Leopard 01 - The Awakening

erection. His hand tightened possessively around her neck, he bent his head closer.
    Maggie abruptly pulled away, nearly tumbling out of the chair as she hastily backed away from him.
    “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Tears burned in her throat, glittered in her eyes. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Please go.” She had never, at any time in her life, ever acted in such a manner. And Brandt Talbot was a complete stranger. No matter how much his scent and looks attracted her, no matter how right he felt, he was a stranger.
    “Maggie, you don’t understand.” Brandt stood also, stalking her across the expanse of the kitchen. His body was compact, muscular, and he reminded her of a great jungle cat, ropes of rippling muscles, power and coordination.
    She retreated until the counter brought her up short. “I don’t want to understand. I want you to go.
    Something’s wrong with me.” There was a fever in her blood, her mind was in chaos. Images of writhing on the floor with Talbot were etched in her brain. She could hardly think clearly. Her body betrayed her, her breasts aching and tender. In her deepest, most feminine core she burned for him.
    “Just go. Please just go.” She honestly didn’t know which of them was in more danger.
    He put a hand on either side of her body, trapping her between his hard frame and the counter. “I know what’s wrong with you, Maggie. Let me help you.”
    Her fingers actually curled into a claw. She raised her arm, going for his eyes even as her brain screamed a protest. Brandt was fast, whipping his head to one side, shackling her wrist tightly. Maggie closed her eyes, terrified of reprisal. Although his grip was like a vise, he wasn’t hurting her.
    “Maggie, what is happening to you is very natural. This is your home, where you belong. Can’t you feel it?”
    She shook her head, dragged in a lungful of air to regain a semblance of control. She wanted to go home, far from the influence of the jungle, of the heat. “I don’t know what’s happening, but if this is the way this place affects me, I don’t want to be here.”
    He was suffocating, reason gone, the world spinning madly. Brandt battled his savage nature, the fierce primitive need and hunger as elemental as time. She was frightened, unaware of her legacy. He needed to remember that at all times. Maggie couldn’t get away from him, it was too late for her. He had to court her, persuade her gently, coax her into accepting her inevitable fate. The urgent demands of his body could not be allowed to destroy the fragile thread between them.
    “Maggie.” He used his voice shamelessly, a blend of temptation and heat. “The forest is calling to you, that’s all it is. Nothing else. You haven’t done anything wrong. You haven’t offended me. I don’t want you to be afraid of me. Are you? Have I frightened you in some way?”
    She was more afraid of herself than she was of him. She shook her head, unwilling to speak, the masculine scent of him nearly overwhelming.
    “You want to know about your parents, don’t you, and all the work they did with endangered species?
    They were legends in their own way with the progress they made.” Brandt felt the tension began to slowly dissolve in her body. “Let me tell you about your parents, because, believe me, they were two very extraordinary people. Did you know that they protected the animals here? That without them, poachers would have succeeded in killing off the sun bear? That’s only one of their triumphs. They made it their life’s work to protect rare endangered animals. Your mother was much like you, with a smile that could light up a room. Your father was a strong man, a leader. He lived here, in this house, and he took over his father’s job of protecting the rain forest. Each year it has gotten more difficult.
    Poachers are bold and they have tremendous firepower.”
    As he felt the apprehension drain from her, Brandt slowly released her, turned away from the danger the close proximity of her body presented. Her breasts were heaving with every breath she drew in, dragging his gaze to the firm, tempting mounds he longed to touch. He had feasted his gaze on her body, knew the swelling curves were a creamy invitation to sheer soft satin. Her heat fired his blood, and the scent of her aroused him to a painful need, his jeans stretched taut, his body in rebellion against the dictates of his brain.
    Maggie’s hand trembled as she gripped the counter