Predatory Game (GhostWalkers 6)

"At least at first I felt guilty. Somewhere along the line I realized she really didn't like all the things she pretended interest in. She was only acting."

Chaleen had probably studied him, found out his every interest, and become the person he would be attracted to before she'd moved in on him. Chaleen--black widow spider. Saber twisted her fingers together, already afraid for him. If the woman had come back, she'd come for a reason.

"An assignment went bad. I was taken prisoner, and tortured. I'd been shot in both legs so they smashed what was left of my lower legs to try and break me. They wanted me to give up a colleague." He looked at her, wanting her to know what kind of man he was. "I didn't."

She rubbed her palm over his thigh in silent sympathy.

He still felt it sometimes, those blows landing on the raw gaping wounds, felt the bones shattering inside his skin. His stomach knotted and for one moment bile rose. He fought it down. "I stared at the ceiling for three straight weeks after they brought me to the hospital. Just stared at it, without seeing or speaking."

Instantly her eyes clouded and she caught his hand in both of hers. "Oh, Jesse, how terrible for you. I didn't mean for you to relive a horrible memory." She knelt close to him. "I'm sorry, so sorry I brought this up."

His hand shaped her face, caressed her soft skin, traced her delicate cheekbones. "Don't be sorry. I wanted to tell you or I wouldn't have."

"Were your parents with you?"

"I wouldn't see them, I couldn't. I had to decide on my own what to do with the rest of my life. I didn't want anyone to pressure me one way or the other. The decisions I made had to be mine, ones I could live with. But Chaleen came. And went. I wasn't of use to her anymore, or to her bosses. I couldn't give them anything, so there was no point in our engagement."

Her heart dropped. He'd been engaged to Chaleen. Had he loved her? Really loved her? Perfect Chaleen was probably perfect in bed. Saber was so far from perfect at everything there wasn't even any contest.

His thumb slid over her mouth. "I realized that I didn't love her, that I never really had. So I didn't retaliate. I just let her go and chalked it up to a lesson learned. I have a job that someone out there is interested in--a lot of somebodies. And they want to know what I'm doing." His fingers slid to her curls and fisted there, holding her still while his gaze drifted over her upturned face, inspecting her expression.

His eyes went flat and cold. "I won't be so nice if I find out you're deceiving me, Saber. You, I care about. You got under my skin. So if you're working undercover, now's the time to tell me, because if you ever betrayed me, I would break your neck."

The tone of his voice and the look in his eyes sent a shiver down her spine. She didn't doubt that Jess would come after her if she deceived him in the way Chaleen had.

"I don't care about your secret life, Jess, not the way you mean it. I care about you."

His smile was slow in coming. He was probably the biggest fool in the world, but damn it all, he believed her. He believed those large, beautiful eyes, even with the shadows in them. Deliberately he glanced at his watch. "We'd better eat if we're going to. The temperature out here is dropping rapidly."

Instead of drinking the warm liquid, Saber put the mug down and stretched out, snuggling under the cover, close to him. "I think I could take you in a fight."

"Oh really?" Amusement crept into his voice, and his arm curved around the top of her head, fingers tangling in the silken strands of her hair. "You could take me?"

Her fist thumped his hip. "Don't say it like that. Do you have to make everything sound sexual?"

"I'm feeling that way." His hand stroked her temple. "You drive me crazy."

He'd never just come right out and said it before. She wasn't stupid. She certainly knew he was physically attracted to her, although after seeing Chaleen and knowing she and Saber were complete opposites, she wasn't certain why.

She tapped her fingers on her knee and stared at the surrounding mountains. She had to give him something of herself. It wasn't fair otherwise. He'd told her things, hurtful things that mattered, that were real, and just once, she wanted to give him something of herself.

Saber was silent and Jess remained so because of the little giveaway nervous tattoo of her fingers.

"I was trapped in a sort of hole in the ground once. It was completely black." She watched his face carefully. She was giving him...too much. Enough to hang herself, yet there were abused children every single day. He would naturally think that of her, rather than something so bizarre and coincidental as that she was also a GhostWalker.

Jess went still inside. He could hear the catch in her voice as she revealed a traumatic event in her life. There was the faintest of tremors in her body. This was the real thing, not something made up to appease him. The suppressed emotion in her said it all and he felt rage--ice cold rage. He wasn't certain he was prepared to hear this.

"I couldn't see my own hand in front of my face. After a while I thought I was going crazy. I couldn't even breathe."

She didn't look at him, but kept her gaze on the mountains. "There were bugs. Oh God, so many bugs. They crawled on me." She brushed at her arms and face as if to remove them. He saw her throat convulse as she swallowed hard and knew she was unaware of the tears gathering in her eyes. "I didn't think I could stand it. I lost track of time. A minute, an hour, days. I could hear myself screaming, but not out loud, only in my mind. I didn't dare make a sound. I would have never gotten out."

The silence stretched between them. He was afraid of speaking, afraid his voice would break. He couldn't touch her, couldn't move his hand those scant inches separating them. He was shaking with anger unlike anything he'd ever experienced, and if he didn't stay in control, the results could be deadly.

Saber became aware of the ground undulating beneath her. The trees trembled and the water in the fountains shot up like geysers. A branch in a nearby tree cracked ominously. She leaned into him, laid her head against his shoulder, and put a calming hand on his thigh. Instantly his hand covered hers and he took a deep breath.

"It's all right," she soothed. "I'm all right." He was furious on her behalf, close to a loss of control--no good thing for any GhostWalker. It should have reminded her that Jess was dangerous, in or out of a wheelchair, but all it did was make her happy.

"How old were you?" His voice was very quiet. He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm, trying to find a way to make it all better.

"I think I was about four the first time. We weren't allowed to show fear and I was afraid of closed in and dark places. That sort of weakness just wasn't allowed where I grew up."

He didn't have to ask who had done such a thing to her. Whitney, damn h

is soul to hell. Peter Whitney had taken this child and tortured her to make or break her.

"That's why you like every light in the house on."

Her hand clutched his shirt, fingers curling around the edge of the material, brushing his bare skin. She didn't seem to notice so he left it there, covering her hand once again with his own and pressing her palm into his chest.

"I guess they never managed to scare the fear out of me," Saber admitted. She touched his leg with the tip of her nails.

"Bastards." He was careful not to ask who "they" were.

She had no idea why his reaction sent a heat wave crashing through her entire system. She took a breath and let it out, catching at his wrist to distract them both. She looked at his watch. "I need to get ready for work."

"You have hours, take a nap."

"Out here?" Did she dare when they might be under surveillance?

"Sure, listen to the water, you were just saying it was peaceful. You tell me something from your past and immediately get nervous and want to run." He slid down, pillowing his head on a rolled-up blanket. "Come on, mystery lady, get over here where you belong."

Saber hesitated only a moment, then snuggled close to his side. The feel of his body curved protectively around hers was fast becoming familiar, comfortable, as if this was where she belonged. She was tired and the fresh air and absolute beauty of their surroundings, along with Jess's presence, made her intensely happy. She cradled her head in the hollow of his shoulder, one slender arm flung across his broad chest, and closed her eyes. "If you hear or see anything suspicious, or anyone else comes near us, promise you'll wake me up."

So she felt it too, then, Jess noted. He let his gaze drift around them, quartering the area to make certain no one was near. "I will. Go to sleep."

Jess held her, caught somewhere between heaven and hell. Having already tasted the honeyed sweetness of her mouth, he craved more. His mind was at peace, holding her in his arms, but his body was crawling with need. Slow, he reminded himself, slow and gentle. Saber was worth every ache, every sleepless night. She needed protection whether she knew it or not, because if Whitney had put her in a hole in the ground and she had escaped, then he would be coming after her.