Ghostwalker 09 - Ruthless Game

knew Whitney had found a way to “pair” a couple by using pheromones, and he’d certainly made Kane crave Rose physical y. He couldn’t get near her without his body reacting with a permanent hard-on from hel . But the doctor hadn’t paired Rose with him. She’d been forced to choose from three different candidates, and she’d chosen him, but she didn’t have the same physical drive to be with him that he had for her, which posed a major problem for him. He had too much respect for her and too much honor to force himself on her. But the thought of never seeing her again, of spending his life without her, drove him insane. He also knew he would never ever be able to tolerate another man in her life. And quite frankly—that sucked.
    “Al right.”
    That softly spoken assent surprised him. He studied her face in an effort to read whether or not she was tel ing the truth.
    “Then you’l wait here for me to come for you.”
    She shrugged. “I won’t run.”
    He was missing something; he just couldn’t quite figure it out. His mind was already shifting, his radar going off, and instinctively he put himself in front of Rose as he swung around to face the bedroom door, knife in his hand. Rose tried to jerk her gun out of the hidden holster, but the man facing them shook his head, a grin on his face.
    “Naughty, naughty, Miss Rose. I can’t let you shoot him, even though Mack thinks he’s a major pain in the ass. He is my brother, after al .”
    “Actual y,” she corrected, “I planned on shooting you.”
    Javier’s grin widened, but his eyes were ice-cold, his stare sending piercing icicles stabbing right through Rose’s mind. “Wel then, everything’s fine.
    You carrying my nephew there?” He indicated the smal basketbal shape beneath her loose tunic.
    Her eyebrow shot up. She didn’t wince, and she didn’t take her gaze from his. She kept her voice low and taunting, as if she didn’t realize she faced the biggest threat of her life. Kane knew better. He felt the little tremor that ran through her body.
    “Maybe a niece.”
    Javier snorted. “Don’t get your hopes up. He’s too damn mean to throw a girl. Mack’s getting al papa bear on us. You good, Kane?”
    Kane noticed Javier’s body was angled toward Rose, half in, half out of the shadows, making him a difficult target, and the tiny knife was stil concealed in the palm of his hand. He smiled at Rose and joked, but he was ready for any trouble, those cold, cold eyes never leaving his prey. Kane shifted his weight, subtly moving to cut off Javier’s angle of attack. Javier glided slightly as wel and shook his head.
    You know better than that. Mack would skin me alive if anything happened to you.
    Rose sighed. “Nothing is going to happen to him. I’m Rose Patterson, by the way.”
    “Javier Enderman, ma’am. Pleased to meet you. You reading my mind?”
    “No,” Rose said. “I’m smart. I know what you’re both thinking.”
    “Then you know I’ve got to get him out of here in one piece, ma’am. And that none of us wants you to hurt him.”
    Kane huffed out his exasperation. “You’re making me sound like a two-year-old you al have to babysit. Tel Mack we’re on our way, and let’s get it done.”
    “They’re armed to the teeth,” Rose said. “And they have trip wires strung around the windows and in the hal ways leading to the apartment. You’re not going to get in through the ground floor.”
    Kane made a strangled growl in the back of his throat and crouched down in front of Rose, catching her chin in his hand. “You scouted them out with my baby in your bel y?” He bit out each word through clenched teeth.
    “Yes,” she said very calmly, her dark eyes sober. “Before I made the decision to cal in reinforcements. I told you I’d decided I couldn’t rescue them alone. Did you think I made that assessment from here?”
    “Damn it, woman. You do something like that again, and we’re going to have trouble.”
    She looked at him a long time. You have the same eyes. A different color, of course, but you both can look very scary.

    It was the first time she’d used the more intimate means of telepathic communication. He knew Javier frightened her, and he wanted to pul her into his arms and hold her close to comfort her. It took a minute to realize he frightened her. She wasn’t showing it, but he knew.
    “Rose, neither of us wants to send you back to Whitney or to harm you in any way. You’re close to