Iris Johansen - Quinn

She hesitated only for an instant before opening her lips.

“Ah, that’s right.” He tilted the cup, and the hot liquid poured into her mouth. “You’re being totally intelligent.” He took the cup away. “Just what I’d expect of you.”

She was cradled in his arm, and he was so close she could smell the earthy scent of him and feel the heat of his body against her own. It was… disturbing.

His gaze was narrowed on her face. “What are you thinking?”

She met his gaze. “That you stink as much as I do.”

Surprise flickered across his face. Then he chuckled. “I like the way you smell. It’s… basic. I’m sorry the feeling isn’t mutual.”

It was mutual, she realized. But it shouldn’t have been. Or maybe it was because of the almost barbaric interaction between them of the past days. “I prefer a higher plane to basic.”

“I know. You would never have chanced taking that bath in the lake if it wasn’t important to you.”

Her gaze flew to his face. Dammit, she had known he was there.

He nodded. “But I had only a glimpse before you took flight like a frightened swan. Your instincts are too damn good.” He lifted the cup to her lips again. “Who is Hu Chang?”

“I told you, my friend.”

“A very skilled friend. Was he also your lover?”

“No.”

He gave another sip of coffee. “A father figure?”

“No. Hu Chang is old enough to be my grandfather. Not that it would make any difference. Age is nothing.”

He held the cup steady as he gave her the last of the coffee. “That’s right, I remember that when I was reading the dossier on you that you married your CIA partner and he was sixty-two to your seventeen. Not exactly a marriage of equals.”

“No, he was a better agent than I was.”

“At first.”

She was silent, then said grudgingly, “At first.”

“You didn’t want to admit that, but you were too honest to lie.” He smiled. “But that wasn’t the playing field I was talking about.”

How had they come to be talking about her private life when it had started with Hu Chang? “You had a dossier on me?”

“You were asking questions about me. You were pushing Eve in a direction I didn’t want her to go.” His smile faded. “Or maybe I did and wouldn’t admit it. She had been out of my life for so long that I didn’t think I had the right to have her know I was still alive. But you changed all that, you told her, and there was all hell to pay.”

Yes, all hell, she thought. Black’s death, Joe’s wounding, Eve’s agony. “I thought she had a right to know.” She added grimly, “Since you were my first choice for Bonnie’s killer. But you managed to convince Eve that I was wrong. You must be very persuasive.”

“Yeah, that’s me.” He met her gaze. “Can’t you tell? I can persuade the birds not to sing. I can persuade a wonderful little girl to step into my lair so that I can kill her.” He carefully put her down and sat back on his heels. “You’re blaming yourself for setting all this in motion.”

“Don’t you?”

“I don’t blame anyone but myself. I don’t have the right,” he said wearily. “I thought I did once, but that’s all gone.”

There was something about his words that were reaching her, touching her, she realized incredibly. Dear God, what was happening? “You’re right, you’re the only one to blame.” Move away from the terrible intimacy that was obscuring the facts and the way she should be regarding him.

“I’m glad we agree.” He moved back to his former position beside the fire. “Are you feeling any better now?”

“Yes.” Almost normal, almost ready to act. “Are you going to kill me?”

“I don’t think so.” His lips curved bitterly. “But we can’t be sure, can we? I’m not stable.”

“Then are you going to let me go?”

He shook his head. “I’m in something of a quandary. If I let you go, you’ll just go back on the hunt. I couldn’t be more sure of that. The next time one of us might die. Probably you, since you’re more honorable than I am, and you made a promise to Eve. That would upset me.” He tilted his head. “Unless you’d promise me not to try to hunt me down?”

She was silent.

“I didn’t think so.” He looked down at the fire. “So I don’t see any solution but keeping you here with me. It probably won’t be for too long. I imagine Eve and Joe will come looking for you if you don’t communicate with them.”

“No!”

“You’re thinking I’m setting you up as bait?” He shook his head. “Maybe I am, but not as you think. I’m the prize, not you. Joe Quinn has the same training and instincts I have. Eve may want to keep me alive to pump me, but Quinn won’t be able to resist giving me the coup de grace if I set it up right.”

“You want him to kill you,” she whispered.

“I can’t seem to do it myself. I don’t think she’ll let me. I don’t know why. I thought you would do it.” He looked back at her. “That would have been the most divine way to go. The journey was probably the most exciting one I’ve ever taken, and the destination would have been right. But you failed me, Catherine.”

He was telling the truth, and those simple words were shaking her to the core. It was too much. She shook her head. “Screw you. I won’t be used by you. You want to commit suicide? Get a couple of hara-kiri swords and go to it.”

He shook his head. “She won’t let me,” he said again. “I don’t know why. Maybe she’s saving me for Joe and Eve. But it’s not like her.”

“You’re nuts,” Catherine said curtly. “Now I do believe you’re crazy. You’re saying that Bonnie has come back from the grave to keep you from killing yourself? Bullshit.”

“Is it? Ask Eve if it’s bullshit.” He held up his hand as she started to speak. “There’s no use continuing on this vein. I know it’s bizarre and beyond belief.” His lips curved in a faint smile. “Chalk it up to another hallucination.”

“I will.” She paused. “You intend to keep me here all trussed up like this?”

“Yes.”

“Then will you loosen these ropes? They’re cutting into my wrists.”

He studied her expression. Then he slowly nodded and got to his feet. “I don’t like the idea of your being uncomfortable. It bothers me.” He knelt beside her. “Hold up your wrists.”

She lifted them and held them out to him.

“They don’t-”

Now!

Her wrists came down whiplike on the bridge of his nose.

She rolled into his body, and her knee lifted and struck upward into his groin.

He grunted and bent double.

She rolled past him, jumped up, and took off for the trees.

She made it five yards before he tackled her and flipped her over.

She brought her tied wrists up and struck him in the side of his neck.

“No!” He was glaring down at her as he straddled her. His nose was bleeding, and he looked as fierce and barbaric as she felt. “Dammit, it’s not going to be that way. I told you that I won’t have you-” He stopped, staring down at her, the ferocity slowly faded from his expression. “Even bound and drugged, you managed to almost do it. Wonderful… Damn, you’re wonderful. That’s why it should have been you.” His one hand was holding her wrists and with the other he loosened her hair, which was tied back in a chignon. His fingers combed through it until it was tumbling around her face and shoulders. He added softly, “And beautiful. This was the way you were when I saw you in the lake. You were all golden silk and shining ebony. I only got a glimpse of you, but it made me so hard I couldn’t think of anything else for hours afterward.” He was stroking her hair, slowly, sensuously. “And every time I stopped to sleep, I remembered…”