by Rebecca York
“Slow down,” he murmured, his lips against hers. “We both want to enjoy this.”
Turning his head, he nibbled at her ear, then slid his lips to her jaw, her neck.
In the darkened room, he gathered her closer, marveling at how perfectly her body fit against his. Swaying her in his arms, he slid her breasts against his chest as he sucked her lower lip into his mouth.
Do anything you want with me, she whispered in his mind. Everything you want.
Oh yes.
He kissed her deeply, drinking from her essence, trying to hang on to his will to go slowly and savor every moment of this time they had together. Perhaps the last time.
His hands went to her bottom, cupping her sweet curves so that he could press her center to the erection straining at the front of his slacks.
If Eugenia barged in again, she was going to be embarrassed, he thought as he unhooked Sophia’s bra, then eased away from her to pull up her T-shirt and suck one of her hot, distended nipples into his mouth while he tugged and twisted the other one with his thumb and finger.
His hand went to the button at the top of her jeans, pulling it open and lowering her zipper.
Impatiently, he reached inside, dipping into the folds of her sex, loving the way she had turned wet and molten for him.
When he slipped two fingers into her, stroking in and out, she answered with a muffled sob as her hands went to the front of his jeans and began struggling to get them off of him.
As she lowered his zipper, he couldn’t hold back a cry of gratitude. And when she freed his cock and wrapped her hand around him, he fought not to lose control.
It felt good. Too good.
He wanted to take her now, but they were still both half dressed, and he knew it would be better naked.
Naked, she echoed in his mind.
He rolled away to tug at his shirt and jeans, and she also finished undressing. When they were unencumbered, she came back into his arms, both of them crying out as they clung together.
She looked at him, her eyes dazed, as he reared up, then kissed his way down her body, finding the delicious core of her, lapping and sucking on her, feeling the fluttering vibrations of her approaching climax.
“Not that way,” she gasped.
“Let me.”
She tensed, then lay back, and he kept up the caress, bringing her to a rocking climax. Then he came back beside her and started arousing her all over again. When he knew she was ready, he thrust deep inside her. As she began to move in a jerky rhythm, he cupped his hands around her bottom, pushing deeper into her, watching her face as her inner muscles clenched around him.
“Jason. My love. Jason.”
He heard the words echo in his mind, and returned them to her.
I love you. I will always love you. No matter what happens.
As he felt her coming, he let himself go, joining her in an explosion of ecstasy that left them both limp and panting.
He gathered her in his arms, kissing her face, her hair, her jawline, wanting to memorize every tiny detail of her.
“I’ve never let a lover take charge like that,” she murmured.
“Was it okay for you?”
“You know it was.”
She nestled beside him, and as he held her, he knew their thoughts were running along parallel lines.
We could leave.
Disappear.
No one would know where we had gone.
Tessa got herself into trouble. We don’t have to rescue her.
Or the rest of the Ionians? He’s coming after them, too.
We can’t let him wipe them out.
Sophia held him more tightly, wondering what it would have been like to be a normal woman, free to choose a life with the man she loved.
Jason moved his cheek against hers, still speaking in her mind. We don’t want to end up like my parents.
I know.
We’ll rescue Tessa and make peace with the rest of the Ionians.
If the spirit of the universe is willing.
TESSA had excused herself for the afternoon, saying that she needed to rest. But as she lay on her bed, she kept listening for the telltale hiss of gas. What if he used it again? Then came in and started making love to her. He’d leave her drugged and sleeping.
Then she wouldn’t be able to help Sophia and . . .
She couldn’t bring herself to think too much about the Minot with her. Sophia trusted him, but what if he’d drugged her the way Garrison had drugged her?
She climbed off the bed and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Would it block the gas if he decided to use it?
Another sickening thought grabbed her. Probably he had a camera in the bedroom. What if he had one in here, too?
Would he do something so disgusting?
She didn’t know, but perhaps she should draw a bath and pretend that she wanted to relax in a tub of hot water.
SOPHIA wasn’t hungry, but she forced herself to eat some of the Mexican food Eugenia ordered for everyone.
An hour before dark, they set out in two cars. Sophia was hoping that Eugenia was right—that their approach couldn’t be seen from the estate. If the senior Ionian had calculated wrong, Garrison and his friend could be waiting for them.
With guns? Or something worse?
The sun had set when they pulled off the road, but there was still enough light for them to make their way across the dry grass and through the scrubby vegetation toward the estate.
Jason walked cautiously, ready for the sensations he had experienced before.
He wasn’t disappointed. One minute his head was clear. In the next, he felt as though he was falling through time and space.
He didn’t know he’d actually started to fall until he felt hands on his arms holding him up and pulling him back a few yards.
“Are you all right?” Sophia asked urgently.
He dragged in a breath and let it out. “Yeah. Thanks.”
“I guess Tessa couldn’t lower the barrier,” Eugenia said.
“It’s barely dark. We should give her a few minutes,” Sophia answered.
“THAT was an excellent dinner,” the other Minot said. The one who claimed his name was John.
At dinner, the two men had talked about the financial markets, as though they weren’t actually plotting murder.
She’d tried not to stare at the visitor. He looked even more familiar than he had earlier. She’d caught him looking at her, too, but each time he’d glanced away.
Who was he really? And what was his role in all this?
He seemed to be Rafe’s friend, but he’d told her about the gas. Did he want her for himself? Was that what was going on?
Rafe broke into her thoughts.
“Would you excuse us?”
“Of course,” she answered as one of the servants came in to clear the table. They’d dined on Beef Burgundy, which she’d hardly been able to taste. The same for the Crème Brûlée and coffee at the end of the meal.
As the two men exited the room, she focused on Rafe’s broad back, wondering if Jason could beat him in a fair fight. No, beat two of them.
And could he even get in here? She’d resolved to distract Rafe. Maybe she wasn’t going to have to do it, because Rafe was busy with his guest.
She sat at the table until they’d left. Then she walked down the hall and into the library.
Wondering how she was going to sabotage the equipment in his closet, she reached for the dial of the combination lock, just as the door behind her opened and the other man, John, walked into the room.
“What are you doing here?” he said in a hard voice.
SOPHIA, the other Ionians, and Jason waited in the gathering darkness.
“I think she’s not coming through for us,” Eugenia whispered. “We have to go in.”
Jason turned to her, his voice urgent. “You can’t do it alone. You have no idea who or what you’ll find in there.”
“Then perhaps we should
focus on getting you through the barrier,” Eugenia answered.
“How?”
“Put up a wall around you, the way we did when we discovered you at the spa.”
“Will it work?”
“I don’t know. But we have to try,” Sophia answered, struggling to control her own fear. If they got Jason in, how would he get out again? They’d have to find the machine and turn it off. Or could they all regroup and reverse this process?
“Let’s get on with it,” Jason growled. “What do you want me to do?”
“Don’t fight us,” Eugenia murmured.
He’d like to oblige, but this was the woman who had tried to kill him. At least, that’s what it had felt like at the time.
This is different.
The words echoed in his head, and he knew they came from Eugenia. Don’t fight us, she silently repeated, and he realized he could speak to her in his mind, the same way he spoke to Sophia.
That brought a shiver skittering over his skin. He hated being open to this woman, but it seemed he had no choice if he wanted to get into the estate.
With a silent sigh, he struggled to open himself to their attack.
Not an attack.
Whatever.
They still grasped him by the arms, and he held himself rigid, waiting for the pain of their invasion to hit him.
The pain didn’t overwhelm him, but he couldn’t call the sensations that enveloped him pleasant. He felt swaddled by layers of gauze. Along with the sense of confinement, his head seemed to be filling up with something soft and mushy, like cream cheese, maybe.
He tried to focus on that. Tried to describe the sensation to himself, but it was beyond him now.
The Ionians were doing this to him, and he wanted to shout at them to let him go.
Relax. Don’t block us. We’re trying to help. You want to get into the estate, don’t you?
It was Sophia speaking to him, and he struggled to focus on her words.
But his mind simply wasn’t working in any kind of normal fashion.
Panic seized him. It was like someone had suddenly damped down all his senses along with his ability to think coherently.
He wanted to scream, but no words came out of his mouth.
Stop! he silently shouted.
He felt Eugenia wince, reacting to his plea.
Maybe he was hurting her. He hoped so. As soon as he thought about it, he realized she could probably hear him, and in his dimmed mind, he realized something else. If he was hurting Eugenia, he must be hurting Sophia.
He struggled not to do that again.
As they moved him forward, he seemed to come up against an invisible wall that made every cell in his brain sizzle. And he knew that whatever the women were trying wasn’t working.
Then all at once, the pain stopped.
What happened?
He thought the question came from Eugenia.
Something changed.
Maybe Tessa turned off the barrier.
Panting, he crashed to the ground, bringing down Sophia and the woman on the other side of him.
They lay in a tangled mess while he struggled to catch his breath and take stock of his faculties.
“Are we . . . on the other side?” he panted.
“Yes,” Sophia answered.
He hated lying on the ground surrounded by women who all wanted to know how he was feeling.
Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself up.
“I don’t like it,” Sophia murmured. “What if it’s a trick?”
“We have to assume we’re in the clear.”
He peered into the darkness. Garrison’s house was still hidden from view. And he couldn’t help wondering if there was some factor they hadn’t counted on.
What about servants? Bodyguards? Would they leap to Garrison’s defense or head for the hills?
When they reached the top of the rise, they saw the house.
A few dim lights burned in what must be the bedroom wing. The general living areas were more brightly lighted.
They moved silently forward. When they were still fifty yards away, Jason motioned for them to stop. Reaching for Sophia’s arm, he sent a silent message: Wait here. Let me find out what’s happening inside.
He could see she didn’t like the plan, but Eugenia must have heard, too, because she put a restraining hand on Sophia’s other arm.
I can call to Tessa, Sophia said.
Better not, he answered. Not if she’s with Garrison.
Sophia scowled at him, but she let him leave her and the other women behind a towering clump of pampas grass.
He crouched low, heading for the house.
When Jason was still about twenty yards away, a man stepped out, and Jason froze, ready to fight the guy.
But it was only one of the staff, taking a plastic bag down a flagstone path to a fenced-in area.
Jason waited until he’d left the bag of what was presumably trash, then grabbed the guy and clamped a hand over his mouth.
“I’m going to take my hand off your mouth so you can answer a question. If you call out a warning to Garrison, I’ll kill you. Nod if you understand.”
The man nodded.
“Where is Tessa Thalia?”
The man hesitated, looking frightened.
Jason yanked his arm painfully behind his back. “Where?”
“In her bedroom. With Mr. Rafe.”
A flurry of movement informed Jason that Sophia had joined him.
“I told you to wait.”
“I’m coming with you.”
Cutting his losses, Jason turned back toward the man. “Where is the bedroom?”
Before the guy could answer, they heard a scream.
“Tessa,” Sophia gasped, jumping up.
He tried to grab her, but she dodged out of his way and pelted toward the house, bent on reaching her sister.
The other women came streaming after her, and Jason knew that whatever advantage they’d hoped to gain from surprise had just been lost.
Floodlights switched on around the property as Tessa burst from a doorway and ran toward them. She was wearing a sheer nightgown, and her eyes were wild as she looked around.
Garrison was right behind her, dressed in only a pair of boxer shorts. Behind him must be the man Tessa had told them about. The Minot named John.
When Jason saw him, he gasped.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
THE SECOND MINOT spotted Jason and stopped short.
All around them, people were moving, including the servant, who had taken off into the night.
But Jason’s focus was only on the man behind Garrison.
Not some guy named John.
His father. Paul Castle. Who was supposed to be dead.
But Jason had never recovered his body, and now, here he was. He must be the man Tessa had been talking about. The one who hated the Ionians, and Jason certainly understood why.
All that flashed through his mind in a blinding instant.
He knew his father saw him and knew who he was because an expression of satisfaction gathered on his face.
It changed to fear as Garrison raised his gun and pointed it at Jason.
No hand-to-hand combat, like the last time in the desert. Apparently Tessa’s kidnapper wasn’t taking any chances on losing this fight.
Before Garrison could fire, Paul Castle shouted, “No,” and leaped forward with Minot speed, reaching for the gun as he bore down on Garrison.
Jason sprang forward at the same time, trying to get the gun. But Garrison had already spun around, pointing the weapon at Jason’s father.
Jason leaped onto Garrison’s back, struggling to wrench the gun away from his father’s direction. The weapon discharged, but Paul had already dodged to the side.
It was all happening fast, faster than a normal human being could move.
Jason could hear women screaming. Tessa and Sophia.
Get back, he silently shouted at them. This is between us and him.
Maybe they got the message. Maybe they did as he asked. At the moment, he was busy trying to keep Garrison from hurting anyone.
Jason and his father had worked as a team before. They fell back into old, familiar rhythms.
Together they tackled Garrison, both of them coming down on him, Jason on top of Paul.
But Garrison still had his finger on the trigger. The gun discharged again, and Jason felt the impact, even as he knew the bullet had hit his father, not him.
“Dad.”
Jason rolled his father to the side, ignoring the gun that was now pointed at him.
Before Garrison could fire, he screamed, his face contorting in agony, and Jason knew that the Ionians had sent him a blast of powerful energy.
Jason wrenched the gun from his hand and flung it away, then lifted Garrison into the air and smashed him onto the ground with bone-jarring impact.
Figuring the women would finish the job, Jason turned away and knelt beside his father on the ground. He was lying very still with his eyes closed. A red stain spread across the front of his shirt.
In the background Jason heard Garrison begin to choke and writhe on the ground.
“Get the . . . hell . . . off me,” he gasped.
Jason bent to his father. “Dad. Dad. What are you doing here?”
“I knew you were in Sedona. Thought you . . . were coming here.”
Behind Jason, Tessa screamed. “Don’t kill him.”
“He’s turned you,” Ophelia muttered, a note of derision in her voice.
“No. You don’t understand,” Tessa protested, grabbing for Eugenia and trying to push her away from Garrison. “You’ve got to listen to me.”
Paul Castle was barely breathing, but his eyes focused on his son.
Anguish tightened Jason’s throat, but he managed to say, “Why did you pretend to die? Why did you join Garrison?”
“My . . . hate would have contaminated you. I would have... undone everything your mother taught you.”
“No.”
His father was silent for a moment, then began to speak again. “I . . . was eaten up with . . . anger . . . I wanted . . . revenge for your mother’s death. Then I found out you were coming to rescue . . . Tessa. I . . . couldn’t let him hurt . . . you.” Blood trickled from his mouth as he spoke. “I . . . turned . . . off the shield . . .”
