In a flash, my fiery, redheaded wife had scrambled upward and was sitting on my stomach with her knees pressing down across my arms right at the elbow. Her hands were gripping tight around my wrists and she was pitched forward, holding me down with everything her petite frame had to give.
Her face was just inches from mine when she snarled, “Damn your eyes, Rowan Linden Gant! Damn your eyes!”
“Dammit, Felicity!” I barked as I struggled. “What the hell?!”
“You’re not doing this. You’re going to talk to me,” she hissed, clamping her thighs tight on my ribcage to keep me from wriggling free.
“Are you enjoying yourself?” I snipped.
She blasted back with a quick retort. “That’s not what this is about. Talk to me, damnu ort!”
I knew I could probably escape her hold, but it would involve someone getting hurt, and that someone wasn’t me. I was also well aware that this was still my wife on top of me, not Miranda using her body, and the last thing I wanted was to injure her. Given the leverage she had, I eventually just gave in and conceded the battle. Felicity, however, didn’t release her hold on me, even after I relaxed.
I sighed and simply lay there looking up into her imploring eyes. Finally, I said, “I don’t want to talk about this because I’m afraid. There. I said it.”
“Aye…” she whispered. “I know. And that’s why you have to talk about it. Tell me why.”
She definitely wasn’t going to give up, but then, I knew better than to believe she would. I’d told her the truth because lying to her would get me nowhere. But, I also hadn’t told her all of it, and she obviously knew that. How much of it I could continue to keep a secret remained to be seen.
The hollowness of fear started pooling in my chest as my emotions took over.
“She’s blinded me, honey… I can’t feel anything…”
“I know…”
“Felicity… If I can’t…” I stammered and then stopped as my throat tightened, causing me to choke on the words. Gathering myself, I started again. “If I can’t feel her coming then I might not be able to stop her. And if I can’t… If I can’t stop her then I could lose you.”
“You won’t,” she murmured. “I promise.”
“You can’t…”
“Sshhhh…” she hushed. “You won’t.”
I wanted nothing more than to believe her words, but what I had kept secret wouldn’t let me. I finally felt her vise-like grip on my ribcage begin to relax as she laid forward and slowly pressed herself against me. Apparently, I’d satisfied enough of her demand for the moment.
Once again I’d told only part of the truth, keeping hidden from her that which was already too painful for me. The image of her wasting away in that cold vision was something I felt I simply could not allow her to know.
When she released my arms I slid them around her and held tight. I’m certain we would have stayed in that position for the rest of the day had the room phone not begun to ring less than five minutes later.
“Do we have to answer it then?” Felicity asked.
“No,” I said, hugging her close.
The peal of the phone stopped after the fourth ring. Half a minute later, my cell phone began to rattle and warble out the William Tell Overture as it vibrated across the surface of the desk on the other side of the room.
My wife issued a resigned sigh. “It must be Ben…”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “That’s his ring tone.”
“You’d best answer it then.”
“I know…” I sighed. “I know.”
We disentangled ourselves, and I slowly sat up on the edge of the bed. My cell had already sent the call to voicemail and fallen into silence. Before I could stand up, however, the room phone began to ring once again. I shifted left then reached across Felicity’s legs and snatched the handset from the cradle.
“Hello,” I said.
“Ever hear of answerin’ your phone?” Ben replied to the greeting.
“Sorry, I was busy.”
“You two ain’t…well gettin’…ya’know…”
“No, Ben, we aren’t,” I said.
Under different circumstances, I would have replied with something suitably risque in order to razz him about his characteristic attack of modesty wherever sex was concerned. But, right now I didn’t feel all that amused.
“Well, are ya’ dressed?” he asked.
“Not yet, why?”
“‘Cause ya’ got about an hour, and then I’m gonna be in the lobby waitin’ for ya’,” he replied. “Both of ya’.”
“Why?”
“We got a bad guy ta’ find.”
“Ben, I already told you I’m not…”
I didn’t get a chance to finish my objection because he spoke right over the top of me, “Meet me in the lobby. See ya’ in sixty.”
At the end of the sentence, there was a dull click followed by a hollow silence. I realized he had simply hung up in order to cut me off. I sighed heavily then settled the handset back into the cradle. Then I gently patted my wife on the back of her calf.
“What’s the story?” Felicity asked.
“We need to get cleaned up,” I told her. “I’m afraid the gorilla’s keeper will be here in just a bit.”
CHAPTER 18
Felicity and I were backed into a corner on the crowed elevator. Apparently, everyone staying in the hotel had a meeting at the same time this morning, or so it seemed. We pressed ourselves farther into the wall as the car stopped at each successive floor on the way down. We gained more passengers on the first three stops, but after that, it was simply an exercise in waiting since the elevator was full.
Eventually, we reached the lobby, and the crush of suits in front of us began to filter outward. By the time they’d cleared and we were able to exit, the doors were already sliding shut. Felicity made it through unscathed, but since it was an older model elevator, I ended up purposely shouldering the mechanical safety edge and sent the sliding panels into a hasty retreat so that I could follow.
“He’s over there,” my wife announced, pointing across the expanse of marble tile and expensive looking area rugs.
Ben was lounged in one of the sitting area chairs near the center of the lobby, his attention focused on a folded newspaper in his hands. We walked toward him then skirted around the sofa just opposite where he was seated.
As we drew closer I announced, “I’d say good morning, but it hasn’t really started out that way.”
Our friend looked up from the newsprint then tossed it on the large coffee table and stood. “What the hell kept ya’? I’ve been waitin’ down here for fifteen minutes, and some jackass took the comic section, so I got stuck readin’ about how bad my 401k is tankin’.”
I glanced at my watch and shook my head. “You said an hour, Ben. It’s only been about forty-five minutes. Maybe fifty. Besides, you’re not one to talk. I tried calling you back four times after you hung up on me, and you didn’t even bother to answer.”
“Yeah, well I was kinda busy,” he snorted, repeating back to me the excuse I’d given him earlier. He then addressed himself to Felicity with one of his typical baiting remarks. “So what’s the deal, Firehair? You runnin’ a bit long with all the girly stuff this mornin’?”
Not being any more in the mood for his joviality than me, she muttered, “ Pog mo thoin, Ben.”
“Okay,” he shot back with a nod and a grin. “Bare it an’ share it, Irish.”
