Predatory Game (GhostWalkers, #6)(17)

“Good idea, great idea, in fact,” Saber snapped, but she didn’t pull away from his ministrations.

“Shall I call Eric?” He pushed back her hair.

Eric Lambert was the surgeon who had saved Jesse’s life, Saber knew, a really big deal, apparently famous among doctors, and he still made house calls—at least to Jess. Sometimes he came with another doctor, a woman, although Saber had never met her. But she knew Jess had been violently ill after the last time they’d both come; she didn’t want any part of that.

“I’ve got the flu, Jesse,” she reassured him in spite of the fact that he deserved the death penalty. “No big deal, I don’t need a doctor.”

“You need to get out of these clothes.” His voice dropped a husky octave.

“Don’t hold your breath.” Having an affair without saying a single word when he wanted to know every detail of her dates? How dare he?

“Who did you think I was?” He slipped the question in with all the precision of a skilled surgeon wielding a knife.

Beneath his hands she went still, blue eyes skittering away from his. One finger nervously twisted a lock of hair around it. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Jess lifted the washcloth, caught her chin in a firm grip, and forced her to meet his steady, probing gaze. “You’re getting to be a terrible liar.”

Saber jerked her chin free. “I thought you were safe in bed, caveman. Why do you think I was stumbling around in the dark? I was being considerate. How was I supposed to know you were carrying on a clandestine meeting with the local harlot?” Furious, Saber sat up and switched on the dim lamp on her nightstand. “I can’t believe you actually tripped me and held a gun on me.”

“I can’t believe you behaved so stupidly. If I had been an intruder, you’d be dead right now,” he bit back, dark eyes glittering.

“Well, maybe I knew it was you all along. Did that ever occur to you?” Saber jumped up, putting distance between them.

“Like hell you did.”

“Don’t you dare get mad at me. I wasn’t the one pointing a gun at your head. I didn’t even know you had a gun in the house. I hate guns,” she declared. But she knew how to use them. She could break one down and put it back together in seconds, less than that when needed. She was fast, efficient, deadly.

“So I noticed.” He smiled in spite of himself.

She paced the length of the room with the familiar flowing grace of a ballet dancer. “Well, just who did you think I was, some private investigator hired by that woman’s husband?”

Jess didn’t even blink. “I don’t know what you imagined you saw,” he began.

“I saw a woman. She ducked into the shadows,” Saber was adamant.

“It happened so fast, honey, and you were frightened.”

“Hit the big slide, Jesse,” Saber said rudely.

“I’m not exactly certain what that means.”

“Don’t you laugh. Don’t you dare laugh. It means go to hell, and for your information, I wasn’t that scared. I know I saw a woman.” She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head to scowl at him. “Not that I blame you for wanting to deny her existence. Her dog probably wants to deny her existence. But I know what I saw.”

“Okay, okay,” he said soothingly. “You saw a woman hiding in our living room, I believe you. Now get out of those clothes and into your night things.”

Saber glared at him. “You’re patronizing me, pretending to pretend to believe me.”

His eyebrow shot up. “This is far too complicated to sort out with you so ill. I can’t even follow the logic of that. If it makes you feel better I’ll close my eyes.”

She considered throwing things at him, but her head was pounding and she was unbearably hot. “So keep them closed,” she ordered and stalked into the bathroom.

Saber was observant; he had to hand it to her, although it shouldn’t surprise him. She was running a high fever, was terrified of the dark, and must have been even more so by his unexpected assault. Yet she had noticed that whisper of movement in the darkest corner of the room. And her movements had been calm enough, calculated, and might have worked on someone with less training.

She emerged, clad in a long T-shirt reaching halfway to her knees, looking more beautiful than ever. “Are you still here?” she demanded as she flounced across the floor to fling herself on the bed.

“Did you take aspirin?”

“Yes.” She made a face at him to show him he wasn’t forgiven. “Are you happy?”

Jess sighed softly. “You’re still angry with me.”

Saber curled up in a little ball, facing away from him, actually hunching a shoulder. “You think?”

It took one powerful motion of his incredibly strong arms and Jess had shifted himself from his chair to her bed. Saber’s slender body stiffened as he stretched out beside her, but she didn’t protest.

He pulled her close, fitting her into his shoulder, amazed at how soft her skin was, how fragile and small she appeared next to him. He reached out a lazy hand to snap off the lamp.

“Don’t.”

“It’s time for you to sleep, baby,” he prompted, plunging the room into darkness with a quick flick of his fingers.