Far From Heaven

Now that had sounded like a definite come-on. His voice was as extraordinary as the rest of him, deep and rich with an accent she couldn’t trace. She’d never heard that lilt before in her life, but it made her want to ask him to speak. To not stop speaking. And if he could be enticed, to speak into her ear. Preferably while doing unspeakable things to her body.

Whoa, girl. Her previous relationship wasn’t even cold in the grave, and five seconds ago she’d been preparing for fight-or-flight. What was she thinking?

You’re thinking about taking a total stranger home and screwing his brains out. You’re thinking about revenge, about showing David that someone else can want you. Besides, would this guy really have bothered to catch you if he wanted to hurt you?

Well…no. Just no. She wasn’t that girl. She’d never had a one-night stand in her life. Sex had always been within the confines of a meaningful relationship.

Uh-huh. And how’s that working out for you?

Not a damn bit. It was a sad truth. Her relationships, much like her life, had been one disaster after another—so could she say any of them had been meaningful? How would it even be possible to screw up her love life any more than it was already?

But she wasn’t in the headspace to invite a total stranger back to her place, no matter how hot he was. Delia and her other friends could do things like that, but Maddie knew herself. She had a bad habit of falling for the wrong guys, and sex only exacerbated things. It was one more reason David’s dumping her hurt so much—he’d probably been the most stable, dependable boyfriend she’d ever had. She’d forced herself to take things slowly and let their relationship progress with as few games as possible, not wanting to sabotage a good thing. Now he thought she was nuts, and he’d never loved her. So even that hadn’t worked.

Nothing worked.

Frustration burned hot and bright in her chest, and she stared at her rescuer. If nothing she’d ever done worked, then maybe the one thing she hadn’t tried…well, it would at least be a hell of a lot of fun.

“Maddie?”

She cringed at the unwelcome voice. David. Wonderful. Frowning at the intrusion, she straightened the shoulder of her dress and shot a glare at her newest ex. “What?”

His gaze raked her over, taking in her broken shoe, her destroyed makeup and drenched hair. “Are you all right?”

Damn, that was the most often asked question of their relationship, and she hadn’t even realized it until that moment. She’d heard it when she woke up screaming at night. When she saw weird things out of the corner of her eye or in the mirror. When utterly unexplainable crap happened to her, like tonight. A large chunk of their time together had been about him seeing to her well-being—and lecturing her—but now he had seen everything the job entailed and he didn’t want it full time. She couldn’t blame him, but she wanted to. For a moment, she felt a pang of sympathy for him. The pain of her predicament quickly gnawed it away.

“You know what, David? I’m not all right. You’re so big on me not denying my problems, so there you go. I’m really not all right at the moment. Does that make you feel better? Am I making strides?”

“You know what, Madeleine? To hell with you.”

Maybe she deserved that, but the anger in his tone left her stricken nonetheless. And mortified, too, but her new friend didn’t look very interested in the squabble. He only looked interested in her. In her reaction. Or she was completely misreading things and he wanted to bolt. That was always a possibility. But whatever intrigue he’d piqued in her was doused as if by a splash of cold water, replaced with the slow boil of outrage toward David.

“Please leave,” she said quietly.

He didn’t reply, just hitched up his jacket and cast an odd look at the dark man who hadn’t seemed to take his eyes off Maddie since the interruption. For a moment, she thought David was going to say something to him—warn him off the crazy lady, maybe?—but he didn’t. He only walked away.

“Well,” she said after David’s footsteps faded. It had been disconcerting to meet the guy’s gaze before, but now it seemed downright impossible given the embarrassment of the situation. “You just witnessed one of the low points of my existence, and I don’t even know your name.”

“Call me Ash.” The voice was still quiet, controlled. Yet somehow very confident.

Ash. Oh, wow. She liked it. A lot. She imagined saying it in the throes of ecstasy and her heart fluttered like a bird desperate to flee its cage. Could she really do this?

“I’m Madeleine. Maddie. Or I guess you could call me Mad. Damned mad. Whichever you prefer.” She shook her head at the idiocy of the joke, but what could she do? Her brain was misfiring.

He chuckled. “Well, Madeleine. I hope your evening improves.”

It could. You could help. Unfortunately, his words had sounded like the beginning of a farewell. What had she expected? She’d known from the moment the thought first entered her head that it was impossible. There was absolutely no reason for disappointment to crush her.

Night terrors and one-night stands did not mix.

She bit her lip as tears threatened again, but she managed to push them back where they belonged. David was right, and she knew it. This was becoming incapacitating. It was interfering with her life. She needed help. Maybe she needed a padded room after all.

“I’m sure it will,” she said, ignoring the tremor in her words and hoping he would too. “Thanks again for helping me. Good night.”

He gave only a slight nod, and she walked away. Now that he was out of her sight, she could…breathe again. In fact, she hadn’t realized just how weird he’d made her feel until she was away from him. The hairs at her nape settled. Her lungs filled with rush after rush of oxygen, expanding as if they’d been collapsed or in a vise grip for the past few minutes. Finally her mind began to clear somewhat. All that was left in it was despair, a sprawling wasteland of it.

Her yellow Jeep came into view, and she climbed in and sat. Laid her head back, let a few more tears squeeze their way out from between her closed eyelids.

She and David had been together for several months, not long in the grand scheme of things, but for some reason this felt like being back at square one. Which made no sense. She’d been alone far longer than she’d been with him; she was used to being alone. It was what she was good at. Her mom had bounced from one rehab to another, one county jail to another, until an overdose finally did her in when Maddie was ten. Maddie had been shuffled among aunts and uncles and grandparents from the time she was a baby, never really connecting with any of them. Never really wanting to.

It was almost as if she didn’t belong here. She didn’t know where she belonged. Or who she belonged to.

At the last thought, she lifted her head and stared at the blank concrete wall beyond the Jeep’s front end, feeling the prickle at the back of her neck again. It wasn’t the first time she’d felt as if someone, something, had a hold on her. Something had to be responsible for all the weirdness in her life.

Or maybe it was just wishful thinking. Because if something was responsible, there was always the possibility it could be dealt with. Banished. And then everything would be okay.

Maybe she needed a freaking exorcism. David had laughingly said it one night, but now she wondered if he’d been serious. That was probably what they would do to her if this were a horror movie.

Nah, David only believed in what he could see. He saw her slowly losing her mind, that was all.

Sighing, she put her head back again. She didn’t want to go home. She couldn’t face it. Maybe Delia was home from work by now, if she hadn’t hit a bar or club on the way. But she didn’t want to burden her best friend with her screaming night terrors, either.

The stranger she’d just met…his face floated through her mind. Maybe being alone tonight would be far worse than any embarrassment she might feel if she freaked out in front of someone. A little panicked by the realization, she snatched her cell phone from her purse and dialed Delia, only to get her voicemail. So much for that. Delia was cute and single and enjoyed an impressive sex life that left Maddie amazed and not a little envious. If Delia were here now, she would tell her to run back out there, tackle Mystery Man, and take him home for a therapeutic sex marathon. She probably would have suggested doing this in front of David, if at all possible. But then, her friend didn’t take anything seriously. Maddie didn’t talk to her very often about her real issues.

Damn. That was it, then. Delia was probably shaking her ass on the dance floor and the mystery man was most likely long gone by now—as if she’d ever have the courage to go look for him to proposition him. Especially since she’d begun second-guessing the signals she’d been reading from him. Sighing, she put the key in the ignition, turned it, and…nothing. The silence of the engine almost seemed to mock her.

“You have got to be f**king kidding me.”

Chapter Four

He was out of his damned mind. It was the only explanation for why she still drew breath. At any moment, he could have reaped what was his, and yet something in her pleading blue eyes had stopped him cold in his tracks.

She was miserable…well, yes, that was mostly his own doing, and no doubt simply side effects of his claim on her soul. He’d sensed it the moment he touched her, felt every iota of her torment swirl right through him. Glimpsed the pain her former lover had just caused. For that alone, he’d wanted to rip that one’s soul out. Unfortunately, the man wasn’t tainted enough, or the temptation might have been too much to bear.

He’d remained homed in on her, fascinated with the play of emotions across her face, across her thoughts. They were clearer with physical contact, but even from a distance, he’d been able to catch traces of her anger and frustration.

Well, he’d done his job, hadn’t he? She’d been sent back to earth time and again for her strength, her goodness and her compassion. He’d broken her down, taken all of that away from her from the time she was an infant. Now she was desperate. She was weak and afraid. He should have been rejoicing over his success, laughing about stealing away and corrupting one of Heaven’s favorites. He might even climb the ranks over this one.

If he’d get off his ass and take her, already.

Funny how he was contemplating greatness while he felt like some randy incubus whenever she looked at him with those eyes that were seeking answers for her predicament from somewhere, anywhere. Little did she know she’d found the only being who could give them to her.

He watched from the shadows of the cavernous structure where her vehicle was parked. As she’d slid inside the car, her dress had slithered up one pale thigh, leaving almost her entire leg bared down to the dainty unshod foot. His mouth had watered. His c*ck had pulsed. It was doing so now, a pleasurable ache that was directly responsible for the idiotic decision to disable her car’s engine with a quick blast of his dark magic. To keep her here, to probe her mind and heart some more. To test the silvery threads of desire he’d felt within her roiling emotions, to touch her again.