A Knight in Central Park(13)

He’d never felt better, but he’d be damned if he’d tell her that. “No, I’m not angry, but that doesn’t change things. You can’t stay here.”

“I beg of you not to send me away. Time is running out. We need to plan our attack.”

He tugged at his shoelaces. “Our attack?”

“Aye. My grandfather warned me that when we return to my time everything will be as it was when I left. Although normal time will have passed in your world, nothing will have changed in mine. Upon our return, Sir Richard’s men will need to be dealt with swiftly and bluntly.”

“Listen,” Joe said, his voice strained. “When I said I’d help you, I meant that I’d help you find a place to stay; a place with lots of caring people to help you get back on track.”

“You truly give no credence to my plight?”

“Even if I believed your story...I wouldn’t be able to help you.”

“Why not?”

Joe felt foolish talking about something so absurdly irrational, but nothing in the past few days seemed remotely ordinary, so he said, “Because violence isn’t something I condone. Guns and weapons are used too often without much thought to consequence.”

Alexandra’s fingers rolled into fists at her sides. “What about the innocent people who are attacked without warning? The people who have no choice but to fight back?”

“They should walk away—”

“And take a dagger in the back?” She jabbed at his side when he tried to pass. “What if someone did that? Or this.” She went for his left side, but his hand darted out and took a firm hold of her wrist. She winced.

“This is crazy,” he said, dropping her arm. When he got to the door he turned back to her. “I’m going for a run. When I return, we’re going to find you another place to stay.”

Joe exited the room, furious with himself for letting her get to him at all. He took the stairs two at a time, didn’t see Shelly standing nearby until he reached the landing. She gave him a sorrowful look filled with pity.

He pointed a finger at her. “Don’t say it.”

She shot him a look of innocence. “What?”

“That I should chase after Suzanne and beg her forgiveness.”

“I thought you liked her.”

“I did-I do.” He raked a hand through his hair, wondering why he bothered to explain at all. “Listen, I don’t have time to run after her. Besides, we were already on shaky ground. It never would have worked out.”

Shelly shook her head, irritating him all the more when she said, “Every single time you date a woman for more than a few weeks you say the same thing.”

“Not true.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Then why wouldn’t it have worked out?”

Joe shifted from one foot to the other; the weight of two days of madness crashing upon his shoulders like giant boulders.

“You were beginning to feel claustrophobic again, weren’t you?” Shelly asked. “Feeling those walls closing in around you, the thought of getting close to someone, made you panic. That’s why you broke it off with Sheila and then Caroline, isn’t it?”

That did it. Joe headed for the door. He didn’t need this.

“You’re always giving up too easy,” Shelly prodded. “One of these days, Professor, you’re going to regret not committing to another human being.” She followed him to the door. “Commitment to a woman might mean opening up yourself to pain, isn’t that right?”

She didn’t wait for a reply, she just rambled on until he fully regretted hiring her as his assistant at all. “It’s easier for men like you to keep an emotional distance from others. It’s too bad, Professor, because one of these days you’re going to meet someone worth every bit of pain they may cause you, but you won’t even know it because you won’t give anybody a chance to get that close.”

“Ahhh,” he said as he turned about. “I think I see where this is going—”

Shelly raised a perplexed brow.

“I didn’t even see it coming,” he said smugly.

“What?”

“You have feelings for me. That’s what this is all about, isn’t it?”

The sound that came from Shelly’s mouth resembled something between a gasp and a cough. “You’ve got to be kidding? You think I’m falling for you?” She snorted. “I have a boyfriend, Professor. And no offense, but I prefer to date men a little closer to my own age.”