Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (151 page)

“
You’re the one who came
bearing romantic gifts,” she felt compelled to observe.

But Mitch jabbed a finger toward the debris
on the porch. “That stuff isn’t from me, so don’t go leaping to
conclusions. I didn’t come to bring it either.” Lilith watched him,
mystified as to what was his problem. He certainly was wound up.
“It’s from
them
, so your gratitude is misplaced.”

Lilith looked to find that the army of men
camped out in front of her house had grown. She winced. “Oh, no. I
was hoping they were gone.”

“
Well, they’re not.” Mitch
sounded quite disgruntled about the whole thing, and rightly so, to
Lilith’s way of thinking. “And they made me into their official
envoy since I was coming here anyway.”

Lilith felt her lips quirk at this
admission. Suddenly everything made perfect sense. Trust Mitch to
be worried about only taking credit where it was due! So, he had
remembered and come to tell her so, but he didn’t want her
misunderstanding the source of these gifts. Her certainly had
developed some noble traits in his character over the
centuries.

She tried not to tease him, but she couldn’t
resist. He was so serious about doing the Right Thing.

“
And you only accept kisses
that you think you’ve earned?” Lilith heard the laughter lurking in
her voice, but Mitch didn’t smile. Lilith was undeterred. “So, do I
have to wait until you bring me something to give you another
kiss?” She playfully ran a fingertip up his bare forearm. “Or
should we think of some other ways for you to earn a
kiss?”

This time her lips brushed against his
before Mitch caught his breath and took another step away.

“
You’ve got to stop doing
that!”

“
Why?”

“
Well, just because.” Mitch
lifted a hand as though he would wipe away her kiss, but his
fingers lingered against his lips. Lilith liked when he looked
disheveled, surprised and slightly uncertain of himself. It was
very sexy to know that she could rattle this man’s cage.

Because he definitely rattled hers.

Mitch’s gaze slid to meet Lilith’s, then his
eyes narrowed. “”Do you do that to everybody who comes to your
door?”

Lilith laughed. “So, that was what was
bothering him! “No, of course not.” She wrinkled her nose. “Just
you.” She walked her fingers up his chest and smiled at him. “I
only have one absolutely perfect soulmate, after all.”

Mitch’s eyes flashed golden, a markedly good
sign to Lilith’s way of thinking, before he cleared his throat. She
leaned closer, but he gripped her shoulders and stared into her
eyes. “I don’t really think we’re talking about the same thing
here,” he began, but Lilith wasn’t interested in any further
disclaimer.

This was silly. Mitch had remembered and
that was no small thing. It called for a celebration! And Lilith
was more than ready to get down to the business of celebrating.

Their future could begin right now.

“
The reason I came…” Mitch
would have continued but Lilith landed a fingertip firmly against
his lips. He swallowed and stared at her, as though he was helpless
to step away.

“
Enough talk,” Lilith
whispered. “This calls for a celebration and I can think of the
perfect one.” Mitch’s eyes flashed as Lilith pressed herself
against him. She replaced her fingertip with her lips and felt
Mitch shiver right to the core.

Oh, yes, they could try out every single
room in the house tonight. Their reunion was a little later than
she had expected, but better late than never. Lilith’s heart sang.
Mitch was so much more than she remembered him being as Sebastian.
Now that he had remembered, well, Lilith wanted to share everything
that had happened in the many years they’d been apart. She lifter
her lips from his and felt his heartbeat under her fingertips.

It was racing just as fast as her own.

“
We just have to talk,” she
assured him with a slow smile.

But Mitch took a deep breath, gripped her
shoulders and set her an arm’s length away from himself. The
distance he had put between them seemed to restore his
solemnity.

“
Oh, yeah,” he said grimly.
“We sure do.”

“
No doubt he had lots of
things to share with her, too. Lilith danced down the hall to the
kitchen and beckoned to Mitch.

“
Let’s have a glass of wine
and toast the moment first.” Lilith snatched up a bottle of
Valpolicella and twisted the corkscrew into the cork. She’d waited
so long for this! “The celebrating could take all
night.”

“
Funny,” Mitch commented,
his footsteps falling heavily in the hall behind her. “I don’t
think it’s going to take very long at all.”

There was a resolve lurking in his tone that
made Lilith pause in the act of tugging out the cork. For a man who
had just found his one true love, Mitch didn’t sound very
excited.

Something wasn’t right.

Lilith pivoted and studied Mitch for a long
moment, noticing only now the tightness of his lips and the
determination in every line of his figure.

Her heart fluttered. He looked very male
amidst the bright cheerfulness of her kitchen, maybe because men
seldom entered it.

And, Lilith realized, Mitch looked very
annoyed.

But that wasn’t how he should be looking
right now.

What was going on? Lilith bit her lip. Mitch
certainly didn’t look smitten, or even very pleased to be welcomed
into the haven of her kitchen. Belatedly, she realized that he had
said that he didn’t think they were talking about the same
thing.

Uh oh.

Lilith cleared her throat. “What exactly is
going on?”

Mitch’s brows rose and he folded his arms
across his chest, the move making him fill her doorframe. “That
would be my question.” He cocked a brow. “What in the hell are you
trying to pull?”

Lilith felt suddenly that the conversation
had taken a sharp left without signaling. She looked down at the
bottle of wine and knew he wasn’t referring to the cork. In fact,
she had a funny feeling that there might not be anything to
celebrate after all.

Lilith put the bottle deliberately back on
the counter and straightened. She tried to keep her disappointment
out of her voice. “Are you saying that you don’t remember being
Sebastian, being with me? Isn’t that why you’re here?”

Mitch regarded her for a long moment, and
when he answered, his tone had turned gentle. “I don’t remember
that, Lilith. I’ve told you before, we’ve never met.”

Lilith spun and put the length of the
kitchen between them, unable to halt the unruly tide of emotion
within her. Only in the face of disappointment did she realize how
much she had been hoping…

But that didn’t matter. Mitch didn’t
remember.

Which left the question of why he had
come.

Lilith took a deep breath and spun to face
him again. He hadn’t moved, although his gaze was locked upon her.
His eyes glowed, the way old amber did in sunlight, and Lilith was
certain that she was the complete focus of his attention. “Then why
did you come here tonight?”

“
I want to know who you
are.”

“
But you know that
already!”

“
Nope. Mitch shook his
head. “I know what you told me, but other than that, there’s no
hint that you even exist.”

Lilith frowned, not understanding this
assertion at all. “Of course I exist. I’m standing right here.”

Mitch’s brows rose and fell. “Correction:
there’s no sign that anyone named Lilith Romano exists. No birth
record, no immigration record, no marriage record, no telephone
bill or bank accounts.” Mitch surveyed her, his eyes bright with
intelligence. “Where did you come from, Lilith? Who are you,
really
?”

Lilith had been very careful over the years
to make sure she didn’t arouse any suspicion wherever she lived.
She was never going to be chased out of a village again for being
different – and immortals were fundamentally different from
everyone else.

It wasn’t very reassuring to find doubt
glistening in the eyes of her beloved. She had a definite sense
that mysteries didn’t survive long once they’d attracted Mitch’s
attention.

Lilith took an unwilling step backwards,
fear rising once more in her chest. She fought to keep her voice
level, even as her heart pounded in recollection of running from
gadje
flames.

“
I’m Lilith Romano,” she
said, her words falling in haste. “I don’t have a bank account
because I don’t want one. Same for the phone. I don’t know what
those other records even are.”

Mitch shook his head. “That can’t be the
truth.”

“
Of course it
is!”

“
You must have spent a lot
of money becoming invisible, Lilith,” Mitch explained, his voice
low with conviction. “It wouldn’t matter, except that I want to
know who’s sending my stepmother on a specific cruise. Mostly I
want to know why.”

“
Why?” Lilith frowned. “But
you know that Andrea’s going on that cruise to meet her one true
love.”

Mitch settled into the doorframe, looking
markedly less certain of that. His gaze was relentlessly steady.
“Understand that I don’t want her to be disappointed.”

Lilith’s confusion melted away at this sign
of Mitch’s concern. He was being protective of Andrea, a regular
old bear, just as that woman had said he would be. He really did
take responsibility for everyone around him.

Lilith smiled in mingled relief and
admiration. “But you don’t need to worry about this, Mitch. She’s
going to meet the man of her dreams and be perfectly happy.”

“
Lilith, that doesn’t make
any sense.” Mitch didn’t look reassured. “How could you possibly
know such a thing?”

“
I do tell fortunes for a
living, you know.”

“
And I sniff out swindles
for mine.”

Lilith’s smile disappeared with a snap. She
bounded across the kitchen in her indignation. No one, but
no
one
, insulted the merit of her Gift. It was real!

“
I’m not swindling anyone!
How could you even think such a thing?”

“
Lilith, how could I think
otherwise? Nothing else makes sense. No one can read the
future…”

“
I can read the future!”
Lilith poked herself in the chest. “I have a precious Gift! And I
told Andrea what I saw in her future.”

Mitch didn’t even blink. “How could you know
such a thing?”

“
She brought it with her.
It’s right there in her eyes for anyone who cares to
look.”

“
Right.” Mitch’s skepticism
was clear. “Isn’t it odd that you’re the only one who can see it
there? Come on, Lilith, tell me the truth.”

“
I am telling the truth!
Look at this!” Lilith snatched up dozens of wedding invitations
when Mitch looked unimpressed – the haul of the previous week – and
tossed them at him. “I send people to meet their one true love all
the time. It’s what I do!”

Mitch caught the cards, then turned them
over in his hands, no doubt reading all the grateful messages
scrawled inside. He read them, one after the other, and his
expression grew more drawn.

Lilith had hoped to persuade him, but
instead she saw a sadness dawn in his eyes. When Mitch eventually
spoke, his words came low and flat, as though he was disappointed
in her. “You really fool them, don’t you?” He glanced up suddenly
and Lilith was shaken by the disillusionment she saw in his eyes.
“I was hoping that you’d prove me wrong, Lilith.”

“
You are wrong!”

Mitch shook his head and fingered the cards.
“You really get them hooked. How long until your associated pull
the rug out from under your starstruck victims?”

“
Mitch!” Lilith gasped.
“They’re not victims! They’re
happy
!”

Mitch grimaced and handed her back the
cards. “For how long?”

“
Forever. Love is
forever.”

“
Read that book and saw
that movie.” Mitch shook his head and looked away. “That wasn’t the
ending I recall.”

An awkward silence descended in the kitchen
and Lilith wished she knew what had happened in his marriage to so
disillusion him.

“
I help people,” she
maintained quietly, not knowing how to persuade him of her good
intentions if he couldn’t believe in her Gift. “I really
do.”

Mitch smiled wryly and heaved a sigh. “I
guess I’m wasting everyone’s time here.” He turned to leave,
obviously thinking little good of Lilith.

She shouldn’t have been surprised. The
Emperor only believed in the tangible, after all.

Lilith felt sick.

“
No, Mitch, wait. Please,
let me try to explain.” Lilith had to try one last time. “I can
look into people’s eyes and see their one true love. I can tell
them where to find their soulmate. It’s not logical, it’s not
sensible, but it’s what I do. I can’t even explain it myself. It’s
the Gift that was entrusted to me. It’s my responsibility to use
it.”

Mitch paused in her hallway and glanced over
his shoulder. He must have seen something that persuaded him to
give her another chance, because he suddenly pivoted.

“
All right.” Mitch braced
his hands on his hips. Lilith instinctively distrusted the
challenge she heard in his tone. “Prove it. Go ahead and look. Tell
me where to find my own true love.”

It was a brilliant idea. This would convince
him! Lilith immediately looked into Mitch’s eyes. She looked
hard.