“When I handle an object that carries a strong load of emotion from the time frame I seem sensitive to, those emotions seep into the corridor. It’s as if they’re trying to relink with the object itself through me. It’s hard to explain, Verity, but it’s real.”
“There’s another explanation,” she said defensively.
“What’s that?”
“We might both be going crazy.”
Jonas shook his head. “Believe me, I’ve considered that possibility. But we’re not going crazy. Come with me. I want to see what happens when we face the emotional junk connected with the pistol.” He held out his hand.
Verity hesitated and then gave him her hand. He circled her wrist and tugged her gently down the corridor. He felt her flinch, but she made no protest. She was going to go through with this, just as she had promised. Jonas felt a wealth of gratitude and admiration well up in him.
They didn’t have to go far in the corridor to find what Jonas sought. They hadn’t gone more than a few steps into the swirling mists when the colorful, snaking tendrils appeared and began to curl hungrily around them.
The multicolored ribbons headed first toward Jonas like a pack of dogs cornering a fox. But then something happened. They slowed, veered aside, and slowly turned toward Verity.
“Jonas? What’s happening?” Verity shifted anxiously as the multicolored manifestations swirled around her. She batted at them with a free hand.
“They won’t hurt you. You’re not sensitive to them in the same way I am. But for some reason you’re a magnet for them. Your presence frees me, Verity. Together we’re a lot stronger than they are. Feel anything?”
“No,” she said quickly and then changed her mind. “Yes. I don’t know. It’s weird, Jonas.”
“I know. Don’t worry about it. I’m the main contact.”
“What’s it like for you?” she asked in hushed tones.
Jonas concentrated, enjoying for the first time the glorious sensation of really being in control of what he was facing. This wasn’t a firefight, for once. He didn’t have to battle these twisting, writhing things; he could handle them. This time he was the dominant force in the corridor.
Slowly he reached out with his free hand and touched one of the tendrils, a golden streamer that pulsed invitingly. The moment he made deliberate contact with it, it freed itself from the tangle surrounding it and leaped to coil around his arm.
Adrenaline pumped through Jonas’s veins. And then a new sense of awareness. It was someone else’s sense of awareness, not his own. He was standing on a grassy field at dawn, dressed in polished Hessian boots and pale fawn trousers. He was in his shirtsleeves. A manservant standing near the carriage held his green frock coat and black felt hat. There was a pistol in Jonas’s fist. The same pistol he was holding in the cabin.
A short distance away another man, similarly attired, held the mate to the weapon Jonas had. Both men were waiting for a signal from the man who stood between them. Somewhere in the distance a horse stamped and blew in the cold dawn air. Harness metal rattled. A few men stood at the side, observing. One of them was Jonas’s second, the man who had made the formal arrangements for this morning’s confrontation.
Jonas was aware of fear but it was held at bay by the surge of cold anger and adrenaline pumping through him. His only goal this morning was to draw blood from the man who had insulted Amanda. He would teach the bastard a lesson.
The signal came. Jonas lifted his pistol in a smooth, sure motion. But even as he did so, he knew somehow that the action wasn’t his. He was still an observer. His opponent’s hand also swept upward. But Jonas was already tightening his finger on the trigger of the heavy pistol, confident of the gun’s sure aim.
Then, without any warning, Verity screamed and yanked at his arm. For an instant all the images blurred. Jonas was both the man on the grassy field and the observer in the corridor. Furious at the distraction, Jonas tried to jerk free of Verity’s compelling grip. But she clung to him, yelling at him.
“Stop it! Do you hear me? Stop it this instant. I won’t have this foolishness carried any further.” She grabbed the golden ribbon and pulled it free. It slithered back into the tangle at her feet.
Jonas blinked at the upper-class English accent. His eyes widened.
“Amanda?”
“No, I’m not Amanda. I’m Verity. Come with me. We’re getting out of here.”
He turned back, seeing the images of the dawn-lit scene already fading rapidly.
Disoriented, Jonas whirled to face Verity. She was pulling at his arm and shouting commands.
“I said come with me, dammit.” The English accent was gone. The voice was once again Verity’s. “We’re getting out of here.”
“Honey, it’s okay.” Jonas tried to soothe her but she was already tugging him back down the corridor. “Everything’s under control. It’s all right. Just calm down, Verity. I want to do some exploring.”
“How do we get out of this corridor?” she demanded. Jonas became aware of the pistol in his hand. He opened his fingers and dropped it.
The corridor vanished at once. Jonas was again facing Verity across the small table.
It didn’t surprise him to realize that he was sexually aroused. Having experienced the same after-effects on the previous two occasions when he had encountered Verity in the corridor, he was expecting it. The only difference this time was that the desire to pull Verity down onto the nearest bed, strip her, and bury himself in her was stronger than ever. Sweat trickled down the side of his face.
“Well,” Emerson said, looking from one taut face to the other, “how was the minivacation?”
“We almost lost our traveler’s checks,” Verity said in a grim voice.
Chapter Twelve
Jonas could feel the tension radiating from Verity as he walked back with her to her cottage. It had a heightening effect on his already simmering desire. But he was determined to control himself tonight. Verity had had a traumatic experience this evening. The decent thing to do was to give her time to adjust. She was bound to want to talk it all out.
He told himself that if he was a gentleman he wouldn’t try to push her into bed tonight the way he had the last two times. He ought to show some respect for the effects of the experience on her. Tonight was a night to be spent soothing, gentling, and reassuring her. Jonas was determined to be gallant even if it took every ounce of willpower he possessed.
There was no doubt that Verity needed some soothing. He could almost see her nerve endings glowing in the dark. He wasn’t sure he could explain to her just why it was so important to him that he start testing himself, start seeing how far his talent could stretch. He wasn’t even certain he could explain it to himself. But he knew a strong sense of urgency, one he had felt ever since that morning when he awakened in Caitlin Evanger’s ugly house.
“Poor tyrant,” he said softly. “It really got to you, didn’t it?”
“Of course it got to me. What did you expect?” she snapped.
He winced. “Not quite what happened, I’ll admit.”
“What does that mean?” She peered up at him in the darkness.
Jonas paused, searching for words. “Verity, when I found your earring in that alley I knew there was something special about you. I knew you were more than a woman I wanted to take to bed. But I can’t really describe what I felt when I touched that earring. Just a sense of certainty. A sense that you were somehow important to me. I knew I had to find you and discover what it meant. I had never had that feeling about anyone else in my life.”
“In other words you fell for my brain, not my body?”
He squeezed her hand a bit too tightly in retaliation. “Spare me the sarcasm tonight. I’m trying to explain things to you. At any rate, when I found you again, nothing really became any clearer until the night I tried picking up the pistol with you sta
nding next to me. I hadn’t stepped into that corridor for years but I recognized it instantly. I also realized something else. All of a sudden I wasn’t alone in that tunnel in my mind. You were there. It was the first time I had ever had anyone else with me.”
“Not even when you were testing your ability at Vincent?”
He shook his head. “No. Until I met you I had no idea it was even possible to take anyone with me into that corridor. I had always found myself alone in there, and believe me, that damn tunnel has got to be the loneliest place in space or time.”
“I can believe it.” Verity’s fingers tightened comfortingly through his. “My God, I can believe it.”
Jonas felt the gentle warmth in her touch and smiled to himself. He was supposed to be the one doing the comforting tonight. Underneath all those prickly thorns there was a decidedly soft, empathic streak in his flame-haired tyrant. Knowing that made him feel more protective and possessive than ever. No wonder Emerson had felt obliged to give her as many self-defense mechanisms as possible. She would never admit it, but Verity needed protection in this hard, cold world.
“That first time I found you in the corridor with me I reached for you and you ran,” Jonas explained slowly. “I dropped the pistol and that was the end of it. I still wasn’t sure what it meant, but I knew I had to find out.”
“And the next time you found me there?” she prompted. “When it happened last night at Evanger’s house, things were a lot more serious.”
“Because that rapier was from the era you’re so attuned to?”
He nodded. “It’s a much more dangerous time zone for me and I was really caught up in it last night. I made a mistake. I took a chance and I paid for it. I knew I had to get to you before I was completely overwhelmed by the forces that were attached to the rapier.”
“So you came traipsing down the hall to my room.”
“I went after you because I sensed you could keep me from being swamped. I was right. At first you ran, but at the last moment you stopped and turned around and came to me. Once you were with me I was back in command of myself. It was close but we got through it together. Last night I had my proof. Tonight was a controlled exploratory trip. Now I’m convinced. With you around, I can learn to control my trips into the corridor. Do you have any idea what that means to me, Verity?”
“I’m not sure I want to know,” she retorted gloomily.
He ignored that. “The rapier I had last night, or anything else from that era, is not a good test object because it’s too powerful. The pistols were much easier to experiment with. They’re infinitely more manageable.”
“Hah. Manageable my foot. Two men were getting ready to kill each other in that corridor. I couldn’t see very well, the image was all broken up like an Impressionist painting, but I got the overall picture.”
“I’ve never seen such a clear image in that corridor,” Jonas mused. “But then I’ve never had the luxury of taking my time and studying what was going on around me. Every other time I’ve gone in, I’ve been moving fast, trying to avoid too much contact with those twisting streamer things. It was interesting to be able to stop for once and look around.”
“What would have happened if that other man had fired?”
Jonas shrugged. “Nothing. What could have happened? It’s like watching a movie. The images never last more than a few seconds.”
“I’m not so sure that the images are harmless. I got the impression you were somehow being drawn into one of the men holding a gun. Does that make sense?”
“In a way, I guess. I was feeling what he was feeling. I knew things he knew, such as why he was fighting the duel. But there was no danger. I wasn’t him. He wasn’t me.”
“I was frightened, Jonas. I thought that if the other man fired, you might actually be killed.”
Jonas stopped short in the middle of the path. “What the hell are you saying?”
“I can’t explain it. I just had this fleeting feeling that you were in as much danger as the man who was holding the pistol in that image. That’s why I started yelling about getting out of the corridor. You called me Amanda and dropped the pistol and the next thing I knew we were out of there.” She shivered. “You shouldn’t have touched that golden ribbon.”
Jonas felt a prickle of cold sweat. He banished the queasy feeling at once. “Verity, your imagination got away with you. Perfectly understandable. After all, that was the first time you were ever caught up in one of those corridor situations. You don’t realize how easily corridor reality gets mixed up with present-time reality. Don’t worry about it. We were both safe.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“Trust me,” he said. “I’ve had a lot more experience in that corridor than you’ve had. It can be dangerous. In the past I’ve worried about being swamped by the lingering emotions of someone who lived in the past, but tonight I felt totally in control. Damn, it felt good.” A joyous relief that could no longer be suppressed made him laugh out loud. “It was a fantastic sensation, Verity. Incredible. For the first time I was in command in that corridor. I knew I didn’t have to worry about fighting off any garbage from the past. I was stronger than anything the residue off that pistol could throw at me. Dammit to hell, what a feeling of freedom. After all these years, I finally feel free, and I owe it all to you, lady.”
“If you want to pay your debt, take me to bed,” she said fiercely.
Jonas was so startled that for an instant he could only stare down at her in amazement. “What?” he finally got out.
Her eyes were deep, mysterious pools in the shadows as she looked up at him. “Take me to bed. Now. Right this minute.”
“Wouldn’t you rather talk some more? You had a hell of an experience tonight. Maybe you’d rather we discussed it. I can answer some of your questions. Not all of them, but a few. You must have thousands, considering what you’ve been through.”
“You’re not listening to me. The questions can wait. I want to make love first. Right away.”
“Uh, sure. You bet. My pleasure. I’ve been thinking along those lines myself. I mean, I’ve been wondering if you would be willing, but I thought I ought to give you a little time to…” He broke off, certain he had turned into a gibbering idiot. “Lady, sometimes you really take me by surprise.”
She put her arms around his neck and pressed close. He could feel the firm roundness of her small breasts against him as she rose onto her toes and forcefully pulled his head down to hers. He could feel her nipples hardening beneath the pullover she wore.
“When did you stop wearing a bra?” he demanded.
“Never mind that. Kiss me,” she urged passionately.
Jonas caught his breath, aware of the hot rush of blood in his veins. “Your wish is my command,” he tried to say with a small, mockingly gallant smile, but he never finished the sentence.
Verity was assaulting his mouth while she pressed her body against him. Her lips were hot and demanding on his. When she thrust her small tongue between his teeth, Jonas’s already aroused body kicked into high gear. He was suddenly throbbing with desire, as frantic for Verity as she was for him. The knowledge that she wanted him with such demanding urgency had much the same effect as pouring gasoline on open flames. Jonas nearly exploded.
But Verity seemed to be a couple of steps ahead of him. She was already in flames. Jonas was dazed by the hunger in her. She was all over him, peeling open his jacket and yanking at the buttons of his shirt, entwining her leg around his and arching her lower body into his thighs. Jonas groaned as the blaze of his passion mingled with hers. When her small, eager hand slipped down to his waist and stopped to unfasten his jeans, he came back to his senses long enough to free his mouth.
“It’s cold out here. Let’s get to your cabin,” he ordered tersely.
She blinked as if trying to clear her head for an instant and then she gave up t
he effort. “No,” she said, her fingers back at work on his jeans. “Here. Right now. Right here. I can’t wait. I want you, Jonas. I want you so much. I’ve got to have you. You must make love to me.”
“Believe me, I will. As soon as we get inside where it’s warm.” He groaned, fighting for enough self-control to get both of them off the path and into the privacy of the cabin. When she refused to cooperate, he lost what was left of his patience. He captured her wrists and held them behind her back.
She twisted, trying to free herself so that she could get at him again. “Let me touch you,” she begged. “Please let me touch you. I want to feel you. I want to hold you in my hands and watch you get big and hard and heavy and then I want to take you inside me. Deep inside me. I want to feel every inch of you. I want to drain you. Please, Jonas.”
“Woman, you’re going to make me come right here in the middle of the path if you keep on talking like that. Let’s go.” He scooped her up into his arms and almost ran to the cabin. He was on fire and so was she. The heat in her was beating at him. The night was clear and cold but Jonas felt as if he were holding a small furnace in his arms.
Verity gave up struggling and concentrated on clinging to him as he carried her. Her fingertips were tiny daggers sliding under the collar of his jacket and sinking into his shoulders. Her mouth was glued to his.
“The door,” Jonas rasped when they reached it. “Open it, Verity.”
With a soft, impatient moan, she did as he ordered and reached down to open the door. A second later they were inside. Jonas kicked the door shut behind him and started down the short hallway to Verity’s small bedroom. He could hardly wait now.
He barely made it. For a moment he was sure that he was going to collapse under Verity’s compelling touch and wind up making love to her on the hardwood floor. He managed to fall heavily onto the bed, instead. Her fingers went straight to his jeans to resume the task they had begun outside.
“Oh, yes, baby,” he muttered, fumbling desperately with her sweater. “Anything you want, honey. Take anything you damn well want. It’s all yours. And I’m going to have all of you in return. I’m going to get so deep inside you, you’ll think I’m apart of you.”
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