Page 52 of Heart of Danger
God, he towered over her, watching her out of narrowed eyes, dark pupils reflecting a pinpoint of light from the bedside lamp.
He let go of her arm, ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, lady. And you’re not leaving here until I understand what the hell is going on.”
“Let’s sit down,” she murmured. Her knees were nearly buckling but she managed to make her way to the table without betraying any physical weakness. She made it just in time before she would have collapsed again.
The weakness was devastating and a whiplash contrast to the powerful strength that coursed through her while touching this man. He infused her with…something. Extraordinary. In all her life, no one had ever givenhersomething via her curse, her gift. It had all been one-way, their emotions crowding into her, swirling inside her, overwhelming her. Never had she received something that could be considered a gift.
It had been incredible, feeling all that steely energy, but now it was gone, just when she needed it.
They sat, facing each other, like adversaries. Which, of course, they were.
Remember that, Catherine. However much she liked him—and she liked him against her will—he wasn’t her friend.
She clasped her hands in front of her, to still them.
He mirrored her gesture, but unlike her, it definitely wasn’t to still them. “Okay,” he growled. “This has gone on long enough. I’m grateful—we’re all grateful—for your help with Bridget and…the baby.” His mouth quirked, unable to say the baby’s name. Mac. “But that doesn’t change anything. The fact is we’ve got some vulnerable people here, people I want to protect. People you might hurt. I have no idea how dangerous you are to us, and that bothers me. No one should be able to find us here, but you did and I want to know exactly how you did that. And if I don’t hear something that convinces me, please believe me when I say I will blast your mind back to last week. After which I will make damn sure you never find your way to us again. I have ways to do that and they are not pleasant.”
“Oh, I believe you,” she said softly. And she did.
He stared at her unblinkingly, then leaned back a little. “I’m listening. And I particularly want to understand how the hell this Patient Nine of yours gave you all that information without being able to communicate.”
Something terrible was happening. Catherine needed all her wits about her. She needed to explain something that was inexplicable, outside the bounds of anyone’s experience. She needed to convince this tough man she wasn’t a threat. She needed to convince him to help Patient Nine.
All of this while she couldn’t think straight.
She thought straight for aliving. Clarity of mind, an ability to focus—that’s what she was about. She was a scientist and her mind was her weapon. Right now, it was misfiring badly.
Just seeing him across the table from her messed with her head. Possibly messed with her neurons.
Was there a scientific explanation for this? She’d gone into neurology with a hope of understanding who and what she was, but so far science hadn’t helped her.
One thing she had known up until now as a bedrock fact was that without touching, her connection didn’t work. The instant she lifted her hand, the person she’d been touching turned back into an enigma and she moved straight back into her own skin, totally unable to read the person who a second before had been open to her.
The connection was lost in an instant.
And yet…She still felt him.
She was still attuned to Mac in some unfathomable way. Oh God, was this permanent?She was still connected!
She looked at him, disconcerted. It was like being in two heads at once, like having double vision, only worse.
She closed her eyes, tried to distance herself. Pictured herself turning her back on him and walking away.
It helped. When she was a tiny dot on the horizon, she opened her eyes and felt whole again. Alone again.
“Okay. I need to backtrack a little. Tell you—tell you a little about myself.”
He didn’t answer, merely bent his head.Go ahead.
“Yes, um.” Catherine licked her lips and he stared at her mouth. She stopped immediately because—God!—a bolt of heat shot through her. Heat and a thick feeling, pooling in her groin.Desire. Hers?His?Her eyes locked with his. “I need to tell this all my own way.”
He dipped his head again, dark eyes never leaving hers.
O-kay. Time to do this. Catherine had never laid it out, for anyone. All there, on the table. Everything she was. The freakishness of it. The weirdness of it. Being completely different from every other person on the planet. Everyone she knew had run shrieking without ever even understanding the whole of it. How could he be an exception?
But—and it always came back to this—this was her mission. A desperate man had pinned all his hopes on her and she had to do this.
Show time.
