Edge of Danger (19 page)

 
His strong jaw was stubbled. Unfortunately he was one of those men who looked even sexier and more appealing when they were…rumpled.

 
He looked disreputable. Dangerous. Sexy.

 
He looked, Eden thought, like the kind of man mothers warned their daughters about. Except for her mother. Her mother would probably like him. She preferred them big, dumb, and interested. “Are you being particularly obtuse,” she asked him coolly, “or are you playing with me?”

 
“Are those my only two options?” He still wore jeans, but he’d changed his T-shirt since dinner. This one was a dark purple.

 
He had about as much fashion sense as she did, Eden thought, leaning against the desk behind her and trying to appear unaffected by his close proximity.

 
She saw the sensuality darken his eyes as he watched her. The temptation to walk across the room and press her mouth to his was overwhelming.
I’ll die if you don’t kiss me.
She was stunned by how strongly she yearned for this man’s touch.

 
She’d never craved a man’s body as she craved Gabriel’s. Curiosity and passion rose in a dizzying cloud of desire. What if she gave in to the clawing hunger? What if she said to hell with her principles, morals, and intentions? She’d never wanted to know a man as intimately as she wanted to know him.

 
He looked so hard. Both physically and emotionally. Would he allow her to touch him gently? Would he have the patience to allow her to learn? Would he give her the time so that she could explore his body with her hands, and her mouth, her fingertips? Would his neck be as sensitive as hers?

 
Would she be able to bring him to the peak, and then have the power to hold him there while she climbed to the same level of need?

 
Anger and sexual hunger warred inside her. She’d known more conventionally handsome men, men with charm. Like Jason Verdine. But no man, not even Jason, had ever called to her mind and body the way Gabriel did.

 
Trying to talk herself out of even going down this slippery slope
mentally,
she straightened and gave him a hard look. “You know this is absolutely ridiculous, don’t you? You can’t
force
me to stay here.”

 
“Of course I can.”

 
“Why? I can’t give you what you want.”

 
“You can give me one of the things I want.”

 
“Don’t
do
that,” Eden said crossly, irritated at his innuendo. “Why are you playing this game? Shooting me looks that melt my insides, yet you stay as far out of reach as you can. What do you really want?”

 
She was taken by surprise when he answered, almost angrily, “You. Bad. Every time you speak I have to force myself to concentrate on what you’re saying and not focus on the way your mouth moves. I’ve been walking around with a woody for days.”

 
“Charming,” Eden said dryly, her heart racing. Did she dare answer her body’s need for this one man? She took a deep, fortifying breath, aware of the rise and fall of her breasts and the fact that Gabriel couldn’t look away. “Nothing’s stopping you, least of all me.”
Which probably makes me certifiable,
she thought, as the color of his eyes changed from deep blue to hot black and a flush rode his cheekbones. He was watching her with an intensity that should have made her back off, but instead made her yearn to get as close as she could.

 
“Believe me,” he said in a low voice, “I have the deterrent of all deterrents.”

 
Eden felt the sting of rejection all the way down to her bare toes. She was immediately thrust back into the time when her brain was the only thing a man would lust after. She wasn’t the type of woman to make a man forget about “deterrents.”

 
She’d imagined she’d read desire in his eyes, but if she had, it was his desire for what she knew, not who she was. Been there, done that. Cheeks scorched with humiliation, she pushed thoughts of hot, steamy sex out of her head.
Thank God
he hadn’t taken her up on her offer. Hadn’t she already learned this lesson? She lifted her chin and gave him a cool, hopefully sophisticated look. He was still talking duty, while
she’d
let thoughts of
him
push duty to the side. She felt a grudging respect. “So you’re refusing me, even though you want me? Not that I care, one way or the other. But I like to understand my rejections.”

 
“Once I have what I want you’ll be gone, and we’ll never see each other again.”

 
“And you have a moral, general, or specific objection to one-night stands?”

 
“Specific.”

 
“And that is?” She hated herself for insisting. But, damn it, she wanted to know—hated
not
knowing—what was going on between them. Illogically, his rejection was as sharp as a knife in her chest.

 
“Doesn’t matter,” he said dismissively. “I’m not taking you up on your offer.”

 
Eden exhaled, glancing away; she reached deep for the control she needed to stay where she was and not run. She’d made a fool of herself. It was no wonder he wasn’t leaping the furniture to take her up on her bold offer. Well, she was a brilliant scientist, and if he wanted her mind, he’d have to work hard to get it.

 
She glanced back at him. “You’re right. The reason isn’t important. It’s no wonder I’m off kilter. You’ve kidnapped me and you’re holding me hostage in a medieval castle.”

 
“That can be resolved—”

 
“By me bending to your will. No.”

 
“The lab upstairs is crying your name.”

 
She’d rather
he
were crying her name. “The answer’s still N.O.” She cocked her head. “Has anyone ever told you no and you’ve listened?”

 
“Rarely.” He leaned back, relaxed—almost. No, he wasn’t relaxed at all, she realized, watching his eyes. He was alert, like a big, sleek cat, ready to pounce at any second. Tension stretched between them, heavy and dark. “Let me be the first of many, then.” She felt a tickle up her nape, and twitched her shoulders. The sensation didn’t go away and she rubbed a hand across the back of her neck as she tried to figure out what he was up to. Pulses throbbing, she felt as though her entire body were expanding from the inside.

 
He was…
doing
something to her, she realized. Something that made her body react as though he were touching her, playing with her hair, stroking a gentle finger up and down her nape. Her dazed eyes met his.

 
Fierce, blatant lust burned and glittered in his eyes.

 
Her nipples tingled and hardened, and she couldn’t look away. “Whatever the hell you’re doing,” she told him hoarsely. “Stop it! Right now.”

 
They faced each other like gunfighters across the library carpet. He was watching her with barely any expression on his face, but the heat of his gaze was as strong as if he’d reached out and touched her.
Just breathe normally,
she coached herself.
Don’t let him make a fool of you twice.

 
Her breathing evened out. A little.
Good for me. Knew I could do it.
She tunneled the fingers of both hands through her hair and rubbed her scalp where a headache brewed.

 
“Jesus,” Gabriel snarled. “Stop doing that.”

 
She gave him a blank look. “Doing what?”

 
“Running your fingers through your hair, all sleepy-eyed, like you’ve just gotten out of bed. And you weren’t alone.”

 
She dropped her hands. What was she missing here? He sounded turned on, yet he’d refused her offer.

 
“Look,” he sounded beleaguered. “There’s a way for you to get out of here in a matter of minutes.”

 
“Good.” The tickle on the back of her neck stopped. She felt disturbed, shaken. “I’ll take that option. I don’t even need to go up and get my things. Let’s go.”

 
“If you’d just let down your mental defenses for a few seconds, I could extract the data from your subconscious.”

 
Eden waited for him to qualify the bizarre statement. He didn’t. She mulled over what he’d just said. “Are you saying you’re
telepathic
? You can read my mind? Because, buddy, if you’re stomping all over my mind looking in corners you’ve got no business looking in, you’d better get the hell out!”

 
“I can’t read
your
mind.”

 
He sounded pissed and that was an enormous relief. There were things in there even Eden didn’t want to scrutinize too closely. “Are you implying that you
can
read other people’s minds?” she asked with some skepticism. “What is this? A party trick?”

 
“I could read your mind if you weren’t throwing up a block. Let me in, and I’ll…download, if you will, the data we need to build another bot.”

 
“How about if I
won’t
? If a door is closed to you it’s for a reason. And it can stay closed as far as I’m con—Damn it to hell!
That’s
what you’ve been doing, isn’t it? Knocking at my mental door trying to get into the data for Rex?! You son of a bitch.” Feeling betrayed, she backed up a step. None of this was sexual. He was trying to manipulate her. Using her own attraction for him to get what he wanted. Information on the bot.

 
“A sexual climax would open that door,” His voice was deeper than normal. Husky. Thick. His eyes smoldered with hunger. “I need to get in.”

 
“A sexual…
climax
?” The words, and the intensity of his midnight dark eyes made her feel decidedly hot.
Edgy,
she thought,
hungry.
Still, damn it.

 
Clearly her own mental pep talk had gone by the wayside the second he made any kind of advancement. God, she was an idiot.

 
“You’re crazy if you think I’m going to fall for that crap.” She knew she was about to babble. But it was babble or do something really stupid. Like grab him and kiss him until he forgot all about, what had he said? Deterrents. “Do you
hear
yourself?”
Good God,
Eden thought with some alarm at the directions her thoughts were taking her.
Do I hear
my
self?

 
“I’ll do whatever is necessary to build another Rex before the terrorists use the one they stole.”

 
“And you think you can read my mind, extract six years’ worth of data, and
build
one. Yourself?”

 
“If you let me in. Yes.”

 
“Speaking of minds, you’re out of yours.” Unfortunately, he believed what he was saying, which in Eden’s opinion made him even more dangerous. “I thought this place might be a hotel. But now I realize it’s a
psych
hospital. The telepathy thing should have tipped me off.” He stood clear across the room, yet Eden felt as though he were standing too close. As though he were invading her space, but he hadn’t moved. Oh, God. Was she going nuts? She reminded herself that this was just a case of compatible pheromones. Nothing more than chemistry. Science.

 
This man had a power to disturb her on a level she hadn’t even known existed until she’d met him. Was it only this morning? “One person can’t
let
another person into their minds, okay? It just can’t be done.”

 
“Yes.” His dark eyes watched her with an unnerving intensity. “It can. I’m a wizard, Eden.”

 
She was so busy looking at his mouth and fantasizing about what it would taste like that she wasn’t really listening. “A—lizard? What does
that
mean?”