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Robert and Hel both stiffened. Delilah stared at Em for what seemed like a long time, then—to their mutual shock—she grinned.

“Maybe I will.”

“Fyn and I will come, too,” Sara said. “He can be your ET exhibit.”

“I’m sure you’re joking,” General Halliwell cut in, though he looked anything but, “since every aspect of this situation is
classified.
”

Em did her big-eyed, kicked puppy look. “But General, Olivia’s good name has been maligned.” Her gaze shifted to Carey. “You’d like her name cleared, wouldn’t you, Colonel Carey?”

If he did, a look from the general convinced him otherwise.

“I’m good.” He tugged at his tee shirt neck.

Sara exchanged a look with Delilah, then offered in hopeful distraction, “So I still can’t believe Dr. Smith aka Dr. Faustus was the evil overlord. When I met him, he was just annoying—if I met him? Do we know which version I met?”

“Is he really gone?” Em asked. “Cause we just got rid of his future self, didn’t we? I wonder where he is right now? Is his future the past, or is his past the future?” Her bright gaze traversed the table. “It’s a bit confusing, isn’t it?”

That looked like it gave everyone a headache. Impressive, since most of them had nanites of one kind or another.

Delilah rubbed the spot between her brows. “I can’t decide if I like you or—” She stopped, though it looked like it cost her.

Em smiled. “I get that reaction from most people,” her attention shifted to Robert, “except you. You knew you liked me right away.”

She didn’t say the oh-my-darling out loud, but Robert felt it, heard it in his head.

The red top did wonderful things to her shape, the amazing top part rising and falling in a happy sigh. Her red mouth curved up in a smile that did more damage to his IQ. He had to smile back, and now, after at least eight hours of knowing her—give or take a couple of alternate realities—he knew the smile was real. It came straight from his heart.

“I did. I liked you from the beginning, Em.”

“Maybe we should check on the boys, Hel. That new nanny is a bit lame. Can’t play Wii worth anything.” If Delilah still had issues with Em, the smile Hel gave her probably made her forget.

“You should try
Plants vs Zombies
. It’s so cool. Though you might be more the
Angry Birds
type.”

Robert pulled Em to her feet. “Let’s go walk along the beach and—”

“Snog? I hear this is the place for it.”

Olivia blushed a bit. Sara laughed and so did, thankfully Delilah. Her gaze met his, a question in it, one easy for him to answer with a slight nod. She smiled, leaned against Hel a bit.

A snort came from a new corner of the table. Robert turned to find Briggs regarding them with a look on his square face that landed somewhere between pleased and disgusted. His hands on his hips, until he saw the general, then he came to attention.

“At ease, Briggs.”

“Em, this is Staff Sergeant Briggs retired. He’s attached to the
Doolittle
as a special consultant.”

Em gave him a cheery smile and got a, “Ma’am” in reply, but his attention was mostly on Sara and Delilah, though he scowled when he realized Robert had noticed. They would both get a lecture, so Robert took the opportunity to slip away, as did Carey and Olivia. Outside, they strolled along, sort of together, but drifting apart as the men tried to steer their women toward more privacy.

Olivia looked over at Em. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Babcock.”

“Ditto the pleasure, Miss Carstairs.” She sighed. “I do love happy endings.”

Olivia tipped her head back and smiled at Carey. “I am most happy to concur.”

Em dittoed the tip back and traced Robert’s mouth with a finger. “You’re going to look so hot as a steampunk pirate.”

He didn’t have time to flinch—or panic—because then she kissed him.

* * * *

Hel drew Delilah from the group. While she and Briggs were friends, Sara—and little Miri—were clearly his favorites and it had been a long time since they’d been able to sit and chat. Out in the hallway, he stopped and turned her toward the light, studying her face. His Delilah was most excellent at hiding her feelings from all but him.

“Are you worried about Robert and Emily?”

Delilah half shrugged. “She’s not at all the kind of girl I’d have thought—but she seems to like him and doesn’t seem worried about his past.”

“I think they are almost as well suited as we are.” He hugged her close, felt the tension in her body. “What concerns you then? The machine?”

“I hate to admit it, but I’m worried about the twit. I suppose there’s no reason for her to come back, or think we’d be worried.”

“I too have wondered at her fate,” he admitted. “Wondered where she is. I used to believe that this galaxy was hard to manage, but our job seems easy compared to all of time.”

“Perspective is everything.” She sighed, hugged him, then turned and tugged him in the direction of their quarters. “I just wish we knew if she’d landed somewhere safe. She seemed very alone.”

EPILOGUE

Expect the unexpected.

Ashe felt the stricture, but didn’t know how to do it. She’d expected not to wake up. She hadn’t expected a slow return to a painful consciousness with what felt like a lump of some sort digging into her back.

Almost afraid to find out she was also alone who knew where, she reached out.
Lurch?

A pause then a sense of something unfurling inside her, not unlike how it had felt when Lurch first joined with her.

I seem to be here, too.

At least she had company for whatever came next.

Um, where is here?

I suggest you open your eyes so we can see.

You can’t connect?

There does not seem to be anything to connect to.

That was troubling. What if she was back in Roswell in that bed? She moved one hand, felt…dirt, maybe some twigs. Now that she thought about it, she did seem to hear birds and maybe insects. And…
breathing.
She held her breath and the breathing continued. Rather noisy breathing, now that she thought about it.

You’ll have to look sometime, little one.

As slow as she could, Ashe lifted her lids and found the reason why the breathing had seemed loud. She lay in a circle of people, not people, well, people but of the male variety, all a bit on the rustic side, and all of whom were looking down at her with varying levels of curiosity and surprise. One of them, the youngest looking, jumped a bit when she opened her eyes, and the majority of them took a step back.

“It moves.”

“What is it?”

“I do not know.”

That voice sounded familiar, sort of, and came from the region of her head. She tipped her chin up until she could put a face to the voice. Vidor Shan.
What is his problem? I know he’s seen girls before.

You are wearing the Time Service uniform.

Oh, right.
She thought for a minute.
Crap.

Indeed.

ABOUT AUTHOR PAULINE BAIRD JONES

Pauline Baird Jones is the award-winning author of ten novels of science fiction romance, science fiction romance/steampunk, action-adventure, suspense, romantic suspense and comedy-mystery. She’s written two non-fiction books, Adapting Your Novel for Film and Made-up Mayhem, and she co-wrote  Managing Your Book Writing Business with Jamie Engle. Her seventh novel, Out of Time, an action-adventure romance set in World War II, is an EPPIE 2007 winner. Her eighth novel, The Key won an Independent Book Award Bronze Medal (IPPY) for 2008 and is a 2007 Dream Realm Awards Winner. Girl Gone Nova, her ninth novel, won the EPIC Book Award for 2010, a Single Titles Reviewer’s Choice award and is nominated for a Romantic Times Best Books award. She also has short stories in several anthologies. Originally from Wyoming, she and her family moved from New Orleans to Texas before Katrina. You can read more about her and her books at: www.perilouspauline.com

Other Fabulous Books

by Pauline Baird Jones

Girl Gone Nova

Doc—Delilah Oliver Clementyne’s—orders are simple: do the impossible and do it yesterday. A genius/bad ass, she does the impossible on a regular basis. But this time the impossible is complicated by an imminent war between the Earth expedition to the Garradian Galaxy and the Gadi, an encounter with some wife-hunting aliens, and not one but two bands of time travelers. The only way it could get worse? If the heart she didn’t know she had starts beating for the wrong guy…

The Key

An Air Force pilot—the best of the best to be assigned to this mission—Sara Donovan isn’t afraid to travel far beyond the Milky Way on an assignment that takes her into a galaxy torn apart by a long and bitter warfare between the Dusan and the Gadi. When she accidentally discovers a mysterious, hidden city, it brings her closer to the answers she seeks—about her baffling abilities and her mother’s past.

Out of Time

What happens when a twenty-first century woman on a mission to change the past meets a thoroughly 1940s man trying to stay alive in the hellish skies over war-torn Europe? Melanie “Mel” Morton is an adventure reporter, who lost her grandfather in World War II. Enter Jack Hamilton, sexy octogenarian, genius/scientist and former WWII bomber pilot. What he tells Mel sends her on her craziest adventure yet—straight into the past to save her grandfather’s life—and change Jack’s future, if she doesn’t accidentally end it. All Mel has to do is outmaneuver the entire German army—and not fall in love with Jack. Unfortunately, eluding the German army is the easy part…

Do Wah Diddy Die

Luci Seymour—sexy & free spirited—returns to steamy New Orleans in search of the father she’s never met. She finds murder, mayhem, love and adventure when her timing puts her directly in the sights of an elderly hit couple and a con man’s last scam.

The Spy Who Kissed Me

Isabel “Stan” Stanley’s mother has been hoping a man would fall in Stan’s lap. But when a handsome spy dives through the sunroof of her car in a hail of bullets, Stan’s sure this wasn’t what momma had in mind. Bad guys beware. Stan’s packing a glue gun and she knows how to use it. Sort of.

A Dangerous Dance

His whole career, Remy Mistral has fought for reform in a state where corruption is an art form. Now is his chance to quit talking about reform and make his move to change things, but two things stand in his way. One is a woman, the other a killer.

The Lonesome Lawmen Books:

The Last Enemy

Two men need her. One needs her dead. Romance author, Dani Gwynne is plotting her own survival, working against time, terror and her fear of heights. Deputy US Marshal Matt Kirby is the lawman in charge of finding her—and stopping the hit man hunting her. With the clock ticking on a macabre game of hide and seek, Dani must defeat a killer who won’t stop until he gets what he wants—or destroys them all trying.

Byte Me

Deputy US Marshal, Jake Kirby, is a top tracker who always gets his fugitive. Now he’s hot on the trail of a gang of cyber-thieves with an unusual agenda. That trail takes him to Colorado and a bar managed by the sexy, mysterious Phoebe Mentel. Instant attraction complicates this high tech chess game between two people who don’t know how to lose and are afraid to love.

Missing You

Denver Homicide detective, Luke Kirby is looking for peace and quiet in the mountains above Denver. Instead he finds a beautiful and mysterious woman bringing a storm of trouble for them both. Too bad she can’t remember what, why or who.

Lonesome Mama

Debra Kirby’s boys aren’t lonesome lawmen anymore, and now the long time widow finds herself pining for a bit of adventure and romance in her life. When Donovan Kincaid (introduced in
Missing You
) offers a plane ride to a friend’s wedding, neither expects to run into trouble—and the “Lonesome Mama” gets more than she wished for.

Non-Fiction:

Adapting Your Novel for Film

A nuts and bolts guide to adapting your novel for film.

Managing Your Book Writing Business
(with Jamie Engle)

This helpful handbook outlines basic and important information every author needs to know about the publishing industry and the the “business” of writing.

Made Up Mayhem

A quick and dirty guide to writing the suspense novel.