“This is so crazy.” She began drumming her fingers on the cushions, a quick, nervous gesture that Gabriel made note of. “Insane. It could ruin me if word leaked out someone was rifling through my files.”
“We’re not talking national security here.”
She jumped to her feet. “You don’t understand.” She paced the length of the room, unicorn ankle bracelet jangling a discordant note with each step. “Businesses demand absolute confidentiality. Decisions are based on the accuracy of my judgments and experience. If I can’t keep their files secure, my reputation is…” She trailed off, staring blindly at the seafoam green wall. “Damn it! It just isn’t fair that years of hard work can be destroyed so easily!”
Whoa. Wait a minute. Sure a break-in was a traumatic experience but her reaction was…disproportionate. Later, he would find out why. Instinct told him it was important but, right now, he had more immediate concerns. He stood and headed for the office. “Pack whatever you need and be ready to leave in ten minutes.”
“Leave?” she spluttered, following him.
“You’re staying with me.” He located several heavy-duty storage boxes and opened the first drawer on the filing cabinet. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Kalesia still standing there, mouth hanging open. “I suggest you get a move on.”
“But…you refused to help me.”
“That was before.” Reaching for the next batch of thick folders, he paused. Three were out of order. Those he set aside to go in the box last.
“Before what?” She sounded exasperated.
“Before I had something tangible to go on,” he explained, exaggerated patience in his tone. First drawer cleared, he started on the second. Behind him, he could practically feel her seething. He gave a mental shrug. She’d get over it. Or not. Either way she’d have to accept that he needed more than a will-o’-the-wisp to chase. If, strong emphasis on if, someone really wanted her dead, chances were it had to do with her consulting. Why else rifle her files?
“So, my word isn’t good enough when I tell you I have visions of murder but it is when I say someone broke into my house. Why? I don’t have proof in either case.”
He kept filling up the box. “Are you saying you no longer want my help?”
“Well, no,” she began.
Gabriel glanced up suddenly, not trying to hide his impatience. “Then pack your clothes and whatever else you need,” he glanced at the stainless steel watch on his wrist, “because in eight minutes we’re leaving. You’re too vulnerable here.”
Wariness darkened the brilliant green eyes. “How do I know I’ll be any safer at your home?”
The damn woman invaded his solitude with her cockamamie story of visions, worked her way into his very dreams and now she questioned whether he could keep her safe? He closed the file drawer very deliberately. “I give you my guarantee.”
It irritated the hell out of him when she stopped to consider his promise. “Okay, I’ll go with you.”
Damn straight.
She didn’t have the slightest idea how close he’d come to either strangling her or fucking her. Goddamn, he was getting soft, he thought as she strolled out of the office. Five years ago the little idiot would’ve been scurrying to obey his orders.
Gabriel imagined several scenarios where she learned to obey him without hesitation. He put a halt to that line of thought when each one ended with his cock buried balls-deep inside her pussy.
Son of a bitch. Harley was right. He needed to get laid.
Files boxed and ready to be loaded in his SUV, Gabriel turned his attention to the desk and the laptop and monitor on it. He knelt down and reached for the power bar to unplug the equipment. A furious hiss from under the desk had him jerking his hand back. He bent lowered and peered into the shadows. A malevolent green gaze stared back. A huge paw lifted in warning. “Full of piss and vinegar, aren’t you, cat? Just like your mistress.”
* * * * *
It was going to be a long night, Kalesia thought with an inward sigh as she followed Gabriel into his living room. He hadn’t objected when she came out of the house with the large cat carrier but the look on his face spoke volumes. Tough. She wouldn’t think of leaving her cats behind. Love me, love my cats, she thought with a touch of humor.
Pad of paper in one hand, Gabriel indicated she should take a seat. Kalesia sank down in a staid wingback chair. Head back, she closed her eyes. It was already after ten and she was flat worn out. She cracked an eye when Gabriel started talking in a brisk, no-nonsense voice. The man did like to give orders.
“I want everything you can remember. Doesn’t mater how insignificant it seems. We’ll sort out later what’s important and what isn’t. What I’m looking for now is a pattern.”
“What do you want first?”
“Tell me about your dream.”
She opened both eyes. “Vision. They’re not dreams. Dreams I could handle.” Her face heated until she was sure it lit up like a neon sign as she remembered the dreams that had been haunting her sleep each night since meeting Gabriel Steele. Damn, she’d hardly ever blushed until she met the man and now she couldn’t seem to stop.
Sexy, irritating, infuriating, much as she’d wanted to, she hadn’t been able to get him out of her mind.
Each night, the dreams seemed to get more explicit. Kalesia knew she wasn’t a particularly adventurous or sensual woman. Christopher and the few other men she’d had relationships with had made that fact painfully clear. She liked sex but didn’t need it. That’s why the dreams had caught her so off guard. They made her burn. Not only burn but crave. Crave things she had never even thought of before.
The dreams were just so darn real.
Kalesia resisted the urge to fan her face as she remembered last night’s dream of Gabriel sprawled between her legs, large hands cupping her fanny as his thumbs spread the swollen lips of her labia. The man had looked at her like she was a piece of candy and he had a killer sweet tooth.
Oh God, she wished a man would look at her like that in real life.
Like getting a taste of her was the most important thing in the world.
Kalesia’s clit throbbed. Just like it had throbbed in her dream when Gabriel had prodded it with the tip of his tongue before taking it between his lips for a gentle nip. Fire arced through her hips when she crossed her legs. Kalesia hurriedly uncrossed them.
Clearing her throat, she avoided his eyes. “Does this mean you believe me?”
“It means I’m not willing to overlook any avenue.” His level glance told her not to read any more than that into it.
“There was a body lying near a pond. I didn’t want to look at the face.”
“Why?”
“I never do.” Kalesia stared at her hands. Gabriel believed in things he could see and touch. How could he understand the effect of visions that came without warning? Visions that left fear, panic, hopelessness in their wake? “It’s hard to explain. Seeing the face makes the body into a person. A person who lived and breathed. Who loved and maybe was loved.”
“Go on,” he instructed. At the odd note in his voice, Kalesia dragged her gaze from her hands to his face. It was as hard and impassive as ever. Giving a mental shrug, certain that her nerves were making her hear things that were not there, she continued.
“Her blouse had a hole in it.” Without realizing it, her fingers rubbed over her breast, just left the center of her chest. “There was an exit wound in the back.” Eyes closed, she slid her hand down to the edge of her brightly splashed dress and tugged. “Her skirt was up above her thighs.”
“Was she sexually assaulted?”
Shaking herself free of the pull of the vision, she opened her eyes, thankful he kept the reference to the third person. Foolish and useless as it might be, she couldn’t acknowledge the woman in the vision was herself, dead from an act of violence. Not now. Not yet.
“No,” she said slowly, chewing on her bottom lip as she searched her memory. “I didn’t get that impress
ion. Maybe she struggled and that’s why her skirt was rucked up like it was.”
Kalesia kicked off her shoes and tucked her legs under her, feeling suddenly vulnerable. When the silence lengthened, she continued. “I started to feel uneasy but in a different way than I usually feel. I didn’t want to look at the body anymore, so I studied the surroundings.
“Tracks milled around the edge of the pond but I couldn’t make out if they were human. The scrub oaks were bare and so were the hyacinths. Everything was shaded like a monochromatic painting. It was when I noticed a stand of Live Oak and a lightning-blasted pine that I realized I knew the area. That’s when I looked at the woman’s face.” Nausea swelled, making her stomach hurt. “I saw my own.” She swallowed convulsively, forcing herself to concentrate on Gabriel’s mouth as he spoke.
“What color were the blouse and skirt?”
“Turquoise and amber. It’s one of my favorite outfits.” All her strength deserted her without warning. It became an effort just to hold her head upright. She let it flop back against the cushion. She could never remember feeling so drained, both physically and emotionally. Damn, she hated feeling weak. Especially in front of Gabriel. He already thought her, at best, a fake and, at worst, crazy. She refused to act like a stereotypical helpless woman in front of him.
“You said there was an exit wound. What did it look like?”
“About the size of a silver dollar and ragged, I think. I’m not sure. I didn’t actually see it.” She picked her words with care, hoping against hope that he wouldn’t push for further details.
“If you didn’t see the exit wound, how do you know the bullet wasn’t still inside?” Like a hunter closing in on prey, he probed for weaknesses in her story.
So much for that. She took her bottom lip between her teeth and began to gnaw. How to explain in a way that made sense? “It’s not like watching television or a movie where every detail is spelled out by the end of the hour,” she began haltingly. “It’s more a matter of knowing.” Kalesia groaned at the futility of explaining what even she didn’t understand. She plucked the throw pillow from between the arm of the chair and her hip and hugged it to her chest.
“Sometimes the images I see are very clear and stark. Other times they come at me in a collage of information and intuitive knowledge that defy order and logic. I know but I don’t understand how I know. The knowledge of a gaping hole in her back was just there, in my mind.”
“Then why do you have such precise details of her clothing and the surroundings?” His dark voice surrounded her and lashed her with his disbelief.
“Because I saw those details!” She thumped the pillow in frustration. “I knew you wouldn’t understand.” Her jaw ached as she ground her back teeth together. She had to regain control. Throwing a fit would not incline Gabriel to change his mind. She had to go about this in a calm, logical fashion. She stifled a harsh laugh. Oh God, logical. She wanted to use logic to explain the illogical. Her head dropped forward until she could rest her chin on the pillow. Okay, so logic was out. What next? Somehow, she had to find a way to make Gabriel accept the unacceptable.
How?
Gabriel Steele preferred to operate with facts, that much was clear. Not with dreams come to life. What about intuition? Instinct? Most folks accepted the occasional flash of gut instinct. Even law enforcement officers. Former law enforcement officers, she corrected herself. Gabriel was retired. She huffed out a short, nervous breath. “Some details in my visions rely on instinctive knowledge, not physical.”
He just stared at her. The silence grated on her nerves, stringing them tight until she wanted to scream. “I’ll accept that for the moment.” All her muscles went weak even as she knew without the slightest doubt that Gabriel would return to the subject later. “What was the weather like?”
What an odd question. Still, relieved he wasn’t pressing her further on how she gained her knowledge, she answered without hesitation. “It was foggy. A heavy dew coated the dead grass. Moisture beaded on her face. Gray. Everything was gray. The sky, the water, the trees.” She licked her lips. “Even her skin was gray.”
“Do you remember seeing a car?”
Lost in the image, it took a moment for Kalesia to understand the question. “What? No, I don’t think so. The pond is too far from the track to see a vehicle, though.”
He scribbled on the pad before prodding, “Was the body placed at the site?”
It worried her that she didn’t know where he was going with his line of questioning. She hesitated before answering. “No. She was killed there.”
“Is this something else you just ‘know’?” The question was slid in with skillful precision.
Her mind went blank for a second as what he said registered. It became hard to breathe. Pain waited in the wings. She shoved it down deeper. “Why do you insist on baiting me?” Chest tight, she struggled with a feeling of betrayal. A betrayal she had no right to feel. Gabriel Steele was nothing if not upfront about his disbelief of visions. She hugged the pillow to her chest with a desperate strength, until the muted pattern was imprinted in her skin. God help her, she felt tight, itchy and ready to come apart any second. “You’re supposed to be helping me. I’m not up to any snide digs right now,” she warned.
Across from her, Gabriel surged to his feet. In less than a blink of the eye, he was looming over her, large hands planted on the arms of her chair. Pushing his face into hers, he growled, “Lady, you’d better be up to them because if someone really is trying to kill you, this is kindergarten compared to how it’s going to get.” He was so close each word sent a wave of moist heat over her face. “You came to me. You wanted my protection and help. My skills and ability to keep you alive.” A muscle jerked in his jaw. “If you want my help, you’ll do it my way.”
How could eyes the color of liquid mercury be so cold? Pinned in place by that frozen gaze, Kalesia stared up at him, her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.
“Understand?”
Her instinctive protest stilled at the aura of suppressed violence that shimmered around him. This was no dime store cop blustering but a lethal, dangerous predator laying down the law.
She had two choices—accept his methods and cooperate, or walk out the door. Her first instinct had been right. Gabriel Steele was no alley cat open to coaxing but a full-fledged jungle cat with a taste for blood.
She unstuck her tongue. “I know because I saw scuff marks and felt my knees hit the mud.” At her surrender, the large form relaxed, a subtle release of tension that took his muscles from poised for battle to merely alert. “And because I sensed violence at the scene. Part of it is physical and part is like being certain someone is watching you without turning around.”
It was a surrender, Kalesia acknowledged to herself, as the tautness inside her eased in response. Both of them knew that with her compliance she ceded control to him. She waited for resentment. She’d been taking care of herself for a long time. To her surprise, she found it didn’t bother her as much as it should. Before she could ponder that revelation, Gabriel moved back and settled in his chair, continuing his questioning as though nothing had happened.
Three hours later, her temper was fraying.
“Was there any similarity between that murder and this one?”
She drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair and contemplated throwing the pillow at his head. “I told you. That happened years ago. Nothing ever came of it. No one believed me when I reported that woman’s murder five years ago. Just as no one believed me when I reported a child’s murder two years before that.”
She put a hand to her throat, hoping to ease the ache there from the effort not to scream in sheer frustration. The man was worse than impossible He grabbed on, refused to let go, made her go over each vision time and again. Asked the same questions over and over, as if he just asked often enough, she’d change her story. He couldn’t get it through his thick skull that this was the way it always was. She’d see a murder and then wo
uld have to live with the knowledge that no one believed her. That maybe, just maybe, she could have helped to hold someone accountable if only people were willing to listen, to believe.
“Tell me again,” he ordered, ignoring her outburst.
Her hand dropped from her throat to curl on the arm of her chair. “Tell me again. Tell me again,” she mimicked. “I feel like a suspect in a police interrogation. What are you? A cop or something?” The minute the question was out of her mouth, she was ashamed. It wasn’t fair to throw his retirement in his face. Gabriel was still a young man, should have had years left on the force. A man like Gabriel didn’t just change careers without a very good reason. Not that it was an excuse but she was so sick and tired of having to always defend what she saw. Once, just once, why couldn’t someone just believe her?
“Or something,” Gabriel agreed in a neutral tone.
The quiet admission stopped her cold. Gabriel met her eyes squarely, the gray gaze shuttered. Kalesia was shockingly aware of having stumbled onto something dark and forbidden. Something intrinsically dangerous. Something that was better left alone.
Her mouth went dry. She ran the tip of her tongue across her bottom lip.
Swirling hunger filled the crystalline eyes.
All at once the lateness of the hour, the fragrance of orange blossom, gardenia and honeysuckle from the nursery, the intimacy of the warm glow of the single lamp spelled danger of a different sort.
Capturing her gaze with his, he got up from his chair. Most men his size, well over six feet and heavy with muscles from work and not those from a gym, didn’t move with lethal, sensual grace the way Gabriel did. It riveted Kalesia. Never failed to remind her of a large cat. Give him green eyes and the resemblance between him and a prowling panther would be startling.
Tapestry of the Past Page 4
