Part 6 (1/2)
”What do you see?” Tyson leaned close to her, his piercing eyes boring into her. ”What the h.e.l.l did you do? And don't give me any of your magic c.r.a.p. I don't believe in it and I want the real explanation. You did something. You had to have. Shayner said before you were in that room with me, I was a vegetable. After, other than a few cracked ribs and other minor injuries, I was perfectly fine. What the h.e.l.l did you do?”
”c.r.a.p?” Libby repeated. ”Our magic c.r.a.p?” Fury s.h.i.+mmered through her body, gripped her hard so that she actually looked around for something to throw at him. She'd endangered her sisters as well as her own life and he called what she did c.r.a.p. ”Is that what you call what I do?”
He ran a hand through his hair. ”You know, I'm not saying what you do doesn't have some small validity, I'm just saying it isn't done with magic. You really don't believe in witches and voodoo and casting spells, do you? You're a doctor. There's a reasonable scientific explanation for what you do.”
”Is there?”
”Well, of course. And I want to know what it is.”
”Why?”
He shrugged. ”Why? Are you serious? Libby, if what everyone says is the truth, you restored by what all accounts was an irreparably damaged brain-my brain. The possibilities, the benefits alone for medicine and science are beyond staggering, if you really could do it. Who the h.e.l.l wouldn't want to know how you did what you did?”
She regarded him for a long time while the gulls cried overhead and the waves pounded the sh.o.r.e. If her blood pressure went up any more at the utter disbelief in his voice, she was going to stroke out. ”You figure it out and come tell me how my sisters and I do that magic c.r.a.p. It will give us all a good laugh.”
He glared at her. He was getting angry. He'd come with the best of intentions, but he didn't want to hear her defend herself or her family. ”I don't care to be the b.u.t.t of your jokes. You've got this entire town fooled, but I don't buy it. Just tell me.”
”Why don't you start with examining the tests? Maybe they were falsified.”
”I already did that. They appear authentic. And you were busy in another part of the hospital when I was brought in so I don't see how you would have had time to tamper with the records.”
”You checked to see if I falsified records?” Libby was appalled. She drew in a deep breath. ”Go away.”
”I had to rule falsifying doc.u.ments out. That's the oldest scam in the world,” Ty said dismissively. ”Just tell me how you did it.”
”You think I gave you some new drug I don't share with other brain-damaged patients?” Libby was furious. ”I didn't do a thing. The scan must have been wrong. Maybe there was a glitch in the system. I'm tired and you're annoying me. Go away.”
Tyson let a few moments of silence go by, hoping she'd calm down. ”You're tossing me out because you know I'm going to fixate on this. That's just mean, Drake.” He shaded his eyes and looked up at the cliff. ”While you're at it, explain why you don't have erosion by your house when every other cliff around here is slowly crumbling. And yes, I took samples of the soil as well.”
”I'm intrigued by your scintillating conversation, really I am, but erosion and paint don't do it for me. I'm reading. I'm resting. Or I was until you came along. If you're quite done insulting my family, Tyson, why don't you go back to your lab? I'm sure sleeping on the floor and eating Cracker Jacks while you discover the cure to the world's most deadly diseases is much more fulfilling than hanging around Sea Haven hara.s.sing the locals.”
A slow grin replaced the stubborn set to his mouth. ”You've been checking up on me. I sleep on the couch, not on the floor, but I do eat Cracker Jacks. Princess Libby Drake is interested enough to check up on me. Who have you been talking to?”
Libby felt the color sweeping up her neck into her face. She ducked her head so her hair fell in a cloud around her as she pretended to study her fingernails. ”I run into Sam once in a while and he must have mentioned it.”
”Oh, no, he didn't. Sam doesn't know anything about my eating habits in the lab and he isn't interested enough to ask.” He sounded triumphant. ”You actually asked about me. And when I was brought into the hospital after the fall you came to see me.”
She shrugged. ”I may have. Why wouldn't I? We went to school together. I checked in on you and left. You were Shayner's patient and I was on my way home.”
”And I'm supposed to believe you check on all of Shayner's patients? Sorry, princess, that just doesn't fly. You had the righteous inflection and that little bite to your tone that usually throws people, but you aren't throwing me. Not this time. Admit it. You're interested in me...”
Libby gasped. ”I'm so not interested in you. You're an arrogant-” She broke off abruptly as a shadow pa.s.sed over them, momentarily blocking out the bright sun. Distracted, she looked around. ”Something's wrong.”
”Why do you think that?”
”The shadow.” She was more than distracted, standing to peer around her.
”It was a bird, Libby, a seagull.”
”It wasn't a bird.”
Her alarm was catching and it annoyed him. There was nothing wrong. ”C'mon, Drake. Do you really think I'm going to fall for that? You just don't want to admit, you're interested in me.”
Libby ignored him, lifting her arms straight into the air. At once the wind answered, rus.h.i.+ng past them in a small gust away from the sea towards the house on the cliff.
”What are you doing?” Ty asked suspiciously.
”That magic c.r.a.p you don't believe in. Be quiet for a minute and let me concentrate. Something is really wrong. I can feel it.” She frowned, facing the ocean, her eyes restless, quartering the beach around them.
Ty took a long look around, first at the ocean. It was fairly calm and he saw no signs of a coming sleeper wave, let alone a tsunami. What else could be wrong? He glanced up at the sky.
”A seagull might dive-bomb us,” he reported, ”but I don't see a plane going down.”
She shot him a look that was meant to silence him.
He started to grin at her, amused by her certainty, but his gut reacted, an instinct that told him to move fast. Ty stood up abruptly, circled her waist and dragged her away from the chairs toward the steps. She was slight, but his ribs and smashed sternum protested, feeling like his chest was being ripped apart. He kept moving. He didn't believe in magic, but he trusted instincts and his own alarm bells were shrieking. A good scientist needed gut feelings and his had been honed by his firefighting training.
They'd taken several running steps toward the path leading up the cliff when he heard a sound from above them. As a rock climber the sound was one he'd heard before. Covering Libby's head with both his arms, he ran the last couple of steps to shove her against the cliff wall, his body crouching over hers protectively as rocks, dirt and mud rained down on them. He made himself as small as possible, wincing when debris pounded on his shoulders and arms. Dirt poured over them and Libby coughed.
He put his mouth next to her ear. ”Try not to breathe.”
She didn't reply but her hand slipped into his. He pressed her head into his chest. She felt small and fragile in his arms, unlike the Libby who seemed so self a.s.sured to him. He tightened his arms and tucked his chin over her head. It seemed an eternity before the rock slide stopped.
He remained holding her. ”You think it's safe to move?”
”Thank you.” She straightened, pulling her hand out of his, putting a small s.p.a.ce between them.
He could still feel her body against his, an illusion, but all the same, she felt like she belonged there. ”For what?”
Libby stepped cautiously over the rubble and pointed toward the chairs where they'd been sitting minutes earlier. The wooden chairs had been smashed to splinters by several large boulders. ”You just had to mention the cliffs eroding, didn't you?”
The teasing note in her voice robbed him of breath. She looked on the verge of laughter. That was enough to stop his heart. He put his hand over his aching chest. ”I had no idea the power of my suggestion was so strong. Next time, I'll be more careful.”
”Jonas mentioned there'd been several slides after the last big rain we had. Sea Lion Cove took a major hit. The cliff is really unstable, but I guess we didn't pay attention like we should have.”
Ty studied the rock face towering above them. ”It didn't look that unstable. There wasn't even an earthquake. Did you notice the boulders looking as if they might fall as you were walking down to the beach?”
”I wasn't paying attention to it, Ty,” Libby admitted. ”I can't remember the last time any of us looked. Jonas is going to give us one of his many, many lectures.”
”Where, exactly, does Jonas fit into your family?” Ty asked. ”I remember that he was always around all of you, but he isn't related, is he?” He reached out to brush dirt from her hair.
Libby raised a hand to try to tidy the ma.s.s of blue-black silk tumbling around her face. Ty caught her wrist, preventing her from fussing. ”You look beautiful, even all messed up.”
Libby took a breath. Ten minutes earlier she wanted to push the man into the ocean, now all she could think about was kissing him. ”That's a nice thing to say, Ty. I'm not feeling particularly beautiful, so it means a lot that you'd say it.”
He shrugged. ”I was just stating the obvious. You were telling me where Jonas fits into your family,” he reminded. He'd had several bad nights lying awake, remembering the look on Jonas Harrington's face when he'd seen Libby crushed and bleeding on the hospital floor. Ty still hadn't been able to erase the image of Jonas carrying Libby down the hospital hallway.
Libby shrugged. ”Jonas is family whether he's related by blood or not. He'll always be family. I think he'd like to disown us, but he can't. He's stuck with us and we drive him crazy.”
He could imagine. Jonas was in law enforcement. With the family being outright charlatans, the man was bound to be in a difficult position trying to protect them. Ty didn't want to think about Libby's family, only that intriguing smile she'd flashed at him. He took her hand. As silly as it sounded, he liked holding her hand. ”Let's get you back to the house. Do you think you can make the climb?”