Ghostwalker 05 - Deadly Game

for him?
    Even my children would run from me, Mari, and I couldn't blame them . Was he actually feeling sorry for himself? Was he that pitiful when she was stretched out on an exam table?
    Damn him to hell for his selfishness. He wanted her with her laughter and her acceptance.
    He wanted her to love him in spite of the scars on his soul that showed so clearly on his body.
    Now you're just being silly. A child would love you, Ken. You only think you don't show tenderness, but I feel it every time I touch your mind. You've shown me more respect and given me so much more than I ever had, and you can't know how much that means. If I don't get out, I'll never regret being with you. Whitney can take a lot of things away from me, but he can't take what you gave me .
    Okay. He was going to hell. That's all there was to it. Because he wasn't going to be noble and give her up. No way. How could the universe hand him someone so perfect and then expect him to give her back? She had enough tolerance and compassion, and enough courage, for both of them.

    She knew how to love. How had she learned to love when it was never given to her?
    Briefly, he'd had his mother and always he'd had Jack, but Mari's twin had been taken from her and Mari had been raised without her sister in cold, stark, laboratory conditions. She humbled him with her ability to give such unconditional acceptance.
    He felt her mind jerk away from his, suddenly aware of the doctor probing her most intimate parts. He could feel the disgust and humiliation rising, the utter distaste as the man probed deeper and moved his hand inside of her. Abruptly she tried to cut Ken off, doing her best to shield him from what was happening to her. Bile rose in his throat. The one person he should be able to protect – and he had to lie still covered in leaves and twigs, and let them torture her. He gave her the only thing he could, although it cost him a great deal of what was left of his pride.
    I'm already halfway in love with you, Mari. Maybe more way more than halfway, and it's damned hard to admit. I want to do right by you, not take you out of the sun and bring you down to an entirely new level, but I'm not man enough to get you out of there and then just walk away. I'm damn well going to take you with me .
    She was weeping inside. Weeping . He could feel it like a knife going through his heart.
    He rested his head on his arm. He was a few feet from a guard, and the man hadn't moved in the last half hour. He was sitting on a rock reading a book. He hadn't looked up or around him and had no idea that Ken lay within striking distance and that right now, every emotion was slowly being driven out of Ken so he would feeling nothing at all when he went after his prey.
    I want to go with you. I'm just being a baby, so don't get upset. I can feel you pulling away from me. Women are emotional at times, that's all .
    That's not fucking all, Mari. That bastard has his hand inside of you and he isn't going to live out the day. Who the hell does Whitney think he is, subjecting you to this kind of crap?
    And what kind of man is your friend Sean to allow it to go on?
    Sean used to always stand with us. He helped me get out to see the senator, but now he seems different. I don't know how he is, or why, but he's doing and saying things that aren't him .
    Whitney somehow got to him. Don't trust him, Mari .
    I don't. Are you okay now?
    Don't fucking ask me if I'm okay when that bastard is touching you. I should be asking you, but I don't have to – I know you're not .
    He's touching me in a completely impersonal, medical way . Mari tried to soothe him by lying, biting down on her lip, hoping the doctor would hurry his examination. Prauder was a pervert. He always took great delight in touching the women as intimately as possible, of photographing them in the worst positions, knowing there was nothing they could do about it. They all tried to pretend it was impersonal, because it was the only way they could live through it.
    Ken, you have to be close to the laboratory for us to be able to communicate and that means you're near guards. You can't get upset and blow this. I'm counting on you .
    Ken took a breath and willed a higher power to give him strength and control to hold out.
    If she could stand it – then so could he. There was sweat on his brow, and he allowed it to trickle down his face rather than move. Ants crawled over him. He stayed still and just let the air move in and out of