Nora Roberts - Times Change

“Yell at me later,” she said calmly. “I think I’m going to pass out.”

“No, you’re not.” Though he was infuriated, he lifted her as though she were fragile glass and carried her to a chair. Then he was all business.

“You’re light-headed?”

“Yes.” She put her hand on her temple. “It was a hell of a trip.”

“Nauseous?”

“Some.”

He pressed a round black button, and a small compartment opened. He pulled out a square box. From it he took a tiny, paper-thin pill. “Let this dissolve on your tongue. Idiot,” he said, even as she obeyed. “You aren’t prepped for traveling at warp speed.”

The relief was instant. She took a long breath, pleased that she wasn’t going to disgrace herself. Ignoring him for the moment, she turned to the viewscreen. The galaxy was spread out before her.

“Oh, my God.” The color that had come back into her cheeks fled again. “It’s incredible. Is that—is that Earth?”

“Yes.” His palms were damp. If his stomach didn’t settle, he’d have to resort to a pill himself. “Sunny, do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“How fast are we going?”

“Damn it, Sunny.”

“Yes, I know what I’ve done.” She swiveled in the chair to rest her hands on his knees. Her eyes, when they met his, were dark and clear. “I’ve passed through time with you, Jacob.”

“You have to be out of your mind.” He wanted to shake her until her bones rattled. He wanted to hold her against him until they melted. “How could you have pulled off a ridiculous stunt like this?”

“Cal and Libby helped me.”

“They helped you? They knew you’d planned this?”

“Yes.” When she felt her hands begin to tremble, she sat back and folded them in her lap. She didn’t want him to know how frightened she was. “I decided last night.”

“You decided,” he repeated.

“That’s right.” Her chin lifted, and she gave him a long, level look. “I talked to Cal this morning, told him what I wanted to do.” Calmer now, she turned to the viewscreen again. There were lights in the sky. Stars. Instead of looking up at them, she looked out. As incredible as it was, she was hurtling through space with the only man she had ever loved. Would ever love.

Someone had to be sensible. Someone had to be calm. But he wasn’t sure it could be him. “Sunny, I don’t think you understand what you’ve done.”

“I understand perfectly.” She looked back at him. Yes, she was calm again, she realized. Calm, with her mind clear and her heart content. “Cal made a token protest—more for Libby’s sake than mine, really. But when I spoke with her she understood. She brought me to the ship herself this afternoon, when you were busy with Cal.”

“Your parents . . .”

“Would want me to be happy.” There was a pang, a deep one, when she thought of them. “Libby and Cal will explain everything to them.” Because she was sure her legs were steady again, she rose to walk around the flight deck. “I’m not saying they won’t be sad, or that they won’t miss me if it isn’t possible to go back. But I think my father—particularly my father—will get a tremendous charge when he thinks of where I am.” She laughed. “ When I am.”

She turned back, still smiling. “Neither of us is good at compromising, J.T. With us, it’s all or nothing. That’s why we’ll get along so well.”

“I would have come back.” He covered his face with his hands, then dragged them back through his hair. “Damn it, Sunny, I told you I’d come back. A year, maybe two or three.”

“I didn’t want to wait that long.”

“You idiot, if I had managed to perfect it I’d have been back five minutes after I’d left, in your time.”

Her time. It struck him so hard, so deep, that he wasn’t sure he could speak. “You had no right to make a decision like this without discussing it with me.”

“It’s my decision.” Riled, she stalked back to him. “If you don’t want me, then I’ll just find some nice, appreciative companions. Maybe on Mars. I can take care of myself, pal. Just consider that I’ve hitched a ride.”

“It has nothing to do with what I want. It’s what’s best for you.”

“I know what’s best for me.” She rapped a fist on his chest. “I thought it was you, but I’ve made one or two mistakes before.” She spun away and took two steps before he grabbed her.

“Where are you going to go?” he demanded. “There’s still a few thousand kilometers before we hit breathable atmosphere.”

“It’s a big ship.”

“Sit down.”

“I don’t—”

“I said sit down.” He gave her a none-too-gentle shove that sent her sprawling into the chair. “And shut up. I have something to say to you.” When she braced her hands on the arms of the chair, he lifted a fist. “If you get up, I swear I’m going to belt you.”

Seething, she sat back. “That’s one term that appears to have survived the centuries.”

“If I’d known what you were planning I’d have used that term before. There were risks involved here that you have no conception of. If I’d made a mistake, a miscalculation, even the slightest—”

“But you didn’t.”

“That’s not the point.”

“What is the point, Hornblower?”

“You shouldn’t have done this.”

She let out an impatient breath. “Well, it’s no use belaboring that point, because I have done it. Why don’t we move on to the next step?”

He found he had to sit himself. “You may never be able to get back.”

“I know. I’ve accepted that.”

“If you change your mind—”

“Jacob.” Sighing, she rose, only to kneel beside him. “I can’t change my mind unless I change my heart. And that’s just not possible.”

He reached out to touch her hair. “I wouldn’t have asked this of you.”

“I know. And if I had asked to come with you you would have given me half a dozen very logical reasons why I couldn’t.” She turned her face into his palm. “And you’d have been wrong. What I couldn’t do is live without you.”

“Sunny.”

“Look at it this way. I’ve always felt that I was ahead of my time, kind of placed in the wrong era. Maybe I’ll do better in yours.”

“This was a stupid thing to do.” Then he pulled her up into his lap. “Thank God you did it.”

“Then you’re not mad?”

He showed her just how mad he was when his mouth took hers. “When you wouldn’t see me today, it was as if you’d cut out my heart. It didn’t matter, because I’d wanted to leave it with you.”

Tears rushed to her eyes, but she forced them back. She wanted only to smile at him. “That’s almost poetic.”

“Don’t get used to it.” Still holding her, he leaned forward to make some adjustments on the control panel.

“Can you teach me how to drive this?”

He slanted her a look. She was here, really here. And his. Forever. “I’m already terrified of the idea of you at the controls of a cruise rider.”

“I’m a quick study.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” He drew her back until she was settled in the curve of his arm. “I’m not sure even my world’s ready for you.”

“But you are.”

He kissed her again, gently. “I’ve been ready all my life.”

With a sigh, she teased his mouth until the passion simmered. “I don’t suppose we could put this thing on automatic pilot or whatever.”

“Not at this point.”

“We did make it back, didn’t we?”

He inclined his head toward the screen. “We’ve got a little way to go yet.”

“No, I mean back. What year is it?”

He gestured toward the dials. “2254.”