Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (152 page)

Then, she looked again, just to make
sure.

But there was absolutely nothing lurking in
the deep gold of his eyes.

It couldn’t be. Lilith’s heart pounded. She
looked one last time into Mitch’s eyes, studied him carefully, then
took a slow step backward.

Something wasn’t right.

“
There’s nothing there,”
she admitted softly.

“
See?” Mitch shrugged, his
manner less triumphant than Lilith might have expected.

She didn’t know what else to say, didn’t
know what to do other than watch him go.

But Mitch paused on the front threshold,
suddenly very still. His head was bowed and he didn’t look back.
“Lilith, I’d like you to tell Andrea not to go on the cruise.”

Lilith was appalled by the very suggestion.
“Mitch, I can’t do that! She’ll miss a chance for love. Don’t you
want her to be happy?”

His lips tightened as he turned to confront
her. “Of course I do.” His eyes glittered. “And I don’t want anyone
taking advantage of her. That’s why I’m here.”

Their gazes held for a charged moment and
Lilith saw that she hadn’t come close to convincing him of
anything. She didn’t know how to change his mind.

She didn’t know how to make him
remember.

Lilith felt suddenly very small and very
alone. She folded her arms round herself and held her ground. “I’m
not taking advantage of her.”

“
A very wise choice,” Mitch
murmured.

And with that, he was gone.

Lilith looked down at the invitations
scattered on the counter and shook her head in bewilderment. Why
couldn’t Mitch just believe in love, like everyone else did?

Why wasn’t there any portent of love in his
eyes?

A lump rose in Lilith’s throat at the
prospect of Mitch not even having a true love. She’d never seen
anything like that before. How could it be so?

Andrea’s earlier assertions rang in Lilith’s
ears once more. She stared unseeingly at the invitations with their
gold script and pearly roses, promised of fidelity and eternal
love. Mitch had had these once: he must have believed once that he
would be as happy as these couples were destined to be.

Lilith wondered what kind of a woman could
destroy those idealist convictions so very quickly. She wondered
what kind of woman would leave two little children alone.

Lilith had a feeling it was the same kind of
woman who could steal a man’s heart away and leave a cold hollow in
its place. Obviously, Mitch didn’t believe in love because he had
loved his wife, and she had treated him badly.

Meeting her true love again wasn’t working
out the way Lilith had imagined it. Lilith sighed and fingered the
cards, noticing only now that her hands were shaking. She had never
anticipated that finding Sebastian again would prove to be so
difficult. Lilith wasn’t one to give up easily.

She’d think of something.

Maybe Mitch would change his mind when
Andrea found her love on the cruise. Maybe time would melt the
frost around his heart. Maybe then, something would change in his
eyes.

Maybe.

Or maybe not. Lilith’s fingers trembled.
Because either way, one thing couldn’t be denied.

Lilith Romano was not lurking in Mitch
Davison’s eyes. And even knowing that the decisions of every
passing moment affected the course of the future didn’t make that
news less troubling.

Not in the least.

*

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

But then, that seemed to be becoming Mitch’s
theme song. He wasn’t supposed to prove his instincts right and
then feel like garbage. But he had and he did.

Mitch wasn’t supposed to charge into battle
to defend someone he cared about, win the battle, then wish he’d
lost. He wasn’t supposed to forget every logical thought in his
mind when he looked into his neighbor’s dark eyes, especially when
he knew all sorts of suspicious things about her.

But he had.

At least, he didn’t have to like it.

Mitch ate cold chicken stir-fry with stoic
resolve and ignored Andrea’s worried frown. He smiled at Jen’s
nonsensical stories and answered Jason’s endless questions about
how everything worked, but Mitch’s heart wasn’t really in it.

His heart was still next door.

He wasn’t supposed to have lost control
again. He wasn’t supposed to have kissed Lilith as though his life
defended on it. She wasn’t supposed to taste so good. She wasn’t
supposed to be the most attractive and delightful woman he’d ever
met. She wasn’t supposed to make him want to believe all sorts of
wacky nonsense.

She wasn’t supposed to tangle him up inside
and make him feel as though he was sliding into quicksand, with no
chance of resisting her charms.

He wasn’t supposed to wonder why he was
resisting at all. His hormones were supposed to be in cold storage,
not running the show.

They certainly shouldn’t have been
interfering with his thinking, much less his ability to get the job
done. Mitch’s gut told him that Lilith was a fraud, his mind told
him there was something fishy about the business next door, but his
heart – and heart that hadn’t had much to say for a good long time
– told him to get his sorry butt back next door and apologize to
the lady.

Because his heart had never been a very
trustworthy judge of anything, Mitch decided to sleep on its
advice.

And double-check those files in the morning.
Mitch was going to get to the bottom of this, and Lilith’s allure
wasn’t going to shake a seasoned reporter like him off the
trail.

It sounded like a good strategy, but Mitch’s
heart – in league with his hormones – kept him awake all night long
in the sticky August heat. It was as though, having finally found
its voice, his heart intended to be heard.

Or that it intended to make Mitch realize
that in his concern for right and wrong, he’d just made a big
mistake.

*

Lilith didn’t imagine the flash of bright
blue in her garden Tuesday morning. She groaned silently and pulled
open the kitchen door, half expecting to find one of Those Men in
her yard, trying to peep through the window.

But it was Jason who spun guiltily at the
sound of the door opening. He was wearing a bright blue t-shirt. He
clasped his hands behind his back and bit his lip, clearly certain
he’d been caught at some crime. He was more fait than Mitch, though
he had his father’s eyes. He would be a handsome boy when he grew
up, Lilith acknowledged.

“
Well, hello,” she
said.

“
I was looking for Ralph,”
the boy admitted hopefully.

Lilith smiled. “I didn’t see him yesterday
because I was out, but maybe he’ll come today. He usually comes in
the morning.”

The little boy’s eyes lit up. “Like right
now?”

“
Pretty much.” She smiled
as he scanned the garden anxiously. “Does your nana know you’re
here?”

Jason shook his head. “She thinks I’m
playing in our yard.” He grimaced comically. “But you have better
bugs.”

“
Well, I don’t mind you
coming to see them, as long as everyone at your house knows where
you are.” Lilith indicated the gate. “Go tell your nana, then let’s
see if we can find Balthasar.”

“
Who’s
Balthasar?”

“
The praying mantis. He
likes it around the compost for some reason. He’ll sit on your
finger if you’re still because he likes how warm it is.”

“
Cool!”

And the little boy ran for the gate as fast
as his legs could carry him. Lilith smiled, more than looking
forward to sharing her knowledge of her garden.

Especially with such a curious pupil.

*

In the end, Ralph did come, delighting Jason
once more as he sipped nectar from a flower the boy held. Balthasar
sat on Jason’s finger for an eternity, before finally bounding
away. They explored the toad’s favorite hiding places and found him
lurking in a damp back corner.

Lilith invited Jason to give the toad a name
and, inexplicably, the toad became Millie.

It was a wonderful morning. They laughed
together and watched dragonflies and bumblebees. They tied the tops
of the hollyhocks together and made a teepee which seemed to have
flowers for walls. Monarch butterflies came when the phlox released
their heady perfume in the late morning and Jason watched wide-eyed
as they sipped nectar in their turn.

When Andrea called for lunch, Jason folded
his hands in front of himself and stood before Lilith. Lilith bit
back her smile as he politely and formally thanked her for letting
him see her garden and her bugs. He looked like a miniature version
of Mitch, solemnly doing what he knew was right.

Abruptly, Jason was five years old again,
running for the gate and calling for his nana, all boundless
enthusiasm, dirty fingers and scraped knees.

Lilith watched him go, thinking all the
while that Mitch was a very, very lucky man. Her doorbell rang and
she reluctantly abandoned her sunny garden.

It was Andrea, bouncing Jen on her hip.

“
Oh, Jason just went home,
around the back.”

“
He’ll be fine for a
moment.” The older woman glanced quickly toward Mitch’s house.
“That’s not exactly why I’m here. I’m sorry to bother you, dear, I
know you’re busy, but I was wondering whether you could do me a
little favor.”

“
Certainly.”

Andrea grinned. “Don’t agree too quickly,
Lilith! I’m usually the one to leap before I look.”

Lilith smiled in turn, then sobered at
Andrea’s next words.

“
It’s about the cruise. I
forgot that I promised to watch the children on the weekend that’s
right in the middle. Mitch is going to a conference and if I don’t
find someone else, then I’ll have to cancel.”

Oh.

Lilith looked at Jen. The little girl smiled
tentatively, just as D’Artagnan wound his way out to the porch.

Her shyness was immediately banished.

“
Kitty!” Jen squealed.
“Nana! I want to pet the kitty!”

She squirmed and reached out. Lilith winced,
expecting nothing good from her cranky live-in companion. The cat
stiffened predictably, but then haughtily sniffed the little girl’s
outstretched hand. Lilith prepared to intervene, but he sat back on
his haunches, like a king prepared to receive his subjects.

He gave Jen a look that Lilith called the
Ol’ Fish Eye, which was the closest he came to tolerance of humans,
and Lilith breathed a sigh of relief.

“
It’s okay,” she confirmed,
then lowered her voice to Jen as if confiding a secret. “Pet him
behind his ears. He likes that.”

Jen edged closer, her eyes shining. The cat
visibly braced himself, but the little girl was surprisingly gentle
when she reached out her hand. D’Artagnan averted his gaze as
though unaware of her presence, though his ears moved tellingly.
She patted him carefully, hitting his special spot, and the cat
leaned into her touch as though powerless to do anything else.

And he purred.

Jen was enchanted. She hunkered down to
lavish attention upon the cat, whispering little stories to him as
he purred like an outboard motor.

Andrea smiled, then leaned closer. “Lilith,
you’re the only one who understands how important this trip is. I
couldn’t help noticing how good you were with Jason this morning.
Do you think you might be able to manage the children for those few
days?”

Watch Mitch’s children? After their last
encounter, Lilith couldn’t imagine that he’d take well to the
idea.

But on the other hand, the only way for
Lilith to get herself into Mitch’s eyes where she rightly belonged
was to work her way into his life. Things had to be set to rights
and Lilith knew she was the woman for the job.

After all, she and Mitch were destined to be
together. Fortunately, Lilith wasn’t one to be shy about taking
chances. And winning her own true love back again was a prize well
worth putting herself on the line. She was going to make Mitch
remember and acknowledge their entwined destiny if it was the last
thing she did.

Love, after all, was worth fighting for.

But before she spoke, Lilith’s gaze fell on
the little girl. She remembered Jen’s upset of the other morning
and her aversion to change. “Andrea, I don’t even know Jen…”

Andrea waved dismissively. “It’s not for
almost three weeks!”

Lilith dropped her voice. “Doesn’t she get
frightened when she’s alone?”

“
Sometimes, but Lilith,
I’ll make sure they both get to know you well enough that there
won’t be any problems. And she’ll be settled into the house by
then. Please?” She smiled. “So the course of true love can run
smooth?”

Lilith looked at Jen and considered. She
just couldn’t say no. She couldn’t make Andrea miss this cruise.
Lilith knew how happy this new love was going to make Andrea.

And if Andrea thought there was time for
both children to get used to her, she must be right.

Mitch would come around.

“
I’ll do it.”

“
Thank you! You won’t
regret this, dear!” Andrea squeezed Lilith’s hand, then kissed her
suddenly on the cheek. Then she straightened and offered her
granddaughter a hand. “Come on, Jen. Jason is waiting for his
lunch.”

The little girl shook her head. “I’ll stay
with the kitty.”

It was as good a time as any to start
forging familiarity.

Lilith squatted down beside Jen and
scratched D’Artagnan’s ears too, well aware that Jen watched her.
“His name is D’Artagnan,” she confided quietly, immensely relieved
that the cat tolerated this attention. “And you can come to see him
anytime you like.”

“
Dartaggin.” Jen smiled and
Lilith didn’t have the heart to correct her. The cat looked mildly
insulted by this variant of his name. “Nana! I can come pet the
kitty!”