Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (107 page)

Niall caressed the indent of each rib, he
flattened his hand to slide his palm across her belly, he gripped
the curve of her hip possessively. His other hand slipped beneath
her, lifting her breast to his hunger as he feasted upon her. He
gently grazed his teeth across that nipple, then laved his
attention upon its partner, his every touch making Viviane
writhe.

He trailed kisses up the length of Viviane’s
throat, he kissed the wild pulse visible beneath the creamy
perfection of her flesh. He kissed those moles, drawing a line
between them with his tongue and blowing softly upon it, making her
shiver with delight. Viviane locked her arms around his neck and
pulled him closer, her kiss filled with all the urgency that Niall
felt.

His tongue slipped between her teeth, he
swallowed her sigh, his fingers dipped into the slick mystery
between her thighs. He cupped her head in his hand and kissed her
thoroughly as his fingers coaxed her response. He watched the flush
rise over her flesh, the glitter of desire dawn in her eyes.
Viviane twisted beneath his touch, but he granted her no escape,
teasing her, drawing her further, urging her to the heights.

And when she cried out, her fingers
clutching him, Niall swallowed the sound of her release greedily
and held her while she trembled in its wake. She whispered
something he did not catch, then her lashes fluttered to her cheeks
again. She sighed and cuddled closer to him, a smile of contentment
curving her lips as her breathing deepened.

Yet again, she slept against him, her legs
entangled with his, her trust in him complete. A nigh unbearable
sweetness flooded through Niall before practicality checked its
course.

Indeed, his bile rose that the lady should
have judged his intent so wrong. He was a knave of the lowest order
to have fed her illusion. He was a liar and a thief, for ’twould be
Niall who stole this woman’s life and freedom away from her.

He felt suddenly dirty, unworthy of
sheltering her sweetness against his chest.

Niall rolled abruptly from the bed and put
the width of the room between them. He shoved a hand through his
hair and scowled, then turned back in time to see Viviane settle
into the warm hollow he had left. His heart contracted painfully
and he could not stop himself from stepping closer, if only to gaze
upon her.

The cursed moonstone glinted at him as he
drew near, rising and falling on the lady’s breast as she dozed, a
tangible reminder of his pledge. Niall knew what he should do, just
as he knew that in this moment, he could not do it.

One fall had indeed made him soft.

Niall swore under his breath, spun and
snatched up the red shirt of Kissing Derek. He hauled it over his
head and made impatiently for the door.

’
Twas just the call of
nature clouding his thoughts. Aye, that was the way of it. He had
need of a garderobe, ’twas no more than that.

Then
Niall would keep his word.

*

Barb plugged in the kettle, chose Lemon
Zinger from her array of herbal teas and yawned mightily as she
waited for the water to boil. She leaned one hip against the
counter and rubbed her eyes sleepily. Another day, another
dollar.

Another day older and deeper in debt, more
like it.

Her laugh was more of a snort. She wasn’t
going to think about Payables so early in the morning when they’d
kept her up half the night already. She deliberately went to the
window, trying to let the gentle sprinkle of the morning rain calm
her with its soothing echo on the roof.

Barb loved the patter of falling water. She
closed her eyes and listened to the rain hitting the glass, feeling
as though the sound alone could ease all the kinks out of her neck
and straighten out all the tangles in her thoughts.

One of these days, she really had to get
that garden planted. Barb could see it in her mind’s eye, her
imagination helped by the pages of the horticulture magazines she
dutifully earmarked and piled on her nightstand. There would be a
little fountain splashing into a pond ringed by irises and lilies.
The garden would be filled with private shadows, a world apart from
everything else. It would be Barb’s own haven to retreat from the
world, close her eyes and listen to the splash of water.

One of these days, she would work less and
play more.

But not anytime soon. Barb heaved a sigh and
admitted that planting a single Siberian Iris hadn’t been much of a
start or an inspiration. It was probably a bad omen that the
reputably tough plant had shown itself discontent with Barb’s
garden.

The withered little thing couldn’t be said
to be thriving.

Barb looked ruefully in the direction of the
little cluster of iris leaves, hoping that the plant had made a
miraculous recovery in the face of adversity. That was something
she was going to have to do with the shop and she could use a
mascot.

But the plant wasn’t any better. And how
could it be? There was a great big blond guy peeing on it!

Barb was out the door in a flash, scooping
up a loose sneaker on her way. “Hey!” she bellowed, not caring
about he early hour or the sleeping habits of her neighbors. “Hey,
you! What do you think you’re doing?”

The man seemed intent on finishing what he
had begun. His head moved slightly, but he didn’t turn, the yellow
stream running unrestrained on the defenseless iris.

Well, it wasn’t completely defenseless. Barb
chucked her shoe at the guy’s head and hit him squarely in the back
of the neck. He jumped in a most satisfactory manner and the stream
was momentarily dammed.

Ha! Barb bunched up her bathrobe in both
hands and marched across the wet grass to do battle.

“
Who the hell do you think
you are?” she raged. “It’s bad enough that I have to pick up after
everyone’s cats, but I will not tolerate human waste in my
garden!”

The man turned, his manner that of a monarch
acknowledging the lowest serf of his realm. He glanced skeptically
across the weed-infested stretch of greenery that some –
specifically Barb – generously called a lawn.

“
Nay, this can be no
garden,” he said evenly.

Barb’s eyes widened when she saw that he was
only wearing a T-shirt. She didn’t want to look, but it was hard
not to notice exactly where the hem ended.

And what was right below.

Even looking past
that
didn’t help
when the guy had the legs of a gladiator. He propped his hands on
his hips, his move mercifully driving Barb’s gaze upward, and she
felt relieved only when she met the keen green of his eyes.

There was a hunk pissing in her yard.

Barb felt suddenly very withered. It had
been a while since she had had – or even wanted – a man in her bed,
but the sight of pure beefcake half-naked, up close and personal,
awakened a few forgotten urges.

Unwelcome urges, to boot.

Barb folded her arms across her chest and
glared at the intruder, doing her best impression of a woman
unaffected by his actor looks. “It
is
a garden. It’s my
garden and you’re pissing on the only flower in it.”

He looked back at the iris, which didn’t
make much of a proud showing. “
This
would be a flower you
hold in esteem?” he asked with a point of one finger.

Barb lifted her chin and changed tacks,
figuring that a good offense was better than a poor defense.
“Haven’t you ever heard of a toilet? Or are you one of those
biker-hiker kids who crashed drunk on the beach?”

He didn’t look like much of a kid, but then,
lots of men never passed the intellectual age of two.

Barb glanced at those legs again without
intending to do so.

But most got stuck at sixteen.

She shook a finger at him. “If you think you
can sleep outside, then come hang around her, using my garden as a
toilet, then hoping for a meal like all those other eco-tourist
bums, you’ve got another think coming.”

“
I did not slumber
outside.” His gaze strayed to the second story of the house – the
room over the shop – and Barb suddenly had a very good idea where
he had crashed.

The accent should have given her a clue.

“
Don’t tell me.” She held
up a hand. “You’re a friend of Viviane’s.”

His gaze met hers once again. “’Twas Viviane
who welcomed me to her bed last eve.”

Oh boy. That was more information than she
needed.

“
Well, there’s a toilet up
there and I’d appreciate your using it,” Barb snapped. “However
long you’re staying.” She turned and strode back to the door,
glancing back to find that he had picked up her shoe. He was
looking at it as though it was an enchanted slipper or something,
instead of just a plain worn red Ked. “And you can tell Viviane
that the rent’s for one, not two. If you’re staying, then we’ll
have to talk.”

His expression turned grim. “That should not
be a consideration. I do not intend to linger long.”

Well, wasn’t that typical? They really were
all the same. Barb contented herself with a shrug and retreated to
her chaste kitchen where the kettle was whistling merrily away.

For the first time since she had bought this
place, the floral wallpaper border annoyed her. It made the room
look so exclusively feminine, as though it would tattle to anyone
who listened that no man had ever crossed its threshold.

Which was exactly how Barb wanted her life
to be. She mutinously poured a steaming mug of tea and sipped it so
quickly that she burned her tongue.

She stiffened when she heard the back door
open and knew that the half-naked man was coming into her house. He
was going to chase her into her kitchen, Barb just knew it, and she
could make a pretty good guess of what would happen after that.

Or what he would try to make happen. Oh, it
had been a long time since she’d had the chance to set a man
straight about how irresistible he supposedly was, and she’d
thought of a lot more compelling arguments since that last one.

She braced herself and turned, a warrior
princess at the ready for anything at all.

Except for what did happen. The clear sound
of a shoe dropping onto the mat echoed through the little hall. The
door closed with a resolute click and Naked Man’s footsteps faded
away. The faint creak of Viviane’s separate entrance opening, then
closing again, was barely audible beneath the whisper of the
rain.

Barb leaned against the counter one more
time, sipping Lemon Zinger that wasn’t quite steeped without even
tasting as much. She couldn’t be feeling disappointed. The last
thing she wanted was a guy, particularly one who had been with
Viviane just the night before.

No, what she felt was a
yearning
, a
sense of incompleteness that she’d been ignoring for a long time.
She stared through the rain-streaked window at the swordlike leaves
of the iris and felt a sudden sympathy for it. They were both
vulnerable – lonely, wounded, but making a good show of doing just
fine.

Barb frowned and decided she just hadn’t had
enough sleep.

And that was mucking with her mind. By
Goddess, she was happy here and that was all there was to it. She’d
made her choices and hoed her own row, and she’d be damned to hell
and back before she admitted that there was a single thing wrong
with the life she’d chosen.

Barb put her mug down with a thump. She gave
herself a shake and strode to her own bathroom. What she needed was
a good hot shower, and some revenue rolling in the door.

She certainly wasn’t going to think about
what kind of rolling was going on in her rental until right now.
Now way, no how.

She’d much rather think about Payables.

*

Viviane awakened with a smile. She snuggled
deeper into the sheets, taking an intoxicatingly deep breath of
Niall’s scent lingering there and sighed contentment. Her knight
had come, he was more than even she had dreamed he would be and
everything was going to work out beautifully.

Her smile broadened in recollection of
Niall’s gentle touch, the way he leaned over her, the way his eyes
darkened as he gave her pleasure, and she shivered with delight.
She had never guessed she could feel that way, but her knight had
given her the gift of it.

Everything was just perfect.

Well, not quite everything. Viviane reached
one hand across the mattress and found herself alone.

Her eyes flew open, but Niall was nowhere in
sight. Viviane sat up and pushed her hair back, wondering where he
could have gone.

And why. Surely he wasn’t gone, surely she
hadn’t just dreamed him up? Her imagination could get away from
her, that was for sure, and Viviane nibbled her lip in
consternation.

Then she saw the shorts Derek had loaned to
Niall, crumpled in a pile on the floor. She sighed with relief,
knowing he couldn’t be far. Maybe he was going to bring her a
surprise. Maybe he was going to come back to bed and seduce her all
day long.

Maybe he hadn’t expected her to awaken so
soon. Viviane smiled and hugged her knees in anticipation.

But nothing happened.

She listened, but Niall wasn’t in the
bathroom. Hers wasn’t a room filled with secretive corners and she
could see it all from here. Niall wasn’t present. The house was
quiet, so Viviane rolled out of bed. She folded her arms across her
nakedness and peered out the window.

No sign of him.

Viviane was just going to look for a note
when heavy footfalls sounded on the stairs. Niall! She spun with
delight just as the man of her dreams entered the room.

“
Niall, you’re back!”
Viviane danced across the room and cast her arms around his neck.
“Good morning,” she purred, walking her fingertips up the damp
expanse of his shirt. “Did you sleep well?” And she tipped her head
back to meet his gaze, fully expecting another soul-stirring
kiss.