“Easy, Kathryn,” Aerlyn soothed, coming to her and giving her a hug.
“Why is she disturbed?”
The booming sternness of the male voice startled Kathryn. She looked past Aerlyn to see Adrian standing there, drawing hard for breath and looking like he’d rolled in a dustbin.
“She wants to know about her family. That’s all, Adrian,” Aerlyn said with a careful sort of firmness, almost as if she were scolding him. “I was about to tell her that they were both taken to the hospital, but beyond that we don’t know.”
“But help came for them,” Kathryn said with relief. “They weren’t left alone to die.”
Adrian shifted, as if in discomfort, and he frowned. Up close he was like a wild storm, Kathryn thought. Cranky and thunderous, as if something inside him was driving him to belch lightning down on the earth.
“They would have lived or died whether you were there or not,” he said gruffly.
“I could have helped them,” she bit back at him suddenly. “If they had died, imagine how I would have felt for abandoning them. As sick as they were, they couldn’t even lift a glass of water!”
Her flare of temper was met with soothing pats from Aerlyn to calm her, but Adrian took a deep, satisfied breath and for a moment she thought he might smile.
“You are right, of course,” he said, carefully choosing his words when Aerlyn shot him a warning look. “I only meant to say you had become too ill to care for them yourself. That you could not lift a glass of water to save yourself, never mind for them. I only wished you were not so hard on yourself for things you couldn’t control. Now, excuse me.”
Adrian backed out of the room and with heavy strides he walked down the hall to the stairs. The wood creaked loudly beneath his every step and Kathryn wondered why she hadn’t heard him approach before. Now she felt bad for her reprimanding tone. He and his sister had done nothing but help her. She shouldn’t be so quick to judge his meaning.
“I think I’ll get dressed,” she told Aerlyn, pushing away from her to seek what was in the closet.
“Very well. I’ll see you downstairs.”
Aerlyn left the room and headed quickly into Adrian’s wake. She caught up with him at the stairwell.
“Adrian,” she scolded, “you must be careful.”
“I am not a careful man,” he snapped at her, his ferocity making her pull back in surprise. The moment he saw the reaction, though, he took off his hat and ran an agitated hand through his hair. It was so strange to him, to feel himself in his former face and body. It had been gone from him for so long; it was like putting on a lightweight mask. It was still the same man beneath it, but the mask made all the difference in fooling the eyes of others. Did he miss this shape and form, he wondered. Did he wish for what was now gone from him?
Unwilling to examine himself to find the answers to those fruitless questions, he turned his attention back to his sister. “I will try. But I cannot bear to feel her troubled emotions. I wish to take the feelings away and make her feel some kind of joy instead.” He fidgeted with his hat. “So strange for me to want that, but it is the compulsion inside me and it is hard to deny.”
Aerlyn couldn’t help but be pleased to hear his confession. It was a positive thing. It was a good desire. Something so rarely seen in him any longer. For a moment she found herself wishing the other woman could stay with them a little while longer, especially if this was the influence she had on Adrian. But it was almost certainly a fluke, and it would be madness to delay her return to her normal world. The longer she stayed, the more chance the Ampliphi would find out.
“You must control yourself,” she scolded Adrian. “For just a little while longer.”
He nodded, and then went down the stairs in hard, heavy footfalls. He had just made it to the bottom when Kathryn appeared at the top. She caught his eye because she was wearing a brilliant robin’s-egg blue, and he came to a halt so he could look at her. She was self-conscious in the pretty dress, as if she weren’t used to wearing one. She picked up her skirt in both hands, nervously tugging the fabric taut as if she were going to give a curtsy. The soft fabric clung cleanly to her every last curve, especially the generousness of her breasts. Adrian’s immediate impulse was to turn around and launch himself back up the stairs, where he could touch her and play with his beautiful toy, but he knew that was not the right thing to do. He wanted very badly to do the right things for a change. Besides, Aerlyn was standing between them, well in the way of his wishes.
But perhaps later, he thought, a wicked smile creasing his handsome face. Maybe later he would find her alone.
Kathryn was so preoccupied by the fact that she was wearing a dress for just about the first time she could remember that she almost missed seeing that devilish grin that suddenly came over Aerlyn’s brother. When she did see it, she felt her entire body flush hot with unexpected feeling. At first she thought it was embarrassment, but quickly realized it was something very different. It was the first time she’d seen him smile, and to say it changed his whole face was truly understating things. There was mischief of some kind in that grin; you could see it in his sparkling dark green eyes.
She immediately decided to take it as a compliment.
It certainly felt like one.
He turned back to the stairs and quickly slung an arm around the banister, looking as though he were waiting for something special to happen. That smile stayed hooked into the corner of his lips all the while, his eyes watching her carefully as she started to come down the stairs one slow step at a time. The closer she got to the bottom, the harder her heart was racing. As soon as she was within reach, he put out a hand and cupped her elbow, helping her down the rest of the way.
Lord, he was a big man, she found herself thinking as he towered over her in height and bulk. It was enough to catch a little fear in a girl’s heart. She found herself wondering what kind of temperament he must have. He seemed to be obliging enough just then, but she couldn’t forget the volatile way he rode his horse.
But what is he really like? she wondered.
“I was wondering if you’d mind taking me for a short walk,” she asked him, hoping her ploy for an opportunity to sketch his character wasn’t too obvious.
He looked at her, seeming very skeptical. He glanced back at his sister, as if wondering if she would give him her permission. Then he gave her a short nod.
“But not too far,” he said sternly. “You are still ill.”
“I’ll let you know the moment I grow tired,” she assured him.
He led her to the back entrance to the house, showing her the expansive brick patio that led out onto acres of land. His boots were loud on the bricking, his stride heavy and powerful. He took her elbow in hand very gently when they took a few short steps down, as if he were afraid to break her by accident.
Or perhaps even afraid to touch her, she thought as he quickly let go of her. That struck her as odd because he didn’t seem like the kind of man who would be afraid of much of anything. It was a hard life out where they lived, ranching being a tough way to earn a living. Especially during the wet season. There were any number of dangers at any given time, although growing up with them didn’t seem to make them any more special than others. But with all of that to face, why would a man be afraid of one simple girl?
Kathryn laughed at herself for making mountains out of a simple withdrawal. She was being fanciful, she told herself. And was it any wonder? With the dreams she’d been having lately?
Silence grew heavy between her and her escort and she wondered what he was thinking as he absently toyed with his hat between his hands.
“I’ve seen you riding,” she offered up awkwardly. When he narrowed his dark eyes on her she began to stutter. “I-I mean, you like horses.”
Oh, what a dumb-ass thing to say, she thought with an inward groan.
“I do like them,” he said to her carefully. “They are fast and violent animals, with the potential to do great harm if they wan
ted to. And yet, humans are able to make them tame.” He shook his head as if the idea baffled him. “Yet, once tamed, there is something lost. They are no longer so wildly beautiful. No longer relentlessly powerful.”
Kathryn gaped at him for a long moment, and then she smiled, bright and wide. Aerlyn’s brother, she realized, was a poet at heart.
“But isn’t it a trade-off?” she asked him. “You trade away the violence and earn the ability to be on the horse’s back, where you can ride him as wildly as you dare.”
The look he shot her was dark and full of intimacy as he let his gaze roam down over her body. “And how wildly would you dare?” he asked her.
“Me?” She flushed, laughing uneasily in a poor attempt to lighten the innuendo. “I just ride for work. I’m not much of a pleasure rider.” It came out more like a confession than the off-putting remark she had intended.
“I don’t believe that,” Adrian said, his look all the more intense now. “I think you just need the right beast to ride and it will bring out the best in you.” He turned, moving into her personal space, and just about came up against her. She held up her arms against her chest in automatic defense, and he looked on the gesture with disdain. “Of course, you must be brave enough to want to try. No coward will ever succeed at such a task.”
“I’m no coward!” she burst out, her hands fisting and arms dropping down by her sides. “Bring me the wildest beast you have and I’ll gladly ride him to exhaustion!”
“Oh, now there’s a tempting thought,” he growled low and hungry in her ear as he reached out for her. His fear of coming into contact with her seemed to evaporate as he caught her around the waist with both of his enormous hands and bluntly hauled her up into the bend of his body. For the first time in her life she felt small and fragile, as if he might be able to break her into bits if he wasn’t careful. But he was careful, after a fashion. Rough at first, but then more gentle as he pressed her to his huge and hard-muscled body. He radiated an incredible heat, making her feel as if he might ignite at any moment. She reached to grip his shoulders, her hands so tiny and insignificant. The fear of knowing there was nothing she could do to stop him flushed through her, and it made her heart race with excitement.
“Oh, sweet agony,” he said suddenly through his teeth. “Such a painful pleasure.”
“W-what?” she stammered, trying to take in so much all at once. Like the way he smelled, of the stark outdoors and the aroma of a hardworking man. There was also a smoky underlay to it all, as though he’d stood too close to a burning fire.
“I mean you,” he breathed against her neck. “So sweet and fresh. So infinitely innocent. And yet here”—he reached between their bodies to run a hand down her breastbone and on to her belly—“deep inside your soul, you crave the darkest of passions.” Adrian slid a hand down her backside and drew her pelvis tightly to his with a confident yank. He ignored her squeak of protest and covered her mouth with his.
Adrian never knew what was driving him from one moment to the next, all of his thoughts and urges like a cloud of chaos in his mind. But the moment he pulled Kathryn close, he knew exactly what he was thinking and exactly what he was feeling. She burned him with the incredible heat of her human body, so ready to be devoured. He had no choice but to take a long, deep taste of her. It didn’t matter that this was all a dream that he and Aerlyn were in control of. He didn’t care that his sister was no doubt keeping a seriously watchful eye on them at that very moment. Kathryn was projecting herself as real as she thought she was, and with his own memories of the reality of her to sustain him, he might as well have his hands on the actual body of this bewitching creature.
Oh, she frightened him, he would admit that. When she touched him sometimes he could feel bright shadows of the pain she had caused him before. But that didn’t matter to him. He knew that had they been in the real world, he would have disgusted her and terrified her with his beastly appearance. But now he looked like what he once had been and he knew she found him attractive as such. What he couldn’t change was the darkness writhing around inside his soul. He was greedy as he kissed her, thrusting his tongue deep for the elusive taste of her. At first she was too stunned to react, so numb that she responded automatically, like a doll designed to do something on command. But this was only a frustration for Adrian. He wanted more from her. He would make her give him more. To that end he bit her lip, making her gasp, but not so hard as to make her bleed. He gnawed for a long, erotic second, until she was panting with surprise and her dove gray eyes were darkened with arousal. His hand had come up to cradle the back of her head, holding her very still as he licked the slightly abused lip and then went back for another kiss.
This time she was all there. He could tell because there was passion and awkwardness in her kisses, as if she were trying too hard to do the right things. As if she were afraid of disappointing him. But disappointment was impossible. She could do no wrong. Not as long as her body continued to lean eagerly into his and she continued to try to draw his taste onto her own tongue with enthusiastic desire.
But Adrian wasn’t about necking in the fields with his sweetheart. That sunshine-and-roses image had nothing to do with who and what he was. So he ran his free hand up to her breast, embracing the lush weight of it and taking the nipple that tipped it tightly between his fingers. Kathryn reacted with a gasp of surprise and a reactive jolt of her entire body. She broke from his mouth and the hands at his shoulders gripped him all the harder.
“Wait!” she cried out.
He laughed at her. She didn’t want him to wait. Not really. Not her honest, passionate self, anyway. He could feel the energy of her arousal ebbing into him. He’d felt how it had spiked the instant he’d tugged on her nipple. She very much did not want to wait. And neither did he.
“Don’t you tell me to wait,” he said tightly as he massaged her, the hard nipple rolling between his knuckles. “Not unless it’s what you really want.”
Kathryn was gasping for breath, and every time he manipulated her breast, liquid heat oozed down through the center of her body, wetting her between her legs. Embarrassed and overwhelmed, she tried to pull away from the man who was the cause of it all, but he wasn’t budging. Her heart began to race madly as she struggled against him.
“I do mean it!” she insisted, trying to fight the impossible.
He laughed in her face. It was a rich, merry sound, something she might have enjoyed under other circumstances.
“What you mean is my touch arouses you, and your stunted perception of morality is telling you that you can’t cope with it. But I think you can. I think you really could ride the wildest beast in the barn if you’d just let go of your fear.”
He let go of her suddenly, but only long enough for her to suck in a sharp breath. Then he was spinning her around and yanking her back into his hold, her back to his chest, his hand now running up her leg as the opposite one reacquired her breast, only this time he dove beneath her clothing to find it. She wasn’t wearing panties, not having found any amongst the clothes given to her, so it was easy for him to cup her sex, thrusting his fingers into a nest of wet warmth and intimacy. She should have been horrified as he held her like that, trapped against him, a prisoner between his deftly working hands, but all she was was stunned and aroused. One hand was molding her breast, tickling and tugging her nipple, while the other found her clitoris and toyed with it in bold, blatant circles. Together they formed a perfect line of heat, stimulating her vulnerable body until it was practically split down the middle with unexpected pleasure. All the while she could hear him breathing hotly against her ear, feel his incredible arousal against her backside as he pulled her tightly close to himself.
“Oh, so passionate,” he whispered against her ear, almost in time with every purposeful swirl of his fingers. He burrowed his face against her hair even as his fingers burrowed into her warm, vulnerable folds. Kathryn was speechless, overwhelmed and paralyzed by his hold on her. She thought that she sh
ould be screaming, that she should be beating the hell out of him or something very much like that, but all she could do was gasp as warm slivers of excitement peppered her body from every point of contact he had achieved. “I bet you’d taste of a most exquisite arousal, Kat,” he murmured. “Shall I see?”
Before she could answer one way or another, he pulled his hand free of her and she watched with fascination as he slowly drew his wet fingertips across his bottom lip. Then he licked it leisurely, obviously savoring the taste, his forest green eyes dark and hooded with pleasure. As Kathryn watched, he released a low, predatory growl, making her heartbeat quicken, as any creature’s might when faced with an unpredictable and savage animal bigger and most certainly badder than itself. Who could have known that under all that brooding silence there was something so dangerously sexual?
It was enough to make a girl go very weak in the knees.
For that matter, so was the wall of muscle she was being held against. Frustratingly, she felt like she was facing in the wrong direction. She couldn’t touch him in return while facing this way. Though she could never be as bold as he had been with her, she might at least like to run her hands over some of those tightly sculpted muscles across his huge chest or perhaps even his shoulders and arms. Maybe even get a handful of one of those rock-hard ass cheeks on his superior butt.
Kathryn scandalized herself with the sheer wantonness of her thoughts and her erotic permissiveness to his bold intrusion of her body. She had never allowed anyone to touch her so intimately. Not that there’d been a whole hell of a lot of choices for her living out in the back of beyond on the family ranch, but still…
She should be kicking up a storm, fighting his hold and protesting at the top of her lungs. Instead her insides were writhing with heated longing, wishing he’d touch her some more, craving it so badly she thought she might scream if he didn’t.
As if he’d heard the desperation in her thoughts, Adrian burrowed his face against her ear and growled low in his throat. “Yes,” he breathed against her, sending chills scooting down her skin, “you want more. I can feel it.”
Stealing Kathryn Page 7
