Part 5 (1/2)
Sprawled across the covers, she wore only thin cotton panties and a camisole-even in the dead of winter. Had she been feeling the heat like he had ever since their encounter? Her skin appeared flushed, and her nipples jutted outward like prize beads beneath that cotton. Studying her fully formed body, he felt his groin tighten in immediate reaction. This isn't natural, this kind of coupling, a political voice warned, but he recognized it as belonging to Scott Dillon, and ignored it altogether.
Tugging off his gloves, he slid them into his jacket pocket and took another careful step toward her bed. Cautiously, he settled onto the edge of it. ”Kelsey,” he whispered, lifting his rough fingers to her cheek. Soft, like a flower petal- the kind that might easily bruise-that was how her skin felt. He blinked in surprise.
”Kelsey Wells, wake,” he urged in a whisper, not wanting to terrify her. He could have done the job without disturbing her-should have done-and yet he couldn't seem to stop himself. Her sleepy eyes fluttered open, then widened, but she didn't move. She lay there in the dark, gazing up at him, unflinching despite his unexpected appearance in her room. A slow, delirious smile spread across her face, and he stroked her cheek again, tracing his fingers down to her lips, amazed. She caught his hand in her own after a moment, their fingers twining in silent unity.
”You came back,” she answered finally, drawing in a breath. He couldn't help but smile in return, his heart hammering a frantic rhythm; his reaction had nothing to do with his reason for being here, and everything to do with his soul's deeper intentions.
”I knew you would come,” she whispered, brus.h.i.+ng a hand through her tousled hair. Only then did he remember that he had not s.h.i.+fted back to the man she would recognize. Yet she still knew him.
”Are you surprised?” He c.o.c.ked his head sideways as he studied her. By All's name, how had she known he would come? He'd not believed it himself until today.
”I thought it would be sooner.” Sitting up in bed, the tumble of wild auburn hair spilled across her pale shoulders.
”Ah,” he breathed, a hushed sound in their darkness, ”you were giving up on me already?”
”Not yet, no,” she said, still smiling.
”Perhaps you would have if I'd taken longer,” he suggested, allowing his doubts about true love to solidify between them. She should know he was no naive prince, nor a young man in search of a f.e.c.kless enchantment. ”Perhaps you would have forgotten.”
”Are you making fun of me?” she asked, the radiant smile forming into a look of frustration. ”I don't understand any of this. I don't even know your name. In fact, I don't even know what it is you've made me feel at all.”
”I wasn't being cavalier.” He stared into her eyes, searching them. He wanted her to trust him-to grasp that, just as she'd understood by the lake, he would never hurt her. At least not intentionally.
”I could have run,” she whispered, and he swore that even in the darkness emotion glinted in her pale eyes. ”I could still run now.”
”You could,” he agreed, brus.h.i.+ng a long, spiraling lock of hair away from her eyes. ”But I would follow.” As if in reply, he felt the bond between them constrict, drawing his chest tighter than a drum. He recognized the sensation as Kelsey's pull on him, magnetic and unshakable.
”I want to know your name.” She sounded almost angry, all the tenderness and joy he'd seen in her moments earlier replaced now by pained frustration.
He nodded, lowering his voice. ”You could not p.r.o.nounce it.” That was the most truthful answer he could
give-rather than the much easier one of his a.s.sumed human name.She tilted her chin upward, eyes flas.h.i.+ng with challenge. ”Try me.”He laughed, then stated his Refarian name as rapidly as he could. Not just his name, but his full family name as well as his formal t.i.tle, all of which together comprised a long sentence.
”Well, that is”-she hesitated, laughing awkwardly- 'mmm, kind of challenging, actually.”
For a moment she attempted to repeat it, stumbling painfully over several of the syllables, and this made
him smile. He had no doubt that Kelsey Wells rarely backed down from a challenge. ”You may call me as all the others here Jo,” he suggested gently. ”Jared Bennett.”
”That sounds a little like it.”
”A bit.”
”Jared.” She tried the name out on her tongue, almost like she wanted to see if it really did fit him. ”Jared Bennett. Jared.” Touching her lips, she hesitated, then lifted her eyes to meet his. ”I like it.”
Strange, but he felt his face flush hot at those words. ”I am glad.” He wanted her to like the name; hewanted her to like everything about him. They fell silent, not out of awkwardness but rather because ofoverpowering emotion. Do your work and be gone, Jared, the warrior demanded. Much is at risk foryour people, the king urged. But then, lastly, the man begged for another course of action entirely. Takeher with you, d.a.m.n it. Take her.
”Kelsey,” he began. ”I'd like to show you something.”
”Your s.h.i.+p?” she asked breathlessly, clear eyes widening. ”I'd love to see it, would love to know more,”
she rushed, squeezing his hand.
”No, not my s.h.i.+p,” he said, suppressing a smile. Kelsey had no idea how very human his life here on
Earth actually tended to be. ”But someplace important to me-and to my people.”
”Who are your people? I know you must be some sort of... alien, a shape-s.h.i.+fter, right?”
”You have many questions,” he observed, tracing his thumb over the back of her pale, freckled hand.
”You are a scientist, I am told.”
”How did you know-”
”I know much about you,” he explained.
Her whole expression changed, her voice growing husky as she said, ”I imagine you do.” She leaned in
close, cupping his face within her hands, drawing his lips toward her own. ”I haven't ever felt anything like I did the other night,” she said. As she brushed her lips over his, he felt his entire body grow taut in reaction. Unfamiliar with the precise sensations, he felt her gain control of him, a fact that perturbed him on every level. Without meaning to, he pushed her slightly away.
”I wish to take you from here,” he said. Frowning at her, he wiped the back of his hand over his lips.
She seemed not to notice-at least, not exactly-saying with a shrug, ”All right.” Releasing his hand, she slipped off the bed, scooping up a discarded pair of blue jeans and a sweater. Standing beneath the slip of moonlight, her figure appeared even more supple and curvaceous than it had there in the bed. s.h.i.+mmying into her jeans, and then her sweater, she seemed oblivious to the painful arousal she'd caused in him. ”Okay,” she said with a warm smile, ”let's go.”
Just like that. No questions, no doubts or interrogation of him. Gaping at her, he wondered why she wouldn't be afraid. He felt the burden of the acts he had committed, the blood shed by his hands. A distant part of his mind ached to warn her against himself. To send her a thousand miles in another direction, away from the warrior and king.
But instead, he whispered the truth. ”I need you,” he said, holding his breath lest she flee right away. She did not, but turned to him, smiling as he rose to his feet. ”So I beg your forgiveness for what I do next,” he said, capturing her hard against his body.
A man could do only so much harm in his quest to find love. That was what Anika had whispered in his ear right before taking flight. Alone in the car with Kelsey now, Jared turned that phrase over in his head, gripping the steering wheel of the Suburban until his knuckles grew white-until the blue veins stood out, stark against the blanched skin. d.a.m.n it, he knew he was lying to his heart, making promises that could never be kept. The bond between Kelsey and him would have to be broken. Tonight. The leader within him would see to that fact, even as the man inside raised bitter fists in objection. It had to be done, for everyone's safety.
Beside him, Kelsey slumped sleepily against the window, his winter scarf still wrapped solidly around her upper face and eyes. Her deep auburn hair spilled over her shoulders, waves of it that caused his fingers to b.u.m. Kelsey stirred in her seat with a quiet little murmur and sat up. She clutched at the blindfold, but Jared caught her wrist, gentle but firm. ”We're still driving,” he informed her coolly. He was determined, if he accomplished nothing else by carting her off to their camp tonight, to master his careening emotions.
She nodded, silent, and he instantly regretted the stern tone he'd taken. Softening his voice, he asked, ”Are you all right?”
”I'm blindfolded and in a car with an alien who might- or might not-want to hurt me,” she growled with a toss of her hair. Well, this human clearly did not like playing captive. Without Anika accompanying them, perhaps her fears were intensified.