothing to do with it, so they can't possibly convict us of anything.  We're going to do everything we normally do.  You work tomorrow, and I'll go to the library.  We'll calmly search for her on our own, without alerting anyone."  Alexa rubbed the back of her neck.  "I'm going to get my shower.  I'll see you tomorrow evening."

Megan sighed as she watched her friend go.  She
hated the idea of going to school the next day as if nothing had happened, but they were in the process of preparing her first grade class for national achievement tests.  Emotions were running high throughout the entire school, with the principal breathing down all the teachers' necks for high scores.  Megan knew her job was contingent on how well her students did on the tests, which was ridiculous, but she had no choice in the matter.

Most of her students would do well, as long as they didn't panic.  Her class was filled with bright students, and she loved them all with everything inside her.  She'd always wanted children of her own, but there really weren't any decent men around.  Sure, she'd dated a bit, but never any one person for anything length of time, and nothing had been serious. 

She went to her room and her private bathroom, washing her face and brushing her teeth before changing into her nightgown.  She slipped between the covers, closing her eyes, wishing she didn't constantly see Alicia disappearing.  Would she even be able to sleep?  Or would she spend the entire long night worrying about her friend?

*****

Alexa was gone before Megan awoke the following morning, leaving a note saying she was going to the library early to do some research on different magical fountains throughout history.  Megan ate a bowl of cereal at the small table in their kitchen before walking the few blocks to the elementary school where she'd taught for the past five years.  She had a car, but she usually either walked or biked to school, because she liked the exercise, finding her time at the beginning and end of the day outside extremely enjoyable.

She was in her own world most of the day, going through the motions of teaching.  By lunch time, she felt just being there was a waste, but she didn't
dare call in sick, because the police were watching her.  She was certain of it. 

At recess, she was staring off into space when one of the other teachers, Nancy Howard, walked over to her.  Nancy was an older teacher, close to retirement age, and she liked to tell all the younger teachers exactly what they were
doing wrong all the time.  "What's gotten into you today?  Normally you at least pretend to pay attention to the students."

Megan's eyes met Nancy's bitter ones.  Why teaching had turned the older woman so bitter, she didn't know, but she wasn't a pleasant
person to be around.  "I'm paying attention," she objected, even though she knew it wasn't true.  She was trying to watch the children, but she was staring straight through them.  All she could see was poor Alicia, falling on the ground and disappearing before her eyes.

"Are you sick?"  Nancy
’s face seemed to show real concern as she reached out and touched Megan's forehead. 

Megan shook her head.  "I'm worried about a friend.  That's all."
  She was touched by the older woman's first sign of real caring she'd ever seen.

Nancy made a face.  "You really should pay more attention to the children."  She stomped off, the look of anger transforming her face.

Megan sighed.  She really didn't need to deal with that old witch on such a difficult day.  Why couldn't the woman mind her own business?

*****

Megan was home from work before Alexa as usual, so she started dinner for the two of them.  A simple stir-fry was all she felt up to making, so she threw it together and stood over the stove while she graded papers.  She smiled at a picture one of her students had drawn for her in the corner of their paper.  It was a little boy holding the hand of a woman, telling her thank you for helping him.  It was very sweet. 

One of her favorite things about teaching first graders was their sweet thankfulness.  For the most part, they were well behaved, even though they all seemed to have ants in their pants.

When the door opened, Megan started, looking over half-hoping it would be Alicia coming in.  Since she'd been a roommate for a long time, she tended to just walk in.   She sagged in disappointment when she saw it was just Alexa.  Not that she didn't love Alexa, but she couldn't help but wish Alicia would hurry and come back from wherever she'd disappeared to.

"Did you learn anything?" Megan asked.

Alexa nodded.  "A little, but not enough to know for sure what's going on."  She pulled a Xeroxed copy from her purse and handed it to Megan.  "The fountain has apparently been around since Regency times.  It was designed and built by an earl in England."

"An earl?"  Megan raised an eyebrow in surprise.  Earl's didn't work during regency times, did they?

Alexa nodded.  "I know.  It's weird.  Anyway, the fountain was supposed to be endowed with magical powers somehow, and it is rumored to appear whenever a couple is in need of finding one another."  She nodded to the sheet of paper Megan had yet to unfold.  "That's our fountain, isn't it?"

Megan unfolded the paper and stared down at it before slowly nodding.  "That's it exactly.  It's in a different place, but that's the same thing."
  How could that be true?  The fountain they'd seen didn't look as if it could be moved easily.

Alexa
sighed.  "From everything I've read, it looks as if Alicia was taken to wherever her 'true love' was.  She's gone."

"Well, if that's the case she'll be in touch with us, right?  She wouldn't just disappear.  Alicia's not like that."
  Maybe it was just a matter of sitting tight until their friend contacted them.

Alexa
frowned.  "If she can.  What if she ended up in some foreign country where no one speaks English?  For all we know she could have been transported to another planet."

"You've seen too many science fiction movies."

"This doesn't scream of science fiction to you?  Our friend disappeared before our very eyes, and you're questioning life on other planets?"  Alexa was practically shouting.

Megan sighed.  "Let's not fight over it.  There's not much we can do.  Of course, the police are going to come after us."
  It had been almost twenty-four hours since Alicia's disappearance.  When would the police start to harass them?

Alexa
nodded.  "I know, but we've done nothing wrong."

"I hope that matters, because last night, it sure didn't seem to."

"I know.  We're screwed."  Alexa set the table, obviously worried about what was going to happen to them. 

What were they going to do?

Chapter Two

When Megan woke on Friday morning, she felt funny.  She got up and walked into the kitchen, finding
Alexa sitting at the table in the kitchen eating her Lucky Charms.  She ate the same thing every morning, and Megan was certain it was like eating a big bowl of sugar with a tiny bit of milk on it.  When she ate cereal it was something like Corn Flakes or Grape Nuts.  She wasn't about to eat a bowl of sugar.

Megan made her instant oatmeal in the microwave and walked to the table on shaky legs.  "I feel really weird today."

"You're probably just nervous.  I'm sure we're going to be visited by the police this evening.  They're going to blame us for Alicia's disappearance."

Megan made a face.  "I know.  I've thought of nothing else." When she'd looked in the mirror that morning, she knew her lack of sleep the past two nights was showing.  She hated it, but she looked like she wasn't sleeping.  Surely the police would take that as an admission of guilt.  "It feels different than just worry and lack of sleep, though.  My legs feel really weak.  Like they're not totally supporting me."
  She wasn't certain how else to describe the strange sensation.

Alexa's
eyes widened. "Didn't Alicia say something like that right before she disappeared?"

Megan shrugged, not really certain.  "Maybe."  She tried to bring her spoon to her mouth, but her arm felt too heavy to lift.  "
Alexa, I can't lift my arm!"  She was starting to panic, nervous that she would be going the way of Alicia, wherever that was, soon.

"No!" 
Alexa grabbed her phone and put it on camera mode, video-taping Megan.  "Tell me how you feel!"

Megan glared at the phone, but she immediately realized what
Alexa was doing.  Ife she disappeared as well, Alexa would definitely be blamed.  "It's like what Alicia said happened."  Her voice was slow and slurred-sounding.  "My legs feel weak, and I can't lift the spoon to my mouth.  Something's wrong with me, and I don't know what it is.  I'm scared!"

"I am, too!"
Alexa held the phone up with one hand, but she grabbed her friend's hand with the other.  "I'm going to hold on to you, make sure you don't go!"

Megan tried to nod, but she couldn't.  "I don't want to go anywhere.  I like it here."

"If what I read about the fountain is right, you'll be transported to your true love, whoever it may be."

"I don't know that I believe that, but it's a nice thought." Megan felt her eyes closing, suddenly her lids were too heavy to keep open.  She felt herself falling out of her chair, incapable of even sitting upright any longer.  It didn't hurt when she landed on the floor.  She could barely feel her limbs.
  She remembered nothing after that.

*****

Tessen wandered around the huge lake near his cabin he'd built in the woods a few years back.  He was a builder, and he created a project on paper, and saw it through to completion.  There were few men who had the skills to do everything he did, and he loved his job.  He needed breaks, though, and his remote cabin was just the answer he looked for.

As he walked, he looked around him, happily part of the natural habitat of that area of Montana.  It was a mountainous region, and he was far from any civilization at all.  He was more apt to run into a bear than he was another human, which thrilled him to no end.

He liked people...sometimes.  He just wished that he could find a life mate.  He had no desire to enter into a homosexual marriage, though, and unless he could come up with a spare four or five trillion dollars, he'd never be able to afford his share of a woman to marry.  He sighed.

He'd just completed a building for four
trillionaires just a few miles from where his cabin was located a month before.  He'd actually created an entire compound, complete with security of every kind.  The woman would be able to move around through underground tunnels to keep her from being kidnapped.  That was always the biggest danger when you got your hands on an honest-to-God breeder, that she'd be kidnapped.  Women were just too rare to be taken for granted.

He kept walking, thinking about how lost he was without someone beside him.  Sure, he had friends and companions, but nothing could ever take the place of having a wife.  Someone to come home to in the evenings.  No, he didn't need
her to cook and clean for him.  He just needed someone to love and cherish.  A woman whose body would bring him solace at the end of the day, and who would bear his children.  Was that too much to ask of the universe?

As he walked, he saw a fountain in the distance.  Who had built that in the middle of his property?  He'd spent most of his fortune buying up all the land around his cabin so he owned the small lake that was on his land, as well as the property completely surrounding it.  Who would go out of their way to build a fancy fountain somewhere they wouldn't have access to? 
And how on earth had they done it without him realizing anyone was on his property?

The fountain was beautiful, and he was immediately intrigued.  He didn't know why it was there, but after a moment it didn't matter why.  It only mattered that it was there.  The fountain seemed to be drawing him to it, whether by its beauty or something else, he simply wasn't certain. 

He walked until he was close enough to actually touch it and ran his hand over the stonework.  As soon as he touched it, he heard a soft female voice saying, "Make a wish!"

He almost jumped back.  He looked around and saw no one there, but he heard the voice again.  "Make a wish."

Tessen frowned.  He knew he was imagining the voice, so it couldn't hurt to make a wish, right?  It's not like anyone would know.  He closed his eyes.  "I wish to discover a lady, someone who will be just for me.  I want her to be a breeder, and love me with everything inside her."  

"Your wish has been granted."  The same voice came to him, and he shuddered.

He opened his eyes and tried not to laugh at himself.  What?  Was he going to stumble on some girl here at the cabin?  How would she even get there?

He continued his walk along the shores of the lake, lost in thought.  He wished he'd brought his fishing pole.  He did his best thinking when he had a fishing pole in his hand, and he loved sitting at his little lake and catching fish.  Sometimes he threw them back, if they were too small, but usually he took them back to the cabin and had Boudreaux, his robot, cook them up for supper.

He walked another twenty minutes before he saw something off in the distance.  What else had been put on his property without his knowledge?  He had huge no trespassing signs posted everywhere along the border.  Couldn't people read?

He was about twenty yards away when he realized what he was seeing.  It was a girl, a young lady really, lying half in and half out of the lake.  Her head was on the grass, but her legs were in the water.  How had she gotten there? 

He ran the last of the way to her, kneeling beside her, his fingers going to the side of her neck to see if there was a pulse.  "Please, let there be a pulse."  Tessen had never in his life wanted anything the way he wanted the lady next to him to be alive and unencumbered.  He held his breath until he found her pulse, beating rapidly, but just as strongly as his own.

He pulled her head onto his lap, leaning over her as he pulled her legs from the water.  She was wearing a soft material that consisted of shorts and a short sleeved shirt.  The two garments matched and had little stars on them. 
Tessen could see her nipples through the thin fabric of the shirt.  "Wake up, lady.  Wake up."  Where could she possibly have come from?  Did he even care?  As long as she was female and of child bearing age, he wanted her.

He had to know the color of her eyes, and whether she would ever awake.  She was precious to him, and he needed to see her and be certain she was free to be his.  Now that he'd seen her, he wasn't certain he could let her go, even if she wasn't free to be his wife. 

Her eyes fluttered open, and she stared up into his face, her hazel eyes filled with confusion.  He smiled down at her, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand.  "I'm Tessen.  I found you unconscious, your bottom half in my lake.  Are you all right?"

Megan stared up at the dark haired man holding her, wondering who he was.  Never in her life had she been looked at so longingly by a man.  She tried to speak, but she found she couldn't move still, and she wondered how long it would take for that to change. 

Tessen stared at her.  "Can't you talk?"

She tried to form a word, but again, her lips wouldn't move.  All she seemed to be able to do was blink.

Tessen watched her blink and devised a plan.  "Blink once for yes, and twice for no.  Can you do that?"

Megan blinked once, thrilled to have a way to communicate with this sexy stranger.  She couldn't feel his hands holding her, but could tell by the angle she was at, she was on his lap, at least half of her was.

"The most important question to me is, 'Are you married?'"

Megan was surprised that was his first question for her, but she said nothing, simply blinking twice.

"Are you in a relationship with someone?"

She blinked twice again. 

Tessen's face transformed with a huge grin.  "Would you mind if I kissed you?" he asked.

Did she mind?  Megan knew the fountain had brought her to him...whoever he was.  Didn't that mean he was her true love?  Should she mind if he kissed her?  She didn't know, but she knew she welcomed his kiss.  She blinked twice, watching his face as he slowly lowered it to hers.
  She knew it was strange to allow it, but she had to know if the fountain had done its job, and he was really the man for her.

Tessen
pressed his lips to hers, his tongue gently tracing her closed mouth.  He didn't know why she was paralyzed, but he certainly hoped it was temporary.  His fingers wound through her hair and he pulled her closer, his tongue entering her mouth to touch hers.

Slowly Megan felt the sensations return as if different parts of her body had been asleep and were waking up.  She gave a gasp of pain as the tingling started in her shoulders.  She wanted to kiss him, but she had to deal with the pain first!

Slowly she brought her hands to his shoulders, and she pushed him away.  "I hurt.  Help me."

His eyes widened in surprise at her voice and he slowly helped her to a sitting position.  "You can talk?"

She nodded.  "It's like my entire body went to sleep, and now it's waking up.  I feel the pins and needles all through my body."

That he understood.  He took her arm and gently rubbed it, trying to help her get rid of the painful sensations.  She used her other arm to work on rubbing her feet.  It took five minutes before she finally sighed.  "That's better."  She looked around her.  "Where am I?"

He frowned.  "You're on my land in the mountains of Montana."

"Montana?  I was in Minnesota just a few minutes ago having breakfast with my roommate."

"Minnesota?  I wasn't aware that there were women in Minnesota.  I thought all the breeders were in Wisconsin."

Megan looked at the man.  What had he said his name was? 
Tessen?  Had he lost his mind?  "Why wouldn't there be women in Minnesota?" she asked, perplexed.  Breeders?  Why would he call a woman a breeder?

He blinked a few times, seemingly stunned
by her question.  "Why wouldn't there be women in Minnesota?  Well, I'm sure there are, but they aren't breeders, like you."  He wasn't assuming she was a breeder either.  He'd always heard that breeders smelled differently from non-breeders, and from what he could tell, it was the absolute truth.  The non-breeder he'd met once had smelled...well, she'd smelled like dead fish.  Like something was dead inside her.  This woman smelled like she had just rolled around in a field of flowers to him.

"Why are you calling me a breeder?  I'm not a dog or a horse!"  What was wrong with him?

He sighed.  "You really don't know, do you?"

"Don't know what?  I've known hundreds of women in Minnesota, and not one of them was any different than me.  What are you talking about?"
  Not one of them would appreciate being called a breeder either. 

He eyed her skeptically, wondering if she was trying to pull a joke on him.  "You think that there are women everywhere in Minnesota?"

"The last census stated that women still outnumber men.  Why wouldn't I think that there are women in Minnesota?"

Tessen
shook his head.  "When you woke up this morning, what was the date?"

"The date?  What kind of question is that?"

"Please, just humor me.  What was the date when you woke up this morning?"

"May ninth, 2014.  What do you think the date
is?"

He studied her for a moment, making a face. "June seventeenth...2315."  It was hard for him to force out the year.  He knew she'd be shocked, and he didn't want her to react too strongly.

Megan swallowed hard.  She hadn't been too shocked to wake up in a different place, knowing that's probably what had happened to Alicia...but a different time?  That was crazy!  "So you're telling me that I'm not only in a different state, but I'm in a different
century
?  How is that possible?"