Christine Feehan - Dark Possession

Husband. She tasted the word, aware of the very breath moving through his lungs. He was too gorgeous for her, too wild and far, far too dominating, but she could dream and she could fantasize. She couldn't imagine really belonging to the man, not like Destiny belonged to Nicolae. But if he kept looking at her with those black, black eyes filled with such raw hunger, she might just forget all of her misgivings and try for one glorious night with him.

«I just know what is right for my woman, how to protect her as well as please her, and she should have faith enough in me to trust that I will see to all her needs as well as every pleasure she-or I-could imagine.»

His teeth nipped at the sensitive pads of her fingers. It shouldn't have been erotic, but it was. He made everything sound that way, even his ridiculous suggestion of punishment. It was the velvet rasp of his voice, the way he could make it slide over her skin like a caress. If' someone else talked the way he did, she would have laughed, if not aloud, at least to herself, but with Manolito, she was tempted to try some of his more outrageous fantasies.

«I'm reading your mind,» he said softly, «and we need to be concentrating on how to get you out of here.»

«Well, they are just fantasies.» She was not going to blush. Being stripped naked and tormented until she begged was frankly as sexy as could be, although the reality might not be the same as the imagination.

«I can promise you that you will enjoy every moment with me,» he assured her, and bit lightly on her finger before sucking it into the warmth of his mouth.

His tongue teased and danced until she wanted to scream surrender. And he was just kissing her finger. She fanned her face. Maybe she was up for the reality of it after all. «Would you consider terms? Like not ordering me around? I might concede to working on being adventurous.»

«To be adventurous, you have to be willing to surrender yourself into my care,» he countered.

There it was again, that slow, sexy smile that burned through her skin and found hidden wild desires she shouldn't be contemplating with a man who was bent on her utter and complete surrender. «Tempting. But no. I'm not a woman who could ever turn over my life to a complete stranger.»

His chin nuzzled the back of her hand. Her breasts ached, as if his shadowed jaw had brushed her soft skin there. «But surrendering in the bedroom is not the same as surrendering out of it.»

«Is that an option with you?»

«There is no option. There is only what is. You are my lifemate. We will find a way because that is the way of lifemates.» The smile faded from his face. He kissed her knuckles and brought her hand once more over his heart. «You cannot stay here with me, MaryAnn; it is much too dangerous. I cannot tell what is real or illusion, and with our bodies in one world and our spirits in another, we are vulnerable in both places.»

«I don't know how to leave, and I wouldn't if I could. Not without you. How about I forgive you for anything you may have done to me.» She looked around at the dull gray of the world. It appeared to be the rain forest, but without the vibrant color and sounds. Water ran out of the rocks and down the slope, but instead of clear or white, it ran in dark streaks.

«I do not think it is that simple. First I have to figure out what I did to bring me to this place of ghosts and shadows.»

Chapter Six

M

^j ^

Ghosts and shadows. She so didn't like the sound of that. MaryAnn rubbed her chin on the top of her knees. There was always an answer; she just had to use her brain.

Manolito leaned in close-close enough to envelope her in his pure male scent, to warm her body and make her feel feminine and protected. She sent him a faint irritated glare. She was trying to think and didn't need her brain shorting out. His smile sent every electrical pulse sizzling and snapping throughout her body.

«Tell me what wrong I have done you. I would not hurt you for the world. I know I was never unfaithful. Tell me, palafertul, and I will do whatever it takes to make this wrong up to you, not to get out of here myself, but because I would never want to wrong my lifemate in any way.»

There was enough hurt in his voice, and concern, to turn her heart over. «Manolito, I honestly don't know

what's going on, but you haven't had a chance to wrong me. I barely know you. I am not Carpathian. I live in Seattle and counsel battered women. That's how I met Destiny. We became friends, and through her, I ended up traveling to the Carpathian Mountains.»

He frowned. «That cannot be so. You say you are human, yet you can do things only a Carpathian can do. You have much power, MaryAnn. I feel it surging within you even when you talk to me. You are reaching out to soothe me, to make me feel better.»

She shook her head. «I'm human. My family is human. Everything about me is. I really, honestly just met you today. I saw you.» And thought you were so beautiful it hurt. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his shoulder. «You scared the hell out of me. Everything about you is frightening, some of it, most of it, in a good way.»

His kiss was the merest whisper of his lips over her cheekbone, but she felt it lodge right in her heart. «Why would I be frightening to you? You are the other half of my soul.» He looked puzzled.

She had a mad desire to rub away the frown lines between his brows, but she resisted, curling her fingers together. «You wouldn't understand.» Because she wasn't all that attracted to men, not like this. Not so that she wanted to do anything and everything he asked. Nor so she couldn't breathe or think with wanting him. She liked her calm, controlled life. She wasn't in the least adventurous, in bed or out. Definitely not in. He was exotic and mysterious and oh, so dangerous. She was-well-just plain MaryAnn with her feet firmly on the ground. She didn't indulge in wild fantasies. Or obsessions, and Manolito could certainly be characterized as an obsession.

Manolito swept his arm around her. «You have only to talk to me about your fears, ainaak sivamet jutta, and I will find a way to reassure you. I will get you out of here. We need to do so quickly, as the sun will be rising. When our bodies are in the realm of the living and our souls are in the meadow of mists, it is difficult to protect ourselves out in the open in the rain forest.»

«Then take us to your home. If we're there, we won't have to worry so much about something big attacking our bodies.»

«We must go to ground. The richest soil is the terra preta. Better to stay where the soil has a chance to rejuvenate us.»

Her heart slammed hard in her chest. «I'm not Carpathian. I don't go to ground. I'd die if the earth covered me. My heart doesn't stop like yours does. Please, believe me when I tell you, I'm not Carpathian.»

Manolito rubbed the bridge of his nose and regarded her through long lashes. «I know you feel our connection. I can read your thoughts much of the time, not because I'm invading your privacy, but because you're projecting them to me.» He sent her a small half smile. «You try to comfort me. I can feel your energy wrapping me up in warm arms and stroking me, reassuring me all will be well.»

He was so close, all she had to do was lean in and kiss his sinfully sensual mouth. He was temptation sitting there, in the midst of danger and mystery. Wicked, shocking temptation. And she couldn't resist. MaryAnn pressed into him, crossing the scant inches that separated them until her lips brushed his. Just once. A slow savoring. Because if she was going to die, or stay in hell, she might as well get a taste of heaven while she was at it.

His arms slid around her, and the earth dropped away along with her stomach. His mouth simply took her over. She hadn't known anyone could kiss like that. She tasted addiction and need. She tasted hunger and the biting edge of raw, carnal sex. For one terrible moment, either terrible or sheer ecstasy, she thought she might have an orgasm just from his kiss.