When Mitch recognized it, he had a very bad feeling.
Damage control time.
“Can you peel this orange?” Mitch said almost absently to Jason, then crossed the room with quick strides. “Let’s talk in the other room,” he suggested, capturing Lilith’s elbow in one smooth move and turning her away from the children.
Mitch knew he had to talk fast if he was going to save this situation.
Let alone his butt.
Too bad he didn’t have a clue how to start.
“Mitch, why do you have this list of psychologists? And this trauma specialist?” Lilith’s concern was obvious. “Is it Jen? Is she more upset than you told me?”
“No, not Jen.” Mitch swallowed, hating that words chose this moment to desert him.
“Who, then?” She clutched his arm. “Not Jason?”
“No, Lilith, no.” Mitch frowned. “Lilith, it’s not for the kids.”
“Andrea?”
“No, Andrea’s about the most well-adjusted person I’ve ever met.”
Lilith eyed him. “Has something happened to you?”
“No.” Mitch shoved a hand through his hair, knowing that at this rate, she was going to get to the truth before he could come up with a reasonable explanation.
Lilith drew back slightly and frowned. “I don’t understand, then.”
There was no easy way to say this. Mitch took a deep breath and just plunged in. “Lilith, I researched the list for you.”
His words seemed to stun her. “Me? But why?”
“Well, yeah. You see, when you told me about the whole Gypsy thing and being an outcast and your true lover leaving you, I thought the story might be a way of dealing with a trauma in your life.”
Lilith straightened, her expression puzzled. “The trauma in my life was seeing you killed.” Her tone told Mitch that he was on shaky ground. He caught her shoulders in his hands, unable to quell a sense that she was poised to flee. He tried to explain himself.
Fast.
“But you do know, Lilith, that people don’t live for six hundred years? It just isn’t possible – in fact, you mentioned as much yourself.”
“I told you I was immortal…”
Mitch spoke gently. “Lilith, there aren’t any immortals and we both know that.” He looked deeply into her eyes and saw disbelief dawn there in the same moment that she gasped. “Now, it doesn’t matter…”
“It certainly does matter,” she interrupted and pulled out of his grip. “You think I liked to you!”
But Mitch was still trying to save the situation. His words came fast and low, his tone as gentle ass he could make it. “Not exactly a lie, Lilith. I think you’re trying to protect yourself, that the mind does incredible things to deal with trauma, but…”
Lilith backed away, her eyes snapping angrily. “You don’t believe me! You think I lied to you.”
“Well…” Mitch couldn’t think of a good way to explain himself nearly fast enough.
“You think I made it all up!” Lilith spun and marched to the other side of the room, pivoting only at the window.
Then she stared at him, consideration bright in her eyes. “But wait – if you don’t believe me, then how could you have remembered anything about being Sebastian? If you remembered, you’d know I was telling the truth.”
“I never said I remembered!”
Lilith strode across the room, determination in her every step. She waved a finger under Mitch’s nose. “You said you didn’t remember nearly enough. I remember that quite clearly.”
He had said that, although Mitch couldn’t exactly remembered why it had seemed like a good idea at the time. He looked at his feet and frowned when no ready explanation came to his lips.
“You implied,” Lilith continued coldly, “that you remembered something and that you wanted to remember more.”
Mitch heaved a sigh. ‘Lilith, I’m sorry. I made a mistake. I was concerned for Andrea.”
“So you deceived me.” Lilith’s eyes flashed. “You pretended that you did remember something when you didn’t. And you think the fact that you believed I was a criminal preying on other people makes that all right!”
“Lilith, I was just trying to help…”
But Lilith poked a finger hard into Mitch’s chest. There was a dangerous glint in her eyes. “I don’t need to be helped. I don’t need to be fixed.” Her voice rose slightly and Mitch realized she was very, very angry.
So, maybe he hadn’t handled this too well. If only she would give him more time to explain. “But Lilith, I wasn’t going to give you the list. I don’t care whether you ever sort all that out.”
She sniffed, clearly unimpressed. “How gracious of you to accept damaged goods.” She pointed her finger at him again. “But there’s not a single thing wrong with me, Mitch Davison, except that I’m different from you. I’m starting to think that’s an awfully good thing!”
“Lilith! Can we just talk about this?”
“There’s nothing to talk about. If you really loved me, you’d accept me as I am. You wouldn’t conclude that I was crazy. You’d believe what I told and you wouldn’t mislead me.”
“But Lilith…”
“Mitch, this hasn’t been easy.” Lilith drew in a sharp breath and straightened to her full height. “You’ve fought me and destiny every step of the way here. I understand that things haven’t always been easy for you, and I’ve tried to be understanding, but I’m tired of doing all the work.’ She fixed him with a look. “Do you remember being Sebastian or not?”
Mitch sighed, but held her gaze. “No.”
Lilith’s lips tightened and she turned away.
“But I love you. I never lied about that.”
Lilith looked Mitch right in the eye. “That doesn’t give you the right to hurt me,” she said softly. “And it doesn’t give you the right to assume you know best.” Lilith licked her lips, then words fell quickly. “You’ve got to do some thinking. You’ve got to make some choices, and you’ve got to come to terms with the truth – even if it doesn’t meet your expectations.”
And with that, she walked out of his house.
Mitch blinked. He couldn’t believe she was just leaving.
He couldn’t believe that no one had thrown dishes, or had a showy tantrum or made enormous demands. There had been no ultimatum.
Lilith just asked for his faith, told him what she wanted from him and walked away, leaving him time to think about it. She’d been angry, but she hadn’t taken it too far.
He already agreed with her.
The situation was so completely different from how things had been with Janice that Mitch was momentarily stunned.
By the time he acknowledged how different Lilith was, she was gone.
But Mitch couldn’t let this argument end here. He couldn’t let Lilith walk out of his life. She was right – he would have called his kids on the carpet for even an almost-lie like the one he had made.
Mitch had to apologize. He had to fix this. He told the kids he’d be back in two and raced out the back door. Mitch leapt through the gate, catching a glimpse of Lilith’s skirts from her front porch.
“Lilith! Wait!” Mitch raced down the path between the two houses, vaulted onto her porch, and tried the door.
It was already closed and locked.
Mitch rang the bell, but no one answered. It didn’t take him long to realize that Lilith wasn’t going to answer anytime soon.
Screwed up again, Davison, Mitch congratulated himself. He shoved his hands into his pockets and glared at the door, not yet ready to take no for an answer.
He might not be a star at relationships, but he was damn well going to try to give this his best shot before he gave up trying. There had to be a way to work through all their various hurts and misconceptions and get back to the place where they had spent the night.
Mitch wasn’t afraid to work for it.
*
15
The Devil
Lili
th came home at lightning speed, ripped open her front door and slammed it shut behind her, still seething. She heard Mitch behind her but was too disappointed to face him now.
How could he have misled her?
And how dare he not believe their story? It was such a stunning breach of faith that Lilith wouldn’t have believed it possible, if she hadn’t heard the truth from Mitch’s own lips.
He thought she was traumatized and making up stories! She wanted to fling her hands toward the sky and scream. Men! Lilith was so irked with Mitch that she wouldn’t have been surprised to find smoke curling out of her ears.
What she did find was an unfamiliar man lounging in her living room, toying with her tarot cards.
Lilith froze in the hall and stared. She had locked the door, she knew it. How had he gotten in here? And why was he sitting so calmly in her living room? The intruder had dark hair and dark eyes and dressed with a flamboyance that made her Gift whisper in the back of her mind.
Before Lilith could summon a word, he looked up and grinned. “Lilith!” Her heart hammered that he knew her name. “Took you long enough, baby. How about a kiss for an old friend?”
And he flicked a card from his fingertips to land on the floor at her feet.
It was The Fool, from Lilith’s old deck.
“Sebastian,” she whispered, barely daring to believe. Lilith sank into a chair, so shocked that she was certain her legs wouldn’t continue to support her.
“The very same,” he confirmed and grinned, clearing enjoying her surprise. “Miss me?”
Lilith stared at him and fought against the truth. Her destined lover was the man sitting right in front of her.
Not the one banging on her door, demanding admission.
Uh oh.
*
16
The Falling Tower
Suddenly Mitch’s confusion made a whole lot more sense to Lilith. Because Mitch wasn’t her destiny, after all. Lilith exhaled weakly and tried to wrap her mind around the concept.
No wonder Mitch had been so stunned when she jumped on him. He hadn’t understood the import of their entwined fates, because their fates weren’t entwined.
Lilith’s destiny was sitting right in front of her, grinning smugly. There was something about Sebastian’s smile that made Lilith want to slap it right off his face, and she certainly didn’t like being called ‘baby’ by anyone.
Surely they had just gotten off on the wrong foot.
Lilith glanced from Sebastian to the door Mitch was knocking on and knew there was no point in delaying the inevitable. However disappointing the truth might be, Lilith knew she couldn’t challenge destiny.
It simply wasn’t done.
She had to tell Mitch the truth.
Lilith opened the door just as Mitch let loose an eloquent stream of cursing. He stopped as soon as he saw her, his eyes widened and he lifted his hands in a plea for truce.
“Lilith! Just give me five minutes to explain…”
“You don’t have to explain,” Lilith said flatly. She ran a hand over her brow, feeling suddenly very tired. She couldn’t help it - finding her destined lover wasn’t as wonderful as anticipated, since it meant giving up Mitch. “There’s nothing to explain. I was wrong about everything. I know it now. Good-bye, Mitch. I’m sorry that you got tangled up in all of this.”
Mitch’s eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”
“I’m sorry.” Lilith didn’t know what else to say.
Mitch frowned. He looked to his house, then back to Lilith, uncertainty in his eyes. “Did I miss something here? Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t we just spend an awesome night, not to mention make a very promising start to the morning? Aren’t we making up from an argument?”
“No, Mitch.” Lilith heard the defeat in her tone. “We’re ending whatever we had begun.”
Oh, she had his attention now. “What?”
“We aren’t destined to be together, after all.” Lilith tried to shut the door and turn away, the whole conversation making her want to cry.
But Mitch’s eyes flashed gold and his hand snapped up to stop the progress of the door. “What the hell do you mean? Okay, okay, I was wrong, but come on, Lilith, give me a chance!”
Lilith shook her head despondently, wishing she could give him a different answer than the one she had to give. “It’s no good, Mitch.”
Mitch folded his arms across his chest, planted his feet in her foyer and looked about as ready to move as the Rock of Gibraltar. “What exactly changed in the last five seconds?” he demanded, his voice dangerously low. “Give me one good reason why I should walk out this door.”
“Everything has changed.”
“We had a misunderstanding,” Mitch insisted stubbornly. “It changes nothing.”
“No, you just don’t understand.” Once Lilith realized that she wasn’t going to get by with a quick explanation, she stepped back and gestured to the foyer. “Come in and you’ll see. You have a right to know the truth.”
Mitch’s lips tightened. “I can’t leave the kids. Why don’t you come back and have breakfast?”
“Because what you have to see is right here,” Lilith said softly. She managed a half-smile for him. “This won’t take long. Soon you’ll see exactly what I mean.”
“Lilith,” Mitch said her name softly and hesitated, his gaze lingering on her as though he would find the truth in her eyes. Lilith averted her gaze, not wanting him to see the misery surging through her, not wanting him to guess that she wasn’t finding it easy to do the right thing.
Because Lilith knew that they didn’t have a choice.
Mitch made a frustrated noise in his throat, then strode further into the house. There was purpose in his step and a part of Lilith was pleased that he was not ready to surrender their relationship.
Even if she didn’t dare savor to that thrill for long.
Without a word, Lilith gestured toward the living room. Mitch evidently thought she was inviting him to sit down and headed immediately in that direction, looking as though he was preparing to argue a court case.
One that he had no intention of losing.
But Mitch froze on the threshold of the room and stared, in an unconscious echo of Lilith’s return home just moments before.
“Who the hell are you?” he demanded of the man Lilith knew was lounging there. “And what are you doing in Lilith’s house?”
Sebastian smiled wolfishly just as Lilith entered the room behind Mitch. “I’m Sebastian, come to claim my one true love.”
“What’s he talking about?” Mitch turned and frowned at Lilith. “I thought I was Sebastian?”
“So did I,” Lilith conceded. She shrugged sadly and tried to hide her tears from Mitch’s perceptive eye. “I guess we were both wrong.”
But Mitch shoved a hand through his hair impatiently and scowled at the newcomer. “How long has this guy been here? Has he been bothering you all weekend?”
“Bothering her?” Sebastian swept to his feet. “I’ve returned to my destined love because she summoned me.” His eyes flashed. “And it seems that I’ve arrived just in time!”
“Don’t worry, Sebastian, Mitch always does the right thing.”
Mitch swiveled to meet her gaze. “Which would be what?”
“Leaving,” Lilith said simply, then laid a hand on Mitch’s arm, wishing she could make this easier for him.
Never mind easier for herself.
“Go home, Mitch,” she urged gently. “Go home to your kids.”
But Mitch’s eyes flashed. “You can’t be serious about ending this?”
“We don’t have a choice.”
“The hell we don’t!” Mitch gripped her shoulders when Lilith didn’t say anything more, as though he wanted to give her a shake. Instead, his voice dropped low. “Lilith, listen to what you’re saying! I’m sorry, I made a mistake, but let’s talk about it. There’s something good growing between us, don’t just throw it away.”
But Lilith
knew better. She dropped her voice and looked into Mitch’s eyes, even managed a smile though her heart was aching. “Mitch, you don’t understand…”
He spun away from her, clearly seeing that he was making no progress. “No! I don’t!” Mitch retorted in frustration, then gestured angrily at Sebastian. “This guy just shows up and that’s good enough for you? You had, what, one night together some six hundred years ago? What about us? What about the time we’ve spent together? What about last night?” Mitch’s gaze clung to hers, all amber intensity, and he didn’t have to give voice to his real question.
What about his confession of love?
Lilith knew it hadn’t been easy for Mitch to let himself care about her, but maybe that was all part of some divine plan. Maybe she was hurting now so that he could go on to find his one true love. Maybe he had to hurt to learn to love again. Lilith didn’t know and right now she didn’t much care.
But she had to do what was right. There was no point in trying to cheat Dame Fortune.
Because the Fates could be vengeful.
“Mitch, we can’t fight destiny…”
“Why the hell not?” Mitch leaned closer, his gaze dangerously compelling. “What happened to you, Lilith? What happened to fighting for what you wanted, what happened to not surrendering regardless of the odds? It isn’t like you to just let something go, particularly something very special.”
Mitch took a deep breath and slid his thumbs across her shoulders. She shivered despite herself, unable to keep herself from responding when a smile tugged at his lips and his voice dropped low. “Lilith, it isn’t like you to ignore magick.”
Lilith’s heart skipped a beat as she stared wordlessly back at him. Mitch’s determination, as well as his acknowledgement of the magic between them, made Lilith want to throw her arms around his neck and surrender.
But she didn’t. Instead, she took a deep breath and looked into his eyes.
Time Travel Romances Boxed Set Page 130