the sofa, swore, then streaked up the steps.
It didn’t help. None of it helped. The fury was still roiling inside her. And worse, much worse, was the need, the raw-edged need, that tangled with it. He’d done that, she thought, slamming the door. Deliberately, too. She was sure of it.
He’d managed to make her so angry, to push her so close to the edge, that she’d responded irrationally when he’d kissed her.
It wouldn’t happen again—that she promised herself. Humiliation was nearly as bad as being outmaneuvered, and he’d managed to do both in a matter of hours. He was going to have to pay for it.
Throwing herself down on the bed, she decided to spend the rest of the afternoon devising ways to make Jacob Hornblower’s life a living hell.
Chapter 4
He never should have touched her. Jacob cursed himself. Then he found that it was much more convenient, and much more satisfying, to curse her. She’d started it, after all. He’d known, right from the start, that she would make trouble for him.
There were some people in this world—in any world, he thought bitterly—who were just born to complicate other people’s lives. Sunbeam Stone was one of them. In her looks, in her voice, in her gestures, in her personality, she had everything a woman needed to distract a man. To aggravate him to the edge of reason. And beyond.
She challenged him at every meeting. Those cool smiles, that hot temper. It was a combination he couldn’t resist. And he was sure she knew it.
When he’d kissed her—and God knew he hadn’t meant to—it had been like being shot into hyperspace without a ship. How could he have known that damn sulky mouth of hers would be so potent?
He’d never been attracted to passive women. But what difference did that make? He had no intention of being attracted to Sunny. He couldn’t be. He damn well wouldn’t be, no matter what tricks she pulled out of her twentieth-century hat.
What had happened was completely her fault, he decided. She’d taunted and tempted him. She’d wanted to confuse him. Gritting his teeth, he admitted that she’d done a brilliant job of it. After she had and he’d reacted as any normal man would, she’d looked at him with those big, gorgeous eyes full of panic and passion. Oh, she was a case, all right. His study of the twentieth century should have warned him that women had been much more bewildering back then. And craftier.
Hands in pockets, he paced to the window to watch the swirling snow. Oh, she was a bright one, he mused. Sharp as Venusian crystal, and twice as deadly. She knew something wasn’t quite right about his story, and she was determined to find out just what he was holding back. And he was just as determined to keep her in the dark.
In a battle of wits, he had every confidence his would prevail. How much effort would it take to outwit a twentieth-century woman? After all, he was more than two hundred years ahead of her on the evolutionary scale. It was a pity she was so intriguing. And so primitively attractive. But he was a scientist, and he had already calculated that any kind of involvement with her would shoot his equations to hell.
Still, she was right about one thing, he decided. They were stuck with each other. The whole damn mountain was practically empty but for the two of them. The way the snow was falling, it was painfully obvious that they would be in each other’s way for days. However irritating it might be, for the time being, he needed her.
He had to get around her, or through her, to get to his brother. Whatever it took, he would get to Cal.
Turning, he made a long, slow study of the kitchen. The first thing to be faced was that the cabin was too small for them to avoid each other. He could go back to his ship, but he preferred being here, recording firsthand observations. It would be easier to fight whatever attraction Cal felt for this time and place if he understood it. And his innate curiosity would never be satisfied
It didn’t help. None of it helped. The fury was still roiling inside her. And worse, much worse, was the need, the raw-edged need, that tangled with it. He’d done that, she thought, slamming the door. Deliberately, too. She was sure of it.
He’d managed to make her so angry, to push her so close to the edge, that she’d responded irrationally when he’d kissed her.
It wouldn’t happen again—that she promised herself. Humiliation was nearly as bad as being outmaneuvered, and he’d managed to do both in a matter of hours. He was going to have to pay for it.
Throwing herself down on the bed, she decided to spend the rest of the afternoon devising ways to make Jacob Hornblower’s life a living hell.
Chapter 4
He never should have touched her. Jacob cursed himself. Then he found that it was much more convenient, and much more satisfying, to curse her. She’d started it, after all. He’d known, right from the start, that she would make trouble for him.
There were some people in this world—in any world, he thought bitterly—who were just born to complicate other people’s lives. Sunbeam Stone was one of them. In her looks, in her voice, in her gestures, in her personality, she had everything a woman needed to distract a man. To aggravate him to the edge of reason. And beyond.
She challenged him at every meeting. Those cool smiles, that hot temper. It was a combination he couldn’t resist. And he was sure she knew it.
When he’d kissed her—and God knew he hadn’t meant to—it had been like being shot into hyperspace without a ship. How could he have known that damn sulky mouth of hers would be so potent?
He’d never been attracted to passive women. But what difference did that make? He had no intention of being attracted to Sunny. He couldn’t be. He damn well wouldn’t be, no matter what tricks she pulled out of her twentieth-century hat.
What had happened was completely her fault, he decided. She’d taunted and tempted him. She’d wanted to confuse him. Gritting his teeth, he admitted that she’d done a brilliant job of it. After she had and he’d reacted as any normal man would, she’d looked at him with those big, gorgeous eyes full of panic and passion. Oh, she was a case, all right. His study of the twentieth century should have warned him that women had been much more bewildering back then. And craftier.
Hands in pockets, he paced to the window to watch the swirling snow. Oh, she was a bright one, he mused. Sharp as Venusian crystal, and twice as deadly. She knew something wasn’t quite right about his story, and she was determined to find out just what he was holding back. And he was just as determined to keep her in the dark.
In a battle of wits, he had every confidence his would prevail. How much effort would it take to outwit a twentieth-century woman? After all, he was more than two hundred years ahead of her on the evolutionary scale. It was a pity she was so intriguing. And so primitively attractive. But he was a scientist, and he had already calculated that any kind of involvement with her would shoot his equations to hell.
Still, she was right about one thing, he decided. They were stuck with each other. The whole damn mountain was practically empty but for the two of them. The way the snow was falling, it was painfully obvious that they would be in each other’s way for days. However irritating it might be, for the time being, he needed her.
He had to get around her, or through her, to get to his brother. Whatever it took, he would get to Cal.
Turning, he made a long, slow study of the kitchen. The first thing to be faced was that the cabin was too small for them to avoid each other. He could go back to his ship, but he preferred being here, recording firsthand observations. It would be easier to fight whatever attraction Cal felt for this time and place if he understood it. And his innate curiosity would never be satisfied
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