by Mary Wine
“Sign them.” His words were whisper soft. He was daring her to refuse his demand. Moving her eyes away from his face she looked at the kitchen counter. The neat stack of papers was already filled out and ready for her signature. Somehow, Loren had never thought that dissolving a marriage could be reduced to a thin pile of computer-generated forms.
She spun away from his hold. She couldn’t look at either Rourke or the papers. Both glared at her, highlighting her shortcomings.
“I’m going for a walk.”
Loren hated the fact that she waited for Rourke to nod his approval before she turned to leave.
“Loren.” His voice was still soft. She barely looked over her shoulder because there was far too much promise in his voice. The need to run was climbing up her spine as she felt the walls of the house contract around her. His green eyes almost glowed as she felt him sink straight into her mind. Loren wavered slightly as she felt his desire collide with her own inside her thoughts ‘til they mixed into a potent combination of overwhelming need.
“You have exactly one hour.”
She sprinted out of the kitchen door like a rabbit. Rourke frowned as he watched her go. There were parts of him that could scare the strongest man half to death. He prided himself on keeping that side of his personality hidden. Baring it to Loren was a test. He raised his wrist and noted the time.
Now all she had to do was find the courage to come back and face him. The psychic and the man, she’d accept them both if he had to run her to ground.
* * * * *
She wasn’t dressed for running. Loren stopped before she’d even crossed the driveway.
Psychic.
The man was really a psychic. She felt the corners of her lips twitch up into a little smile as she considered the idea. It didn’t strike her as odd. In fact, she wanted to ask him at least twenty questions about his abilities. Her curiosity was raging as she tried to decide exactly what he’d done to her in the kitchen. She’d felt his mood. It was like they were plugged into the same current of electricity.
Her feet carried her as Loren let her ideas wander. She let a silvery laugh escape her lips. Rourke’s audacity really should have rubbed her wrong. Her divorce was her decision but she was still tingling with sensation as she thought about his determination.
Her husband moved with the same quick reflexes that Rourke did. One second she was along with the forest. The next instant Chris was glaring at her as he stood directly in her path. His face was a mask of granite but his eyes were strangely unfocused, like he couldn’t quite decide what he was thinking about.
“You should have told me about my son.”
“If you’d been in the delivery room with me, you’d have found out at the same time I did.” Loren took a long look at Chris before she noticed the lack of manhood in him. He was just as immature as he’d been the night he’d left. “Don’t blame me for your lost chances. You walked away from us.”
“You never used to be such a bitch.”
“Yeah. I was a real pushover. I should thank you for the lesson in life.”
Chris’ eyes locked with pinpoint sharpness on her face. His mouth twisted into a mask of rage as he lowered his rifle toward her chest. “Think you’re smooth, don’t ya? But if you’re dead, Toby’s mine. Don’t matter if we were estranged or not.”
He wasn’t bluffing. Loren knew the look in his eyes just as intimately as she knew her own face. His hand flexed as he settled his finger along the trigger of the weapon. Anger rose up inside her as she recognized just exactly how vulnerable she was. But she wasn’t going to stand there and take it!
“Want to shoot me, Chris? Fine. But the only target I’ll give you is my back.”
Loren spun on her heel to present her back as the only target. “Somehow, I don’t think anyone will buy the excuse about self-defense if I’m bleeding out from my back!”
Her body twisted into a tight knot of tension as she waited for Chris to respond. There was no doubt in her mind that he truly wanted to shoot her. But he didn’t want to get caught—it was the only defense she had. Seconds crawled by as Loren firmly forced herself to begin walking back toward the house, with her chin steady and her eyes looking straight in front of her.
Two shots pierced the air and Loren felt her body jerk with them. Time froze as she waited for darkness to enfold her. Her ears heard each and every sound of the forest. She could smell the dirt her own footsteps had sent up.
She felt her lungs expand with a breath and time rush forward with the simple motion of life. There was no pain, no blackness. Spinning back around she stared at the crumpled form of her husband. Bright red blood leaked from his head in a slow stream even as his fingers clutched the trigger of his gun.
Death was always silent. Loren blinked her eyes and searched his chest for movement. Rourke exploded inside her mind a second later. She stumbled as the man brutally thrust his presence into her consciousness. She felt his body bearing down on her with an intensity that lodged her breath in her throat.
But her eyes were glued to Chris as the trickle of blood continued to flow down his face. The horrible reality of that scarlet trail twisted her gut. Murder was a terrifying thing to add to the mountain’s quarantine. Everyone was locked on the property until the disease was completely stamped out.
“Loren?”
Rourke caught her arm as he broke through the forest. He swooped down on her like a raptor, his eyes just as keen as a hawk’s. The emeralds searched her face before rising to look behind her. His face fell into a solid stone mask as his finger bit into her arm. The curse that slipped out of his mouth fit the moment extremely well.
“What happened?” Rourke shook her as he demanded his information. He firmly invaded her mind. It was completely overwhelming. Loren frantically shoved against his body as she felt her senses being ripped into.
“Get out of my head!” He seemed to control every thought and feeling inside her brain. Loren shivered violently as she struggled to maintain her grip on her own control.
“Why?” Suspicion laced his voice but he released her mind back into her own control. Loren gasped for breath as she rubbed at her temples. She struggled to think beyond her own fear.
“What don’t you want me to feel, Loren?”
The suspicion coating his voice made her furious. The harsh look on his face made her shove away from him. Curses sailed across the forest as more of Rourke’s men responded to the sound of weapon fire. Their ears were tuned to listen for it far more acutely than her civilian ones.
“Loren, what happened?”
“I don’t know.”
Rourke snorted. He curled his fingers into tight fists that turned white at the knuckles, betraying his urge to grab her again.
“My back was to him.”
That made too much sense to Rourke. His body tightened as he considered the angle of his fallen Ranger’s rifle. Loren’s green eyes were filled with anger that was just too intense to dismiss. His men’s curses gained heat as they stood over their comrade.
“Get back to the house.”
The urge to proclaim her innocence bubbled up inside her chest. Loren clamped her teeth tightly together. She had nothing to prove. For heaven’s sake! She was the only person present who didn’t have a gun. She refused to start babbling like an idiot.
Turning her back on Rourke she kept her chin in the air as she left. Tears pricked her eyes as she walked faster and the house came into view. It shouldn’t matter what anyone thought about her. Chris’ buddies could curse her ‘til doomsday. That didn’t change the fact that someone else had pulled the trigger.
But Rourke Campbell’s suspicion stung. It was cutting into her heart. Silent tears leaked from her eyes as she hurried into the house and down the hall to hide behind her bedroom door. A relationship wasn’t worth a wooden nickel without trust.
Rourke couldn’t possibly trust her if he could suspect her of murder.
* * * * *
He was already
on the edge. Rourke felt the surge of emotion hit him as Loren’s scent drifted away on the afternoon breeze. He tightened his grip on his control as he battled against the danger of making snap judgments.
He had a dead man. The gunshot wound made it a direct result of someone on the mountain. Adding murder to the current level of stress promised an explosion if discipline wasn’t absolute.
Rourke faced his men with deadly focus. They snapped to attention as he moved to stand over the body. It was a clean shot. It was also a common round of ammunition that had made the wound. Any of his men could have fired the round. Any other person on the mountain could have gained access to their weapon’s lockers.
“Burn the body, Sergeant. Immediately.”
“Sir?”
“You heard me. That blood could be infected. The quarantine orders stand.”
“Yes, sir.”
Rourke considered the hard looks of his men as they backed away from their comrade. “Search the area for any weapons. If you find something, don’t touch it.”
Their replies of “Yes, sir” betrayed their hunger to uncover some incriminating evidence. Rourke didn’t wait. There wouldn’t be anything to find. The accuracy of the hit betrayed the shooter’s skill. He’d cover his tracks, Rourke would bet his oak leaves on it. That left them to suspect each other of the deed.
It left him with exactly one barrier left standing in front of claiming Loren. Rourke cursed under his breath as he considered the obstacle. It would be so damn easy to reach into her mind and make sure. The subconscious only held the truth. When he sank into another person’s mind, deception coated his own mind like tar.
Toby stood on the top step of his house with his hands pushed into his pants pockets all the way to his forearms. It was strange to see the youth standing so completely still. His eyes were lifted to the forest where a thin taper of black smoke was just beginning to rise above the treetops.
Rourke cleared his throat as he considered the task of telling the boy that his father was dead.
“Gramps told me. I just wanted to make sure it was true.”
Toby’s face was twisted with an angry grin that made Rourke stop. The kid wasn’t sorry his father was dead. Resentment shone in his eyes as he watched the smoke rise. Guilt crept up his own spine as Rourke considered just how little sympathy he had for man in question. An officer cared about each and every man under his command. But the flat truth was Rourke didn’t care this time. Chris had finally pushed someone too far. The harshest part of it was Rourke had been getting dangerously close to the line himself.
Letting his eyes drift over Toby again, Rourke looked at the young man Loren had raised. He was a good kid. Parents passed their weaknesses on to their children. It was a cycle that few people ever rose above. Loren had. The proof stood there in the firm set of her son’s shoulders as he refused to hide from life’s harsh realities. Toby was too honest to fake grief for a father he’d never known. Even to get attention. Most adults couldn’t resist the need to be the center of attention, even if it was for the wrong reason.
Loren’s appeal became hypnotic. There was a pull radiating from her that snaked out to clutch his body. Rourke curled his lips back and enjoyed the rush of sensation. It traveled along his skin as the nerve endings pulsed with sharp sensation.
There was nothing in his way.
It was a potent drug. Rourke felt his sex rise into painful stiffness. Morality didn’t intrude with another man’s name because being a widow meant she was fair game. Instead, Rourke considered the afternoon sun and just exactly how many seconds there were until dark. Duty still clung to his shoulders. Abruptly turning away from his house, Rourke headed toward the weapons bunker. He was in charge until nightfall. The duty rotation applied to every single man on the mountain. Including himself.
The urges inside him collided with civilization’s boundaries. He wanted to drag her off to his bed and he didn’t much care what the rest of the world thought about that. Rourke shook his shoulders as he felt his erection swelling painfully inside his pants. His skin screamed for freedom. Just as the male inside him demanded satisfaction, the need to mate pulsed through his blood as he considered the approaching night.
* * * * *
“I’m gonna get some sleep, Mom.”
Loren swung around in a split second. Her son reserved that phrase for when he was ready to drop from exhaustion. His brain would drive him for days on end. Toby didn’t seem to be able to shut it down enough to sleep. He’d work straight through ‘til his body dropped from fatigue. Sometimes he simply slumped over his keyboard.
Toby shuffled his large feet as he headed toward the room he was sleeping in. His sneakers squeaked on the hardwood of the hallway because he didn’t have the strength to lift his feet into steps any more. Loren followed him and watched his body with a critical eye. She’d caught him more than once as his body simply collapsed before he found a bed.
“Night, Mom. I love you, ya know.”
Loren didn’t say anything as she stood in the doorway. The bed sent up a groan as Toby fell onto it. He rolled onto his side as his lungs began the deep breathing of sleep.
A silly smile lifted her lips as she closed the door behind her. Neither of them grieved for Chris and he was the one who lost in the equation. Freedom settled onto her shoulders making her feel as light as a ballet dancer on her toes.
Her eyes fell on the closed door of the master bedroom. Temptation was thick and swift as she moved toward that doorway. Loren let her fingers trail over the polished surface of the door while her mind offered up detailed images of the room’s master.
She shifted away as heat snaked up her belly. Darkness invaded the house. Loren let her fingers travel down the surface of the hallway wall as her eyes tried to adjust to the absence of light. She searched for the light switch.
Instead of the cool plastic face of the light control, her fingers found the soft fabric of clothing. It was warm from its wearer. Her fingertips registered even the deep rhythm of Rourke’s heart.
She knew it was him. He floated around her and across her mind in a blanket of sensation that she was woven into. His fingers stroked her face, making goose bumps race down the side of her neck. The touch was intensely hot as her eyes caught only the barest of shadows to mark his position.
Details didn’t matter so much anymore. Rourke wouldn’t be near her if he really thought she was a killer. Beyond that, nothing mattered but the needs clawing at her body and the fact that she was free to feed her cravings.
Those fingers brushed along the column of her throat as she raised her head to offer the tender skin to his touch. His hand traveled onto the fabric of her top and she groaned as they were separated by the barrier. Her skin screamed for bare contact but sensation still gathered under his touch as he brushed his fingers across her collarbone and lower to the swell of her breast. The nipple lifted beneath her top, beading into a hard nub that raised the fabric toward his fingers.
A tiny gasp escaped her lips as he caught her nipple between his thumb and finger. Rourke absorbed the sound as he rolled the point. She was frozen in her steps as she considered her options. Curling his hand around the globe of her breast, Rourke gently squeezed it. Her scent drifted up as her body heated. His penis hardened in response to the musky smell of her sex. It escaped through the layers of her clothing making his nostrils flare in primitive reaction.
“Did he make it to the bedroom?”
The concern in his voice made her shift away from his touch. She’d always been alone in the role of parent. The fact that Rourke took notice of Toby made her nervous. There was a depth of intimacy there that she’d never shared before. “Don’t.” Loren tossed the word out like a barrier.
Rourke drifted across her mind in a steady glow of heat as he surrounded her in the small confines of the hallway. His fingers curled around her chin to raise it up. Her eyes didn’t show her anything but blackness, but she could feel him along every inch of her skin. There wa
s the soft sound of his breathing but she felt his eyes touching her face.
“I’m sorry, Loren.”
Her chin was suddenly free. Somehow he was able to see in the pitch blackness. Rourke captured her wrist in a solid grip before walking by her. He pulled her behind him as he shouldered the door to his room open and spun her through it with strength that made her tumble forward.
“Sorry about what?” Loren snapped her question. Her heart was lodged in her throat as she eyed the shadowed outline of the master bed. She turned abruptly to face Rourke as he slowly closed the gap between their bodies.
There was a tremor in her voice that made Rourke pause. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she eyed him with slightly large eyes. Starlight poured in from the ceiling, bathing her in its silvery light. He pulled a deep breath into his lungs and savored the heavy scent of her.
She was a widow. Toby was sleeping and Rourke flatly didn’t care what anyone thought about it. His body pulsed with the need to claim her. The waistband of his jeans was painfully snug across his swollen penis.
“That I’m not giving you any more time.”
“You don’t look sorry.” He looked hungry. Loren felt it in the deepest part of her belly. Her womb twisted into a knot as she felt the slick glide of fluid inside her passage. She gasped with the acute sensation. He hadn’t even kissed her. But her body was desperate for his.
His lips curled back to show his teeth. “You’re right, honey. I don’t give a damn about what anyone thinks. I didn’t on that beach and I still don’t.”
But he did care about her. Loren sensed it as he stood his ground instead of rushing her. Overpowering her body would be simple for a man his size. Instead he seemed to be waiting for her to adjust to his presence. Loren unconsciously rubbed her bare arms. Gooseflesh had risen along them as she watched the flare of heat in his eyes. She felt so cornered but what made her wary was the burning enjoyment that rose up in response to his possessiveness.