Deadly Game

Chapter 7

Fury swept through Ken. She had done it deliberately, exposing her breasts to every man there. Damn her to hell for that. Ken didn't wait for Neil to get the Rover under control: he dove out after her. breaking his fall the same way, rolling over leaves and fallen branches along the wet ground to lie still, staring up at the night sky. They were in a heavily wooded area. He could hear a stream running off to his left.

Now you've really pissed me off. I could strangle you for that. You didn't need to give them all a show.

He was afraid for her. She had a broken hand and leg. She had no weapons and no clothes. And he just might be angrier over the gripping fear for her than for her exposing herself to all the men. What if she had hit one of the trees and broken her neck? It could easily have happened. He couldn't imagine finding her dead body. Answer me, damn you.

Was that him? That near panic when he was always so cool under fire. He didn't mind dying, he never had, so it made it easy to run the covert missions all over the world, but this was something altogether different. She had gotten under his skin. He tried to tell himself it was simply Whitney's experiment and that once she was gone. Jack and Briony would be safe and things would be back to normal, but that didn't stop the panic inside of him. Fear had blossomed into full-blown terror for her. She couldn't be dead.

The ground shifted slightly beneath his feet, trees and bushes trembling. He rose to his feet and tried to breathe normally. Man. I need to know you're alive. He should have been humiliated and ashamed that there was pleading in his voice, but he wasn't. He was telling a simple truth. He needed. It was that simple and it made no sense. If it was simply physical attraction between them-as powerful and as potent as it was-why would he be feeling such terror that she might be dead?

Of course she wouldn't answer him. He was the enemy. He had to be logical, get past the fear and use his brain. He was far more experienced than she was. He had to go on the premise she was alive. He could track her. Every person shed skin cells, and his sense of smell was phenomenal, thanks to Whitney's genetic enhancing, but there were other, far easier ways than walking around in the dark sniffing the ground. It mattered little if she had been trained since birth; he had years of hard battles beneath his belt, but most of all, Jack and Ken had been using their psychic abilities long before Whitney's experiments, and both were strong talents. With the enrichments, they were able to do things Whitney would kill to know about.

He sank down onto the leaf-covered floor, sinking into the cool, damp earth, drawing his legs tailor fashion and resting his hands on his knees. He let his mind expand to take in the world around him, soaring free, becoming powerful. Man, come to me. You have no choice. Come to me. You feel me. I'm inside of you. All around you. Come to me. You need me. You have to be with me. There isn't a choice for us. Come to me. It became a litany, a mantra, broadcasting the command over and over, oblivious to the men who came and went as they searched for their lost prisoner.

Ken concentrated on Marigold, building the picture of her in his mind. He knew the feel of her satin skin, the lush curves and sexy body. He knew every detail: the injuries on her body, the way her mouth was full and promising, the heavy lashes that curled and framed her large eyes. Come to me now. Hurry, Mari. You need to come to me. You can find me. We re one, in the same skin; we need to be together. Most of all. he'd been inside her mind, knew it on a more intimate level. She couldn't shield herself from him. or ignore him.

His mind shifted, drawing her, calling repeatedly. Her skin would be shades of green and black and tan, blending in with the leaves and bushes around them. She wouldn't be able to stand with her broken leg, so she would crawl, a sensuous slide through the cover, her bare breasts swaying gently, invitingly. He imagined sweeping his hand down the curve of her bare bottom as she moved toward him like a jungle cat, creeping through the foliage to make her way to him.

There was no sound, but he opened his eyes, knowing she was there. The first sight of her took his breath away. He'd never seen anything more sensual. She crawled toward him, her body perfect in the night, flowing muscle and curves begging for attention. His body flared into life, a savage, painful reaction, his cock near bursting, pulsing with urgency. He had a primitive urge to yank down his jeans and mount her like an animal, rough and dominant, branding her his.

She lifted her face, and he could see tears tracking down her cheeks. There were several scratches on her shoulders and across her left breast. His heart turned over, the sensation strange and very shocking. She kept coming to him. a mixture of defiance and submission in her eyes. She dragged her leg behind her, but managed to crawl almost into his lap.

"Is this what you want? Someone mindlessly obeying you? Is that what you need to get you off?" Her arms circled his neck before he could stop her, and her mouth found his almost desperately.

He wanted her submissive, but not due to his mind control. His fantasies were sexual domination, not taking away her identity or her free will. If she was submissive, he needed to her to want to give herself to him. to trust him that much, but the moment her mouth found his. the volcano inside him nearly exploded.

It had been so long since he'd been able to feel pleasure. He had thought sex lost to him. His arms came up around her body to bring her in close to him, so he could feel her breasts pressing into his chest. He took command of the kiss, one fist in her thick blond hair, forcing her head back while he explored her mouth, his tongue dueling with hers, taking possession, not giving her a chance to do anything but respond.

He swore an electric current ran through his body and sent fire racing through his bloodstream. For a moment he couldn't think one coherent thought, only feel his raging hard-on, the shock of his body more alive than it had ever been. Her body moved against his like hot silk, her mouth warm and moist and perfect, her lips sensual. His teeth tugged at her full bottom lip, fingers biting into her skin. He wanted her, right there, right then. Nothing could come between them. He needed this more than he needed to breathe.

Her tears registered; a soft sob cut through the heat of hot lust and brought him up short. He felt her face, the tracks of her tears, felt the drops on his neck. Abruptly he jerked away from her, breathing heavily, trying to regain his sanity. "What the fuck have I done?" he asked softly. "I'm sorry, Mari." He knew he was a bastard, but not this-never this-and not with her.

When had his commanding call turned sexual, and why? Why would he do something like that, knowing how powerful the chemistry between them already was? He couldn't remember changing the command, forcing sexual compliance. Had he done that? What kind of a man was he? "I swear to you, I didn't mean for this to happen."

He wiped the tears from her face. "It will never happen again. I was calling you to me, bringing you back, not trying to make you accept me sexually." He pulled his shirt over his head and tugged it over hers, settling the warmth around her, giving her protection and him a measure of relief. She was so beautiful, and he was destroying any chance that she could ever think well of him.

"You were punishing me." Another sob escaped, although she struggled to hold it back. "Because the other men saw me naked. You were punishing me."

Had he done that? He shook his head. "No. I was calling you to me." Could he really be that despicable? He didn't trust himself with her anymore. He couldn't be around her. She wasn't safe and never would be again. Damn his father. Damn Whitney. Mostly just damn Ken Norton to hell.

Jack! It was a sharp command, something he rarely did with his brother, always allowing Jack to take the lead, but this time was different. This time, Mari was involved, and he wasn't going to take any more chances with her. What if I hadn't stopped? His body still shuddered with need. His hands wouldn't let her go, needing to keep contact with her. If there was a hell, he was already in it.

Jack burst through the brush, gun in hand. He took in Mari's tear-streaked face, her sobs, and Ken's horrified mask. "What the hell happened here?"

"Find her a pair of jeans. If they're too big, they'll slide over that lightweight thing the doc put on her leg." Ken tried to distance himself from what he'd done. There was no taking it back, no changing it. The monster lived and breathed, was alive and well and clawing for supremacy. I nearly raped her, Jack.

She looks willing enough to me.

Shut the fuck up and take care of this. We had a deal. We made a pact. It was all well and good when you thought it was you. You made me promise to put a fuckin' bullet in your head, but now that it's me, you threaten her instead of taking care of me.

Jack gave him a hard look and stepped forward, deliberately close, so close Mari's body was up against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her as if he might lift her away from Ken. all the while watching his brother carefully. When nothing happened, he buried his face in her neck and inhaled deeply.

Ken went very still, his silver eyes never leaving his brother's face.

"Does my sister know you're a pervert? Get the hell off of me. You're not sharing me." Mari's outrage lessened the stream of tears.

"If you're such a jealous bastard, why aren't you tearing my head off. Ken?" Jack demanded, ignoring Mari's comment as he stepped away from her. "The old man would have pulled his gun and shot us both."

"Get her the jeans and then get her the hell out of here."

Mari held her breath. He was leaving her with the others. She should be happy, thrilled, but instead she was terrified. "No." She shook her head, said it softly, a plea she couldn't stop. "No, you have to stay with me."

He framed her face with both hands. "I can't. You have to understand. I don't trust myself with you."

"It's all right. It is. I threw myself at you. I feel the connection the same as you do. It wasn't just you."

His thumbs brushed at the tearstains almost tenderly. "You didn't throw yourself at me and you know it. Man, I'm not going to take a chance on hurting you. I'm not a good man."

"Like hell you aren't, Ken," Jack interrupted. "I don't know what's going on, but you've never treated a woman with disrespect in your life."

Ken flashed his brother a warning look, and muttering a curse, Jack swung around to call in the others and to find a pair of jeans for Mari.

Careful of Man's leg, Ken lifted her into his lap, holding her close to comfort her, rocking her gently back and forth. "I'm sorry, honey, I really am. I drew you to me, but it wasn't supposed to be about sex." He didn't know what happened, couldn't remember changing the command. He rested his forehead against hers, breathing deep to try to quiet the storm of need and the roar of self-hatred.

Her leg was bleeding again, and there was a trickle of blood near her ear. Another at the corner of her mouth. Ken wiped it away with his thumb, a warning going off in his mind. The thin trickle returned.

"I can move things, and I can even make suggestions, have a guard look away, that sort of thing, but I've never seen anyone else with the power to control another person's movements. I didn't want to come to you, but I couldn't stop myself," Mari admitted. She shook her head and wiped at the blood staining her mouth. "Whitney can never find out. Never, Ken, not even accidentally. You can't do that in front of anyone who might report it to him." She lifted her head, the color draining from her face. "You didn't report it, did you? It isn't written in a file somewhere?"

"You're really upset. No, there's no file. Jack and I try using various talents on our own. If we have them, we practice until we get good at them. We live quietly and we just try different things."

"If Whitney knew you could control other human beings, take over their minds like that, he'd never rest until he had you. And he'd definitely want your baby, or…" She broke off. "Can Jack do that? Is Briony pregnant? Is Whitney after her because she's going to have a baby? That's it. isn't it? That's why he sent Brett and was so determined I get pregnant. He knows already."

"Calm down. You're trembling, Mari. Whitney is a jackass. Of course he'd want our children. He's a nutcase and he thinks he can have a superbaby. He doesn't know what I can or can't do. other than what he deliberately enhanced." He used the corner of the shirt she was wearing to wipe at blood dripping steadily from her leg.

Hurry up, Jack!

"When he targeted certain psychic talents, he strengthened other ones too, didn't he?" Mari asked. "That's what happened to all of us. We don't tell him everything either, but Ken, this is a major talent. He would want it more than anything else. He'd want a child to have it. He can shape and mold children where he has more trouble with the adults. Adults don't have as many negative side effects, but he can't control them so easily. He can't find out about what you do."

Ken was silent a moment, listening to the sound of his own heartbeat. "If he knew, if it came out, say he had access to a file of mine it was recorded in, he'd make a grab for me. wouldn't he?"

"He'd move heaven and earth to get to you. He'd pull every string he had in the military and with every official who owes him favors to have access to you." She shook her head. "Don't even think about it. I've seen him take apart people to see if their brain is different. You'd spend the rest of your life hooked up to machines so he could study your brain activity."

Ken didn't reply. He knew he was a sick son of a bitch to do the things to Mari that he'd done. In spite of what Mari and Jack believed. Ken was certain Whitney had psychic ability and had already discovered the hidden monster in him. His fingers tunneled into Mari's hair, and he leaned his head to brush a kiss along the top of her head. "You have to stop trying to escape. You could have been killed, you know. You dove out of a moving car without even knowing where you were going to land. You could have hit a tree. As it is, you're bleeding again."

"I didn't. And you would have done the same thing."

"It's different."

"Because I'm a woman?" She snorted. "I'm a soldier first. It's my duty to escape."

He closed his eyes briefly and then opened them to meet her steady gaze. He had to tell the truth, just once. He owed her that much. "Because you're my woman. I might not be able to have you, but I don't want you dead." His fingers moved over her injured hand and dropped to her leg. "Or hurt."

Mari looked up at him. "I can't be your woman if you're planning on running away from me. Ken, he's destroying everyone's life. He has to be stopped. It isn't just me. There are others, both men and women, he's got locked up for his stupid breeding program. We can come up with a plan to make this all right."

"I'm not a product of his breeding program, Mari; I wish I was. I wish I had that excuse for my behavior, but I don't. People are born with things wrong with them-little glitches most people ignore or can't ever see. Mine is dangerous. I may be attracted to you physically because Whitney paired us, but it's more than that, and whatever it is, it's growing stronger."

"With me too. The more I'm near you, the more I seem to care about you. The sex and the emotion are all woven together. Whitney's never been able to make me do what I don't want to do. He can't control my mind-or emotions-so he isn't doing this. He tied us together chemically and sexually, but he couldn't make me want to make everything better for you."

"There's no making it better for me, Mari. The sooner we both accept that, the better off we'll be. The only thing I can give you is the certainty there will be no other woman. Whatever happens in your life, and I swear, I can't think about you with another man because it makes me crazy, but whatever happens, wherever you are, you'll always know there's no one else for me."

"There has to be a way to make this right."

"Mari." His voice was low and compelling, washing through her body like the touch of fingers on skin. "You're afraid of me, and you have good reason to be. I don't trust myself and I'm not going to fuck up your life any more than Whitney's already done. The last thing you need is to be tied to a man who could fly into a jealous rage and do you physical harm."

"I'm capable of protecting myself. Ken, and I don't think you're the type of man to be beating women."

"No, just losing my mind and nearly raping one because another man looked at her." He shoved a hand through his hair, leaving it more disheveled then ever.

"I wanted you. I didn't care the circumstances, or the excuse. I wanted you."

"There are things you don't know about me, none of them good. You've been through enough with Whitney and his program. We're taking you to Lily. She'll make certain you're healthy and she'll help you start a new life."

"Lily Whitney, the doc's daughter?"

"Don't say her name like that. She's as much a victim-maybe more-than any of the rest of us."

"You really trust her? I've worked with Whitney on and off for years and I sure don't trust him-or his friends. They know what he's doing; they don't approve, but they don't stop him or even tell someone higher up what's going on."

"Tell us where the compound is, Mari. We'll get the women out."

She shook her head. "You know there'd be a fight. The men would protect the laboratories. Hell. They're under orders. They have to protect the base."

"Then we'll have the admiral shut it down."

"The minute the orders came down. Whitney would move everyone. He's got places all over, and he'd never willingly allow anyone to shut him down. He's protected. Ken. You can't just walk in and get him."

"But you thought Senator Freeman might be able to help you."

"We hoped. His father has a lot of influence with Whitney. We thought if I talked to him and explained what was really going on, he would intercede for us. We know his father is already upset by the experiment. Whitney wants babies. He's certain he can produce the perfect weapons, psychically and physically, so that no one would ever suspect a child of being brought into a country and doing whatever needed to be done."

"Whitney wouldn't just give you that information."

"No, but I have friends. Not everyone involved agrees with what he's doing. One of the women is already pregnant, Ken. He's going to take her baby away from her if we don't get her out of there. I have to go back and help them."

"You wouldn't have to if I let Whitney get to me."

"No! He'd never let you near the others. He'd have you in a lab and dissect you so fast you wouldn't know what happened."

Jack returned, handing Mari the jeans, his gaze narrowing when he saw the blood running down her leg.

"He's thinking of allowing Whitney to take him prisoner," Mari said. "You can't let him do that."

"Actually that's one way, but I'm thinking maybe the admiral can get me assigned to the compound. If he's using the military as a cover, and he has soldiers guarding the place, then we should be able to get assigned," Ken said. "Put your arm around my neck. I'm going to lift you a little so we can slide the jeans on. There's no need for you to be nude with a bunch of men around."

"She's bleeding again. Why the hell is she bleeding so much?" Jack asked.

"Be careful," Ken cautioned as he watched Jack clean up the wound. "Did she reinjure it?"

Jack was gentle as he slid the jeans over the light cast on her leg. The doctor had put on more of a splint than an actual cast, because he wanted air to get to the bullet wound. "Doesn't look like it." Other than the excessive bleeding, her body seemed remarkable, healing at such a rapid rate that both men knew it was impossible even with genetic enhancement. "Whitney shot you full of an accelerant, didn't he?" Jack asked, his voice grim. "I should have expected he would do something like this."

Ken's fingers tightened to the point of pain on Mari's shoulders. "He gave you Zenith? Oh, God, baby, tell me you didn't let him shoot you up with that stuff."

"We're always given a shot of it before every mission, just in case we're wounded. Isn't everybody?"

"When?" Ken snapped, jumping to his feet, Mari in his arms. She had to grab his neck and hold on as he took off for the Escalade at a dead run. "Damn it, Mari, when did he give you the shot? Day and time. Tell me now."

Fear put her heart into overdrive. Both of the Nortons were alarmed. "What do you know about Zenith that I don't?"

"It can kill you, Mari. Tell me now, how long has it been in your system?"

Logan held the door open and Ken practically leapt inside, Jack after him. "Tell Lily to send a plane. Not military, private. One of her company planes."

"We can't risk that, Ken." Logan protested. "What's going on?"

"They shot her full of Zenith before they sent her out." Ken replied. "We have to risk it."

Neil put the vehicle in motion, racing down the road. "I can get us there by morning. We're a few hours out. How much time does she have?"

Ken swore bitterly, his silver eyes glittering with far too much menace as he exchanged a long look with his brother.

"Have Lily send the plane, Logan. Tell her to meet us at one of the labs with a medical facility. Tell her we need the antidote for Zenith."

"Ryland isn't going to let her risk her life." But he flipped open his radio and began talking into it.

Mari held herself very still. They weren't joking around. The tension in the Escalade could have been cut with the proverbial knife. Zenith, the drug used to accelerate fast healing, was dangerous, and they all knew it. Why would Whitney pump all of his men full of it before he sent them out on a mission if he knew the drug was dangerous? And if these men knew it was dangerous, Whitney had to know. He was the inventor of Zenith.

"I should have known; you were healing way too fast even for a GhostWalker. Damn it." Ken smashed his fist on the seat in front of him. "What the hell was I thinking?" But he knew. And Jack knew. He could see it in his brother's eyes. He was so fucked up thinking about sex, he hadn't given much thought to anything else.

"There's an airstrip about eighty miles from here. A small farmhouse with a crop-dusting plane. Lily says to make it there and she'll have a pilot waiting, a friend of hers, not military. She'll meet us at the underground laboratory where Ryland and his men were first imprisoned. It isn't far from her house, and no one would think twice about her going there. She works there often. Kadan will be with her to protect her, along with most of Ryland's crew, so no worries on that score," Logan announced.

Ken leaned close to Mari, his breath warm against her ear. "You're forgetting to breathe. We'll get you there in time."

"How long have you known about Zenith?"

"Lily found the compound in the laboratory with all the data on it. It clearly works to regenerate cells, but if left in the body too long, it begins to break down the cells and hemorrhaging occurs. And yes, Whitney is well aware of it. It's his find, his results. Two men died in his laboratory as well as dozens of research animals," Ken said. "We don't even mess with the stuff short-term."

Mari buried her face against Ken's shoulder, uncaring that the others would see it as weakness. She wasn't afraid of being a prisoner. She could endure torture if she had to. but Whitney's continual betrayal was difficult to take. He'd raised her, had been her only source of information. He'd brought in teachers, but ultimately, she had followed his curriculum. She had learned languages, studied and mastered subjects quickly, and followed the training of a soldier. She was disciplined and proficient with weapons and in hand-to-hand combat, as well as being highly skilled in her psychic talents. Whitney should have been proud of her-of all of them-yet he continued to betray them in every way.

He was the closet thing any of them had to a parent, and he was cruel and cold, completely without emotion as he conducted his endless experiments. He had grown worse over the years, and now to find out it wasn't just the women he'd betrayed. The men in the special ops unit had all been given Zenith before they went out.

Ken's fingers tunneled in her hair, a slow massage that seemed more soothing than sexual. She was certain he brushed a kiss on the top of her head. "The unit was given orders to go out Monday evening. Whitney was gone, but he left the Zenith for the men to take before they left. His doctor gave the shot to everyone. Sean stole a syringe-full for me. We thought it was a good thing."

She felt Ken's reaction to the name. He took a deep breath and let it out. "This Sean, was he with the team?"

Mari shook her head. "Not anymore, not usually, but he knew I was going and he didn't try to stop me. He could have. He guards Whitney and he didn't want me to go. He said it was too dangerous, but he went along with it this time to protect me."

"You're a trained soldier, why would he say it's too dangerous?" Ken asked.

She frowned. "I don't know. We're friends. I think he just worries about me."

This Sean seems to be around her a lot. Do you think Whitney lias paired her with him as well as with Brett and with me?

Jack glanced up sharply at the edge to Ken's voice. Not unless he wanted Sean and Brett to kill each other. I wouldn't share Briony with some other man, and anyone paired isn't going to want to share either. More likely he's someone she's been around and is a friend.

She may think they're friends, but old Sean has the hots for her.

Jack scowled at his brother. You could try to get that jealousy under control I feel it when men look at Briony, but I have in under control.

This is me being controlled. I'm not hunting him down to put a fucking bullet in his head, now, am I? Because very soon he had to let Mari go and he wanted her to be happy.

Brett was going to die, and if he ever touched Mari again, Ken would tear the bastard apart with his bare hands. That was all there was to it. He was going to make certain of that, but Sean-now Sean might be someone Ken could respect-at least enough to let him live, as long as he never thought of Mari and Sean together.

He tried not to groan aloud and give his thoughts away. Mari was so tuned to him now that, like him, she could catch impressions of what he was thinking. He didn't want her thinking worse of him than she already must.

Holding her on his lap was plain stupidity, but he couldn't let her go. He couldn't control his body's reaction, and it was too good to feel alive again. And the more he was around her, the bigger a reaction he got-and the faster. The painful continual erection was part of the pleasure now, but pain was a small price to pay to be able to feel like a man. He had thought that had been taken from him. Holding her, feeling her body so soft and pliant, the way it fit into his, the curve of her bottom nestled in his lap, the brush of her breasts against his arm, robbed him of his breath and most of his sanity.

His body throbbed and burned, his raging hard-on constant. Hell, he hadn't been able to get it up at all after the torture, and now it wouldn't go away, bulging and painfully swollen with need, wedged along the seam of her buttocks. She couldn't fail to feel how much he wanted her. The sway of the Escalade only added to his increasing discomfort, as her bottom rubbed over him.

He was starving to taste every damn inch of her, was desperate for the feel of her bare skin against his-and the heat of his body was affecting her as well. Her breath quickened, her breasts rose and fell beneath the shirt she wore, her body moved restlessly, sliding over his, causing a burst of pleasure throbbing through his cock.

He needed to slide his hands beneath her shirt and feel hot skin, cup her breasts and tease her nipples into hard peaks. He wanted more than that-so much more. He wanted to eat her like candy, take her fast and rough, hearing her soft little cries, her moans, begging him for more. Always more. He had to keep her wanting him-tie her to him sexually. He could do it-he had no doubts about that.

Her mouth was made for kissing, for sex. He could only fantasize about her mouth around his cock, her teeth scraping over the scars, her tongue dancing over him. She would be kneeling in front of him, cupping his sac, her fingernails raking over him, drawing out his pleasure, and all the while her chocolate eyes would be locked with his, while she took him down her tight, hot throat, watching what she did to him-loving what she was doing to him.

He had never lusted after a woman the way he did Mari. His heart thudded so loud he thought it might burst through his chest. His blood heated to boiling, rushing through veins sizzling with fire, and spreading through his body to sensitize every nerve ending. His pulse thundered in his ears, roaring to bury his body into hers.

He would seduce her slowly, teasingly, lick and suck and bite her breasts and nipples. Just an edge of pain. She would stare up at him with her large eyes, a little shocked, but breathless with need, silently begging him for more-and he would oblige. He'd show her who her man was, ruin her for anyone else, make her crave his touch-the hot lick of his tongue over every inch of her body.

He wouldn't be able to be easy when he took her; he'd struggle for control, but she'd be too hot, too tight, her velvet-soft muscles clamping around him as he plunged into her, driving hard, taking possession of not only her body, but her soul. She was his and he was going to make certain she knew it.

Mari could see erotic images dancing in her head. Her stomach muscles clenched hard, her womb spasmed. She couldn't help but react to the desperate hunger in him. His was a dark seduction, rough and edged with violence, the images dominant and filled with raw lust. She swallowed several times, her mouth dry. her heart pounding as she met the sheer intensity of his silver gaze.

Her breath stilled, caught in her lungs as his gaze drifted possessively over her. hot and aroused and filled with naked desire. She could feel fingers stroking over her breasts, almost feel the bite of his teeth, the lap of his tongue teasing her nipples, fingers stroking her inner thighs until her body wept with need.

Stop it! Mari circled his neck with her arms, pressing closer so he could feel the hard peaks of her nipples. You're killing me here. You can't do this with the others here. We aren't alone.

I can't do this without them here. If we were alone, I'd strip you naked and eat you alive. God, Mari, do you have any idea how bad I want to lay you down and fuck your brains out? Damn it. That didn't come out right. It's more than that-far more than that. Because he wanted her to belong to him. He wanted to wake up every morning looking at her face, find ways to make her laugh, take years to know every facet of her personality. He didn't know why, but that need was every bit as strong as the need to be deep inside of her.

He could smell her musky scent, calling to him. She was damp with need, reacting to his graphic fantasy and language. Instead of being afraid or repulsed, she was reacting. A part of him wanted to weep. Any woman should run screaming from his mutilated body. In his fantasy, the images in his head, he had been explicit, his cock scarred with multiple cuts, his balls covered with them. He hadn't held back the need for rough sex, yet she wanted him. Just the thought of her wanting him made him so hard he thought he might burst, and each time her bottom slid seductively over the thick bulge in his lap, his blood pounded savagely.

Has it ever been like this for you before?

Ken could hear the sudden shy note in her voice. She was embarrassed to ask him, yet needed to know. He tunneled his fingers through the thick mass of gold- and platinum-colored hair. No.

What are we going to do about it?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I'm going to put as much distance between us as possible.

And I don't have a say in your decision?

He bent his head to hers, buried his face in her hair and just held her close to him, savoring her scent and the softness of her body. You don't know what you are, Mari. A gift. Something to treasure, something so precious I don't dare take a chance on being around you. If I had you, even once, I'd never be able to let you go. He brushed a kiss in her hair, uncaring that his brother was watching. He had only a few more precious hours with her and then she'd be out of his life forever. He was going to take what he could get. I could never say these things out loud to you. It'd sound corny, and I'd feel like an idiot, but you need to hear them.

Maybe I'm not able to let you go, Mari ventured.

You have no choice.