Books by Linda Conrad

by Conrad, Linda

  As a matter of fact, now that he thought about it, he had never actually opened up and allowed himself to love his ex-wife. He’d always imagined it had been Marsha who had never loved him. She’d divorced him, after all.

  But in truth, he had probably hurt her by not giving the kind of love that a wife deserved. The kind of love she’d had a right to expect.

  Sighing, Kody shook the images from his head. Too much internalizing could be hurtful. And his thoughts were becoming downright depressing. Enough of that.

  He needed to keep his mind clear and his thoughts focused where they belonged. On the evil ones and on how to protect Reagan while still trying to locate her father.

  Pulling into his mother’s gravel drive and heading up the hill, Kody wondered if he should begin again with Reagan. He must learn to remain professional and to distance himself from all her distractions.

  Letting himself go, as he had the other night, was not the way to win this war with the evil ones. He could not allow himself to think about Reagan too much.

  From now on, he would stick to being her protector. As he parked the pickup, surrounded by the last vestiges of ice-blue dusk, he made another vow—to be a first-rate member of the Brotherhood. And nothing more.

  Reagan paced up and down in Mrs. Long’s kitchen and concentrated on different aspects of the problem. So many separate things were going through her mind at once that she felt like a computer router, directing each thought to its own special place in her brain.

  Some pieces fit into the puzzle, other pieces seemed to come from an entirely different picture. As usual in new scientific dilemmas, she needed more information in order to draw a hypothesis.

  “Feeling better?” The sound of Kody’s voice behind her made her shoulders straighten and the corners of her mouth lift up in a special smile just for him.

  “Yes,” she said as she swung around. “But I was thinking that I needed my…”

  Her mouth dropped open and her words died in her throat. She was unaccustomed to facing a virile man half-dressed and fresh from his shower. A man who made her bones rattle and her teeth tingle with ultrasensitivity whenever he looked in her direction.

  Right now, he was staring at her like she was a glass of wine and he had been on the wagon for years. Her mouth open, she gulped in air and tried to get past the fact that he didn’t have a shirt on.

  His hair was slicked back and dripping water on his bare skin. Water ran in rivulets down his shoulders, across gleaming chest muscles and down his flat stomach, disappearing past the open top button of his jeans.

  Stunned by the sudden desire to let her fingers capture the water, or maybe by the need to lick the droplets away as she put her mouth where the rivulets flowed, Reagan just stood there gawking. Her mind went blank. But she was absolutely sure no one was trying to control her this time.

  No indeed. This was just her own naiveté and foolishness, desiring something that should be forbidden.

  Swallowing once, she opened her mouth again, but no words could get past the lump in her throat. She swallowed once more.

  “Um…what was I saying?” She waited a second for him to answer, but his eyes stayed focused on her mouth and he never moved a muscle. “Oh yeah. I need access to the Internet. A few things are bothering me. Some loose ends. And I can’t come up with decent theories without all the postulates.”

  He finally managed to drag his eyes away from her with a shake of his head. It made her wonder if he’d been feeling some force controlling him, too.

  “Won’t your handheld wireless do? Is it still in your jacket pocket?” He moved to the sink and poured himself a glass of water, keeping his back to her.

  “Batteries are dead. I’ve plugged it into the recharger. But the thing was so totally gone it’ll take hours for it to come back up. Your mother doesn’t have a computer at all?”

  Reagan had sneaked a look around while he was in the shower. But now she wished she hadn’t just admitted to being a snoop.

  Kody turned and flashed her a smile. “Maybe if you bounce some of your ideas off me, together we can come up with a few answers. Are you hungry?”

  “I could eat.” Though she’d said the words in her best casual manner, her stomach growled right at that moment.

  Kody raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I guess you could. Neither of us has had anything since breakfast. Let’s nuke one of mom’s containers of food. And I can cook fry bread to go with it. She taught me how. Sit down. It should be ready in a few minutes.”

  Pulling out one of the heavy kitchen chairs, Reagan considered which of the many thoughts in her head she wanted to talk to him about. There were a couple of things she had no intention of saying. Questions she would rather find answers to on her own. Those would wait for her Blackberry to come back up.

  He set two big bowls of steaming stew down on the table right before he flipped the bread off the electric griddle and onto a plate. “Here you go.”

  “What is the soupy stuff your mom made?”

  “Stew.”

  “Yes, but what kind of stew?”

  “Mutton.”

  “Oh.” She decided to shut up and eat. She couldn’t think about sheep becoming stew meat right now. Not when thoughts of sheep could so easily turn to thoughts of goats. And thoughts of goats could so easily turn to one in particular….

  Sheesh. “Pass the bread, please.”

  Twenty minutes later, when she had eaten her fill of bread and fruit and one bite of stew, she got up and began running water for their dishes.

  She kept her back to Kody, who was drinking a last cup of after-dinner coffee. It was much easier to talk to him when she couldn’t see his eyes.

  “So, what kinds of things have you been thinking about?” he asked before she could even begin.

  “You sound like a cop. Don’t push, please,” she began. “I have what seems like dozens of bits of information rumbling around in my head. And I’m trying to pull out one strand that actually makes sense. But I don’t know what you can do to help me.”

  “Why not just start talking? Maybe something will resonate in our collective consciousness.”

  “That isn’t the way I normally solve problems—by talking, that is. I usually flit around online until something clicks.”

  “Just try it.”

  She turned her head to look at him, but wished she hadn’t. No matter that the sound of his voice had been soft and professional, she discovered that behind her back he had been touching her body with his eyes. Gently, to be sure. But with a tremendous promise of something hotter and more sensual under that.

  Whipping her head back around to the dishes in the sink, she said the first thing that tripped out of her mouth. “Who would kidnap my father? And please don’t start with the Skinwalkers again. I have a feeling you know something you aren’t telling me.”

  “Why do you think your father has been kidnapped?”

  “Just putting pieces together. If he hadn’t been taken against his will somehow, he would’ve contacted me by now. And that whole scenario of him defecting with classified plans sounds phony. So what do you know that I don’t?”

  Her question was met by a long silence. It took everything she had not to turn around to see what expression Kody would be wearing this time.

  “I know that a Middle Eastern terrorist cell is rumored to be on the reservation,” he finally admitted. “The Bureau hasn’t been able to pin down the truth or there would be hundreds of agents swarming over the rez by now. But I understand the leader of one particular group has let it be known over the Internet that he would pay hundreds of millions for certain, uh, military goods and services.”

  That news was incredible and confusing, so she turned to question Kody. “Like guns, or what? Uranium waste material? Nuclear plans? What?”

  “Something classified,” he answered warily. “But the Bureau learned from the CIA that this particular rumor was about a terrorist cell a little more sophisticated than most. They may ha
ve found a covert way into the U.S. through the Mexican border.

  “On the other hand,” he added, “I’ve been wondering why a sophisticated group like that would even consider coming anyplace so remote and seemingly useless to them as the Navajo Four Corners reservation. We can barely scrape together enough to feed all our people. So what would they find so valuable out here?”

  Kody shifted his chair and leaned back, crossing one ankle at the knee. “I don’t know what project your old man was working on, Red. But I’m half surprised it wasn’t you they were looking for instead of him.”

  Reagan stood there gaping at him for a moment, trying to put more of the pieces into order. “You think my father has been kidnapped by some group, don’t you?”

  He nodded but kept silent.

  “I need to notify someone,” she said in haste. “I should go to my father’s C.O. Or I should call the…” She paused, feeling as if she’d just run out of steam. No one would believe her. Besides, there was something else niggling at her brain. Something still not on track.

  “Maybe I should leave here,” she muttered at last. “Go far away from you. Whoever took my father obviously knows where I am. Your life is probably in danger every minute we’re together.”

  “Would you leave the rez altogether? Go back to California? Leave, not knowing what really happened to your father?”

  “No, of course not.” She was suddenly fuming. Furious at the situation and furious at her own inability to concentrate on the problem at hand.

  Kody moved as fast as a shadow and ended up standing beside her, violating her space, before she could object. “Thanks for trying to protect me, Red. But you’re not going anywhere in Dinetah without me to watch your back.”

  His warm, callused fingers brushed her cheek, and alarm bells began ringing in her head. That first touch was electric—and tender. But she was afraid of it, of him. Of what there was between them that she didn’t understand.

  She tried inching away. “My head is still full of questions. Like how would Middle Easterners manage to capture my father? And who has been trying to control my mind? And…and…” Kody had better move back soon. Her knees were getting weaker and she saw the hunger growing in his eyes.

  “And what happened to you that you think you have no luck with women,” she blurted. “And…” Oops. That was definitely not what she’d meant to say.

  Kody didn’t seem to take notice of anything she had been saying. He gently cupped her face in both his hands and whispered a question of his own. “Are the numbers still all in place?”

  Mesmerized by his dark eyes, she could only nod.

  “Good,” he murmured against her lips. “Let’s see if we can manage to blank them out—all by ourselves.”

  12

  A s much as Kody needed Reagan right now, he was afraid to push her too hard. Sometimes she looked so fragile.

  But he knew about the sensual creature that lurked inside Reagan Wilson. And knowing was making him crazy.

  He’d seen it. Seen for himself on their insane night in the ruin that she had more power and strength of spirit than she could possibly know. Even with the evil ones trying to control her mind, her own potent force had shone right through the darkness.

  Kody felt compelled to bring that out in her one more time. Was he selfish? Because in truth her strength turned him on almost more than he could handle.

  No. He just had to see it again. Had to have that power under him, surrounding him. He craved it, with both body and spirit.

  The silken lips he’d been fantasizing about were only a whisper away. Right here, right now. He closed the gap, feeling more aroused than he could ever remember.

  Their kiss began as a reverent touch of lips. But when she opened her mouth and he heard a moan coming from deep inside her body, Kody lost whatever was left of his control.

  He deepened the kiss, using his tongue as a token, a symbol of his need to sweep aside her fears. He tasted. Drank from the honey that was all Reagan.

  And then he slipped beyond all redemption. He didn’t lose it from any form of mind control, but from the power of the sweetness and harmony he’d found in her embrace.

  Kody felt her trembling and growing weak-kneed. Wrapping his arm around her waist protectively, he fitted her body to his own. The match was perfect, as he’d remembered. She was his other half. Just as if she’d been created specifically to be that one spark he’d felt had been missing from his life.

  “Touch me,” she urged in a hoarse whisper. “Please, Kody. I want…”

  Smiling, he placed his lips in the hollow between her shoulder and her neck, and at the first contact, she arched and groaned. It made him nuts. Crazed by the taste of warm skin and by the idea of what he could do to her by using his lips and teeth.

  With most of his mind on her sweet thighs and the even sweeter spot between them, Kody gave way to the blood gushing through his veins, pumping hot and thick and pooling in his groin.

  Greedy, and with the lust rising to impossible heights inside him, he drew her closer. He felt her pulse quicken in response to his openmouthed kisses.

  She pressed her hips against his groin and moaned. Kody grew harder and heavier with her every move. He cupped her bottom and tipped her pelvis up, fitting the two of them together.

  She gasped softly and pushed her upper body away from him. For one second he was struck by complete panic, knowing if she told him no, he would have to accept it immediately.

  But…please don’t say no.

  Apparently it wasn’t no Reagan had meant when she’d leaned back. Her hands were busily moving over his chest, up his shoulders and down his arms. It seemed she simply had to touch his skin the same as he had needed to feel hers.

  He studied her heavy-lidded eyes and found her mesmerized by the way his chest muscles reacted, tightening under her palms.

  Barely able to stand the sight of her like that, he knew he might collapse if he couldn’t touch her in return. She was wearing a soft sweatshirt that ended just above the rolled waistband of her sweatpants. It was a perfect spot for a caress.

  Kody bent to put his mouth just there, but soon gave up and ripped the shirt over her head in a ferocious move. Suddenly naked from the waist up, she went rigid, her arms going to her sides like a little tin soldier.

  “Aw, Red. It’s okay. Better than okay. Trust me.” Dearest one, please, please trust me, he silently begged.

  Moving closer, he gently cupped the small globes of her breasts. They fit into his hands perfectly and seemed to be growing fuller and more peaked as he watched. Bending his head, he took one tip into his mouth, wishing he could both see and taste in unison.

  She was beautiful. And tasted like nectar, all sweet and salty at the same time.

  Kissing and lathing her hardened nipple, he almost missed the way her hands were tugging at his shoulders, urging him closer. Urging him to take her.

  And take her he did. With one swoop, he lifted her in his arms and moved to the nearest comfortable surface he could find—his own, long-ago bed.

  He set her down on her feet right next to it. One, he counted absently as he ripped off his jeans. Two, he mentally added as he jerked her sweatpants down and shoved them out of the way.

  By the count of three, Reagan had flung herself backward on the bed and raised her arms, begging him with motions and mumbled words to come closer. She had most definitely not changed her mind.

  He didn’t care at all if she lost control now. Not as long as he could go with her.

  But there was one more thing he thought he should do first. He would’ve crossed his fingers for luck if he’d had a free hand. But instead, he used both hands to pull open the bottom drawer on the bedside stand, then dug under a stack of handkerchiefs for the foil packets he had secreted there years ago. The damn condoms might be too old to work, but anything was better than nothing.

  Flipping a couple packets onto the tabletop, Kody turned back to Reagan, who was writhing on the bed be
side him. She was truly beautiful. So beautiful that he just had to watch her.

  He used both his palms to stroke her skin, moving from her neck down to massage her breasts. Mmm. Warm, silken and sensitive. The tips responded to his touch once again, so he bent over to take one into his mouth. He drew her in, sucked hard, then used the flat of his tongue to lathe the tip.

  Reagan moaned and arched her hips. Kody almost laughed. Her body was begging him to bring her to release in the exact same way his own was thumping and pushing for him to get on with it.

  To please them both, he tried to set a slower pace. He wanted to see what kind of reactions Reagan would make to his caresses now that she was in complete control of her mind.

  He laid his hands flat on her quivering belly and stroked around her navel. The skin was so soft, so tantalizing. Her hips came up and off the bed again as she arched her back and urged him to hurry.

  “Easy, Red. We’ll get there.” He let his hands glide over her hips to cup her round, naked bottom. The minute he grasped her flesh and squeezed, her thighs fell apart in an open invitation.

  “Now…now…Kody…”

  He smiled at her again, even though he was barely able to breathe as the loud thumping of his heart left his chest and leapt right into his throat, choking him with emotions he had never before acknowledged.

  “Wait,” he said with a rasp.

  One of his blind dreams from the other night had been of the delicate skin on the inside of her thighs. He looked down her body to see in the light what he remembered seeing in his mind’s eye that night in pitch darkness. Yeah. Satin skin, quivering and pulsating, awaiting his touch.

  He inched back, just enough to let his tongue glide up from the inside of her knee to the slick center of her sensation. He knew the spot; it lay just under a rusty cover of fur. The first taste of her honey held such promise he nearly lost his mind and stayed to drink too long.

  But Reagan didn’t lose her mind. In fact, she found the power of control at last. That strength of will that he had already visualized while they had been in the darkness of the ancient room.