Christine Feehan - Murder Game

He caught her wrist as she turned away from him. "Tansy." He waited until her gaze met his. "When this rescue goes down, don't interfere with whatever we do. Follow orders."

She frowned at him. "I don't know what that means."

"That means, on a mission, we run it the way we do a military op. Very precise. I can't have a lose cannon running around. You agree to follow orders or you stay here and wait."

Swift impatience crossed her face. "Oh really? And how do you expect to accomplish that?"

He dropped her wrist and began unbuttoning his shirt. "Lock you up. It doesn't matter. I run a tight op and I'm not going to have you fuck it up because you get scared for your parents. You'll be in on the planning every step of the way, but once we're hot, we go by the numbers."

"You're so unexpectedly charming, Kadan. Do you think I'm an idiot?"

He balled the shirt into his fist and tossed it toward the laundry basket he kept beside a bureau. "No, I think you're emotional. There's a big difference."

She opened her backpack. It was empty. "You put all my clothes into the wash?"

"Use my shirt. It's long enough to cover you."

Tansy tried to avert her eyes as he peeled off his jeans and kicked them aside. Okay, it was impossible. He was well endowed. And there were scars. Lots of them. Knives. Guns. Marks she couldn't identify.

"Maybe you ought to learn to duck."

A ghost of a smile teased at his mouth. "Maybe I will. It isn't polite to stare."

She had been staring. She was still staring. And his endowment was growing bigger by the moment, which meant she could be in trouble. She needed time to sort out what she was really doing with him, because he was too overwhelming and she couldn't think straight.

Resolutely she went to his closet and pulled out a shirt with long tails. She dropped the towel, keeping her back to him, and shrugged into the shirt. There was no sound to warn her and she nearly screamed when his hands came around her back, drawing her against him so that there was only the thin cotton between his rigid shaft and her bottom. His fingertips brushed her breasts as he closed the shirt, fastening one button at a time. Deep inside, her womb clenched hotly.

Kadan swept her wet hair aside and pressed a kiss into the hollow of her shoulder, the side of her neck, and then his lips whispered over her ear. "You're so beautiful, Tansy, you make me ache." His hand slipped down the contour of her back to shape her bottom. "And your skin is even softer than it looks."

"Don't seduce me." She leaned back into him, feeling helpless under the onslaught of molten lava pooling low and wicked in her body. "Not now. I've got to sort things out."

His lips skimmed her ear again. "I don't want you thinking too much. You'll realize I'm a poor prospect as a husband and run."

His words, or maybe it was his mouth, caused a shiver of awareness. Her nipples tightened and she felt liquid heat gathering. She'd never considered having a husband. She'd never thought she could ever be touched-or touch.

"Take a shower, Kadan." The words came out strangled. There was no way to hide what he was doing to her.

He nipped at her shoulder, felt the tremor that rocked her body. He wanted her to know that she belonged to him, that he could seduce her if he chose. Her eyes told him she knew it already. Satisfied, he brushed a kiss along the corner of her mouth and gently stood her back up straight. "A shower it is," he agreed. "Don't go into the war room without me."

"I really do have a brain." She made a little face at him. "Evidently I haven't shown it to you yet, but it's there."

Tansy found her way to the kitchen. Every door had a strange device across it, and she suspected the device was some sort of bomb. Thin wires ran along the windows. She picked up the phone and found no dial tone. He'd done something to prevent her calling out. Frowning, she went back into the bedroom, to her backpack. Her cell phone should have been inside, but it was gone as well.

She stomped into the bathroom. "Where's my phone?"

The shower door was transparent glass. He turned toward her, giving her a full frontal view. Even anger didn't stop the surge of excitement at the sight of him. She swore under her breath, close to tears that she could be so stupid. He'd made her virtually a prisoner. He looked at her very calmly, his expression remote, his eyes cool, and that only added flames to the flash of temper and panic surfacing. The two emotions were twisted so tightly together she didn't recognize either one.

"I thought it best to keep it for a while, until I'm certain you aren't going to lose your mind."

Her breath hitched. The door in her mind creaked. Whispers filled her head. She barely registered his changing expression as she jerked around and back out the door.

"Tansy!" Kadan shoved the shower door open and caught up a towel as he ran after her, water flying all over the floor, his bare feet slapping as he raced through the house toward the front room. Stop! You cannot move . He drove each word like a nail into her mind, fear knotting the muscles in his belly and his voice unrecognizable.

Tansy halted just ahead of him, one hand outstretched toward the door, her body frozen in place. He crossed the distance in a single jump, taking him over furniture and her head, to land solidly between her and the door. He dragged her into his arms, right off her feet, cradling her body against his chest, breath coming in ragged gasps. "Damn it, Tansy. You could have fucking died. What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you do that?"

His lungs burned for air, and he took a deep breath to steady himself. She was doing it to him again. In under two seconds she could destroy the control he'd spent a lifetime building. He sank down onto the sofa and caught her chin in his hand, forcing her to meet the ice in his eyes. "You ever do anything that stupid again, I swear I'll beat you within an inch of your life."

Even as the harsh words left his mouth, he was raining kisses over her face, down her cheeks, following the path of tears, and all the while he rocked her gently back and forth. "I'm sorry, Tansy. My word choice was poor. I don't believe you're going to lose your mind again, and I know that's what you're thinking. I didn't trick you into coming. I didn't seduce you into coming with me. I would have let you go."

"I can't go back to that place."

She could barely choke out the words. The fear of the door in her mind splintering, allowing the killers to escape, terrified her. For a moment she had thought he'd lied to her about the exercises, about his ability to help get her through the solving of the murders. If he believed her mind would fracture again, she had no hope left.

He felt her terror, heard the increase in the sound of the whispers. She was so fragile, and he'd brought her into this mess, and now her parents were in danger as well. "Listen to me, baby. If you can't handle the investigation, you're done. That's it. We'll sideline you immediately before anything goes too far. I'll be with you every step of the way, buffering your mind. If you work on the exercises, they'll also help strengthen your barriers. Know this absolutely. Before anything or anyone else, I'll protect you. Look at me, Tansy." He forced her gaze to meet his. "Understand I'm telling you the truth. The one thing in your life, from now until the end, is that you can always count on me."

She searched his face. He knew what she saw couldn't be that reassuring. He wasn't a handsome man by any stretch of the imagination. Several scars had added to the menacing appearance. His jaw was strong, his mouth hard. He'd long ago learned to keep his face without expression, and his eyes were as cold as the ice water running in his veins. As a rule, he felt little to nothing, until Tansy. He couldn't explain that to her, because he didn't fully understand it himself. Beneath the ice seemed to be a volcano that only erupted around her.