TimeSlip (4 page)

He raised one blond brow when he saw the fan. How could he
have missed that? His mouth twisted in a grin. Ingrid was full of surprises.

“Don’t you dare grin at me.”

“Stop acting like an idiot then. I’ve told you that I won’t
hurt you. I just want to talk.”

“So talk then.” She glared at him.

“Not when you’re threatening me like that.”

He had to be joking. He had locked her in her bedroom and
invaded her bed and he thought the whole thing was funny. “I’m threatening you?
I’m threatening …”

She made the mistake of going too close to the bed. Strom’s
arm shot out and within seconds she was lying across his chest, staring at the
ceiling.

She struggled furiously in his arms, but he was far too
strong.

“Please don’t stop that.” The voice in her ear was silky
with menace. “It’s really most enjoyable.”

Ingrid lay perfectly still. Already she could feel the
evidence of his enjoyment and she wasn’t inclined to add to it. “So talk,” she
said icily.

“I’m assigned to the Department of Temporal Security. We’re
investigating a group of criminals who are stealing from museums and selling
the artifacts on the black market. Raoul and his people are ruthless. They
don’t care who they kill or who gets hurt. Last month they blew up a
school-transport vehicle with thirty children on board. The ransom had already
been paid.”

Ingrid was sickened. But hold on a moment, surely something
like that would have been all over the news. He was lying to her. What the hell
was he playing at?

“Strom, if that is your name, why hasn’t there been a
mention of that on the news?”

“Because it hasn’t happened yet, it won’t happen for another
five-hundred years.”

The bedside clock ticked noisily in the room for a full
minute. Ingrid didn’t know what to say.
A time-traveling viking—well you
certainly know how to pick them
. It didn’t matter how handsome he was.
Strom was obviously nuttier than a fruitcake.
Congratulations, Ingrid,
you’ve just won first prize in the psycho-boyfriend-of-the-year contest
.

That was it. She was definitely getting out of here. His
grip seemed to have loosened slightly and Ingrid shifted imperceptibly sideways.
Strom’s arms tightened around her again. That was the end of that master plan.
Perhaps she better play along with him for a while.

“So you’re from the future?”

“Yes,” his breath tickled her ear.

“And you’re here to fight international terrorism?”

“Interplanetary terrorism,” he corrected.

Oh great, a space cadet.
“I see.”

“And the others, are they fighting interplanetary terrorism
as well?” She couldn’t resist teasing him. “By the way, the dark one is really
cute.”

Strom growled against her neck, sending a delectable shiver
down her spine.

“Jake is my first officer.”

Lovely, he’d brought his whole crew with him
. “Do you
have a spaceship?”

“Not with me, no.”

Strom gritted his teeth with frustration. Ingrid was making
fun of him and she didn’t believe a word he had told her. It was time for a
demonstration. Perhaps he could show her his implants. Strom released her, and
rolling over, he sat up and unbuttoned his shirt. He tossed the shirt over the
back of a chair and started to open his pants. On second thought, maybe that
wasn’t a good idea. He couldn’t seem to control his body’s reaction to her. He
stood up, and reaching into his back pocket, he produced a small, flat item the
size of a cell phone.

“Do you like the clock, Ingrid? I mean, is it precious to
you?”

Ingrid shook her head. “Not particularly.”

Strom set his weapon on the lowest setting and took careful
aim. The clock glowed red for a moment and then it vanished.

He handed the weapon to her. It was still warm. “This is the
how you turn it on and this is the trigger.”

His hands rested casually on the waistband of his jeans.
Dark sherry eyes stared at her. “Kill me.”

Ingrid stared at the space where the clock had been. Strom
watched her expression as she tried to process everything that he had told
her—the time travel, the interplanetary terrorism, everything. Her fingers
touched the trigger indentation. She couldn’t do it. He took the weapon from
her trembling hand.

“If I asked you one question, would you promise to tell me
the truth?”

Strom nodded.

“Why are you here?”

Up until then, he couldn’t have answered the question, now
he was certain. “I came here tonight to save you.”

“But why?” Ingrid looked bewildered.

“That’s two questions.”

“Please tell me.” Ingrid climbed off the bed. Her hair was tousled
and her robe was partially open, revealing creamy flesh that he longed to
touch. It was too soon for explanations. How do you tell a woman you’d only
known for a couple of hours that she is your wife?

“Ingrid, either kill me or kiss me. I can’t take the
suspense any longer.”

So she kissed him. Not with the desperate hunger she had
shown earlier that evening, but a slow shy caress, slanting her lips against
his in a tender embrace. Strom gripped the waistband of his dark jeans, as he
tried to retain some self-control. Her hands became more daring, sliding along
his shoulders and down his chest before touching the hard muscles of his
abdomen with fluttering caresses. He groaned against her lips and surrendered,
his hands tangled in her hair, holding her close as he possessed her with his
ravenous mouth. The part of him that didn’t want to drag her down onto the bed
finally gained the upper hand and he pulled away.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he said ruefully, reaching
for his shirt.

“Then you shouldn’t have asked me.” But she was smiling and
her mouth was pink and bruised from his kisses.

Her mouth was still tingling when they returned to the
sitting room and Jake gave her a knowing grin. That guy must be telepathic. In
their absence, Jake and Pete had made good inroads into the bottle of liquor
and Pete was polishing off the remnants of the salmon. He looked hopefully at
her.

“The kitchen is that way,” she said. That was a bad mistake
on her part. Within minutes, Pete came back with half the contents of the
fridge and proceeded to demolish it with noisy enthusiasm.

Strom poured her another drink and sat beside her on the
couch. “Tomorrow is going to be bad. We don’t know if Raoul will have the nerve
to turn up at the museum. The police will want to question everyone about the
murder and you mustn’t tell them anything about tonight.”

She didn’t like the bit about Raoul turning up again.
Strom’s arm curved around her shoulders. “Ingrid, you won’t be alone for a
single second. One of us will be with you at all times.”

“What will I tell them about the fakes?”

“Nothing yet. Let us do our job, please, Ingrid.”

“But Raoul will just get away with it,” she protested. “He
killed David.”

Strom’s large hand covered hers. “Ingrid, I promise you that
Raoul will get away with nothing and that you will be safe. Do you trust me?”

Ingrid looked at the large hand resting on hers. It was
strange, but it felt as if it belonged there. She had only known him a few
hours, but she did trust him.

“Yes, I trust you.”

Ingrid glanced at her watch. It was almost one a.m. and she
had to get up in less than six hours. She’d left Strom and the others talking
in the sitting room and went to bed. She couldn’t sleep. This whole thing was
crazy. She had never met anyone like Strom. How could someone turn your life
upside down in a couple of hours?
Get a grip, Sorrenson, he could be gone in
a few days.
It didn’t seem to matter. If the others weren’t outside with
him, she would have gone to Strom and dragged him back to her bed. Now she
could do nothing but lie awake, wondering.

A floorboard creaked outside the bedroom door. Ingrid held
her breath as the doorknob turned and then stopped. She almost called out his
name, but the door stayed resolutely shut. Ingrid tumbled out of bed and opened
it. Outside in the hallway, she caught a glimpse of Strom vanishing into the
darkness of the sitting room. He had wanted to spend the night with her. Why
had he changed his mind?

* * * * *

The curtains were pulled noisily open, letting daylight into
the bedroom. A furious Finn glared at her. He had been partying again. The
dress and the shoes might have looked good on stage, but they were pretty
terrifying in daylight.

“I can’t believe it,” he hissed. “I can’t believe that you
had an orgy last night and you didn’t invite me.”

“Finn, I…” What was he talking about?

“Have you seen it?” He waved the black ostrich fan
accusingly at her.

“Have I seen what, Finn?”

“The sitting room, it’s like a bodybuilding convention.”

“Finn, I did not…”

As if to make a liar out of her, Jake emerged from the
bathroom, a towel slung low around his hips, displaying a toned, muscular
torso. He flashed a wicked smile. “Good morning, Ingrid.”

“Hi, Jake.”

She sighed gratefully when Strom arrived, carrying two cups
of coffee. His hair was damp and the stubble from the previous evening was
gone. He gave Finn a sidelong glance that was tinged with disbelief.

“Mission briefing is at eight a.m.”

“Aye, sir.” Ingrid gave him a cheeky salute.

“Oh please.” Finn threw his hands in the air as he headed
for the door. “Would you mind taking this one away and putting the real Ingrid
back?”

Strom fixed him with an impatient stare. “Ingrid, you need
to speak to your friend.”

She had dressed carefully that morning, a calf-length blue
dress that brought out the color of her eyes. She didn’t usually wear makeup,
or leave her hair down, but Finn had noticed both and teased her mercilessly
when they were out of earshot of the others. Considering that he had missed
most of the excitement of the previous evening, Finn had taken the whole
back-from-the-future thing pretty well. Given her recent dating record, it was
probably the only explanation for three hot guys turning up out of the blue.
But he rejected Strom’s suggestion that he move out of the apartment for a few
days.

Worryingly, there was nothing on the news reports about a
death at the museum and Strom was obviously concerned. “You mustn’t be alone
today, Ingrid. Jake will go to work with you.”

Did Strom think that she walked around with a bodyguard all
the time? “And just how am I going to explain him to my colleagues?”

Jake’s green eyes twinkled with laughter. “I’m your hot
boyfriend from overseas, baby. Just back from a UN mission and I can’t bear to
be parted from you.”

Ingrid giggled at Jake’s leering expression. “I suppose I
could catch up on my paperwork, but you might get bored.”

Jake leered again. “Never, darling.”

Strom stayed furiously silent as he watched them. Sweet
merciful stars, this mission was getting more bizarre by the minute. He never
thought that he was the jealous type, but his feelings at this moment bordered
on the pathological. How had she done this to him? His Ingrid was living with a
man who wore dresses and now she was flirting with Jake.

He cursed his indecision of the previous night. The way she
had kissed him, the feel of her touch against his skin made him ache for her.
Ingrid would have welcomed him into her bed, he was certain of it, but how
could he start something with her that had no future? He wanted her, but if
they became lovers, how could leave her?

He sighed again as Ingrid brushed a tangled curl away from
her face. She looked beautiful in the blue dress. They hadn’t had a moment
alone together since they got up. Now she was flirting with Jake, the biggest
womanizer in six galaxies. They were going to spend the day together while he
and Pete tried to track down Raoul. He should have made Pete the boyfriend.

There was no good news from the DTS either. Their
intervention last night hadn’t been enough to save her. According to the geeks
at temporal central, Ingrid had still been murdered by Raoul in 2011. They had
to find him as soon as possible.

Chapter Four

Jake was a very good boyfriend. Good-looking, attentive,
charming and romantic, and this before nine a.m. At least his jokes distracted
her, but it didn’t take her mind off the viking. She couldn’t understand his
behavior. Not a kiss, not a single touch from him this morning and he had
practically glared at her over breakfast. It was as if he had forgotten all
about last night. Maybe she could ask Jake.
How pathetic, Sorrenson, mooning
after Strom like a lovesick teenager
.

Ingrid’s heart began to pound as she approached the entrance
to the museum. Everything was far too normal. Dan waved to her as usual from
the security desk and there was no sign of any police activity. A small,
handwritten sign in the entrance hall announced that the Red Elk exhibit was
closed for maintenance, otherwise nothing. It was as if she had dreamt the
whole thing.

Jake eyed the security cameras in the lobby, wondering if
Raoul had the nerve to return to the museum and if he was watching them. There
was one way to find out.

“It’s showtime, baby.”

He bent his head and kissed her tenderly. “Strom will kill
me for that.”

Ingrid flicked her hair nervously. “Why?”

“Because the big guy has it bad for you, I’ve never seen him
act like this before.”

“Oh, Jake.” Her eyes filled with tears. Strom did care for
her, so why was he keeping his distance?

“Hey, don’t do that.” Jake fumbled in his pocket for a tissue.
“You’ll look like Finn with that black stuff all over your face.”

The doors of the elevator opened and the director of HR came
to greet her. Ingrid reached for Jake’s hand: here comes the bad news. They
must have found David’s body. “I’m sorry, Ingrid, but we had a break-in last
night. The offices on the second floor were disturbed. Can you check and see if
anything is missing?”