"Kyle, I mean it. Stop. What are you following?"
The wind shifted slightly and for a moment she thought she smelled cat. Her heart stuttered. Her breath caught in her lungs. Terror shifted through her. The scent filling her nostrils was the same as that of the man who had assaulted her the night before--Rory. She would never forget his smell.
"Kyle!" She began to run. The wind picked up, blowing directly in her face. The scent of skunk hit her hard, obliterating the stench of her assailant. "Don't touch anything. Come back here now."
As she ran she stabbed at the radio again. Where the hell was everyone? "Evan! Drake!" There was a note of hysteria in her voice. She caught another glimpse of Kyle and she put on a burst of speed. He didn't even look up at the sound of her voice. Just ahead of him, sliding into the jungle of grasses, was a small furry animal. As her fingers skimmed the back of his shirt, Andraya screamed, a long, high-pitched shriek that sent goose bumps rising on her flesh.
She snagged Kyle's shirt and jerked him to an abrupt halt, ignoring his wails of protest. Scooping him up into her arms, Emma turned back on the run, afraid of leaving Andraya out of her sight even for a short moment. Kyle fought, squirming, going boneless, determined to get back to the little creature he was so interested in.
As she burst from the grass she saw Evan running toward Andraya. Tears streamed down the little girl's face. She held out her hands to Evan and he pulled her from the swing, forgetting, in his haste, to undo the seat belt so that he had to unsnap it while he held the sobbing child to him. "Why the hell didn't you radio us that you were coming out of the house?"
She glared at him as she skidded to a halt beside him, still wrestling Kyle. "I did call you, several times. You didn't come." Her heart still thundered in her ears. The smell of the cat had long since been drowned in the skunk's odor, but she couldn't get it out of her mind. Her stomach churned. "Call Drake and Joshua. And Jake. Call Jake."
She couldn't stop shaking. Evan regarded her with a puzzled look, but he obediently radioed the others before holding out his hand for her watch. "Let me take a look. Something must be wrong."
Emma didn't move, just stood there, frozen to the spot, until Jake came out, striding toward her, looking invincible, a tower of safety. She handed Kyle off to Joshua as he arrived and flung herself into Jake's arms, bursting into tears.
Jake looked to his men for an explanation and all of them shook their heads. "Joshua, take the children inside. The nurse will be showing up soon. Stay in the playroom until she arrives and then watch over them until we're back to normal. Kyle! Go with Joshua and behave yourself or you'll be in your room on time-out."
Kyle ceased struggling immediately and went with Joshua. Andraya stopped crying the minute Jake sounded stern. Both children wrapped their arms around Joshua's neck as he carried them back up to the house.
Jake brought both hands up to Emma's back and rubbed soothingly. "You've got to tell us what's going on."
"Her radio didn't work," Evan offered. "I heard Andraya scream and came running. I didn't see Emma or Kyle until she came bursting out of the grass. She told me she'd radioed for me, but I never got the call."
"He was here, Jake." Emma looked up at him. "I know he was. The one from last night. I smelled him, but then Kyle was chasing a skunk and I could only smell the skunk, but I'm sure . . ." Now she wasn't so sure. Maybe she was paranoid. Maybe the trauma and the aftereffects of the drug were playing tricks on her.
"We'll check," Drake assured. "I'll call Conner. He can track anything."
Jake took a careful look around, then escorted Emma back to the kitchen, putting her into a chair and making her a cup of tea while they waited. He sat across from her, holding her hand, his thumb gently sliding back and forth over her wrist.
The radio crackled. "No leopard tracks, Jake. Skunk tracks. Conner found the den, but the skunk is gone. No odor of a cat anywhere, Jake."
Emma hung her head, wrapping her hands tightly around the teacup. "I must be paranoid. I'm sorry, Jake."
"Don't be sorry, Emma. You've been through hell and you have every right to be upset."
"Even without the stupid leopard man prowling around, the skunk could have sprayed Kyle, or worse, what if it had rabies? I should have been more careful."
Jake wrapped his arm around her. "Nothing happened, Emma. Kyle's fine, and so is Andraya. You're just shaken after last night. The nurse is here today and can help inside the house and they'll play in the playroom where you know they're both safe."
"Stop calling her the nurse. She has a name. Brenda. And I can't believe you've gotten her to come here when she isn't even a pediatric nurse. You're so spoiled, Jake." The minute the words escaped she covered her mouth, horrified at the bite in her voice, horrified that she sounded so bitchy with him.
"I don't like strangers in my home. She's been around a couple of years now and she knows how we do things around here. She likes the kids and she's good company for you."
"I know, I'm sorry. I'm not myself this morning. I need . . . I don't know what I need. Anything could have happened to Kyle. He could have gone down to the stables, Jake. One of the horses could have kicked him."
"But nothing happened. You grabbed him before he got too far. Parents have scares all the time. I've been reading about it in one of the parenting books I have."
She looked up at him, startled. "You're reading a parenting book?"
He looked sheepish. "How else am I ever going to figure this out? Things keep changing as they get older. It used to be I could just pick them up and hold them and they were happy. Now I have to do things. I don't have a clue what makes a kid happy."
Emma pressed her lips to his chin. "You're awesome sometimes."
He leaned toward her, his gaze holding hers. "You know you could be shifter like your mother, right? Have you thought about that? You're giving off the scent, very potent, of a woman in her first heat."
She wrinkled her nose. "That doesn't sound good. Are you saying I stink?"
He rubbed his shadowed jaw. "I wish. The scent is very alluring to males. All leopard males, whether they can shift or not. Drake, Joshua and Conner have a difficult time being close to you now. And I'm ready to lose my mind over it."
"Really?" She knew she didn't sound as upset as she should. Sometimes she felt something wild inside, and she often hoped there was the presence of a cat, but she doubted it. On the other hand, she didn't mind in the least being alluring to Jake.
"I'm going back to work," he said, frowning at her. "I can see you're not a bit sorry for making me as hard as a rock."
"Not really, no." She smiled up at him.
"You're going to be taking care of it," he warned.
She nodded her head. "I'll be looking forward to this evening."
17
THE ache in his body invaded his mind for the millionth time. He couldn't concentrate. There was just no way. He dropped his hand to his lap and rubbed in an effort to alleviate the burning tightness. If he grew any thicker, he was going to burst right out of his skin. He'd been fantasizing more than working, wishing Emma was in his office with him instead of just outside his door, somewhere in the house with the kids.
Was she thinking about him? Did she hurt the way he did? He could only hope that she was. He wanted to occupy most of her thoughts and found himself a little jealous of her spending so much time with everyone else. He rarely had her to himself, and when he did, his emotions got in the way. He tapped his pencil idly on the desktop. There had to be a way to seal her to him. Yes, he could keep her pregnant, but that didn't mean her loyalty would be to him. He had to find another means.
Again his hand fell to the thick, throbbing length of him. He was so engorged he was afraid he might split his trousers, and he sure as hell wasn't going to make it until the evening. He had many women and none sated him the way she did. He didn't crave their soft skin, or want their bodies wrapped around his. It was as if his body knew hers, remembered hers from another life
. Maybe all the nonsense Drake told him was more truth than legend, but whatever the reason, his body was tied to Emma's body.
He knew a million sexual tricks, ways to make any woman want more, crave more, become obsessed. If he could get her to go along with him while he trained her body, she'd always need him. She'd be bound to him completely.
He rubbed his jaw for a long moment and then dropped his face into his hands. He didn't know what was right anymore. He only knew that he couldn't live without her and he couldn't live with being so emotionally vulnerable to her. Somehow, some way, he had to get the upper hand. He had to take it back, return their relationship to a footing he could deal with.
EMMA took several different types of lettuce from the refrigerator, trying to ignore the building tension in her body. Her body temperature was going up; she could feel the heat radiating off her, coming from her very core. She was hot and aching and needy, and getting moodier by the moment. She was slick and inflamed, the dampness between her legs keeping her on edge. She'd snapped at Brenda when she brought the children in for a snack. They sat in their high chairs eating, as she began to make the preparations for dinner.
There wouldn't be any eating for her. She was tempted to try a cold shower.
"Emma." Jake's voice was quiet on the intercom.
She glanced up automatically, although it was just his voice and not his body. A note in his voice. Soft. Sexy. Commanding. Her body tightened even more in instant response, flooding with more heat. She was going to have to ask him to install fans throughout the house. "Yes?" He was up to something, she was certain of it.