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So Little Time Page 7
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Page 7
In the long silence that followed, Corie could feel the heavy thud of her heartbeat. “You escaped?”
“Yes.”
She didn’t know if he would answer her but she had to ask. “You didn’t...hurt anyone, did you?”
Granger made a sound that resembled a laugh. “Rest assured, I did not hurt anyone. I merely borrowed someone’s clothes, and left him gagged with a dinner napkin and tied to the bed.”
“Oh, great.” Corie tilted her head back and closed her eyes. “I don’t know who would want to keep you prisoner. I can’t believe it could be any of the scientists, and there is only me and Mike, the guard you saw me talking to, and Jennie, the secretary. What did these people look like?”
“The only one I remember clearly was a man with a slight build, wearing glasses. He had a face like a mouse, he kept twitching his nose.”
She almost laughed. Eyeing Granger’s husky build she said incredulously, “And this was the man who kept you prisoner?”
“No,” Granger said grimly. “He was the one who kept sticking that damn needle into me. I’m sorry, I realize that’s not much help, but things were hazy for a while.”
“It doesn’t sound like anyone I’m familiar with,” Corie said, shaking her head. “What about the others?”
“I have trouble remembering what they look like. Perhaps there are people there you don’t know about.”
She looked back at him, feeling suddenly afraid. “It’s possible, but I haven’t seen any strange men around the building. But if what you say is true, they are probably looking for you.”
“I’m sure they are. I saw one of those cars move slowly by here the other night. It might have been my jailers.” Granger leaned forward, his eyes boring into hers. “I need to know as much as you can possibly find out. Where they found me, what they want from me, where I came from. If I know all that, perhaps my mind will piece the rest of it together.”
“I’ll do what I can,” Corie said, ignoring the little voice that told her she was being a sucker again. “If you were being held prisoner by people I work for and trusted, then I want to know about it. I can’t believe they would hold you without a very good reason. I want to know what it is.”
Granger’s wide shoulders seemed to sag. “So do I.”
“Mind you,” Corie said carefully, “I can’t promise anything. I don’t have the authority to go barging into places they don’t want me to be in, and everything is guarded by computers.”
“Computers?”
She sighed. This was going to be more difficult than she’d imagined. Without his memory the guy couldn’t understand half of what she said. He couldn’t even remember seeing a telephone before, let alone a computer.
“Machines,” she said, waving a hand in the air as if that would help him understand. “You have to have special passes to get into some of those labs. All the programs are coded, though I might be able to get around that. I do have some clout there, having worked for the company for ten years.”
He looked at her as if she were talking a foreign language.
Thinking of how confusing all this technology must be to someone who didn’t remember anything except his name, Corie said sincerely, “I’m sorry. You’ll just have to trust me.”
“It’s a little difficult to trust anyone under the circumstances. In your case, however, I really have no choice.”
It was a backhanded compliment, but she let it go. After all, she felt the same way about him. “It was probably the effects of whatever drug they were giving you that made you collapse on my doorstep.”
“I imagine so.” Granger studied his fingernails. “It certainly wasn’t intentional, I can assure you.”
“How do you feel now?”
“Much better, thanks to you.” He leaned back in the chair. “I would say I’m in the best of health, except for the loss of my memory.” He paused for a moment, then added quietly, “And the dreams.”
Remembering how she’d been dressed when she’d gone to him in the night, Corie felt her face warm. “Like the one the other night?”
“Exactly. They come without warning, sometimes even when I’m awake. More like visions than dreams. And always so real.” His hand inscribed an arc in the air. “Not only do I see everything clearly, I can smell the burning grass, feel the heavy, damp heat cloying my body, hear the thunder pounding in my head...”
Watching his face, Corie could almost hear it, too. “Do you recognize the place in your dream?”
He opened his eyes and stared at her. “I think I do. I can’t remember where or when, but I know I’ve been to the places I dream about. Except—”
He broke off, and something about the look on his face disturbed her pulse again.
“Except what?”
He shook his head. “It’s not important.”
“Well, that’s a start, anyway. How about people?”
After thinking about it, Granger said, “No, I don’t recognize any people. I see one face but I don’t know it.”
“Can you remember anyone from your past?” She had been dying to ask the next question, but now that the opportunity was there she almost didn’t take it. “Like your wife for instance?” she added, as he began to speak.
Granger closed his mouth. He sat staring down at the table for so long, she was afraid that perhaps he was seeing another vision. Then he said slowly, “I don’t remember a wife. I don’t remember any woman. I could be married, I suppose, or have children somewhere.”
Corie wanted to answer him, but she didn’t know what to say.
Then he startled her by looking up, his gaze intent on her face. “No,” he said, in a firm voice, “I am sure I don’t have a wife. If I did love a woman, I would know it.” He tapped his chest with his clenched fist. “Right here in my heart. Of that I am absolutely convinced.”
His words seemed to burn themselves into her mind. God, what she would give to be loved like that. To belong to a man like Granger Deene, to be so sure of his love that she would know without a shadow of a doubt that they belonged together and nothing could ever change that.
She felt a sudden fierce longing that took her breath away, then a voice in the back of her mind brought her back to reality. No man was that trustworthy. No man was immune to the endless temptations waiting for him out there.
Few women were lucky enough to hold a man’s love for an eternity. That was fantasy. And this was the real world. She had better remember that, before she went and made a damn fool of herself again.
Once more she met Granger Deene’s intangible stare, and steeled herself against the promise that could never be realized.
“I need your help,” he said softly. “I have nowhere else to turn. You are my only hope.”
Feeling tired now, she got to her feet. “I’ll do my best to find out what’s going on. Whoever they are, I just hope they haven’t got the police out looking for you, or we’ll both be in big trouble.”
Granger stood up, a fierce frown darkening his face. “I don’t want to cause trouble for you. If there is danger—”
“Don’t worry,” Corie said, with a good deal more confidence than she felt, “I can take pretty good care of myself. I learned the hard way.”
He looked down at her, his face troubled. “I don’t want you to take any unnecessary risks for my sake. Just find out what you can without causing any trouble for yourself. Perhaps you can give me something to work with and I’ll be able to manage the rest myself.”
“We’ll see.” She picked up her plate and reached for his, but he forestalled her.
“Please allow me to do this tonight,” he said, taking the plate from her hands. “I’ve watched you do this, and it doesn’t look too difficult. If I keep working with all these strange gadgets perhaps I’ll eventually remember them again.”
In spite of her reservations, Corie grinned. “That’s the spirit. And after you’ve finished, I’ll reintroduce you to the wonders of television. You should get a real big kick o
ut of that.”
* * *
By the time Corie went to bed that night, she felt even more confused about her houseguest. It seemed that they had reached an uneasy understanding, the best they could expect under the circumstances.
Part of her warned that he could be all her worst fears poured into one. Yet an even stronger part of her insisted that he wasn’t dangerous and meant her no harm.
Granger had been mesmerized by the television, sitting glued to the screen while she ran a couple of loads of wash. He’d seemed shocked by much of what he saw, and she was beginning to understand what it must be like for him to remember nothing of his life before now.
Forty years wiped out literally overnight, and to wake up in a strange town surrounded by unfamiliar and even frightening objects, had to be traumatic to say the least. It must be like moving to another planet.
Staring at the darkened ceiling, Corie drew the covers up to her chin. She still couldn’t believe anyone had kept Granger prisoner in a room at the lab, let alone the people with whom she worked, but she was determined to find out. He was so confused about everything, he could have simply imagined the whole thing, as the doctors had told him.
Yet something about the situation was very strange. As far as she knew, there were no doctors at the astronomy lab. And if there were, why weren’t they where they belonged, in a hospital, not a research lab?
Corie turned on her side, trying to get more comfortable. If Granger was telling the truth, it was possible she could be innocently involved in something criminal.
Besides, she couldn’t ignore the anguish in his mesmerizing eyes. She wanted him to recover his lost life. More than anything, she wanted to know who he was and where he came from. And though she hated to admit it, she wanted desperately to know if Granger Deene had a wife.
She hadn’t quite fallen into a deep sleep when she heard his voice above her again. He was shouting, though the words were too muffled for her to hear them properly.
She resisted the urge to go up to his room again. The last thing she wanted was for him to think she was using his nightmares as an excuse to go to him.
Praying he wouldn’t hurt himself thrashing around the bed, she made herself stay where she was, her pillow over her ears to shut out the torment of his voice.
She overslept the next morning, after shutting off the alarm and drifting back into an exhausted sleep. When she awoke again, it was over half an hour later.
She showered quickly, sifting through the possibilities of a fast breakfast. Finally deciding on scrambled eggs and bacon, with perhaps a bowl of cereal thrown in, she dressed in a light blue cotton shirtdress and slipped into her sandals.
She’d just have time to make breakfast, she thought, eyeing the clock. Today Granger would have to eat the meal by himself.
* * *
The tempting smell of bacon wafted up the stairs as Granger made his way down to the kitchen. He was hungry, and tired. He hadn’t slept well, tormented by the dreams that were becoming an almost constant occurrence.
He didn’t know when he’d decided to trust Corie Trenton. Not that he had much option, since she was the only one who could give him the answers he needed. But he was convinced now that she knew nothing about his predicament, and she seemed willing enough to try to find out the truth. Though whether it was to satisfy herself or to help him, he wasn’t really sure.
His main worry was that she could be taking a risk, though he had no way of knowing if she would be in any kind of danger. In fact, she could very well put him in danger, by inadvertently alerting his former jailers of his whereabouts.
Granger reached the bottom of the stairs and paused, preparing himself to face Corie in the kitchen. He could hear her moving about in there, crashing dishes around as if she were in a hurry.
He hoped she hadn’t been disturbed by his restlessness in the night. The dreams had been so realistic, to the point now where he was almost certain that they were actual memories, and not dreams at all.
He was afraid to hope for too much. Afraid that his memory was actually returning. For if that was so, he had to face a truth far more devastating, far more preposterous than anything that had happened to him so far. A truth that would be impossible to overcome, unless Corie Trenton could help him.
Slowly he walked toward the kitchen door, the delectable smell of the bacon reminding him of his empty stomach. One thing he did know. Whatever he might have done in the past, he was certain he had broken no laws. So whoever had kept him prisoner in that barren room, had done so for their own ends.
Whatever those ends were, he had no idea. But he was going to find out. And he didn’t care much how he went about it. If he had to use force, he would do it. But somehow, someway, he was going to know how he had arrived in that bed, and by whose hand.
Corie looked up as Granger walked into the kitchen. In his freshly laundered shirt and jeans, his hair still damp from the shower, he looked ruggedly appealing. Granger Deene was a good-looking man, Corie thought, feeling a tug at her heart.
She looked away, caught off guard when he bade her good-morning in his deep voice. “I was just about to scramble your eggs,” she said, stumbling over the words in her confusion. “You timed it about right. Your cereal’s on the table, and the paper’s there too, if you want to look at it.”
“Thank you. It smells good.” He sat down on the chair and reached for the paper. “Have you read it?”
“No, I haven’t had time.” Whisking the eggs around in the pan, she added, “I won’t have time to eat breakfast with you this morning. I overslept. I’ll grab something at the office.”
“You get breakfast in the office?”
He sounded surprised and she flashed him a quick glance. He was concentrating on enjoying the cornflakes she’d poured for him, and didn’t seem to notice her hesitation.
“It comes from a machine. Doughnuts, pastries, coffee...not too nutritious, but they fill a hole.”
“You get breakfast out of a machine?” He shook his head, and swallowed another spoonful of cereal. “Machines that take you from one place to another, machines that allow you to talk to someone who isn’t there, machines that can show you stories of what’s happening all over the world, machines to wash your clothes, cook your food and even serve you breakfast. It’s a wonder a man can find work in this world.”
Corie grimaced. “I hadn’t thought about it quite like that, but I guess you’re right. And you haven’t seen the half of it yet. Wait until you see what a computer can do. That machine can even think for you.”
“I’m not sure that’s such a good deal for the future of mankind. If machines can think, one day they might very well end up governing the world.”
“God, what a gruesome thought.” Corie dished up the scrambled eggs and added the bacon to the plate. Expertly catching the toast as it popped up, she dropped the pieces on another small plate and carried everything to the table.
“Though I guess without disease,” she added, “or old age, or temperament to worry about, machines might do a better job than men at that. They couldn’t do much worse.”
Granger directed his intent stare at her. “There is one small exception.”
She felt a flutter of awareness as her eyes met his. “And what’s that?”
“Reproduction. Since machines can’t multiply in the way humans do, eventually they will wear out, unless they have men to make more.”
“Unless the machines know how to make machines,” she said a little breathlessly.
He studied her for a moment longer. “You are a remarkable lady, Corie Trenton. I admire your intelligence. It is rare in a woman.”
She would have liked to argue that point, if she’d had the time. Instead, she set his breakfast down in front of him and asked, “Would you like some orange juice? I have frozen, but it tastes like fresh squeezed.”
“Frozen orange juice?” He shook his head. “In the middle of summer?”
“In the freezer. Another
machine. I do have some thawed out, though. I’ll get it.”
She glanced over her shoulder as she reached the fridge, feeling a small shiver run down her spine when she saw him watching her. She might as well be stark naked, the way he made her feel so darn exposed.
Trying to get her mind off his blatant sexuality, she said lightly, “If I call you, will you answer the phone?”
When he frowned, she lifted her hand to her ear. “The telephone?”
His brow cleared. “Yes, of course. I just pick up the handle and listen, right?”
“Just make sure it’s the right end. You talk into the end with the cord, and put the other end over your ear.” She almost smiled, thinking how ridiculous it seemed to be explaining something so simple. Though of course, it couldn’t be simple to someone who couldn’t remember ever seeing a phone before.
“I’ll try and remember,” Granger said solemnly.
She poured the orange juice, almost spilling it as a thought struck her. “Wait a minute. That may not be such a good idea. Someone else could be calling the house. If a strange man answers there could be awkward questions.”
“Couldn’t you just say you were taking in boarders already?”
She shook her head. “I’ve got a better idea. I’ll let it ring twice and hang up. Then I’ll call again. So if you hear two rings, then a long pause, then it starts ringing again, you’ll know it’s me. Okay?”
He pondered on that for a moment. “But what if someone needs to get in touch with you? You’ll miss the call.”
Corie flipped her hand in the direction of the living room. “No, the answering machine will pick it up. I’ll get it when I get home.”
His look of astonishment almost made her laugh out loud. “You have a machine that answers a machine,” he murmured. “Fascinating.”
“I have to run.” Corie glanced at the clock and groaned. “I’ll have to take the car, it’s too late to walk now. But you won’t need it for anything today.”
“I can’t drive it anyway,” Granger reminded her dryly.
“Oh, right.” She hesitated at the door. “Since you’ve finished papering the bedroom, perhaps you could get started on the one next to it? That needs painting and papering, too. I’ve left the materials in the room, just do it the same way you did the other one. The paper’s a different color but it’s similar to the one you used yesterday.”