She leaned back. “Why did you ever seek me out, Darian? To be quite honest, I don’t believe I’ve helped you at all this last year.”
He lifted an arched brow and smiled. He even chuckled. “Straight to the point. I always liked that about you. As for the past twelve months, you are right, I wasn’t interested in therapy, just in you. I wanted to get to know you. As it happens, I’d like you to forget all about graduate school and come to work for me.”
What was wrong with his voice? It sounded strange, as though his resonance had split not once but several times. She felt an odd pressure within her head. She squeezed her eyes shut and blocked the sensation. The pressure eased as quickly as it had begun. She opened her eyes.
“Incredible,” he murmured, his gaze fixed on her.
“What is incredible?”
“You, of course. I want you to tell me you will consider working for me.”
She shook her head. The suggestion stunned her. “I hope I don’t offend you, but I’m fully committed to therapy as a profession. I simply have no desire to enter the business world.” She so didn’t want him to press her further.
“Working for me would involve much more than the usual exchange of goods and services. I believe I could keep you challenged, content, and I would certainly make it worth your while.”
How could she tell him she would never in a million years work for him, not for all the money in the world. “I’m sorry,” she said firmly. “The answer must be no.”
His dark gaze commanded her. She found she could not look away from him. What had he said? Would she consider working for him?
The next moment he was in front of her on his knees. On his knees. He had hold of her arm and rubbed the inside of her wrist, the tender place over her veins. He stroked her skin back and forth. “Say yes,” he whispered, his voice still carrying a strange resonance. Why didn’t she fear him? He was large and muscular, powerful, the sort of man you imagined on black op missions deep in some Third World jungle. She had felt this from the beginning, his complete and utter lethal presence.
She should have feared his proximity. Fear would have been normal, but all her instincts were held in some kind of stasis.
“I will give you anything you desire,” he said. “I have great wealth at my disposal. Say you will come to me, align with me, work side by side with me. Say it and I will give you the world.”
He would give her the world.
She didn’t want the world, she wanted what Joy had, and he most definitely could not give her that.
Yet somehow she leaned toward him, drawn in, unafraid. Her pulse sped up as he stroked her wrist. Desire of a distinct sexual nature descended on her, a gentle rain on her skin. Was he seducing her?
“You’re feeling it, aren’t you? Say yes, Alison. We would be magnificent together.” The split resonance drifted over her, beckoning her. She wanted to say yes.
Her breaths came in quick little puffs. Her eyelids felt heavy. This wasn’t right. But she couldn’t seem to help herself.
She breathed in, meaning to draw more of his heady seductiveness inside her, but the smell of him, lemons and turpentine, shocked her senses. She turned her face away and squeezed her eyes shut. Her mind cleared and she pressed her back and shoulders into the chair. “I’m sorry, Darian. I have no wish to work with you now or ever. You could offer half a dozen worlds and I would still refuse.”
She shivered then felt Darian’s breath on her neck. He chuckled softly. “Half a dozen,” he murmured. “You have no idea how poetic your choice of words is, how perfect, how portentous, and I feel in you, I sense in you, a complete negation of my proposal. Again, I feel very sad as though I am losing a friend, perhaps the only true friend I have ever had. What a pity.” Did he just graze her throat with his teeth? Yet she couldn’t seem to move.
He released her wrist and, as though he had never been close to her at all, he once more sat on the sofa and again crossed his legs at the knee.
“I’m sorry, Darian.” Her mind felt a little strange. Had he just knelt in front of her? The memory seemed vague now, indistinct, like a dream.
“This is most unfortunate,” he said, “and I, too, am very sorry. I want you to understand and to remember my regret. I know we must go our separate ways, that much I believe was clear to me from the beginning, but I truly, truly wished it otherwise.”
For the smallest moment, her heart softened toward him. She believed he was sincere. She had never seen regret on his face before. However, she saw it now. Had she misjudged him in some way?
The front door of her office suite slammed open and a second later one of the dental hygienists from the group next door appeared in the doorway. She was a tall, lovely redhead, her skin freckled and fair, yet two clownish spots had popped out on her cheeks.
Alison stood up. “What is it?”
The young woman glanced from her to Darian then back. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but one of Kelsing’s dental patients has been killed right on the sidewalk.” She threw a shaking hand behind her.
“You mean in an accident? Hit by a car?”
She shook her head back and forth. “No. Her throat. Torn open. Mangled. Here in the courtyard. The police have already taped the area off and an ambulance just pulled up. Thought you should know. I’ve already told everyone else in this wing.”
“Thank you,” Alison whispered as the woman turned and ran out. She glanced at Darian. She had some obligation to finish the hour with him. On the other hand, what was the point? Still, she waited for him to choose.
He rose to his feet, a half smile on his lips, sadness in his eyes. He gestured with an arm extended toward the door. “Well, I think we ought to see what all the fuss is about, don’t you? Perhaps the report has been exaggerated.”
* * *
Kerrick felt the vibration as Central folded him to the outskirts of the medical complex in Paradise Valley.
The moment he felt asphalt beneath his heavy strapped sandals, he sent a wall of mist before and behind. He wanted to get this motherfucker then get the hell out. He’d let Thorne deal with whatever mortal female was causing Endelle to throw a bitch-fit.
Just as he prepared to fold his sword into his hand, he stayed the thought.
Something was wrong.
He scanned the area and cursed. Why hadn’t Jeannie told him that the circus had already come to town? The parking lot was full of emergency vehicles and they’d been here a while, longer than his time in the shower. One length of yellow crime scene tape extended into a group of uniforms, though he wasn’t able to see the source from his position.