A Husband in Time

by Maggie Shayne

  “What?” He blinked in total confusion. What was her problem, anyway?

  “I was not one of your one-night stands, that’s what! What happened between us…” She balled up the washcloth in her fist, and hurled it at him. “It wasn’t just sex—at least it wasn’t for me. So stop treating me like one of your giggling sluts, Zach, because it meant something to me. It meant something, even though I didn’t want it to. And now I find myself in a place where I said I’d never be again.”

  He shook his head quickly, scanning her face. “It meant something to me, too, Jane. And what place is it you’re talking about, the place you swore you’d never be again?”

  She closed her eyes. “Heartbreak, Zach. Its name is heartbreak.” Then she spun on her heel and walked slowly away. Leaving Zachariah to wonder where he’d gone wrong. Dammit, didn’t she know how he felt about her? How she touched his heart in a way no woman ever had? Hadn’t he made that clear to her? He’d never wanted another woman the way he wanted her. Never…never felt for another woman the way he felt for her. No, he realized with new-found clarity, not even Claudia.

  But then again, Jane Fortune was not any other woman. Far from it, in fact.

  He blinked as he considered his unusual feelings for her—the ones she apparently had no clue about—and then he froze, blinking in shock. By God, he hadn’t gone and fallen in love with her, had he?

  Lord, what if he had?

  Well, he supposed there was one way to find out. He’d simply have to sit down and analyze his feelings, the way he would perform any other experiment. Meanwhile, though, enough was enough. He did not deserve her being this angry with him. And he didn’t want her living in what she referred to as heartbreak. He’d talk to her. She was going to sit down and explain to him exactly what she was feeling, and she was going to do it now. He got out of the bed, steadied himself, and started for the door. Maybe…maybe he could ask her to stay, after all…. Maybe…

  Jane closed Zach’s bedroom door and turned from it, only to run smack into Claudia. The woman was the very picture of elegance in her high-necked, lace-trimmed dress. Her blond-gold ringlets framing her delicate face. Her button-up shoes peeking from the frilly hem of her dress. Jane felt like a slob in her filthy jeans and shirt.

  Claudia eyed her, then the door through which she’d just come, and then her again, brows lifting this time. “Well,” she asked, not even bothering to hide her meaning, “how is he?”

  “I thought you were the expert on that, Claudia.”

  The woman blinked as if in surprise. “You’re a very strange woman,” she said. “Candid in your speech, foreign in your mannerisms. And your clothes…”

  “You have a problem with my clothes?” Jane asked.

  “Of course not. I’m not the one who has to wear them.”

  Jane glared at her.

  “Oh, come now, surely we can be friends.” Claudia hurried on. “In fact, I feel that I can do you a favor, if you’ll let me.”

  “Oh, really? And just what would that be, Claudia? You going to teach me how to breathe with my waist cinched down to thirteen inches, just so I can impress some male? Sorry. I’m not interested.”

  Claudia’s smile was one of bewilderment, but she shook her head and went on with the conversation all the same. “I can warn you about Zachariah. Don’t fall in love with him, Jane. He’ll never care for any woman the way he cares for me. If you pin your hopes on winning his heart, you’ll only be disappointed. He’ll never give me up for you.”

  “I’d never ask him to.”

  “He can’t love any woman the way he loves me, Jane. And you already guessed the reason. I’m the mother of his child.”

  “You’re right,” Jane whispered. “And I have the feeling you’re counting on that, aren’t you?”

  Claudia blinked, and averted her eyes.

  “What’s the matter, Claudia? Truth hurt? What the hell are you doing here, anyway? Do you want him back? Is that it? Do you think you can abandon him, break his heart, deny your own child, and then just waltz in one day, wanting to take it all back, just because you’ve fallen on hard times?”

  “Yes!” she cried, and she squeezed her eyes shut tight, and made her small hands into fists on either side of her head. “Yes, that’s exactly what I want. Now that my husband is gone, there is nothing to stop me. I need a husband to provide for me, Jane. And I’m not going to let some odd little bird like you stop me.”

  Jane closed her eyes, shook her head slowly. “Fine,” she whispered. “If he’s stupid enough to fall for the same bull twice, then he deserves you. But you know, I really don’t think he is.” She waved a hand toward Zach’s door. “Be my guest, Claudia. Knock yourself out.” And with that, Jane turned and paced away down the hall, to the room that had been assigned to her. On her way, she opened Benjamin’s door to check on the boys. Cody slept in the cot she’d set up for him in Ben’s room. Both were sleeping soundly, but she didn’t like the sound of Ben’s wheezing. Damn, he should be improving at least a little bit by now, shouldn’t he?

  Well. Maybe in the morning he’d seem better. She pulled the boy’s door closed, and as she did, she heard Zach’s open. Heard soft footsteps creeping inside, and heard the door close again. Her heart twisted into a hard little knot.

  Lifting her chin, Jane moved on to her own room. She left the door open, though, and then tried to tell herself it wasn’t so that she could see when the little tramp left Zach’s room. Or…if she left.

  And then she wished she hadn’t. Because after she’d bathed, and dressed in a borrowed nightgown, and brushed her hair, Claudia still hadn’t left. And then she lay awake all the rest of the night, twisting and turning and unable to sleep. Because it was dawn, now, and Claudia hadn’t come out. Not at all. She’d spent the night where Jane had wanted to. Wrapped up tight in Zachariah Bolton’s arms.

  Jane wanted to claw the witch’s eyes out.

  She’d talked herself silly. Talked about all the reasons she’d had for doing what she did to him and Benjamin. Zach hadn’t wanted to hear any of it, of course. All he’d wanted to do was get hold of Jane and make her explain herself to him. But Claudia had been insistent and Zach had been weak. So he’d listened to her excuses and her explanations and her apologies. And then her incredibly generous offer to be a wife to him and a mother to Benjamin now that her wealthy husband had died.

  Zach had glanced at her, lifted one brow and said simply, “No.”

  “What?”

  “No, Claudia. I don’t know how I can put it any plainer than that. I don’t want you. Neither does my son. I find it intriguing how you didn’t want me when I was poor and had no standing, but now that I’m wealthy and respected, and you’re the penniless widow, you’ve suddenly developed tender feelings for me. As for Benjamin, you’ve known for months he was dying. You could have spent time with him, if you’d wanted to. But you didn’t. Now, when he’s reduced to perhaps another day or two of life, you show up. No. We’re not interested. Now, please, get out of my room.” He yawned, laid his head back on the pillows, closed his eyes.

  “It’s her, isn’t it? That strange woman you brought here from God knows where! It’s her. I know it is. You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” he said softly. But then his eyes popped open and refused to close. All this time, he’d been lying here pondering Jane’s feelings for him. God, perhaps he should have been pondering his for her.

  “It’s true,” Claudia whined. “I see it in your eyes when you look at her. And it’s even more obvious in hers. The way she stares at you when she thinks no one’s looking. The way she touched you when she sat here beside you, the things she whispered. Even her voice changes slightly when she’s speaking to you. She’s in love with you!”

  Zach lay still, staring thoughtfully up at the ceiling. “What an intensely interesting theory,” he muttered, and he closed his eyes.

  He didn’t intend to fall asleep, but he did. With a stupid
grin on his face, and an empty feeling in his chest. And when he woke, he was astonished to see Claudia still there. Pacing the floor, peering out of the window, waiting as if for daylight.

  “Dammit, woman, what are you still doing here?”

  “Leaving,” she said very simply. She opened his door, stepped into the hall, and then, for some reason he could not have explained if his life depended on it, she blew him a kiss and said, “I love you, too, darling. Goodbye, for now.”

  She left, but didn’t close the door.

  Frowning in confusion, Zach got to his feet and went to do so himself. But he froze when he reached the doorway, because he saw, just two doors down, Jane standing frozen in her own. And the hurt he saw in her eyes was almost more than he could bear.

  He opened his mouth, but she spoke first. “I’m glad you’re up,” she said softly. “Your son has his medication, and you’re obviously fine. I think it’s time for Cody and me to go…home.”

  “But—”

  “Ten minutes,” she said, and her words fell like stones clattering from an unreachable peak. “I’ll meet you in the workroom.”

  Twelve

  Zach felt as if she’d slapped him when she closed the bedroom door in his face. Immediately he gripped the knob, shoving the door open again and stomping into the bedroom. She stood with her back to him, near the window. He was encouraged that at least she hadn’t locked him out. But then he told himself that might not mean a thing.

  “You can’t leave, Jane. Not yet.” He closed his eyes and congratulated himself on the stupidest argument he’d ever put forth. “What I mean to say is that it’s too soon. We don’t know yet what…what…” Blinking, he studied her back, her shoulders, the barely noticeable tremor there. The soft, almost inaudible sound of her uneven breathing. He swallowed hard and stepped nearer.

  “Go away, Zach,” she said, her voice unusually deep and very soft.

  He didn’t go away. He moved closer, and he clasped her shoulder with one hand to turn her around to face him. She refused to budge. So he tried harder, and he managed to move her this time. Then all he could do was stare down at her damp cheeks in shock. “You’re crying,” he said, no less astonished than he’d been when he first suspected it. “I can’t believe it. You’re—”

  “I asked you to leave.”

  “I can’t leave.” He shook his head, continuing his search of her beautiful face, her glistening eyes. Dear God, had he been blind all along? Could it be true, what Claudia had said? He couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t be crying for him, or because of what she’d seen just now. She couldn’t care that much for him. Could she? “Is it Cody?” he asked her. “Is it all the worry, Jane? Are you homesick?” He touched her face, laid his palm against her cheek and tilted her head so that he could see her better. And when he did, she closed her eyes, as if against her will. And he knew.

  “My God,” he murmured, taking a startled step away from her. “All this because of Claudia? That’s it, isn’t it?” She met his eyes, averted hers, and he took another involuntary step backward. He couldn’t seem to help himself. It was as if she’d shoved him bodily. The idea that she might…might truly…love him… Frankly, it scared the hell out of him.

  She narrowed her eyes. Then her chin fell and she shook her head slowly. “What if it were? It wouldn’t matter, would it, Zach? The very thought of it sends you running scared, just like—” She bit her lip, shook her head. “Well, you don’t need to panic, Bolton. It’s true enough, I fell for the Don Juan routine. You got me into bed. Hell, you even had me believing you might actually…” Lifting her chin, she licked her lips. “Don’t worry. I’m taking my son and I’m leaving.”

  “But I…” He let the protest trail off, unable to find the words, not even sure what it was he wanted to say.

  “You see? You can’t even tell me you don’t want me to go, can you?”

  “Dammit, Jane, why are you so angry with me?”

  “I’m angry with myself,” she whispered, turning from him, pulling her freshly laundered jeans and sweatshirt from the back of the chair. “Hell, I shouldn’t be. I ought to be congratulating you, wishing you well. It’s a fairy-tale ending, isn’t it? You and Benjamin and his mother, finally together. A real family. It’s storybook-perfect.”

  “Dammit, Jane, you think just because she spent the night in my room that I intend to—”

  “Don’t you pull that love-’em-and-leave-’em routine out of your hat now, Zach. Not now. It’s different when you’re in love with the woman.”

  He tilted his head, skimming her from head to toe with his eyes. “Maybe you’re right about that.”

  “And we both know there’s only one woman you’ll ever love, don’t we?”

  He turned his gaze inward, frowning hard. “Yes. But I’m only just beginning to realize it.”

  She swallowed hard. He heard the gulping sound, saw her rapid blinking as she turned away yet again. By God, the woman actually cared for him. It was beyond Zach’s ability to understand, but it was obviously true.

  “I wish you well, then,” she said. “I hope you’ll be—”

  “Jane,” he said softly, again stepping in front of her, tipping her chin up with his forefinger, getting lost in her swimming eyes. “We’re going to work this out. I don’t know how, but we’ll find a way. But first, sweet Jane, you have to know that nothing has—”

  “Mom! Zach! Come quick!”

  Zach stiffened in surprise, then turned to the doorway, where Cody stood in a nightshirt, breathless and wide-eyed. “What’s—”

  “It’s Ben! Hurry!”

  Zach’s body went rigid, and utterly immobile. “No,” he whispered. “Please, no, not now…”

  Jane started to rush past him, but turned when she realized he wasn’t following. The anger that had been in her eyes before was utterly gone now. Now there was only compassion. Empathy. She knew exactly what he was feeling right now and, whether he deserved it or not, she cared. Though she fully believed he’d spent the night in the arms of another woman, she could still feel compassion for him.

  “Stop it,” she told him. And when he only stood there, she stood close to him, gripped his shoulders, shook him slightly. “Stop thinking the worst. Snap out of it. Your son needs you.”

  He blinked at the strength in her tone, the flash of passion in her eyes. He stiffened his spine, nodded once. Jane turned again, but this time she slipped her hand into his as she did so, drawing him along at her side.

  The fear of what he would find when he walked into his son’s bedroom gnawed at his stomach like a corrosive. And he knew that if not for the warmth of the small, trembling hand tucked into his own, he’d never be able to put one foot in front of the other. To walk down the hallway, and then to step across the threshold of the open door. With an effort, he settled his gaze on his son. And then his muscles turned limp with relief. Benjamin wasn’t dead. He lay there, sleeping peacefully. As peacefully as Zach had ever seen him sleep. But only sleeping. His little chest rose and fell in rhythm.

  Sighing in relief, Zach crossed to the bedside, and gathered Benjamin’s hand into his own. He closed his eyes and sank into the chair beside the bed, kissing that tiny hand, battling tears of relief.

  “Cody, you scared us half to death,” Jane was saying. “What were you thinking of, saying that—”

  “I can’t wake him up, Mom.”

  Just like that. Five little words, each one hitting Zach in the chest like a bullet. His jaw clenched painfully, and he lifted his head, turned his gaze to lock with Jane’s.

  Her blue eyes had widened in shock and fear. “I don’t understand,” she whispered. “The pills were supposed—”

  “He hasn’t missed a single dose, Mom. I’m sure of it. He should be getting better, not—”

  “Benjamin.” Zach bent over the bed, gripped the boy’s shoulders. “Benjamin, wake up. Wake up now, son.”

  There was no response. Zach was vaguely aware of Cody moving to the opposit
e side of the bed, clinging to Benjamin’s other hand. And vaguely aware of Jane moving around the bedroom, the sounds of pills rattling as she shook them from the bottle.

  And then her voice, sounding dead. “Cody,” she said. “Close the door.”

  Zach looked up, saw Cody frowning at his mother, but obeying all the same. Then he turned to Jane. “Today…is the day he slips into the coma. But I thought, with the pills, he might…”

  She held a capsule, one end in the fingertips of each hand. And as he stared, she twisted, and she pulled, until the thing came apart. She turned the ends, looked inside, shook her head. And when she met Zach’s stare, she swallowed hard. “There’s nothing inside, Zach. You brought back a drug that hasn’t been invented yet. It just…it just doesn’t exist in this time.”

  Zach’s stomach knotted, and a feeling of dread slowly chilled every part of his body. “My God…my God, Jane, you were right.” And then his gaze turned to Cody. “Dammit, what have I done? What if my coming back here altered history, as you feared it would? Maybe now that I’ve returned the cure will never be found.” Lowering his own son’s hand to the bed, Zach walked slowly to Cody, searching his face, fear filling his heart. “How do you feel, son? Are you sick at all? Feverish?” He pressed his palm to Cody’s forehead, and heard Jane’s pain-filled gasp when she realized what he suspected.

  “Just a little tired is all,” Cody said. “It’s Ben we have to worry about. Why won’t he wake up, Zach?”

  “Is your throat sore?”

  Cody nodded. “Yeah. From all that smoke last night.”

  Zach’s eyes met Jane’s over Cody’s head. And he knew they were both hoping to God that it was the smoke, and not something far deadlier.

  Jane came to her son, slipped her arms around him and slid one hand, very casually, over his forehead. And she felt the heightened warmth of him, just as Zach had. He saw it in her widening eyes, saw the agony, the fear.

  “We have to get back to our own time, Zach,” Jane said, as she sank to her knees and wrapped her arms around her son. “We have to. And if you want to save your son, you have to come with us. Bring him along.”