“No, honey, you didn’t please me nearly as much as you thought you did,” he whispered aloud and glanced up at the window, smiling with a cold, dark promise.
Chapter 4
Saber opened her eyes slowly, reluctantly. Beside her, the bed was empty. She felt achy and sore, but the fever was gone. What in the world had happened to make her so sick? She was never sick-never-and it had been a shock. She hadn’t handled it very well either.
She rolled over and caught the sides of the pillow to inhale deeply Jess’s distinctive male scent. It flooded her lungs and made her stomach do a strange little flip. He had lain beside her, holding her in his arms, singing her to sleep. Her mouth curved at the thought. He said he couldn’t sing, but she loved his voice. The thought of it, of his song to her, had a warmth spreading quickly through her entire body.
She took another quick sniff of the pillow, wondering whether she should wash the pillowcase immediately before she became obsessive over it, or leave it forever, slip it into her emergency pack so if she had to run fast she would always have it. No one was around to see her, so she rolled like a cat over the spot where he’d slept.
Jess. He smelled so good all the time. He smelled safe and clean and so very male. With a little sigh she forced herself to get up. She had awoken earlier than usual. She tended to stay up all night and sleep in the mornings and early afternoon. Having no idea what she was going to do with herself, she forced her body into motion, taking her time in the shower, savoring the feeling of the hot water on her skin.
She couldn’t get Jess out of her mind. The feel of his hard muscles, his enormous strength, the tenderness in his voice. For a moment she closed her eyes, allowing hot water to cascade over her head and just dreaming. Letting herself believe, just for a moment, that she could have a life. A home. A man. She wanted to belong to Jess Calhoun. Her eyes flew open in shock. Oh God. She was in trouble. She had to get out before it was too late. How had she let this happen?
She pulled on her clothes as she tried to calm her wildly beating heart. Her mouth went dry. Jess Calhoun was not for her, no matter how much she wanted him. When had it happened? When had she allowed herself to believe her own fantasy? She stared at herself in the mirror while she blew her hair dry, trying to make her mind focus on what to do next. A sane woman would leave. Self-preservation would dictate that.
As she turned off the dryer she heard the soft murmur of Jess’s voice. Something-some note in it-caught at her, raising every alarm. He sounded stressed. Not a lot, but she knew him now, she paid attention to every detail, and Jess was upset.
Her heart slammed hard in her chest as she carefully set the blow-dryer aside and reached beneath her mattress for her knife. It wasn’t there. She swore under her breath and crossed to her pack, placing her feet with care so that she made no noise. Her mouth firmed and her hands were steady as she put on her belt, gun sliding into the holster smoothly and throwing knives slipping into each loop. If Jess was in trouble, she was going to be prepared.
She had promised herself she was through with killing, but…She couldn’t let herself think about that. It would only mess her up. Moving without sound, Saber kept her back to the wall, making the target small as she eased through the bedroom door to the upstairs balcony. There were two places where the boards squeaked. She avoided both, although the stairs would be more difficult. She should have fixed them, but she thought it was a good warning system if anyone tried to sneak up them while she slept.
“It’s so good to see you, darling,” a woman’s voice purred, followed by a telling silence. Saber stiffened in the doorway of her small sitting room, picturing Jess being soundly kissed. Her fingers curled around the gun.
“Chaleen. I have to admit you shocked me. You were the last person in the world I expected to hear from when I picked up the phone.” There was that note of stress again. Whoever Chaleen was, Jess wasn’t happy to see her.
Tinkling laughter pealed out. The sound grated on Saber.
“I knew you’d be pleased.”
“What in the world are you doing in Sheridan?”
Jess didn’t sound pleased at all. Chaleen had to be an idiot if she thought he was. Saber eased out into the hall. The alert was still pounding in her body, a warning that all was not right.
“Why, I came to see you, darling.” Chaleen’s heels clicked on the hardwood floor. “I’ve been on planes for simply days.”
Saber padded silently on bare feet to the balcony overlooking the living room. The woman was tall and slim, with br**sts that were too good to be true. Her hair was sleek and sophisticated, her clothes elegant. Saber despised her on sight.
“So how did you find out where I was?” Jess asked. “I thought I’d covered my tracks.”
Saber leaned on the banister, unashamedly listening. Chaleen? Who was named Chaleen? She wrinkled her nose in disgust. And did Chaleen darling have to purr at Jess? Why couldn’t the witch talk like a normal woman? Even her perfume was drifting up the stairs. Saber sniffed in distaste and curled up out of sight but where, if they stayed in the living room, she could hear every disgusting, purring word. Or, if the woman wasn’t out for sheer sex like she sounded to be, then Saber could put a bullet in her head before she made a wrong move against Jess.
“I ran into your parents in Paris.” Chaleen settled herself on the plush sofa, crossing her silk-covered legs to show them to their best advantage. “I still can’t believe it, such a tragedy. Poor Jess had his wings clipped in such a brutal way.” A long red-tipped nail traced delicately through the fur of her coat.
“Cut the crap, Chaleen, you left the moment you found out.”
“I loved you too much to see your pain, Jess.”
Saber rolled her eyes. What rot. Jesse. Jess and Chaleen. How juvenile. It grated on her nerves the way darling Chaleen said it. Jess. Chaleen purred it. Tasted it. Saber’s fingers tightened around the gun until her knuckles turned white. Fuming, she missed Jess’s response, but not Chaleen’s tinkling laughter. The sound made her want to throw up-or shoot somebody. Little did Chaleen darling know she was seconds away from death.
“Oh, darling! You’re so funny! And so brave, to bear this horrendous burden so heroically. But why bury yourself in this backwater town? You’ll never be happy here. You need excitement, the hunt. You’ll wither here.” Chaleen fluttered her lashes, ran a restless hand along her silken leg.
“I’ve managed not to wither so far.” Jess sounded bored.