Page 16 of Passion's Wicked Torment

“That’s right,” she said, becoming emotional. “That’s right, you didn’t. And the fact of the matter is . . ." She took a deep breath of cold air and braced herself, then said quickly, “You don’t care about me at all, do you? You went to great lengths to make it clear on the ship that you didn’t come to rescue me out of any . . . feelings for me.”

He didn’t answer. He continued to hold her, though, and Kristin could feel the warmth of his body. She could feel his heartbeat against her breast. And looking at his face now, seeing his undisguised, open expression of love, she realized suddenly that she was wrong.

It stunned her to realize it, but she could see it clearly now that he had let down the mask of toughness hiding his emotions. He did care for her. She could see it in his eyes. She could sense it from the affectionate way his fingers began caressing the nape of her neck. She had to hear him say it though. There were some things a girl just needed to hear.

“Dallas,” she said softly, trying but failing to keep the vulnerability out of her voice. “Do you . . . love me?”

There was a look of tenderness in his eyes, and in answer his face came forward, and he kissed her softly on the lips. When he drew back, she saw that he was weighing in his mind whether to give her a false answer; to not let her know the truth, for whatever strange reasons of his own that were guiding him. But he decided that this was too important to ruin by not being honest. There was too much trust and honesty in Kristin’s expression, and a false answer now would do damage that could never be repaired.

“Kristin,” he said in a low voice, his eyes burning with intensity, “I love you more than I’ve ever loved any woman. Or ever will.” He bent forward and kissed her passionately.

Her arms went around him in answer to his own arms, which were hugging her close. “Oh, Dallas,” she said in a small voice. “I love you too.” She had never said these words to any man before. She had always dreamed of the day she would find the man to say them to. Now they came bubbling up from her heart and soul, filling her with warmth.

They might never get off this island alive, Kristin thought as their limbs intertwined. But at least they would both know the truth; their feelings for each other would no longer be kept hidden. She had reasons for not letting him know her real identity, and evidently he had reasons for not telling her everything there, was to know about himself. But one thing that was no longer buried was their deep feelings for each other. As Hunter held her close, kissing her lovingly on her eyelids and cheeks and chin and throat, she allowed herself the luxury of flowing with his love, relaxing into it, lowering her barriers and soaring aloft with it.

His hand slipped inside her robe and began caressing her breast, gently pinching her excited nipple. Though she wanted nothing in the world more than to just bask in his love, there was a stab of conscience in her mind, making her realize she did not have the right to let herself go completely now. There was something else that had to be done first, an obligation that must be fulfilled. She had to see if Hunter knew anything that might help her save Chad, or even if—contrary to everything she now believed about him—he himself might have taken part in her brother’s abduction.

She had to know. And, considering the danger they were in, this might be her only chance to ever find out. “Dallas,” she said softly, trying to phrase the question so it was not too obvious, so it would not put him on his guard. “I want to know more about your . . . work. Tell me what you do?”

“This is what I do,” he said, his head moving down from her throat to her breast, capturing her nipple in his warm, moist lips. The sensation made her gasp. It was hard to think straight with the deliciously disturbing sensations coming from her body in response to what he was doing to her. But she persevered.

“In your line of work,” she breathed, “you used to smuggle liquor. And now you run the Crimson Club. And do you ever ... do you ever abduct people off the streets if they get in your way?”

It was too clumsy, too jarring. He pulled away from her and stared, his brows knit suspiciously. “What the hell is this all about?”

“I just want to know about your line of work. It excites me! That’s why I wanted to get to know you in And there was no other way, short of asking him out the first place. I like hearing about the things gangsters do.” She continued on trying to soothe the sudden suspiciousness in his eyes. She detested lying to him like this, but she had to find out if he knew about Chad. right.

“I never liked ordinary people,” she continued, “who did ordinary things for a living. Outlaws, they’re who excites me. Renegades. Like you.” To make it seem believable, she let her eyes show fire and excitement as she said this, and then—as if the thought of his being a renegade inflamed her—she moved her head forward quickly and kissed him on the lips, biting him a little.

He let her kiss him like this without resisting. But then he pulled his head back and looked at her again. She could see this had worked to a certain extent. He was less suspicious. A side effect, though, had been that it had worked to excite her. Kissing him so brazenly had thrilled her beyond belief. She was breathing shallowly and rapidly now as she looked at him.

“I don’t like talking about this,” he said. “I do what I do. And I don’t talk about it.” His voice was hard.

“Even if it excites me to hear it? Tell me what you do when you come up against a man who threatens your business, who gets in your way.”

He was silent. He stared at her stonily.

“Do you . . . beat him up?” She lowered her eyelids as if becoming sultry at the thought. “Do you shoot him?” She kissed him on the lips and then all over his face, breathing loudly. She pressed her body against his, letting him feel her full, exicted breasts crushing against his chest.

He was responding to her ardor. He pulled her more tightly against him, and his knee moved in between her thighs, pressing high up. The sensation was electric, shocking her with pleasure. Though she had been pretending to be excited by his gangster activities, there was no pretense involved in the fact that she. was excited—not by his activities, but by the virility radiating from him and the way his muscular body crushed against hers. His hands roamed freely over her breasts and stomach and down her flanks and legs.

“Tell me,” she breathed pleadingly. She had to know! She had to find out about Chad!

“No, damn it. I don’t beat people up unless I have to. I don’t shoot them unless I have to. I do what I have to do.” He continued caressing and stroking her as he spoke. He clearly did not want to speak anymore.

“And when someone stands in your way,” she sighed, letting her hands roam over his shoulders and down his hairy chest, “do you abduct them right off the street?”

“Never. I don’t go in for that kind of thing.”

“Then it wasn’t you who—"

He silenced her with a deep kiss, his lips crushing hard against hers. He had her robe pulled all the way open now, and his hand brushed over her breasts and down between her thighs. When he gently cupped her womanhood, she gasped with pleasure. The answer seemed clear to her now: He had taken no part in Chad’s abduction. She had had an inkling of this when she saw T.J. during the warehouse raid and recognized him as one of the men who had beaten and abducted Chad. T.J. was Ironman’s henchman, not Dallas’s.

Now there was only one last thing she needed to know. “If Ironman had someone abducted, a reporter, say, where—” Before she could ask “where would he be taken,” Hunter had pulled away and was glaring at her, his eyes filled with shock and fury. Oh, no! Kristin thought. Had she gone too far and given herself away?

Hunter glared at her, and he was angrier than she had ever seen him. And, strangely, he also looked hurt. “So that’s what this is all about,” he said hatefully. “What?” she asked desperately.

“Don’t worry. I won’t tell your boss that you failed.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

He quickly stood up. “Come on. We’re going

down. I’ve had it with being stranded on this island with you. We’re getting out of here if I have to kill to do it.”

“I don’t understand!” She was completely disoriented. A moment ago he had been caressing her body lovingly. She had felt warm and protected. She had been immersed in feelings of love for him, which he had returned. And now, suddenly, he was furious with her, and even hateful. It had been that last question she had asked. That was what had caused the change. She was not sure how though. Evidently he did not suspect that she was Chad’s sister. What did he mean when he had said he wouldn’t tell her boss that she had failed?

She could not take time to ask him that now, for he was already moving away from her, starting down the hill in the moonlit darkness. Kristin pulled her robe shut tightly and hurried to follow after him. She called out, “Won’t you please tell me what—”

“Shut up,” he yelled over his shoulder. “You’ve played me for a fool long enough.”

“Dallas!” she said in protest. He did not answer. He continued moving down the hill at a fast pace. She followed after him, stumbling in the dark, falling more than once to her hands and knees. He did not stop to look back to see if she was all right. He maintained his pace, evidently not caring if she was capable of following him or not.

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