After the Storm (33 page)

"You probably didn't. Though I doubt anyone suspected. No, your father's a suspicious man. I think what happened was that Warin quite literally used a time bomb as well as the outlaws to disguise his stealing the TDD prototype."

Sizemore, Susan - After the Storm

"A time bomb?"

Bas nodded. "He was very clever. Should I speak technobabble to you to explain how I think he created a time vortex that disrupted the local temporal field and somehow managed to shield himself and the outlaws from it when he set it off?"

"I'd rather you didn't."

"I thought as much. Then I'll put it in simple layman's terms."

"Which is?"

"We were screwed, Olivia."

If Bas said so, even in layman's terms, it was true. She nodded. "I suppose that they were trying to keep any suspicion of sabotage very quiet, to keep Elliot Hemmons from calling for an investigation if nothing else. The man will use any opening to take over Time Search for himself."

"Maybe he's not beyond bribing Mark Warin to sabotage an important project."

Libby brightened at the thought. "You think so? Think we could nail him?"

He shrugged. "There had to be some reason behind what happened at Lilydrake.

Maybe it was just greed on Warin's part. Maybe he was going to sell the prototype and his services to somebody who wanted the technology for themselves. Maybe the somebody was Hemmons."

"I guess we'll never find out now that Warin is dead. By the way," she added,

"nobody bothered to mention your existence. I got four years of my life sucked out of me and since we'd only known each other three and a half you weren't part of my memories. You held onto more than I did, if that's any consolation." She fought back tears. "I didn't know what I was missing."

He touched her hair, then cupped her face in his hands. "I am so sorry."

She put her hands over his. She wasn't going to cry, she was going to rejoice in Sizemore, Susan - After the Storm

having Sebastian Bailey back. "You have nothing to be sorry for. You were the one who got hurt worst of all in this."

"No more than I deserved."

"Bullshit."

His wide mouth lifted in a slight smile. "Eloquent as ever, my love."

"Just using simple layman's terms. So what did you do that was so bad?"

"I left you."

"Not on purpose."

He pulled her close and held her for a long time before he answered. "On purpose."

She felt enveloped by his strength, her senses were alive to the play of his muscles against hers, to the softness of his hair on her cheek and the distinctive male scent of him. She wanted just to be near him. She didn't want to listen to confessions and explanations. She wanted to say that she understood, and that it didn't matter. But she didn't, and it did.

"You were with me, I remember, when the acci— the time bomb detonated. The world went all weird, but you were there." She blinked. "Then you weren't there." She pulled away from him. "I remember your running—"

"Following Warin," he told her.

She scrubbed her hands across her face. She felt like a knife was twisting in her heart. "You left me."

"You begged me not to."

She remembered that now. She'd remembered it the night she got her memory back, but had suppressed her confused bitterness in the joy of finding him. "You had to have a reason," she said. "You damn well better have had a reason."

Sizemore, Susan - After the Storm

"Getting the prototype back was more important than you," he answered. "It shouldn't have been. I left you to die."

"I didn't die."

"I didn't know you wouldn't. I was feeling the effects of the time bomb. I knew what it was doing to you. I thought it was going to kill us, but I didn't even try to get you to safety. I could feel myself going mad, but I had to get the prototype back. So, just before the medsensor alerted the automatic recall I ran after Warin."

"Getting the TDD back was the most important thing," she defended him against himself. "You did the right thing." She believed it, but she didn't know if he would. She not only believed him, she was proud of him. Oh, it hurt, but she tried to convince herself that was just selfishness on her part. It was just a narcissistic longing to be the most important thing in her man's life and she should be ashamed of herself. Recovering the prototype of a time machine more powerful than the one her father had invented had been his first responsibility.

"You did what was necessary, Bas."

He gave a caustic laugh. "All i did was get lost in the past with my brain fried."

"And Warin let you stay that way." She shook her head angrily. "He let you believe you were Bastien of Bale while he tried to dig information out of you.

He put you through six months of hell, babe."

"I put myself through it when I didn't return to the future with you."

From the stubborn, haunted look in his eyes Libby realized that it was going to take quite a while to work this out. From the ache still deep in her heart, she knew she wasn't as sanguine about the correctness of his actions as she should be. At least it was out in the open. They'd made a start. They'd work it out, but it didn't look like it was going to be today.

Sizemore, Susan - After the Storm

She looked toward the inviting coolness of the river. "Come on. Let's take a bath."

He nodded. "You're just filing this away for future discussion, aren't you?"

"You know me too well." It healed and helped her to know that he knew her so well. The way she knew him. She thought they'd been born to be together. Six months' separation and questions of his being too devoted to his work shouldn't be able to tear them apart. She prayed they wouldn't, at least. "Let's go swimming."

They got up, scooped up their abandoned clothes and went down to the water's edge. The water was steel gray, reflecting the clouds building up overhead. It was also cold, Libby discovered when she waded in. It took a certain force of character to completely immerse herself, but she managed it.

"Wish I had some soap," Libby said as she came up from ducking her head. She shook out her wet hair. "And a comb. Come on in," she called to Bas who remained on the shore. "Or you could stand there while I admire the magnificence of the scenery."

He blushed, and she did admire the sight as deep color spread across his throat and cheeks and his flat, hard stomach. She would have sworn the water temperature went up several degrees when he jumped in.

He splashed over to her and stood braced against the current as he took her in his arms. "I can't get enough of kissing you."

She threw her head back, and gave a throaty laugh. "So kiss me."

He did, starting at the swift pulse in her neck and working his way slowly, inexorably up to cover her soft lips with his. It was a demanding kiss, full of possessive passion. He didn't deserve his good fortune in having her, he thought as he slid his hands over her water-slicked body. Her sleek flesh was like silk Sizemore, Susan - After the Storm

under his knowing hands.

It didn't matter what he deserved, he couldn't deny his need for her. She was his.

He didn't have to think about that. He knew it, his body knew it, and right now his body demanded he hold and have what was his.

Their coupling was as swift and powerful as the current, and nearly as exhilaratingly dangerous. They ended up tangled together on the riverbank, half drowned, breathless with satisfaction and laughter at the foolishness of their reckless mating.

When she stopped laughing, she gave his good shoulder a half-hearted swat. "']

thought we were going to take a bath!"

"You got clean, didn't you?" he countered. "All that agitating of the water we just did must have gotten off some of the grime."

She rolled onto her back. "I don't know where we got the energy, babe. I'm starving."

"Abstinence," he told her. He leaned up on his elbow so he could look down at her. It left one hand free to play with her breasts. She didn't object as he made swirling patterns on her sensitive skin. "Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder

—or something."

"I don't know about the heart, but it certainly makes for stamina in other places."

He flattened his palm over her breast and she put her hand over his. "Dr. Bailey, you are driving me to distraction. And why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?"

"With your brow all furrowed and a distinct glint of suspicion in your eyes."

He smiled. "Oh, just being jealous."

She tapped him lightly on the nose. "Wondering if I was abstinent, were you?"

Sizemore, Susan - After the Storm

"Something like that." She grinned, obviously pleased at his possessiveness.

"Don't preen, woman. We have a modern marriage, and jealousy is politically incorrect."

"Not in my opinion, it isn't."

"Mine either. You
were
abstinent, I take it?"

She laughed. "Certainly. I was saving myself for the right man."

"Who just happened to be Bastien of Bale."

He'd said the words as a joke, but as he spoke them he knew how awfully, horribly, frighteningly true they were. He was Sebastian Bailey.

His wife was in love with Bastien of Bale.

Sizemore, Susan - After the Storm

Chapter 18

"You're in love with Bastien."

Libby didn't understand why all the light went out of Sebastian's eyes. Or why he suddenly got to his feet. His back was rigid with tension as he got dressed. She didn't know what was wrong, but she refused to face the crisis naked while he was fully clothed. So she hurried to get dressed, then turned to face his stony silence. It wasn't just the silence that was stony, the man was as still and cold as a statue.

She spread her hands in front of her. "You've got an objection to my being in love with you?"

"You are in love with Bastien." He pronounced each word very carefully.

"Bastien," he went on when all she could do was stare at him. "Not me."

"Of course I'm in love with you. You're my husband."

"I haven't forgotten." He gave the faintest of wry smiles. "Not in the last few minutes. We better get back," he went on as if he hadn't just made some extraordinary statements.

Libby sat down on the riverbank. "Get back where?"

"Lilydrake. You do have a working timegate at Lilydrake, don't you?"

"Joe and Ed were supposed to set it up, but—" She shrugged. "With all the locals hanging out at the castle I doubt if they've been able to get to it."

Sizemore, Susan - After the Storm

"Oh, yes, the castle repairs." He ran his hand down his jaw. "I worked on them myself for a few days."

She wondered if she should mention that she knew, if she should remind him of the sensor belt he had made for her. She wondered if he was talking just to avoid discussing what was bothering him.

"I suppose we'll just have to return to the nearest working timegate," he went on,

"Is Downs Tower still in use?"

"That's where we arrived. Why do you want to go to Downs Tower?" She wished she hadn't answered his question, or asked him one. She should not let him create this verbal diversion. "What do you mean I love Bastien?"