Downtime (53 page)
Authors: Tamara Allen
Tags: #M/M SciFi/Futuristic, #_ Nightstand, #Source: Amazon
“You are the wiliest devil.”
“Mess around with spells and that’s what you get. Should we christen the room?”
“Morgan.” His smile softened the reproof. “We haven’t the keys yet. We can’t lock the door.”
Laughing, I slid to sit on the floor and pulled him down with me. “I’ve led you seriously astray.”
“I’ve let you. You know, I’ve never felt like this about anyone else.”
I leaned forward and kissed him on the nose. He started, then smiled at me in chagrin. “You do not think me a fool?”
God love him. “I think you so damned wonderful, I don’t know how to put it into words.” So I expressed it in a way he’d taught me, himself. When we drew apart, his eyes were bright.
“Dear man. I am sorry you had to go through so much.”
“You went through worse. But I got back to you. That’s all that matters.”
“But knowing I would die and you could not prevent it,” he said softly.
“Well, yeah. That was bad.” And not something I really wanted to think about ever again.
He seemed to know. He interlaced his fingers with mine and gave my hand a squeeze. “I am rather glad that since you’ve changed history, you do not know what will become of me.”
“Oh, but I do.” I looked at him solemnly. “You know that daft FBI agent you conjured on a slow day at the office? You’re going to settle down together in a quaint Victorian house across from the park, and share a room with way too much flowery yellow wallpaper.” I wrinkled my nose at it and he laughed. “You and he will catalogue books by day and chase criminals down by night and when you have time off, he’ll teach you to play baseball and you’ll teach him the mysteries of cricket. He’ll get used to warm beer and stewed eel….” I grimaced. “And with any luck, you’ll get used to interpreting his twenty-first century English. You’ll discover as-yet unappreciated virtues in dark streets, cramped cabs, theater boxes, and foggy days….” I winked, “And the two of you will live happily ever after. Sound good?”
Derry stuck his head in and gasped, “We’re signing away our lives on this one, then? Tell me quick, lads, or fetch us away from the place.”
“Said like a man in love,” Ezra noted.
“It’s the garden,” I said. “I don’t think he can resist it.”
Derry groaned, confirming my suspicion. “Swear you’ll back me up when Kathleen gets here.”
Mr. Hambly was all smiles as he peered over Derry’s shoulder. “Gentlemen?”
Ezra’s hand was still in mine, out of the agent’s view, and I felt a gentle tickle against my palm. “It does sound good,” he murmured.
I smiled. “I guess we’ve got ourselves a home.”
Derry all but bounced in relief. “Bravo. I’ll go down and wait for Kath. Mr. Hambly, if you will, you may regale my sister with the same pretty tales,” he said as he backed out and shut the door. I had a feeling Kathleen wasn’t going to put up with any regaling. But she and Hannah would like the house—and all the “modern conveniences.”
I was growing fond of it, myself. Hell, with Ezra’s arms around me, even yellow wallpaper had its charms. I noticed his amused glance in the direction of the door. A bright shiny key poked from the lock, a key that hadn’t been there before.
“Derry doesn’t have much faith in our ability to restrain ourselves, does he.”
“Well, he did have to shoo us from Mrs. Nisbet’s pantry yesterday,” Ezra reminded me as he got up to lock the door.
He had a point. “But Kathleen will be here—”
“In about twenty minutes.” He tossed me the key and dropped onto my lap, draping his arms around my shoulders. “Perhaps thirty.”
“Thank God for old-fashioned, poky transportation.”
His forehead rested against mine. “Whose world is the more advanced now, eh?”
“You’ve got it all over us,” I conceded.
Thirty minutes was never better spent.
Tamara Allen
lives in the piney woods north of Houston, Texas with her husband Eric and son Nicholas. She spends her time on administrative work for her husband's law practice, taking care of her family, and writing when she gets the chance.
She especially likes penning historical romances for the fun of dwelling briefly in other interesting time periods. She is the 2009 winner of the Rainbow Award for best historical novel and co-winner for best novel overall.
Visit her at her web site at http://www.tamara-allen.net and at Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/tamara_allen. You can contact her at writer.mara@gmail .com.
