This time, he really did hiss. His chest caved in as though he got punched in the stomach and he grunted. Before he could drown her in an earsplitting sermon, she walked to him, stopping just short of him.
His irregular breath fell on the top of her head and a muscle twitched on his jaw. God, didn’t he look ripe for the picking? Faces and bodies inches away, she kept the same scornful tone.
“Do you think your title and rank set you apart from humanity? Do you believe you can always behave like an angel simply because you’ve been taught to act like one? Open your eyes, Garrett, and open them wide. This is the real world. It has no rules, no restrictions, and no boundaries.”
He quickly held his free hand up as if her words were too hurtful to hear. Or maybe too accurate.
“I pray you, Miss Richardson, speak no more for I cannot—”
She motioned him to shut up. Leaning right against him, she rooted her eyes in the darkness of his gaze. “You didn’t know you had it in you. Did you, Lord Burnes?”
He winced. Fueled by his tormented denial, and while she was at it, she carried on without minding his plea.
“You fucked me like an animal, Garrett, and you loved it.”
She could have said more but he’d had enough for one day, and there was nothing he could say to defend his case. She didn’t expect an answer anyway. On the other hand, she felt certain he was picturing the episode.
He envisioned the shower in his mind, water running down on their naked bodies, foam covering their skin, his fingers caressing her nipples, her hand rubbing his erection, his brutal thrusts plowing her, his intense satisfaction as he banged her wildly, her shout when she came, the ecstasy they shared.
Still, she wasn’t done with him.
Looking into his dark eyes, her breasts grazing the lapels of his formal jacket, she placed a hand on his crotch. He was hard, as hard as he would ever be. She touched him. She cupped his erection in her palm and his deep sigh ensured her she had made her point.
Then she stepped back and walked to the staircase. “Come down when you’re ready.”
He didn’t react, not even when she glanced back, his gaze expressing a jumble of emotions she wasn’t sure what to make of. Downstairs, the front door banged shut and her dad called from the foyer.
“Tracy? I’m home.”
Yay, her two-faced begetter was back from his trip to Los Angeles. The person she’d saved from an insane tyrant and who, as a thank you, lied to her to prevent her from being with the man she loved.
Oh, yes, Daddy was back. Her belly twisted with anger. Feeling a dangerous smile light her face, she gripped the banister.
“Now, I’m gonna kill my father.”
Her lover didn’t try to hold her back as she descended the stairs, light on her feet, and crossed the foyer. When she entered the lounge, the great William Richardson relaxed in a comfortable armchair.
Glasses askew, he perceived her presence, though he was reading a document and didn’t raise his eyes.
“Good evening, darling,” her father greeted. “Would you mind getting me a drink of whisky? God knows I’ve had a long day.”
“I do mind.”
Interestingly enough, that got his immediate attention. She sounded so cold that he looked at her sharply.
“Huh, it seems you’ve also had a long day. What’s wrong, Tracy? Did you have a problem at the gallery?”
She walked to him, indignation and frustration coming off her in bursts. Fists on her hips, she confronted her father.
“You’ve betrayed me, Dad.”
A slow, bitter grin twisted her features as he straightened his glasses.
She ignored his look of complete bafflement. “When we got back from Garrett’s world, you swore you’d never lie to me again. Well, guess what, Daddy? You did. Can’t you see I’m not a child anymore? How could you do that to me?”
“Tracy, I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”
Yet her father stood to face her outrage. Unable to lower her voice, shaken by a deep anger heating her blood, she was shouting now. “You told me you had sealed the way to the other world, but once more you lied. The way is open!”
She obviously put him in a difficult position because he took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He looked somewhat tired then, maybe reluctant to take part in a long and stressful argument.
He should have admitted guilt and apologized for misleading her right this instant. He should have tried to smooth her ruffled feathers or at the very least explain his reasons. She might have listened.
But not Daddy. No, Daddy didn’t do that. Being the selfish man he was, he took no notice of her bruised feelings.
He avoided a direct answer and went straight for a down-to-earth question. “What makes you think the way is open?”
She didn’t deign to reply as she heard Garrett approaching from behind. When he came into the study, her father saw him and sighed. “I see.”
Like nothing was amiss, her dad put his glasses back on before gesturing to the man standing at the threshold. “Now that you’re here, come on in, my boy.”
To her surprise, Garrett’s mere presence soothed her, and when he came to stand by her side, her irritation settled down.
Without a hint of emotion, Garrett walked to her father before thrusting out his hand. “Good evening, sir. I trust you’ve been well since last we met.”
“Fine, thank you. When did you get here?”
“I arrived this morning,” Garrett replied. “I needed to discuss a matter with you.”
Blah, blah, blah. Were they going to exchange niceties for the rest of the evening? Would they treat her like a teenager throwing a tantrum and move on to serious discussion without her? There was no way she’d allow that to happen. Taking a deep breath, she leaned toward her father.
“What do you have to say to that, Dad?”
“I didn’t lie to you, Tracy. I sealed the way as soon as we got back here.”
Sure, he did.
Although he lied without avoiding her cold stare, scorn and irony seeped through her words. “So Garrett is standing in front of you now because he did a magic trick? Abracadabra, there he is!”
Her dad ran both hands through his hair as if the next minutes were going to be tough on his patience. “Don’t be cheeky. I had to reopen my lab afterward but there was no urgency in informing you.”
“Of course not,” she said. “Telling me about it on your deathbed would have been soon enough, don’t you think?”
She believed her sarcasm could be perceived as well as heard. All of a sudden and far from looking sheepish, her father reverted to the tone of voice he used when she was a kid and got caught after a mischief.
“I don’t care for your tone, child, and I don’t want to discuss private matters in front of our guest. But if you want to go down that road, tell me something. Had you been aware the way was open, what would you have done?”
Trapped. He trapped her.
Though quiet beside her, Garrett was listening and her dad fully knew she wouldn’t reveal what she’d been planning at the time. Not in front of her lover. She’d meant to follow Garrett halfway across his world, but a long time had gone by since then and their lives were different today.
Understanding her lengthening silence, and perhaps to rescue her from an awkward position, her father didn’t dwell on the delicate subject.
Instead, he moved to get glasses and bottles from the liquor cabinet. “Let’s have a drink,” he said to Garrett. “How about we fix dinner and spend a nice evening together? Are you hungry, my boy?”
“As you wish, sir.”
She slumped on one of the dark green leather armchairs, in need of a respite, still angry at her father but grateful he didn’t spil
l the beans in front of Garrett. This time, she almost died of humiliation. Her former back-on-the-job lover wouldn’t have followed her across any world, and his pity would be too much to bear.
Once more, she wondered how this extraordinary man possessed the ability to unchain his most savage emotions when they were making love, then just as easily slip back into his shackles.
She couldn’t decide if it required a will of iron or an obligation to shut oneself from external exactions. She also wondered how anyone could reply ‘as you wish’ when asked about the contents of his stomach.
Her dad handed a glass of whisky to Garrett, both men sitting down on the longest couch. She felt sure they’d have been happy drinking their liquor in friendly silence, but she needed answers.
She’d been extremely patient up to now. She spent the whole day without asking a single personal question but that blissful time was over.
Without beating about the bush, she fixed her eyes on Garrett. “I guess you can tell me now what happened to you during all that time? What have you been doing?”
“Urgent matters required my presence, therefore I journeyed to London. I was pleased to see my family.”
“I bet they were, too,” she continued. “But your stay over there must have been pretty short. Doesn’t it take forever to cross the Atlantic by boat?”
Garrett and her father exchanged a knowing look, the kind of look she didn’t care for at all. She also perceived some sort of tacit agreement between them, like two best buddies the morning after a heavy drinking night. Feeling left out, she stared at both men.
“What’s that look?” she asked. “Did I say something stupid? It does take an awful long time by boat, right?”
Her father took a sip of his drink before putting it down on the coffee table. Then he placed a halting hand on Garrett’s forearm.
“Let me answer that, my boy. If Tracy has to be mad at someone, it should be me, because I got you into this.”
Chapter 5
Pushing his glasses up, her father then softened his words with a small smile when he directed his gaze at her.
“Tracy, I’m sure you remember my business trip to New York last winter when I didn’t give you any news. It’s because I was in 1900 London with Garrett. I asked him to help me build a telepod there.”
Pins and needles crept up the back of her legs when her dad cocked his head.
“Since we completed this new space traveling device,” he carried on, “I gave Garrett free access. As things currently stand, it takes less than a second from London to San Francisco.”
Damn, how stupid of her. When her father sealed the way, she should have known he wouldn’t leave it at that. He was too much of a scientist and way too passionate about his discoveries and achievements.
There was no use cursing her sightlessness because in a sense, he was right. Had she been aware she had the means to chase Garrett to London, what would she have done? More often than not, hunting someone down only led to trouble.
She knew the truth now. Thanks to her dad, she had all the facts straight. Had he chosen to, Garrett could have easily come for her. He hadn’t. In his own style, he sealed the way between them.
A hefty load filling her stomach, she thought it safer to forget about his so-called sentiments and to inquire about technicalities.
“Dad, can you go from 1900 London to our world?”
“No, I haven’t worked that out yet.”
No doubt he soon would. Looking relieved she hadn’t fallen into hysterics, her father resumed his explanation.
“You see, Tracy, my invention is more like an intercity line connecting 1900 San Francisco, London, and Gold Run. But if you want to cross over to our dimension, you can only do it from my lab in San Francisco. I moved it, too. With Garrett’s permission, my lab is now in his house on Nob Hill. That’s the home base.”
“What about the telepods?” she asked. “How do they work without the silver necklace, your watch, or Mom’s bracelet?”
“DNA. With a drop of blood, I can integrate a person’s DNA into the sequence. This way I’m certain there won’t be any unauthorized access.”
She pursed her lips. “I guess that’s one way to put it. But if for some reason someone tries to use the telepods anyway, what happens then?”
“Without his DNA into the system,” her dad said, “that person would suffer a major heart attack. I believe death would be swift.”
Wow. Talk about a new fun way to spend an idle moment. She scratched the leather arm of the chair while she nodded. Although she did her best to look composed, her father sensed her misery because he raised his glass of whiskey and talked to Garrett.
“We should celebrate your presence here. Welcome to our parallel world, my boy. If I may ask, what have you been doing today?”
“Sir, your daughter has been kind enough to show me the town, and I must say I appreciate the gesture. From what I’ve seen, San Francisco has become much larger and rather impressive.”
As Garrett spoke for her father’s benefit, she was reminded of the awesome afternoon they spent together, of the carefree young man she discovered once out of his rigorous three-piece suit and top hat.
The sensations she experienced all day rushed back to her, lifting her spirits up, filling her with a renewed urge to fight. Before Garrett could give any detail, she sat upright to raise her glass, too.
“Well, Dad, if you must know everything, your boy and I went on an open deck bus tour so he could see most of the town. That was good fun. I also took him to Rodeo Beach to play volleyball with Josh and the gang. Then we came back here, right on time to have amazing sex in the shower.”
Garrett choked on his drink. Inducing it had nothing to do with the whisky brand, she grinned at him and got up to fill an empty glass with water before handing it to him. He took the cool recipient with a weird look but quickly swallowed the fresh liquid.
“Don’t pay attention, my boy,” her dad said, “Tracy can have an uncanny sense of humor when she’s displeased with me.”
Just like she figured, her father’s light tone showed his conviction she was kidding.
“As for you, young girl,” her dad added, “you’d better avoid that kind of language around Garrett. He wasn’t brought up this way and it makes him uncomfortable. But I’m sure you’re already aware of it.”
“Gosh, I wouldn’t dream of making Garrett uncomfortable. I’m sorry if I’ve offended him. I just didn’t know his education had been so . . .”
Although intent on contradicting her father, she felt positive her sudden, gleeful tone didn’t escape Garrett’s notice. Because she meant the true sense of her words for him alone.
Creasing her brow and raising a finger to her bottom lip, she pretended to look for an appropriate term before she ended her sentence. “. . . So stiff.”
She read indignation and awkwardness in Garrett’s dark gaze. Heedless of her banter, her father set his glass down on the coffee table.
“Stop pestering our guest, Tracy. Why don’t you make yourself useful instead and cook us dinner?”
Sure. All day long, she’d been meaning to do just that. Not to mention the fact that she could barely fry an egg.
“Come on, Dad, this is Garrett’s first time in our twenty first century. Why don’t we take him out? I’m sure he’d love it.”
Love it or not, Garrett had to be thinking his sexual experiences would more likely be kept secret in a public place. She was right on the dot because he looked at her father and nodded his agreement.
“Splendid proposition. I shall be honored to accompany you.”
She suggested Skoma’s, having shared several meals there with Timothy, sometimes with Alyson and Michelle. She always enjoyed the delightful waterfront restaurant, floating out over the bay.
Besides, she wanted to show Garrett the establishment’s most distinctive features: the views of Angel Island, the Tiburon peninsula, Alcatraz, and the San Francisco skyline. As the building dated back to the 1890’s with some Victorian style features, she also figured he’d consider it familiar.
The three of them were ushered to the small waterside dining room at her request. Fortunately, not many patrons had decided to dine out. The soft sea foam green, blue, and gray hues on the walls usually soothed her but tonight, easy-to-be-with Timothy wasn’t standing by her side. Garrett was.
She sat by the window and let her gaze travel outside, her lover’s arm within a hair’s breadth of hers. Across the table, glasses sliding down his nose, her father started reading the menu aloud. Did he think they were illiterate or did he need to hear the names of dishes before tasting them?
Garrett appeared to listen to him the same way he probably listened to the priest’s sermons in church. Impatient to hear about her former companions and protectors, she nudged Garrett’s elbow.
“Give me some news. How’s Weedon? Still hanging out with White Fur? What about Jake and Jessica?”
“Weedon departed for Canada months ago. I have not received word from him, but I dare say he’s faring well.”
She sighed. Dear, charming Weedon who had been so nice to her when she needed it the most. A good friend who rescued them all from the Hell hounds in Gold Run. As much as she’d have liked to meet him and his wolfdog again, she guessed her father hadn’t built a telepod in Canada.
“Jake’s whereabouts, I’m afraid, must remain untold,” Garrett continued. “However, at my bidding, he ought to be en route to San Francisco.”
Her father extracted his gaze from the enthralling menu. Pushing his glasses up, he frowned at Garrett.