Leopard 04 - Wild Fire

before. Every bit of honor he possessed had gone up in flames once the taste of her had become an addiction—and it was starting all over again. He dragged his mouth from hers and stared down into her liquid eyes, fighting for breath, fighting his own needs.
    “You have to get control, Isabeau.” His voice was hoarse. “Every man here is leopard. Do you have any idea of the havoc you’re wreaking?”
    “I love your voice.” Her hands slipped under his shirt to find bare skin. “And your mouth. When you kiss it’s like fire spreading through me.”
    Her voice was more seductive than anything he’d ever known, pouring over him, filling him, eating away his discipline. He closed his eyes briefly, attempting to remember how much trouble he’d gotten into before because he hadn’t been able to resist her lure—and she hadn’t had the added temptation of her cat emerging.
    “Isabeau.” He gave her a little shake. It didn’t stop her wandering hands. “Look at me. You don’t want to do this. A few hours from now you’ll hate me even more than you already do. I let you down once and I’ll be damned if I do it again.”
    Who the hell was he kidding? He didn’t have that kind of control. Not in a million years. He wanted her with every breath he drew. Not because of her cat, but because she was Isabeau Chandler, the woman he loved above all else. He dragged air into his lungs. He loved her and he knew the difference having been without her. He wasn’t going to let history repeat itself.
    “Stop it, Isabeau.” His voice was harsher than he intended.
    She went rigid, dropping her hands as if he’d burned her. She stepped back away from him. “I’m so sorry I made you uncomfortable,” she said, her voice trembling. “We certainly wouldn’t want that, would we? The great Conner Vega. Funny how when seduction is your idea, there’s no problem.”
    “Is that what you have in mind, Isabeau? Seduction? You’re playing with fire.”
    She looked him up and down. “I doubt it. I don’t think there’s much left there.” Deliberately she turned and allowed her gaze to sweep the other males, open speculation on her face. “Sorry I bothered you.”
    He caught her arm and swung her back to him when she would have walked away. “Don’t even think about it.”
    Her eyebrow shot up. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She looked at his hand and he let her go. She turned her back on him and walked away, her hips swaying, her hair a little wild, disheveled and tumbling around her face and down her back as if unknowingly he had loosened her ponytail. He didn’t remember doing it, but the feel of silk was still on the pads of his fingers.
    Isabeau blinked back the tears burning in her eyes. She’d thrown herself at him and he’d turned her down. Her pride was on the ground, trampled. He didn’t want her. She ducked her head, bending at the waist to drag in air. It was a mistake. She could scent all the men now, a heady mix of lust and male potency.
    If you don’t knock it off, you female hussy, I’m going to strangle you, she hissed at her cat. She wanted to claw her way down Conner’s muscular back. Who would have thought muscles could be so defined? She knew it wasn’t the cat—or at least just the cat. She wanted Conner, and her cat emerging was a great cover. But he didn’t want her.
    How could that be when she wanted him with every fiber of her being? She couldn’t close her eyes without images of him haunting her. She couldn’t take a breath without needing him. Damn him for rejecting her. He had been the one spouting the law of the rain forest was a higher law, and yet when she’d taken the chance, he’d shut her down. It had taken every ounce of courage she possessed to get him to kiss her, hoping he’d take it from there. If he didn’t want her anymore, well . . . She lifted her head and looked at the men talking to Jeremiah in the clearing just a short distance away.
    She’d told Adan she would try to seduce one of Imelda Cortez’s guards because she knew she would never feel for another man the way she felt for Conner. Seduction still had possibilities. Maybe being a leopard meant she could be promiscuous and not care. Maybe her moral scruples would be overcome much easier than she’d ever believed. She moved closer, wanting to hear what they were saying.

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    She was acutely aware of Conner