Murder Game (GhostWalkers #7)(30)
Author: Christine Feehan

Kadan reached out and captured her hand, tugging until she was close to him. A breath away. The heat of her body meeting and amplifying the heat of his. “Tansy, don’t be afraid of me. You have access to my mind . . .”

She shook her head. “I don’t. I have access to what you let me see. You see all of me.”

“You have access to all the places that belong to you. I’m not hiding how I feel about you. I want you, not for one night, but always.”

“Because of Whitney. You think your attraction to me is because of Whitney, and you aren’t happy about it.”

“I did think that,” he admitted without flinching, “and I was angry at the manipulation. But Whitney can only manipulate physical attraction. He has no power over my emotions. And you.” He framed her face with his hands. “Have no doubt that the intensity and depth of emotion I feel for you, Whitney could never have dreamt of, let alone managed to produce in me. I don’t feel emotion as a rule. I didn’t even know I was capable of such depth of feeling. So never worry that my feelings for you are manufactured. I could never harm you, not under any circumstances.”

Her eyes searched his, looking for something, some reassurance that went beyond what he told her, what she saw in his mind. “My parents?” she asked softly, unable to stop worrying. Kadan was ruthless and a man without mercy. She knew he would execute anyone, friend or not, if they were guilty, and he would do it without hesitation.

He shrugged. “I’m not willing to lie to you, Tansy. I hope they aren’t guilty of anything other than stupidity, but if they try to harm you, if their intention is to betray you and turn you over to Whitney, they’ll have to walk through me to do it.”

His thumb smoothed over the contours of her bone structure, tracing her jaw and high cheekbones, dipping down to float over her lips. The pads of his fingers felt hard, yet velvet soft, and she couldn’t stop the shiver of need or the inevitable arousal that leapt from br**sts to thighs. He was mesmerizing, and the lure of another human’s touch was inescapable, but more than all of that was the intense sensuality, the way his gaze went hot and moved over her with such possession, the way one flick of his eyes seemed to remove her clothing.

In his head he touched her, brushing her breast or stroking a caress down her thigh at the most unexpected times. In the helicopter, earlier, when they’d been picked up, she’d huddled, knees drawn up, head down, making herself small. He sat beside her, his large frame protecting her from prying eyes, although he’d seemed to be asleep. Every now and then, she’d found him in her head and he was caressing the inside of her thigh. Stroking fingertips over her breast, leaning in to kiss her throat. He could melt her heart without half trying.

“You’re a very dangerous man, Kadan.”

“But not to you.” He bent his head and kissed her. “Never to you.”

Her eyebrow went up. She didn’t smile. “You’re very wrong about that.” Because he was stealing her will, whether he realized it or not. She sighed. She couldn’t stop her physical reaction to him, but she needed to start thinking with her brain if she was going to help her parents. “How do we know your friends will help us?”

“They’ll help. We don’t have a lot of time. I’ll make the calls. You write down everything you can about the security and floor plans. Ryland and Nico are amazing at infiltrating hostile territory without being seen. This will be a good chance for you to see GhostWalkers in action and see what we’re really up against.”

“I’m taking a shower.” She was still a little achy from her mental battle with the voices, and while the water ran hot and cleansing over her, she hoped to practice the mental exercises he’d given her to strengthen her barriers.

“Take a look around,” he invited as he turned back to the phone.

Tansy did just that. He’d set up a war room. Pictures of murder victims lined all four walls. Each crime was documented carefully with the camera, the body positions, the scene itself, the blood spatter, it was all there. She closed the door, refusing to step inside the nightmare without him to help shield her. As it was, her stomach rebelled, and she hastily backed down the hall to the master bedroom, where Kadan had tossed her backpack onto the bed.

The hot water felt good on her sore body. She took her time shampooing her long hair. It had been months since she’d felt really hot water on her body. Bathing in the natural pool had been a shock to her system until she’d gotten used to it, but she’d forgotten how good hot water felt. It was sheer bliss.

“I tossed your clothes into the washing machine,” Kadan said, holding out a towel. He didn’t avert his eyes, but rather drank in the sight of her body, noting each mark he’d put there the night before. “We’re only going to be here a few hours, so I figured it was best to get it done quickly.”

She wrapped the towel around her. “Thanks, I’ve been washing them in buckets.”

He indicated with his finger for her to turn around. Tansy turned her back to him and he slipped another towel over her head, rubbing at her scalp and the mass of long hair. “Ryland Miller is married to Whitney’s daughter, Lily.” He ignored her stiffening shoulders and kept massaging. “Rye’s got her stashed with other GhostWalkers so she’ll be safe while he comes here to give us a hand. They just had a baby.”

“Are you sure . . . ?”

“I’m sure of him. I’ve known him a long time, and remember, I can read minds. He knows I have telepathy, but not to the extent of penetrating minds. No one but you knows I can do that.”

“Why would you trust me with any of your secrets?” He rested his hands on her bare shoulders and then caressed her vulnerable neck, his fingers strong, stealing along the soft skin. “All I have to give you is the truth of who I am. You have to know what you’re dealing with.”

She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder. There was fear in her eyes. Excitement. Confusion. Need. “Kadan, I came here to help solve these murders, not to give myself to you.”

His hand slid around her neck to her throat, his palm forcing her head back, tipping it against his chest so she was looking into his cool gaze. “Really? Because that’s not what I see in your mind.”

“My mind is confused.” Tansy tried to lift her head, but he countered the movement, stepping back, forcing her weight against him so she was off balance. “Kadan.” She said his name softly. A plea. There was pleading in her eyes. All shimmering violet again.