"Listen."
She noticed that just about anything he had to say, he said as briefly as possible--with the least amount of words he could use. He spoke English, but then maybe he was unsure of the language, like when he was trying to interpret his own language.
She did as he said. She talked a lot, but meditation and stillness were important to her. She quieted her mind and reached for sound. To her surprise, her hearing was acute enough to pick up the steady beat of his heart when she actually listened for it. Strong and rhythmic, his heart pumped blood through his veins and arteries. She listened just as he instructed, her hand over her heart, and to her surprise, her own heart rate slowed to match the strength and beat of his.
Her body was a tuning fork, so she shouldn't have been so shocked, but still, she usually heard notes to music. Or for a musical instrument. Songs. Gems and crystals tended to be actual songs, where rock was more notes. Each variety, or composition, emitted a different note to her. Now she even heard the steady trickle of water, the splash as it hit the dirt. She heard the scurry of insects through the dry wood stacked against the wall of the cave.
What she found really wonderful and terrifying was the unexpected fact that when she tuned her body to Andre's, she could hear not only his heart beat, the flow of blood through his veins, but also an echo of his thoughts.
She is so beautiful. I must protect her, even from herself. From the men searching the mountain for her.
She nearly scrambled back from the fire, feeling as if she'd invaded his private thoughts. But. Seriously? Beautiful. She was cute in her dresses and boots. In her darling jacket with the bustle of ruffles falling down the back. But beautiful? In her camping clothes and her hair in braids to keep it from going wild?
She examined the tone of his thoughts. They seemed sincere.
"Is something wrong, Teagan?"
He had to quit saying her name. He drawled it out and curled his accent around it until the sound of her name became a caress. Literally, the sound penetrated her skin and sent darts of fire straight to her most feminine channel where a lot of activity began to take place that shouldn't. Not there. Not with him this close to her and the firelight playing on her face so he could read her every expression. She couldn't even play poker, how was she going to hide her attraction to him?
"No. No, I just thought I should be doing something besides sitting here. The authorities need to know about Armend." She blurted the first excuse she could think of.
"You are exhausted."
"I know. I . . . That's true." What an idiot. She was stammering. Her face was growing redder by the moment. She shouldn't be able to blush, with her skin, but she did. She wanted to kick her birth father for that trait.
"Tell me about your family, please. Your life."
She realized she still held her hand over her heart. Her beat matched his exactly. She dared to look into his eyes again. He was watching her with the same focus, his entire being centered on her. The way he looked at her sent tiny electrical currents zinging through her cells to join the darts wreaking havoc in certain places of her anatomy.
"I have a noisy family. Nosy, too. They're great, and we get into each other's business all the time. I have three sisters. I adore them. You'd adore them. Everyone does, but me especially, although Tarita's husband argued with me that wasn't true, but it is. I know he loves her, but Tarita is my sister and very special. I've known her my entire life and he's only known her a few years."
"She must be very special."
"I was so lucky growing up. I had Grandma Trixie, who is really the best of the best. She laughs all the time, and no matter how difficult things got, she would just shrug her shoulders and tell us to make some lemonade. Then she'd laugh. We always had lemonade in the house and that's how we'd solve problems. We'd sit together as a family, all with a glass of lemonade, and talk it through. We'd come up with ideas to raise money if one of us needed it for anything. I loved our family meetings."
"I can hear that you do." Andre stood, reaching out a hand to her. "Come with me. I find your life intriguing and would very much like to hear more, but you need to be comfortable. You are still sore. I know where there is a hot spring."
Teagan blinked at him. That sounded like heaven. She'd even brought a bathing suit. A nice modest one-piece, and she had a wrap to go with it. Maybe she'd actually feel like a human being again.
"Lead the way."
The moment she put her hand in his, her heart turned over. Melted around the edges. Her stomach did a series of backflips and there was a definite spasm, hot and a little out of control. It was the way he watched her. His totally focused stare that made her aware of everything about herself. The way she moved. The way she breathed, as if he was interested in the very breath coming in and out of her lungs. She was even acutely aware of the way her hair swayed and dropped down her back in a fall of braids.
His hand enveloped hers, and yet he was so gentle that when he wrapped his fingers around hers she only felt warmth and a prickle of awareness that always ended up south of where it should be.
He snagged her backpack with one hand, lifting it as if it didn't weigh anything at all. He pulled her close to him, so she was virtually walking beneath the protection of his shoulder. With every step she took, she felt his heat. She could feel the way his muscles rippled and glided so fluidly beneath his skin. And that was through his clothes. She couldn't imagine what he would feel like skin to skin.
She bit hard on her lip to try to steady her mind. "Um. Andre. We can't just leave the fire burning."
"I dealt with it." He kept walking right through to the next chamber.
She glanced behind them, and as she did, the firelight was gone and the chamber went totally dark.
"I don't have my flashlight."
"I do not need one. Your eyes will adjust in a moment."
"How did you . . ." She trailed off. She hadn't seen him pour water on the fire. She had been so absolutely enamored by him she might not have noticed him dumping the water from the kettle on the fire. It hadn't been that big, but even so, could a kettle full of water actually put out the flames?
"Tell me more about your family. Your other sisters," he prompted.
It was strange, she actually could see where they were walking. Her eyes really did adjust to the darkness. More, she liked walking so close to him. She didn't need safe. She didn't want to live her life safe. She wanted adventure.
She had grown up with four strong women. She had never felt strong. She was the smart one. They all said it. Not the beautiful one. Not the one with the confidence to get up and sing in church, although she had the voice to do so. Or the one who could model. Worse, she was totally afraid of everything. It wasn't just a small panic attack, sometimes she was actually paralyzed with fear.
Teagan refused to live her life with fear ruling her. She took martial arts. She worked out. She climbed, facing her greatest fear, of heights. She loved the wilderness and was determined to see as many places as possible, even if she had to go alone, which was often--and that was terrifying. Still. She did it.
Over the last couple of years, she had gained some confidence. No matter how she really felt on the inside, she could project confidence, but walking with Andre so close to her made her safe in a way she'd never felt.
She felt the brush of his gaze like a physical touch. She knew if she looked up, he would be looking down at her. The knowledge sent a little shiver of delight down her spine. She wasn't flirty, but she suddenly wished she were. She wasn't daring, but she thought about putting a hand on his rib cage as if to steady herself. Of course she wasn't going to actually do it, but the fantasy was there. She suspected she wouldn't have the courage to have a vacation fling with him, either, but she'd come away from this with one nightmare and a million fantasies.
She sighed. Instantly, Andre let go of her hand and swept his arm around her. He had a big arm. Lots of muscle. The moment his body was against hers, she considered fainti
ng. It was the only viable option other than sliding her hands under his shirt to run them up his perfect chest. All that muscle and those intriguing scars. Yeah. Perfection.
"This is not an appropriate question I asked you?"
She blinked. What was he talking about? She had no choice but to look up at him. The moment their eyes met, her stomach went on a roller-coaster ride all by itself. Her knees went weak, which was stupid but true. Her toes even thought about curling, but she sent them a fierce command not to react. Still, she couldn't stop the tremor that ran through her body at the impact. Who knew that ice blue could go dark navy?
"What question?"
"About your family. Is that not what strangers do when they try to get to know each another? Ask about family?"
He didn't blink. She knew because she watched and blinked for him. Like a million times. Staring into his eyes was just plain dangerous, but she couldn't look away. Her body was tight against his. In a lover's embrace. Except it wasn't actually a lover's embrace, it was more like a--Teagan was making a fool of herself and was going to fall at his feet and he was keeping her up embrace.
His body was cool at first. His skin cool. It heated quickly in all the places she touched him until he burned right through her clothes. Her dirty clothes. She nearly groaned. Why did these things happen to her? Why couldn't she be totally glamorous and assured like her sisters? By now, there was no doubt about it, her deodorant had failed. He smelled--yummy. He'd been lying in dirt, covered in blood when she found him, but somehow, he looked and smelled like heaven.
"Teagan."
There it was again. Her name. That caressing voice. His accent. Her toes totally ignored her earlier command and had a field day curling right along with her stomach doing flips.
"Um." That was certainly showing him her intelligent nature. Her witty conversation. Her mind was blank. Well. Okay. Not exactly blank--it was filled with all sorts of things that shouldn't be there. Like Andre with his shirt off. It was as far as she dared to imagine. Seriously. Anything else would have made her head explode.
A slow, amused smile lit his eyes for one small moment and faded, but the dark navy receded a little and all that beautiful glacier blue began to return.
She narrowed her eyes. "You'd better not be reading my mind."
"I am doing my best to be courteous."
Color swept her face. She dared to put a hand on his rib cage to push him away from her. His body didn't so much as rock back an inch, and, touching him was a huge mistake. Like huge. Her hand seemed to mold to his body. She was fairly certain it had melted into his skin and there was no way to ever remove it again.
"You're lethal, Andre. Really. I don't even know what to do with you. You'll have to just step back and give me some breathing room so I can act like a normal human being again." She made the confession in a little rush.
"You are not acting normal?"
She gave him her darkest scowl. "Do you think I plaster myself all over every strange man I meet?"
"I am strange?"
There was no trace of amusement on his face. She wanted it back. The steady, focused stare was getting to her. Now she'd insulted him. Damn the language barrier.
"I meant as in stranger. A stranger. I don't plaster myself against men."
"I would hope not."
She didn't see amusement on his face, but she heard a hint of it in his voice and for some reason, her body wanted to melt at his feet right then and there.
"Well, you're just . . . um . . . gorgeous." Confession was supposed to be good for the soul, right? And what else could she do? She'd insulted him by calling him strange. She hadn't meant to, but she'd done it. And anyway, telling the truth seemed the only thing she could do, because she'd blurted it out without thinking. It was already out there, and she couldn't take it back.
"Gorgeous?"
Great. He didn't know what the word meant. She sighed again and wished she could unmelt her hand from his skin. There was a thin piece of material between her palm and his skin, but she was fairly certain she'd melted that away as well. Even if it was still there, she could no longer feel it.
"Hot. Seriously hot."
He blinked. Why had she wanted him to blink? He had long lashes. Black like his hair. Not dark brown. His hair and lashes were the real thing. Black. Glossy black. Beautifully black. She was so perving on him. It was wrong, but impossible to get her mind to work properly enough to stop.
"Good-looking and sweet. That's a lethal combination," she added, her mouth running away from her. The ground needed to open up and swallow her. She needed to add a disclaimer. "But you're safe. Really. I'm just going to stare at you a lot, but I won't be all grabby and touchy. Well. Except for my hand. That's kind of melted into you and there's nothing either of us can do about that."
How was that for recovering? Now she was just plain crazy in his eyes. Like her grandmother. It obviously ran in the family. At least she didn't think he was a vampire; but really, weren't vampires supposed to be sexy? Dracula had been really sexy at times. And he did make her tea. Men didn't do that, did they? She'd never seen one of her brothers-in-law make tea for her sisters. Her sisters always made dinner and put it on the table in front of their already seated husbands. Did vampires make tea?
Andre actually smiled. A flash of white teeth only, but for a moment he'd smiled. Even in the dark she could see his teeth were very white and not sharp and pointy like a vampire's teeth should be. No bloodstains. Her neck was safe. Her pulse gave a disappointed little throb. The idea of him nibbling at her neck was sexy, too.
"You think I am this . . . gorgeous?"
"Um. Yeah. You're drop-dead gorgeous. The kind of gorgeous women like me just view from afar."
His smile was completely gone now. But his eyes had gone soft. Liquid almost. So beautiful she wanted to cry.
"Women like you?" he repeated.
She gave a small shrug, still leaning into his body. Still with weak knees and a stomach doing flips. Worse. Serious, serious chemical reactions, little mini-explosions taking place in secret places she didn't want to think about--not with him so close. She couldn't pull her gaze from his any more than she could unmelt her hand that was now permanently glued to his side.
"Ordinary. Normal. You know. Not goddesslike status. We don't associate with men like you. We just worship from afar." Yeah. She was making a total fool of herself. Now she knew why it was a total blessing she'd never been attracted to a man before. She was an idiot. She had to stop talking. She just couldn't. She was too nervous and when she was nervous, she chattered.
"Teagan."
A million bird wings fluttering in her stomach joined the roller coaster. He could not continue to say her name like that or she was going to have a mini-orgasm just from the sound of his voice. That was gospel. Absolute.
"Um. Andre. You have to stop saying my name."
His face changed. Subtly. All those carved lines, like a sculpture of the god of masculine beauty, softened. More masculine beauty. She blinked and his face was closer. His hand slipped around to the nape of her neck, his thumb sliding along her cheek. Her stomach bottomed out, did a series of flips and began churning. The air actually whooshed from her lungs so that they burned. Her throat closed.
She didn't close her eyes. She couldn't. He didn't close his eyes. He watched her reaction, and she couldn't stop it. The disaster of his mouth finding hers. She didn't know how to kiss. He was gorgeous. He had to have kissed a gazillion times. Still, even now when she was going to make more of a fool of herself than ever, she held very still. Waiting. Holding her breath. Needing. Craving. Her perfect disaster.
His mouth touched hers. Featherlight. An exquisite brush that left behind tingles. The tingles radiated right down her body to her breasts so that she ached more than she'd already been aching. The sensation kept traveling, using her veins as a highway straight to her sex. She felt heat. Fire. A spasm of need.
She blinked. His other arm moved to her back, pull
ing her even tighter to him. The hand at her nape crept into her hair, fingers bunching her tight braids, pulling her head back. His mouth returned and she couldn't stop herself. She closed her eyes and just let him take her over.
She had never kissed a man before. No one actually, other than her grandmother and sisters and that was more an affectionate kiss on the cheek. This was something altogether different. His lips moved over hers, sending little darts of fire shooting in every direction, all over her body. His tongue slid along the seam of her lips and a spear of fire shot to her feminine channel. Burning her there.
She had a mad desire to press herself against his thigh, but she lost even that thought when he deepened the kiss. Gently. Almost tenderly. Still, his mouth was pure fire and she was drowning in him. With him. She hadn't known a woman could feel this way. She just gave herself up to him. Let him take her over, needing his mouth and the taste of him and the burn that just kept threatening to spin out of control.
He lifted his head and stared down into her eyes. She knew she looked dazed and confused because she was dazed and confused. She wasn't even certain she knew her own name. She blinked rapidly to try to bring herself out from under his spell. She shook her head and touched her lips.
"Are you all right?" His voice was gentle. Sweet. Sexy.
No, she wasn't all right. Hell, no, she wasn't all right. Was he crazy? She heaved a sigh. "Clearly I'm not in my right mind. I don't kiss strangers."
"It was a good kiss."
She rolled her eyes at him. "It was more than a good kiss. It's official. You're the best kisser in the world and therefore we can never--and, Andre, I mean never--do that again."
His eyebrow shot up. "If it was a good kiss, why would you not want to repeat the experience?"
"My hand is already melted to your side. Do you want my entire body melted into yours? Because, let me explain this so you understand. It could happen." She stared up into his incredibly blue, so sexy eyes, willing him to comprehend the graveness of the situation. "Seriously. You could walk around to the end of your days with me just stuck to you."