Crazy For You (2 page)

In anticipation, she held her breath.

“I know because...” He scratched under his ear. “I’m from the future, and I’ve come to stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life.”

She blinked, not believing what she’d heard.
The future?
Without a doubt, he was completely crazy. What was she doing outside in the dark
talking nonsense
with a crazy man? She couldn’t be
that
bored.

For the first time tonight, she couldn’t wait to get back to the party, but he blocked her path. “Listen, Mister –”

“Eli.”

“Okay, Eli. I must admit, you caught my attention with that family warning thing, but now I think you’ve probably got the wrong woman. Besides, I need to get back to my engagement party. I’m sure
Terrel
is looking for me as we speak.”

“Or maybe not.”
He shrugged. “In fact, I think your fiancé is probably the center of attention, surrounded by beautiful women who want to sleep with him, and men who can’t wait to kiss
the ground
Terrel
walks on
.”

She pursed her lips at Eli’s remark. How dare he presume to know more about
Terrel
than she did?
Although he did hit the nail on the head.
He knew her fiancé better than she realized.

“It doesn’t matter. I need to get back.” She glanced over his body, taking in his shabby attire again and cringing. Poor guy needed to be slapped
up side
the head with a fashion stick.

“
Kendra
,” he said, reaching to touch her hand.

Gasping, she pulled back. Her high-heeled shoes caught in between two boards and tipped her off balance. She flayed her hands, hoping to grasp onto something to keep her from falling. Two strong arms caught her before she hit the ground. She clung to his
muscular shoulders
. Dizziness assailed her, and she cursed herself for drinking so much champagne. Either that or it was his
heady
scent of spice that made her lightheaded.

As he pulled her upright
and their bodies touched, t
ingles danced over her skin, making her heart flutter. Good grief! What had just happened?

“
Kendra
,” he said again, his
voice lower
than before. “I
am
from the future, and I can prove it. I can also prove your father is in danger.”

She swallowed hard.
“How?”

After letting go of her, he reached in his baggy jeans’ pocket and pulled out a red and green flashing gadget. “This is what I used to come here.”

Biting her bottom lip, she held in a laugh. “Uh-huh...” Surprisingly he didn’t come in a time machine that looks like a car. “And what exactly is your time?”

“I’ve come from thirty-one years in the future.”

She bit her lip from laughing again. “Really, Mister, do you think I’m going to believe this?”

“
Kendra
, please call me Eli.”

“Fine.
Eli, forgive me, but I’m not buying one word you’re saying.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I thought you of all people would understand. After all, your father did write a book about time-travel.”

“That doesn’t mean I believe in it.” She chuckled. “Besides, that story is fiction.”

Eli shook his head. “You don’t know how wrong you are. That book tells more about the future than any book I’ve ever read. I think your father was inspired to write that.”

Her wobbly legs forced her to sit on
one of Lisa’s many
wooden
bench
es
. An ache started in the base of her skull and she rubbed the tender spot. “Okay, Eli, let’s just say for humor’s sake that you’re from the future. What’s so important you had to come at this time of night to tell me? And how is my father involved?”

“I couldn’t figure out any other way to meet you, and what I have to say is very important. Talking to you alone is the only way I can get your help.”

“Oh, so the truth comes out.” She nodded. “You want my help with something.”

“Yes.”

“Like what?”

During his pause, the full moon hit his gaze as he glanced over her face, then to her hair, and down her dress. Her body tingled with awareness, and she wished it hadn’t. Self-consciously, she crossed her arms over her chest
, hoping he wasn’t looking
there
. When his eyes finally met hers again, he smiled. Why was his grin doing weird things to her stomach?

“My purpose in coming here is to stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life—and in the
process,
I’m saving both of our futures from being destroyed.”

“Go on.”

“
Terrel
isn’t a very good man. He’s greedy, cunning, vindictive, and enjoys ruining people’s lives.
Terrel
will soon create a computer system that literally gives him access to everything he wants in the world. Thirty-one years from now, that man will control everything from the banks, to the airport, to the police department. With one stroke of his finger on the computer’s keyboard, he’ll decide your fate.”

“So my soon-to-be-husband is a computer hacker?”

“Not just any hacker.
Terrel
is the master of all hackers. He knows his way through any computer ever programmed.”

She shook her head. “This is too implausible.”

“Wait, there’s more.”

“Like what?”

“This morning when I left my time to come here, he was devising a plan to take over the nuclear warheads all over the world. He’ll try to take over the world, and in the process, he’ll destroy everything. He’s evil,
Kendra
.
People in my time fear for their lives.
That’s why I’m here.
To stop him.”

A painful twinge began in the back of
Kendra
’s head, working its way up her skull.
Closing her eyes, she
massaged her neck, trying to ease it before it became a full-blown migraine. But Eli’s words echoed through her mind and wouldn’t leave.
Terrel
is corrupt?

“What does my father have to do with any of this?”
she asked, looking at Eli.

He
stepped closer, leaning his hip against the railing. “In my time, he’s trying to stop your husband.
Terrel
has kidnapped him and is torturing him on this very day, thirty-one years into the future.”

Eli reached into his other pocket and withdrew a ring. She squinted to see it better. When she recognized her father’s school ring, she gasped. Besides his wedding band, her father never removed his college ring.

“Where’d you get that?”

“This is what
Terrel
sent to my battalion of men to prove he had your father. Along with it was his…finger.”

She gasped and covered her mouth. Staring at the ring, her mind buzzed with logic...or tried to. But although Eli’s story was so far-fetched, the fact that he had her father’s ring—the ring he’d never taken off—proved something.

He sat beside her and the wooded bench groaned from his weight. As she lifted her gaze to his shadowed face, his pleasant scent enveloped her. When had he gotten so close? Even in the night, she knew his eyes were pleading for help. She scrunched her forehead as the headache grew.

She scooted closer to the edge of the bench. “And what exactly am I suppose
d
to do about all of this?”

“Don’t marry
Terrel
Montgomery.”

She shook her head. “Oh, and everything will change just like that?” She pressed her fingers to her temple. “Let’s just say I don’t marry him—assuming I believe your story.” At seeing his eyes widen, she hurried and continued. “If I don’t marry him, he’ll marry someone else and he’ll still do all those bad things.”

Eli leaned in closer. “But that won’t happen,
Kendra
. With your help, we can take
Terrel
out of the CEO seat and put the rightful president back in.”

“Did you say the rightful president?”

He nodded.

“Are you referring to
Terrel’s
father?
Because if you are, he died five years ago.”

“No, I’m talking about
Terrel’s
older stepbrother, Joshua Montgomery.”

“Once again, Eli, you’re mistaken.
Terrel
doesn’t have an older brother. Not any longer anyway. Joshua Montgomery died after his father passed away.”

Eli shook his head. “Joshua Montgomery is still alive.
Terrel
and his evil mother, Lisa, had Joshua locked in a mental hospital the year after Adam Montgomery’s death. It’s true they told the press that Joshua died, but he’s not dead, I can assure you of that. I can even tell you in what hospital he’s being held prisoner.”

She leaned toward him, narrowing her eyes. “And how do you know that?”

“Because Joshua Montgomery is my father.”

She let out a small laugh and pushed her fingers through her hair, loosening the style she’d spent hours fixing it into earlier this evening. “If Joshua is in a mental hospital, when did he have time to reproduce?”

“I’m the bi-product of a nurse Joshua had an affair with.” He continued, his lips drawn tight. “Although my father was falsely put in a mental hospital and kept sedated, he was still considered a lady’s man.”

Her laughter grew. She stood and walked
to the opening of the gazebo
,
wrapping her hand around the column. Eli followed. All she wanted was for him to leave so this crazy alcohol-induced dream would go away. First Prince Charming, now men from the future... She promised herself right now she would never drink alcohol again!
And she would definitely stop watching time-traveling shows. At least Eli didn’t look like the Terminator. She shivered with disgust from that movie image.

“Oh, Eli, what an imagination you have.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t believe any of this. If you’re seeking help, you’ve come to the wrong person.”

He touched her arm and she met his gaze. In the shadows, his eyes appeared spooky, and
very
hypnotic. With him laying on that electrifying stare, she was certain he could seduce a nun. At the moment, she wanted to be that nun just to see him try. She shook the indecent thought from her mind. What was she thinking? He had no fashion sense at all. His hair didn’t even look combed. She couldn’t find that kind of man attractive.

“No,
Kendra
. I don’t have the wrong person. I know you’ll help me. You’re the only one who can.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re the closest person to
Terrel
.”

“What about his mother?”

“Lisa is as corrupt as her son. I’m not going to ask for her help. She’ll have me committed just like she had my poor father.”

Kendra
leaned against the gazebo frame. “Eli, I’m going to be honest with you. The truth is I don’t want to help. Your story sounds great, and I’m sure my father would love to hear it and perhaps write a book out of it, but I don’t have time for this nonsense. I have more important things to do.”

“What’s more important than trying to get my father out of the mental institution and into the CEO chair where he belongs?
Terr
el
doesn’t deserve that seat. H
e doesn’t even deserve his inheritance.”

She plopped her hands on her hips. “What makes you think that? Of course
Terrel
deserves it. Adam Montgomery was his father, for heaven’s sake.”

A grin came back to Eli’s oh-so-tempting mouth. He folded his arms across his
muscular
chest. She shook
her head, not wanting to look at his muscles—especially his chest. She’d have to touch him…
and his clothes.
Eww
!

“I hate to prove
Terrel
a liar, but he’s not Adam’s legitimate son. When Lisa married Adam twenty years ago, she had a four-year-old son from her first marriage. Lisa legally had
Terrel’s
name changed not too long afterward, which means
Terrel
isn’t Adam’s blood son.”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Her head pounded, the confusion overwhelming her. She placed her hands over her ears. His accusations were plaguing
her own
doubts about
Terrel
. She couldn’t have that. Not when the champagne wouldn’t let her think straight. “You’re slandering my future husband’s name and I won’t stand for it.” She marched down the gazebo stairs and pointed to the front of the house. “Please leave before I call Lisa’s security.”