by Aimée Thurlo
“I know exactly what it’s like to lose someone and feel responsible, Hannah.” Daniel’s voice was soft, but held the heaviness of someone who’d lived with sorrow for a very long time. “My partner was shot and killed because of me.”
Hannah held on to him even more tightly, empathizing with his pain and trying to soothe the storm raging inside him.
“I’m a martial artist—that’s always been my greatest strength. But that day I went by the book. I trusted that more than my instincts. When my pistol jammed at a critical time, I wasn’t in a position to use my fighting skills. My partner was shot in the back. She died in my arms before help arrived.” His voice shook but he paused for a moment, then continued in a firm voice. “Had I depended more on my skills—on myself—I think she would have been alive today.”
“That’s why you left the force?”
He nodded. “I make my own rules now. No one else will die on my account—not while I’m still alive.” He held her gaze. “As I said, we’re a lot more alike than you realized.”
Hannah nodded and rested securely against his hard chest. The comfort of having found, at long last, another person who understood the darkness in her soul drew her to him more than ever. They’d both known intense pain and had survived in their own fashion. That bond—one forged from an intimate knowledge of hell—brought an unexpected gift—a gentle, healing light that warmed her heart.
With his arms wrapped tightly around her, Hannah felt safe and cherished. “We’ve both lived with pain, the kind that doesn’t go away,” she said softly. “But you’ve helped me see that there’s another side to life, one I didn’t know existed. I now know how tenderness can soothe those scars that never heal.”
He gazed down at her and the need to love her, to bind her broken heart even as he soothed his own, became too great to resist. “We need each other, love,” he murmured, his mouth closing over hers. He tasted her yearnings, and in the sweetness she offered him was a respite from the pain and the emptiness that had haunted him for far too long.
Hannah drew back slightly, catching her breath, then looked up at him. “I know you can feel what’s in my heart when you touch me and when you hold me. But, without trust, we have nothing. I need to know that you believe in me…that you know I’m as sane as you are.”
Daniel saw himself reflected in her gaze. “When I look at you, I see the other half of my broken heart.”
Hannah let her fingers glide down his cheek, then traced the curve of his mouth. He needed tenderness in his life and that was just what her feminine heart longed to give him.
“Show me everything you feel,” she whispered, her breath hot against his mouth.
“If we go on, there won’t be any turning back,” he warned.
“I know,” she said, her lips brushing his.
Her gentleness was his undoing. “We’ve both known death, sweet Hannah, but tonight we’ll share life.” Daniel took her mouth in a kiss that was raw fire and aching needs.
Heat spiraled around her, passion guided her. Hannah followed her heart. Fate had once again stepped into her life, but this time it had come bearing a gift she couldn’t turn away.
Daniel kissed the sensitive skin at her throat. As he moved his hand to her breast, gently caressing it, pleasure made her blood sizzle. “Tonight I’m going to teach you about flames that are never too hot to bear.”
She tugged at the buttons of his shirt, needing to touch him, to feel him, skin to skin, heat to heat. There was something wildly exciting about the hardness of Daniel’s chest. She smoothed her palms over his skin, loving the feel of him and heard the rasp of his breath. Feeling a surety that came from knowing she was giving him pleasure, she rained soft, wet kisses down the center of his chest, then moved lower, drawing a line with the tip of her tongue over the waistband of his jeans.
A groan was ripped from the depths of his being. Bringing her back up toward him, he pulled her into his lap and pushed her blouse away from her shoulders, then her bra.
Her skin was flushed and as he gazed at her, her breasts tightened. He took one into his mouth, suckling gently.
His body was hard and as hot as the noonday sun, but he wouldn’t take her fast. What was happening between them sang with a magic of its own and begged for an eternity of care and prolonged pleasures.
As she shifted, her buttocks pressed against his hardness. Blinding pain and pleasure tore the air from his lungs. He stood and lifted her up, guiding her legs around him. As her feminine center pressed against him, he shuddered. He had to slow down, or everything would end far too soon.
Hannah kissed him then, and for a moment the world ceased to exist. As her tongue darted into his mouth, coaxing and teasing him with its aggressiveness, fires danced in his blood.
He started to carry her to the bed, but suddenly stopped.
“Will you trust me?” he whispered.
“My life is in your hands. What more can I give you?”
Giving Wolf the command to remain on guard, he carried her outside to a clearing inside a circle of pines.
He set her down gently on the soft earth, then lay beside her. “I want you out here where life is primitive and simple. Just a man and his woman,” he breathed.
He kissed her slowly, then rained kisses down her neck and lower. Her cries as he used his tongue to tease her nipples into hardness tore through him. The soft sounds ripped from her soul spoke of needs yet to be discovered, and the promise of nourishment that only two who were meant to be together could give each other.
Moonlight danced on her skin as he finished undressing her. He touched her intimately, invading her softness and feeling her yield to the pleasure he was giving her. Her surrender was sweet and knowing he was the man who had brought her to the edge made him feel more powerfully male than anything he’d ever experienced.
Lost in passion, she pushed his unbuttoned shirt away from his shoulders, but her trembling hands hampered her efforts to loosen his belt. “I want to feel your skin next to mine.”
“You’ll have that—and more,” he said in a raw voice. Taking both her hands in his, he kissed them, then moved back and stripped the clothes from his body, his gaze never leaving hers.
He stood proudly before her, his body fiercely aroused. As he saw her eyes hot with passion, wanting him, he struggled to hold back and his muscles trembled with the effort it was taking.
She took a deep unsteady breath as he lowered himself over her, straddling her but not attempting to join their bodies. His hands played over her hot skin and she writhed in a storm of emotions. Hannah shifted, her hips moving upwards, searching for completion, but he remained out of her reach.
She whimpered, unable to stand the pressure that was building to fever pitch inside her. “Please,” she begged, her voice thick with desire.
“Easy, my love.” He shifted to one side and distracted her with slow, burning kisses as his fingers eased inside her. She was so hot and so tight.
She cried out helplessly as he continued to stroke and penetrate her. Desire, raw and unbridled, made every sensation as mind rending as a wave of pure fire.
She closed her eyes, burning, wanting, unable to think of anything except the world of passion she’d found in his arms. The emptiness in her soul slowly vanished. This was the love she’d waited for, and Daniel was the man who’d claim her heart. Liquid heat flowed from her center as he whispered dark words encouraging her to surrender.
Flames consumed her and formed her anew. Daniel held her, letting her know she was his and safe with him. When the storm that had rocked her began to subside, he slipped gently inside her, renewing the fires.
Her body stretched around him, all fire and velvet. Suddenly he felt a barrier and froze. It took every bit of control he possessed, but he forced himself to remain perfectly still. He should have known by the tightness of her body, but he hadn’t thought—he’d been past the ability to do much except feel.
“This…is your first time.”
Her innocent question filled him with tenderness. “No, but for a moment you may feel pain,” he said, his voice thick with restraint.
“You’ll take it away,” she managed, her body shifting restlessly as hunger filled her.
Determined to be gentle, he moved slowly at first, not thrusting deep, letting her body open wider naturally to fit his.
“More.”
The whispered plea slammed into him with incredible force.
“Please,” she cried, her fingers biting into his back.
He groaned, knowing that any attempt to hold back was beyond him now. Cupping her bottom, he drove into her with enough force to make her arch. Her body melted around him, all heat and wetness and she began to move with him in the rhythm of love. It was the greatest moment of triumph he’d ever known. He guided her hips, and each thrust made her come alive beneath him. The hot, wet heat that gloved him drove him to the edge of sanity. “You’ve opened your body to me, now open your soul.”
She tried to answer, but no words came. Passion rocked her as their bodies moved in perfect counterpoise.
Daniel’s gaze never left her face. He wanted to remember her like this—lost in love, embracing surrender.
At long last he felt her tremors and knew it was time. With a cry that was ripped from the core of his being, he followed her into that dark edge knowing that they’d both find peace and light on the other side.
Their hearts eventually slowed and their breathing evened, but he remained inside her. Then, rolling onto his back, he positioned her on top of him. Refusing to think of anything past that moment, he held her, whispering sweet words of love until she fell asleep in his arms.
AN HOUR LATER, Daniel carried her back inside the house and placed her gently on the bed, covering her with the blankets.
She opened her sleepy eyes and smiled up at him.
“Go back to sleep,” he murmured.
He settled beside her until her breathing evened again then, reluctantly, he moved away, careful not to wake her. As he looked down at her, guilt gnawed at him. Hannah had deserved better from him. He’d compromised his own effectiveness on the case by giving his feelings for her free rein and becoming even more involved with her than he already was.
With a soft groan, he left the room, gesturing for Wolf to guard her. It wouldn’t happen again. He cared deeply for Hannah and he wanted her feelings for him to be more than just a reaction to the danger they faced, or because she’d been searching for healing. And that was precisely why pursuing this was so dangerous. This wasn’t their time. Survival would demand everything from them now and left no room for love.
SUNLIGHT WAS COMING THROUGH the windows when Hannah opened her eyes. She was alone in the bed and the house was quiet. Jackknifing to a sitting position, she looked around, trying to get her bearings. “Daniel?” Fear, sudden and fierce, chilled her blood.
He appeared in less than a second. “I’m here. Are you okay?”
“I didn’t know where you were… I was afraid I’d dreamed everything… I didn’t, did I?”
“It wasn’t a dream,” he said, his voice low.
She’d expected him to come to her, but he held his ground. There was a new barrier between them. She could see it in his eyes. The warmth and love he’d shown her the night before had been replaced by new caution and wariness.
“Get dressed. We have a lot to do today,” he said brusquely.
As he walked out of the room, Hannah felt a piece of her heart break. As it always had been in her life, love was once again being followed by pain and loss. She’d been a fool to think that last night could have meant as much to him as it had to her. He was a man of experience. Though to her it had been a union of souls, to him it had clearly been only a few hours of pleasure.
She stood up, pulled on a sweater and jeans, and wiped away her tears. She wouldn’t mourn for what she’d never had. Feelings of love couldn’t be trusted under the best of circumstances. Life had taught her that. But it was even more so now that she was fighting for her life. She couldn’t afford to give in to a myriad of gentle emotions that would leave her vulnerable at a time when she could least afford it.
Clinging desperately to that sound reasoning, she prepared herself to face him on his own terms.
Chapter Ten
They had a quick breakfast consisting of bread, canned lunch meat and instant coffee, then cleaned up, heating wash water from the big kettle on the stove. Their silence stretched out, heightening the awkwardness between them, but neither was willing to speak of the night before.
As they got ready to leave, Daniel packed up his clothes. “You can leave a few things behind, but for the most part take everything you’ll need with you. The way things are going on this case, nothing is certain. Depending on what happens today, it may not be practical to return here again.”
Hannah placed her clothes into a paper sack and looked around, making sure she hadn’t left anything else behind. “Do you have a plan for today?” she asked, matching his crisp, businesslike tone.
He nodded. “I want you to put on one of the wigs. The redheaded one will do. I’m going to pay Norm Gless a visit. I want a closer look at him and his business.”
“My client? How come?”
“You said he was being audited?” Seeing her nod, Daniel continued. “I want to go in for a closer look. While you were dressing I asked Silentman to give me the address of his copy shop.”
“Norm will probably be there in the back. He has a profitable business, but he puts in long hours. That’s where I reached him the other night.”
“We’ll stop by and get a feel for the place. If we keep our eyes and ears open around the employees, they’ll let us know in their own way if there’s anything irregular going on. What I want to find out is whether the guy appears to be stable, financially and personally. Criminals aren’t always motivated by greed, but it never takes me long to discover if they’re trying to keep a secret.”
“We can’t just stand around his copy shop and take notes, like in a psychology lab. How do you plan to do this?”
“We’re going to take the sketch of the man who kidnapped you and say we want several copies made. We’ll tell the employees that he was a good Samaritan who helped you when you were having car trouble and explain we’re offering a reward to anyone who can tell us who he is so we can thank him properly. If nothing else, that should start the ball rolling. If Norm and he are connected, his staff may have seen them together.”
Daniel picked up a small leather pouch from the table next to the couch, and placed it in his athletic bag.
“What’s that?”
He held it out for her to see. “It’s what my people call a medicine bundle.”
“What’s it used for?”
“It’s to ward off evil and attract good. In it, there’s soil from the four sacred mountains that surround the Navajo Nation, corn pollen, turquoise, white shell and other things.” He looked at it pensively. “I’m not a traditionalist, but my father gave it to me the day I joined the police department. I’ve always kept it with me.”
“Does your dad live on the Reservation?”
Daniel shook his head. “Both my dad and mom died many years ago. They had chronic lung problems, a common ailment on the Rez. They might have done better had they moved to Shiprock, closer to the hospital, but for most of their lives, they chose to live in one of the least populated areas. We burned wood for heating and had no electricity. It was how they were raised, so they felt more comfortable with the old ways. But my dad decided that he wanted me to choose my own future and have more options, so he sent me off to boarding school as soon as I turned thirteen.”
“What about your mother? How did she feel about that?”
“The same. She knew I’d demand more from life than what their lifestyle offered. She was a traditio
nalist who wouldn’t move into Shiprock, even when the Navajo doctors at the hospital told her she needed special medication and therapy. To her, hospitals were a place where people died and, as a Navajo, she wouldn’t go near any place that had been contaminated by death.”
“She was afraid she’d catch something?”
“No, it’s not that simple. You see, my people believe in the chindi, the evil in a man that stays earthbound after death. The chindi is said to be able to cause the living great harm and she would no more have gone near a place where a death had occurred than an Anglo would have stepped inside a lion’s cage at the zoo.”
“I never realized how different your culture is,” Hannah said slowly.
“The old ways are a part of me, but I live my own life. I value our traditions, but I have my own path to follow.” He glanced around the cabin, his mind on business again. “I’ve got to give Wolf a chance to walk around.”
“No problem. I’ll follow you out in a minute.”
As he opened the door and nodded to the dog, Wolf rushed out. Daniel watched him for a moment as he dashed among the trees, scattering birds and barking at a piñon jay who cackled right back at him.
“Are you ready?” Daniel said, turning to look inside minutes later.
Hannah came out of the house wearing the red wig. “Whenever you are,” she answered.
AS THEY DROVE down the highway, Daniel remained thoughtful and quiet. He’d have to keep his guard up. It was too easy to talk to Hannah, to reveal things that drew them closer, and that was the last thing either of them needed. She needed a cold professional to guard her, not a man who was falling in love with her.
He gripped the steering wheel hard enough to make his knuckles turn white. He would stay focused. There was too much at stake for both of them now.
Nearly an hour later, Daniel finally turned onto the street that would lead them to the copy shop. “Remember that this’ll be a fact-finding expedition only. I want you to avoid Norm if possible. If you see him at the front with the employees, go back to the SUV and wait. If you find you can’t avoid him, then make sure you don’t volunteer any information.”
