Ghostwalker 04 - Conspiracy Game

swimming with tears. For years he’d thought all gentleness had been driven out of him for all time, but it was there, hidden deep inside, rising as fast as his every protective instinct. Whatever Whitney had done to them might have been all about sex and coming together in heat, but for Jack, the relationship with Briony was developing into something altogether different. His feelings for her were every bit as strong and real as the need for sex. Briony had managed to slip past his guard and find that small spark of humanity, of tenderness he never knew existed.
    Jack didn’t think too closely about how his emotions had become entangled with the violent chemistry sizzling between them, but he knew it was dangerous for a man like him to get attached to anyone. He wasn’t normal and he’d never be normal, no matter how much he wished it different. He’d given up wanting it to be different, until he’d walked away from Briony.
    “You’re just tired,” he murmured.
    “I’d like to tell you I’m sorry about the pregnancy. I should have been careful. It never occurred to me I could be intimate with anyone, let alone lose my ability to think about something so important as protection. I had no idea the birth control pills weren’t the real thing.”
    Jack felt relief sweeping through his body. Her being intimate, even thinking about being intimate, with another man might have gotten that man killed. He took a breath and let it out slowly to keep his thoughts from going in that direction. He ran his finger down her face just because he had to touch her. “The idea of you being intimate with another man is something I’m not willing to entertain.”
    Briony hesitated, frowning. “I can’t be around many people without it really affecting me physically. I can’t seem to develop the barriers other people have to filter out sounds and emotions, and I’ve really tried.” She tilted her head back further, staring up at him, blinking back the last of her tears, determined to regain control. “When I’m with you, it’s much easier. My mind can rest. I’m trying to understand what Whitney did to me, and I’m hoping you can explain it better than the file did. I didn’t understand half of it.”
    “It definitely helps that I’m an anchor and can filter everything for you.” So was his brother. The thought that Ken could filter for her just as well came unbidden, and he was ashamed of the rush of adrenaline surging through his body that fast. Whatever Whitney had done to push them together was potent—and dangerous. “I draw the emotions and sounds away from you to me.”
    “But how? I’ve tried all kinds of exercises because I had to perform with my family in public, but it was so painful. I end up with terrible headaches. If I can figure out how you do it, maybe I can teach myself to get above the pain before the baby comes.” Her brief description didn’t begin to describe the agony she was in after every performance, and it was frightening to think that if she had a baby, she wouldn’t be immune to the child’s distress.
    Jack brushed back stray strands of hair from her face. “You’re looking tired now. And you have a headache, don’t you?”
    She shrugged. “Crying like a baby didn’t help. I was confined in a small space with Jeb for hours. He was really afraid for me and it was coming off of him in waves.”
    She’d spent hours on an airplane as well, Jack realized. And she was incredibly honest with him. He hadn’t expected her to be so forthcoming. She didn’t trust him—or herself.
    The shadows in her eyes told him that. Every time he touched her, she stiffened just the slightest bit, although she was trying to hide how uncomfortable she was.
    “Let’s get you back to the house,” he urged.
    Briony pressed both hands against her stomach protectively. The baby was the only person she had left, her only ally, only family. Already she could find comfort in the presence of the child.
    Jack’s hand tightened around her wrist. “I like that you’re telepathic.” He loved the intimacy of communicating with her. It was familiar to him. Jack and Ken had been using telepathy as long as he could remember and it meant family to him.
    She twisted her hand, a subtle attempt at getting him to release her. He didn’t appear to notice. “I’m a lot of things,” she said. “Right now, tired is the number one thing I am. I need to rest.” She needed desperately to be alone.
    He turned