The Phantom of Black’s Cove

by Jan Hambright

  “I don’t know…. It’s freezing.” She shoved her arms into her robe and yanked the belt tight.

  “Do you sleep walk?”

  “No.”

  Caution inched through him and he pulled her toward the cottage.

  Gunner’s agitated whine bristled the hairs on his neck. He’d trained the dog to be sensitive to paranormal energy.

  Telepathic manipulation. They were dealing with planted orders in the mind. Her mind. But who had that kind of power? Diana and the other test subjects, with the exception of Ross, were all dead. Which left Rick Dowdy?

  Jack hurried her and Gunner inside and closed the door, locking it. She couldn’t stay in the cottage any longer. She couldn’t be left alone. He didn’t want to frighten her, but things had just become measurably more dangerous.

  “What do you remember, Olivia?”

  Her cheeks were red, whether from embarrassment or the cold, he wasn’t sure.

  “I got out some cocoa…and a treat for Gunner. He started to growl at the door, and I decided to call you. I went for the phone and the next thing I remember, I was standing butt-naked outside, freezing to death.”

  “You were headed for the water.”

  She shuddered and he pulled her into his arms. The contact melted his defenses and fired his desire.

  “I believe someone used telepathic manipulation on you and forced you to do something you wouldn’t normally do.”

  She pulled back from him. “This afternoon when Diana was here, she denied coming near me since the accident on Main Street, but she was the one who called me this morning. What if someone used the same force on her?”

  Her observation made sense, but it also drove a wedge of caution deep into his soul. If anyone around them could be manipulated to harm her, he’d have to ramp up his guard.

  “Collect your things. You’re moving into the main house.”

  She glared at him, but turned away and went into the bedroom to pack her suitcase.

  Did she understand just how dangerous it was for her to be alone? Somehow he doubted it. The invincibility of her facade hadn’t yet sustained enough cracks and he prayed it never did, even though he could feel several beginning to open up in his.

  OLIVIA MOVED DOWN the stairs, curious about the commotion in the expansive entryway below.

  Frances and Muriel chatted with another woman in a business suit and carrying a notepad, about flowers and food and other things she couldn’t make out.

  She reached the bottom of the stairs, glided past unnoticed and headed for the dining room and a cup of coffee, knowing she’d find Jack there before she turned the corner.

  She’d read and reread Ross’s medical file, but it hadn’t gotten her any closer to the new answers she craved. Jack had blacked out the good stuff, a fact that only made her want to know more.

  How many of them were there and why hadn’t NPQ worked on Ross?

  “Good morning,” Jack said, looking up from his newspaper.

  “Good morning. What’s going on out there?” She pointed over her shoulder and proceeded to the sideboard for a cup of java.

  “The Trayborne Foundation’s annual masquerade charity ball is in two weeks. I always let Frances and Muriel handle the details.”

  “Mm.” She sipped the blazing-hot coffee and set the cup down on the table to Jack’s left. For emphasis, she tossed the medical file down next to her mug and pulled out her chair.

  Jack looked at the manila folder and back up at her. “You found what you were looking for?”

  “Sort of.” She sat down and stared at him, watching his expressive blue eyes narrow. She’d cataloged his repertoire of expressions and knew she had his attention.

  “You blacked out all the good stuff, Jack. I did learn that the clinic did all it could for Ross. He never responded to the treatment, so it’s off the hook. What I don’t know is what exactly NPQ consists of and what its side effects are.”

  “That’s because my grandfather’s studies ended.”

  “Why?”

  Jack’s expression hardened and he leaned back in his chair. She was losing him. That or he was clamming up to cover up. Her money was on the latter.

  “Did the results terrify him, Jack? Did the test subjects manifest with paranormal powers that were dangerous, forcing him to scrap the entire line of research before it got out of hand?”

  Tension bound her muscles in tight little knots. That was it. The research had gotten out of control.

  “Before you make any judgments, Olivia, you must know that the NPQ program was halted by my grandfather because he knew the world wasn’t ready for it. That the formula could be abused and create havoc if he allowed it to be marketed.”

  “So he hid it?” Excitement surged through her.

  Jack’s teeth clenched, his jaw turning rigid with anger that became palpable in the air around them.

  Olivia swallowed, realizing the nerve she’d sliced into had deep roots inside Jack. His reaction frightened her, but kept her thoughts on the path of questioning she’d stumbled down.

  He was the gatekeeper. The guardian of Pandora’s box.

  Fear radiated from her marrow and leeched into her bloodstream. The truth she’d been determined to uncover wasn’t the one she’d expected. This truth carried with it overwhelming implications that, if applied, could tear the world apart.

  “Glad you finally understand, Olivia.”

  She glanced at him, reality dawning hard and fast. “You can read my thoughts?”

  “Yes. But I rarely do. I find it invasive, a violation of the solace afforded to everyone, the privacy of one’s own mind. Do you understand now? Do you see why I can’t allow you to expose any of this?”

  “How many, Jack? How many are there?”

  “Seven. Including myself. But four are dead, including Diana.”

  She understood now. Knew why he protected the truth. To allow exposure threatened everyone. The vault in the lab, that’s where he kept it. Safe, protected…impenetrable? She shook off the cover of foreboding she felt weighing her down in light of Jack’s revelation.

  “I think I should leave. Go back home and take care of Ross.”

  He took her hand in his. He tried to smile, but she could see the level of worry in his eyes, feel its evasive presence coil around her heart.

  “I wish it were that simple now, Olivia. But it’s not…not until I find and confront whoever’s behind this. I’ve come to the conclusion that he plans to eliminate anyone who gets in his way, anyone who tries to stop him or expose the truth, including you.”

  Jack’s heart expanded in his chest. He brushed his hand along her cheek, feeling the charge arc between them and jolt his emotions to life. They’d been idle too long. Imprisoned inside a narrow vein, buried out of reach.

  The echo of voices sucked him back into reality, as Frances led Muriel and Isadora Collins, the party planner, into the dining room.

  Jack let his hand drop from Olivia’s face, but kept his gaze on her. Her cheeks flamed a sensuous color of pink that made his mouth water.

  “In here I’d like the punch, hors d’oeuvres, pastries and a cluster of tall tables.” Frances waved her hand at the expansive room, pausing when she saw him and Olivia sitting at the table. “Oh, I’m sorry, sir. I had no idea you were still in here.”

  “Not a problem. Miss Morgan and I were just about to leave for a trip into town.”

  “Very well, sir. Be assured things are coming along quite nicely.” Frances smiled and showed the other two women back out into the hallway.

  “This must be some kind of shindig.”

  “It’s the Foundation’s single-most important fund-raising event.” He reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a foiled envelope. Laying it on the table, he slid it over to her and sat back.

  Olivia’s hand shook as she reached for the invitation. Even Cinderella got to go to the ball.

  She picked it up and broke the wax seal pressed with an elaborate T. Opening
the flap, she pulled out the simple white parchment card, scrolled on in black script. It was official, she’d be attending the masquerade ball.

  Jack’s gaze never left her face and she heated under his intense scrutiny. “I’d love to go, but I’ve nothing to wear.”

  A sly grin bowed his mouth and she found her stare transfixed on his lips. Longing spread through her and brought her to her feet. If she left the room now she could avoid the overwhelming desire tempting her to kiss him, but she didn’t want to resist the need.

  “Then don’t.” He stood up, too, and pulled her into his arms. His mouth came down on hers with a tender force that robbed her of conscious thought.

  In brazen delight, she closed her eyes, feeling the level of his desire as he pressed his body to hers.

  “Yes,” she mentally whispered.

  Jack pulled her up into his arms, breaking the kiss as he stared down at her with eyes the color of blazing sapphires. “Are you sure?” The husky note in his voice fanned the flames inside of her and they roared out of control.

  She nodded, consumed with primal need that clawed for satisfaction.

  He found her lips again before he carried her out of the dining room, down the hallway and up the stairs. Every encounter, every kiss, every touch has been leading them to this moment of fulfillment.

  Olivia relaxed in his arms, feeling his strength holding her. Why she’d ever believed she could live without someone to care for, she couldn’t imagine.

  Jack slowed his pace, even though he felt like running to the bedroom. Every inch of his body was primed to make love to her again and again. To satisfy the desire that burned through the last remnants of his control.

  He stepped through the bedroom door and kicked it shut with his foot.

  The house echoed with the sound.

  Moving to the bed, he set her down beside it and began the slow process of undressing her. Her breath came in heavy gasps. He trailed kisses along her shoulder, feeling her body respond to his touch, lips on naked skin.

  His heartbeat thundered in his eardrums, pounding out a rhythm of excitement. All other thought melted away as he stared at her beautiful body.

  He stripped off his clothes and pulled back the sheet. Together, they climbed into bed and he pulled the covers up over their heads, entombing them in a cocoon.

  Olivia knew she’d died and gone to heaven because she’d never been touched like this before. Reaching up, she splayed her hand against the back of Jack’s head, forcing his mouth down on her left breast. A moan escaped from between her parted lips as he pulled her nipple into his mouth, ringing it with his tongue, before pulling back to stare down at her, a seductive smile on his face.

  Reaching out, he traced his finger around her other nipple, then dragged it down her belly. She pushed against him as he slid his entire hand down to cover her before massaging her with his finger.

  Heat burned through her, driving her temperature up and pushing her closer to the fire.

  “Please.” She mentally begged him, glad when he pulled her underneath him, trailing kisses across her forehead as he pressed against her.

  “Are you sure, Olivia?” he asked again.

  She stared up at him, at the piece of wayward hair against his forehead, at the gleam in his dark blue eyes. She reached up and touched his cheek, feeling the thin layer of perspiration on his skin. “I need you.”

  “We need each other,” he whispered.

  She opened for him.

  Exerting control he didn’t feel, he penetrated her, feeling her warmth surround him. Deeper and deeper until he filled her completely.

  The sound of her heartbeat drummed in his ears, her soft sighs evoking waves of pleasure as he moved inside of her harder and faster. Each stroke driving them both closer to the ultimate satisfaction.

  She climaxed beneath him. He raised up, driving into her with deep thrusts. She cried out in ecstacy.

  He followed her, pumping until he came, spilling himself inside of her in waves.

  Gradually he stopped and pulled out of her. Rolling over, he took her in his arms, burying his face in her hair, breathing her in.

  It was so much better than in his precognitive vision. He planned to keep that detail from her. Her sense of right would find it totally wrong that he’d known this would happen. Had welcomed it, needed it…but there was more, so much more he couldn’t analyze.

  He had to figure out how to save her first.

  Chapter Ten

  Jack maneuvered the Jaguar out onto the main road and headed for Black’s Cove with Olivia next to him. Making love to her had only deepened the degree of his concern. From now on, they were joined at the hip. Where she went, he’d go; where he went, she’d come.

  “Look, Jack, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about me. I don’t normally act like that. I’m not easy…I just—”

  “Leave it alone, Olivia. Don’t overanalyze it. We enjoyed being together.”

  “Okay.” She stared out the window, seeing and not seeing the woods as they blitzed by. Caring about Jack Trayborne was all she seemed to have done for the last couple of hours, but it was clear he didn’t want her to.

  Jack slowed the car for a series of sharp turns down off the plateau where the estate sat. The narrow, tree-lined road was the only treacherous piece of highway between the house and Black’s Cove.

  The first curve was the worst. He pressed down on the brake pedal. The car slowed and rolled into the sweeping corner.

  In the middle of his lane, stood a man in a black ski mask, hands outstretched.

  Jack reacted, yanking hard to the left on the wheel. He pulled it right to swerve back into his lane.

  The car didn’t respond.

  A blade of reality sliced through his body. They were going to crash.

  Instinctively, he cast energy around them, but found a barrier blocking his own body.

  The car shot off the edge of the road.

  Seconds ticked by like hours. Metal twisted, glass shattered, its noise filling the interior compartment.

  The car rolled over and over, scooping up tree branches, rocks and debris that churned in the momentum with them, as they spiraled down the steep two-hundred-foot decline into a ravine, landing upside down in a shallow creek.

  Olivia sucked in a ragged breath, her equilibrium still on spin cycle.

  Her seat belt held her in place, cutting into her lower abdomen, but she wasn’t hurt. Trying to focus, she fiddled for the latch, found it and released herself head first into ten inches of icy water rushing through the upside-down car.

  Raising herself onto her hands and knees, she shoved her soaking wet hair out of her eyes, seeing Jack for the first time.

  “Jack!” Panic released adrenaline in her veins and she reached out to touch him.

  He hung unconscious in the driver’s seat. What had happened? Why hadn’t he protected himself?

  “Talk to me, Jack,” she begged, working to free him.

  Blood ran from a deep gash on the side of his head and she halted her efforts. If he had a neck injury, she could make it worse. She had to get help.

  She spotted the cell phone on his belt and pulled it out of its holder. Her hands shook as she opened the phone and dialed 9-1-1.

  “9-1-1 dispatch, what is your emergency?”

  “We’ve gone off the road on Highway 21, about five miles from—”

  The phone jerked out of her hand and slammed into the door casing, shattering into pieces.

  Fear climbed up her spine as she scanned the area around the car.

  Brush cracked, a series of small rocks rolled down the steep hillside and slammed into the car.

  It was him, the man she’d seen standing in the middle of the road. She was sure he’d caused the car to go over the edge and now he wanted to make sure they were dead?

  Reaching out she patted Jack’s cheek. “Come on, Jack, you’ve got to wake up. Come on…come on.” She had to get him out of the wreckage. They had to hide
.

  Olivia looked around for any kind of a weapon and saw a thick limb that they’d picked up in the mayhem.

  Grabbing it, she submerged it in the water and sat up, leaning her head against the back of the upside-down seat.

  She went perfectly still and closed her eyes, willing her shivering body to quit. If he stopped to check her pulse, she’d let him have it.

  Awareness hit Jack like a sledge hammer, starting with his head. The fact that he was hanging upside down didn’t help either. They’d been catapulted off the road intentionally. Someone wanted both of them dead.

  He opened one eye and turned his head, spotting Olivia leaning against the seat next to him. He heightened his senses, hearing the frantic beat of her heart. She was uninjured, he knew, because he’d protected her. So why was she overly agitated?

  “Olivia.”

  Her eyes blinked open and she put her finger to her lips, asking for silence. She reached up and patted her head.

  Jack immediately reached into her mind, hearing her plea for silence, hearing her warning that he was coming down the embankment to make sure he’d killed both of them.

  Caution lit in his veins. He reached up, found his seat belt and surrounded himself in a bubble just before he released it. He made a soft landing, released the energy field and turned to sit upright.

  “We’re sitting ducks here, Olivia. We’ve got to get out, so we can maneuver.”

  “But he’s almost on top of us.”

  Jack reached out and took her hand, feeling electricity zap up his arm. “Let’s go.”

  They crawled out the driver’s window and onto the bank of the creek.

  Combing the surrounding woods, Jack searched for their tormenter’s location, pinpointing him halfway up the hillside.

  Who were they dealing with? Did he have the same level of power? Jack was almost certain it wasn’t Rick Dowdy edging his way toward them.

  A thick stand of pines fifty feet away would serve as a shield for anything he directed at them.

  “The trees,” he said, motioning toward the cluster and encased them in a protective bubble.