Time and Again Read Online Free PDF

they'd been tensed. "I guess I saw you crash about midnight."
    "You saw it?"
    "Well, I saw the lights and heard you hit." She smiled, continuing to monitor his pulse, when he opened his eyes again. "For a minute I thought I was seeing a meteor or a UFO or something."
    "A-a UFO?" he repeated, dazed.
    "Not that I believe in extraterrestrials or spaceships or anything, but my father's always been fascinated by that kind of thing. I realized it was a plane." He was staring at her again, she thought, but there was curiosity rather than anger in his eyes. "Feeling better?"
    He couldn't have begun to tell her how and what he was feeling. Cal had an idea that that was all for the best. He needed to think before he said too much. "Some." Still hoping it was all some bizarre mistake, he rattled the paper in his hand. "Where'd you get this?"
    "I drove into Brookings a couple of days ago. That's about seventy miles from here. I picked up supplies and a few newspapers." She glanced absently at the one in his hand. "I haven't gotten around to reading any of them yet, so they're already old news."
    "Yeah." He looked at the papers that were still on the floor. "Old news."
    With a laugh, she rose and began to make an effort to tidy the room. "I always feel so cut off here, more so than when I'm in the field hundreds of miles away. I imagine we could establish a colony on Mars and I wouldn't hear about it until it was all over."
    "A colony on Mars," he murmured, feeling his stomach sink as he glanced at the paper again. "I think you've got about a hundred years to go."
    "Sorry I'll miss it." With a sigh, she looked out the window. "Rain's starting up again. Maybe we can catch the weather on the early news." After stepping over books, she flicked on a small portable television. After a moment, a snowy picture blinked on. She dragged a hand through her hair and decided to watch without her glasses. "The weather should be on in a-Caleb?" She tilted her head to one side, fascinated by his dumbstruck expression. "I'd swear you'd never seen a television in your life."
    "What?" He brought himself back, wishing he had another brandy. A television. He'd heard of them, of course, in the same way Libby had heard of covered wagons. "I didn't realize you had one."
    "We're rustic," she told him, "not primitive." She narrowed her eyes when he gave a choked laugh.
    "Maybe you should lie down again."
    "Yeah." And when he woke up again, this would all have been a dream. "Mind if I take these papers?"
    She stood to help him up. "I don't know if you should be reading."
    "I think that's the least of my worries." He discovered that the room didn't spin this time, but it was still a comfort to drape his arm around her shoulders. Strong shoulders, he thought. And a soft scent. "Libby, if I wake up and find out this has all been an illusion, I want you to know you've been the best part of it."
    "That's nice."
    "I mean it." The brandy and his own weakened system were taking over. Because his mind felt as if it had been fried in a solar blast, he didn't fight it. She had little trouble easing him into bed. But his arm stayed around her shoulders long enough to keep her close, just close enough to brush his lips over hers.
    "The very best."
    She jerked back like a spring. He was asleep, and her blood was pounding.
    Who was Caleb Hornblower? The question interrupted Libby's work throughout the evening. Her interest in the Kolbari Islanders didn't even come close to her growing fascination with her unexpected and confusing guest.
    Who was he, and what was she going to do about him? The trouble was, she had a whole list of unanswered questions that applied to her odd patient, Caleb Hornblower. Libby was a great listmaker, and a woman who knew herself well enough to be aware that all her organizational talents were eaten up by her work.
    Who was he? Why had he been flying through a storm at midnight? Where did he come from and where had he been going? Why had a simple