Dream - Dream Specter Part 12

He reached the top of her jeans and pulled the snap open. He slid the zipper down as Rosh.e.l.le used her hands to ease them over her hips. His lips stayed turned up in a grin as he knelt to pull the pants completely off her.

The pa.s.sion was still undeniably hot but it also balanced on the edge of playfulness. Instead of overwhelming, it was simply intense.

He lifted her off the floor again. A hot kiss. .h.i.t her belly as he took the single step that would let him lay her down on the bed. He didn't follow her this time. Instead he pressed her thighs apart with sure strokes of his hands while he watched her settle onto the bed.

Her body spread completely. Exposing her tender flesh to his sharp eyes. His hands stroked her inner thighs as tension crossed her face.

"Honey, close your eyes. I'm going to taste you." She fused her wide eyes with his instead. Jared firmly pressed his palm over her s.e.x and listened to her gasp. "Trust me. Close your eyes."

"Why?"

"When you remove one sense, the others become heightened."

Rosh.e.l.le wasn't sure she could take any more sensation. It was already intense. Blind, she would not even know when that moment of contact would happen. She would be suspended on the end of a string as she waited for his touch.

She rapidly blinked before making the effort to keep her eyes closed. Her chest rose with a deep breath as she forced herself to comply. A huge smile lifted his lips as Jared watched her. Trust wasn't something you took. It had to be given.

His mouth burned her. Rosh.e.l.le jerked off the bed but Jared firmly pushed her back down. His tongue made another pa.s.s over her exposed s.e.x before settling directly in front of the small swollen bud at the top of her pa.s.sage. Pleasure and pain tightened together as he flicked his tongue over and around that cl.u.s.ter of nerve endings. His hands held her in place as he drove her past need and into desperation. Suddenly he sucked the entire thing into his mouth. Her body ripped in two as pleasure shot up from the pressure. Her lungs couldn't seem to draw in enough breath as she frantically pressed her hips towards his mouth.

Jared cursed softly as he rose above her. He hadn't meant to take her again with his pants still on but he just couldn't wait. He thrust into her body and clenched his teeth as she tipped her hips towards his possession. Her mind lay open as he merged into her as their bodies blended together. Pleasure erupted through them both as their minds reflected it back and forth endlessly.

He loomed over her but Rosh.e.l.le clung to the wide shoulders. Each thrust split her pa.s.sage, every penetration tempting her to attempt to spread her body even further open. He didn't seem deep enough. When he withdrew, the moment before penetration stretched into forever. His fingers curled into her bottom as he lifted her off the bed. His thrusts became harder and she rose to sheathe him.

The cry that came from her throat mixed with the hard grunt of male satisfaction. Both bounced between their minds, as the flesh of one body became a unity of one pleasure.

Chapter Nine.

Evening was falling by the time Rosh.e.l.le raised her head from the tangled bedding again. Guilt immediately began its a.s.sault, but she shrugged it aside. She'd enjoyed playing with Jared and that was a fact.

She did know him. Maybe not in the normal sort of way that a woman expected to know about a man, but she could feel him. While some women might wake up wondering just how important they were to their lovers, Rosh.e.l.le didn't need to ask.

Jared wanted her. His pa.s.sion spread between them until there was no way to separate just who was who. They merged into a single ent.i.ty, each open to the other.

The way their minds merged didn't bother her any longer. Why should it? In fact, it was somewhat of a relief to discover that there were other people that experienced such abilities.

Her mother's panic-stricken face swam before her eyes for a moment. As much as Rosh.e.l.le might enjoy finding another gifted person, she knew without a doubt that she had stumbled into some part of the cause of her mother's alarm.

She just wished she had some idea of what her mother had been trying to spare her.

"Sh.e.l.ly, have you gone mad?"

Rosh.e.l.le grinned as she sank gratefully into a chair. The distance between the houses might be short, but she was convinced that Jared must have covered the area with the sharpest rocks in the entire state of Was.h.i.+ngton. Her feet declared their displeasure as she sat trying to cover the painful consequences of her pride.

But she was out of his house!

"If I am still sane, please shoot me. I can't go on if this is really going to become reality."

"Don't you dare leave me here alone."

"I believe I just crossed the devil's golf course to reunite us."

"I'm impressed."

Rosh.e.l.le rolled her eyes at Christina's sarcasm. Giving her foot a last rub she straightened up in her

chair. Being pleased over the fact that she had left a house was pathetic, but it was still better than waiting for Jared to come home. "Come on, I've got some pie inside and you need to save my figure." "Never trust a skinny cook." "Has anyone ever told you what a pain you are, Sh.e.l.ly?"

Batting her eyelids a few times, Rosh.e.l.le regarded the humor lurking behind Christina's scowl.

"Around here, that's all I hear. But if you think I'm eating anything you cooked for Shane Jacobs, you're the crazy one."

"Idiot keeps eating it too. Have I mentioned how pathetic the male of the human species is cursed to be?"

"Often."

Christina had to turn away before her friend caught the pity in her eyes. Poor Sh.e.l.ly. The dark circles under her eyes told her everything. If Christina doubted just what her friend had been up to last night, the tiny bruises on her neck confirmed it.

Rosh.e.l.le deserved so much better! That man wasn't the warm-loving guy a woman like her friend should have. Christina knew his kind all too well. Hot and fast. They burned out just as quick as they ignited. Christina just wished she had the nerve to take him down a peg. But Jared scared the wits out of her. It really was too bad that Rosh.e.l.le wasn't afraid of him, too. A lot of men like Jared didn't stomach simpering very well. The problem was Christina didn't think that Rosh.e.l.le even knew the definition of the word simper.

"Doctor Rosh.e.l.le Marie Everitt."

The masculine voice that issued her name so very precisely was also oddly familiar. The steel in it caused

her to straighten her back in that age-old response children had to hearing their full name being spoken by a parent. "Sheriff Campbell?" Despite the clear evidence of her eyes, Rosh.e.l.le still felt the need to confirm the ident.i.ty of the man that stood in front of her.

Maybe it was her thwarted efforts to reach him that caused her to look at him like he was a vision conjured from her fatigued mind. Maybe it was disappointment at finally having the means of leaving Jared behind.

"Just how did you end up here?"

The note of accusation in the sheriff's voice bothered Rosh.e.l.le. He stood in the doorway filling the s.p.a.ce completely. The man was old enough to be her father but only the tips of his temples showed any sign of gray. Her eyes roamed over the man's face searching for just what it was that struck her as familiar.

"It's a rather complicated story."

"I hope for your sake it is."

Rosh.e.l.le pushed to her feet in the face of that threatening tone.

"Careful, Dad, Rosh.e.l.le gets grumpy when she's tired."

She spun on her heel to face Jared. Her cheeks flooded with color as her ears rang with that frank statement. Dad? Her eyes moved between the two men taking in the details of their faces. While Jared clearly didn't get his coloring from his father, there was no doubt that Brice Campbell was his sire.

"We found him."

Whatever his father told Jared with that sentence, it wasn't good. Rosh.e.l.le watched as his face set into lines of stone, his green eyes narrowing to slits while they raked over her.

"Who did you find?"

Rosh.e.l.le was sick of having her strings pulled! This was her life, not some game. If the sheriff had found Christina's kidnapper then it was over and they could go home.

"Clark Huntley."

Disappointment flashed across her eyes. Jared folded his arms across his chest as he waited for his father to finish.

"Why did you threaten to kill Clark?"

"I did no such thing!" Rosh.e.l.le's eyes went wide as she stared in horror at his father.

"His secretary says otherwise. You also have an unregistered gun. Clark was killed by an identical weapon."

Rosh.e.l.le felt the color drain from her face. Dead? She might have wanted the man run out of the state, but not murdered! Nausea rose up to choke her as she realized that their kidnapper still had that gun she'd purchased.

Jared had watched his father interrogate before. He'd bet his last dollar on the fact that Brice Campbell didn't think Rosh.e.l.le was a murderer, but she might have information that could lead to the culprit. She suddenly straightened and propped her hands onto her hips.

"Well, I sure wouldn't have used my credit card in the only gunstore in Benton, to buy a weapon I intended to use for murder."

"You signed the sales slip, too." Brice Campbell pushed the brim of his Stetson back a bit as he eyed Rosh.e.l.le. "What I'd like to know is why didn't you walk the block down to my station?"

"You already thought I was stupid enough to burn my own house down."

"Accidents do happen, Doctor, even to the educated. But a few more facts from you would have made the case a lot less likely to be filed away as closed."

Brice Campbell was furious with her. Rosh.e.l.le returned the hard stare refusing to shrink. "Sometimes you have to look out for yourself."

The sheriff snorted softly in response. Tipping his head he eyed his son.

"How long has she been here?"

"A week, she didn't have a pistol on her when I found her." Jared raised an eyebrow at Rosh.e.l.le before he finished his thought. "She'd graduated to tossing grenades around."

The sheriff gave his son a hard look before he laughed. "I'm pleasantly surprised." His brown eyes raked down her body before he gave her a grin of approval. "Wouldn't have believed you had it in you, Dr. Everett."

Jared joined his father as the two laughed in low rumbles. Even Shane was grinning like a fool as he watched them.

"Fine! If everyone is so happy, give me back my shoes and I'll just be on my way."

The room sobered instantly. Dark eyes aimed harsh judgment at her. Brice Campbell looked at her bare feet before he shot his son a hard look. Jared folded his arms across his chest in response. "Rosh.e.l.le likes to climb mountainsides."

"I suggest you stay right here, doctor. I don't need any more homicides to investigate. Luck runs dry after a while. I'd say you've had your share this month. Clark Huntley doesn't need any company in the morgue."

She did know it. Accepting Jared's protection was still very bitter. She felt like screaming at fate, but that action just seemed so useless. But that didn't mean she had to like it.

Jared's face reflected far too much superiority for her pride, so she turned on her heel and left before her ego demanded something dumb from her.

Like punching the man for sheer spite. She was on the low side of luck; she'd most likely end up fracturing her hand.

Jared's eyes followed her the entire way back to his house. The way she carried her shoulders filled him with pride. His woman wasn't going to break in front of an audience. Instead she carried her head high as she headed for the only haven available and it pleased the h.e.l.l out of him that it was his house.

"Be careful, son. That lady has made some very certain decisions about her life. Strip her ident.i.ty away and she may not be able to recover."

"He'll kill her."

"I'm not so sure about that." Brice waited for his son's eyes to travel back to his own.

"We didn't find the murder weapon, but Helen Rutten is currently informing anyone who will listen that Rosh.e.l.le threatened to pull that trigger."

"She's lying."

"I know, but it's very possible that we'll find that gun near its next victim."

It didn't take long for Jared to figure out just who that next victim might be. Helen couldn't be proved a liar if she was dead.

"This is going to get ugly, son."

"Believe me, Dad, it already is."

Jared slowly gave the information that his father was lacking. His first instinct had been correct. This was a threat to his family. Still not certain just in what form the attack was coming, Jared was still convinced that they were the targets.

Rosh.e.l.le was wrapped up somewhere in the middle. But she held the key. No one would bother setting her up otherwise. Jared was going to enjoy killing the man responsible.

She really did know better. Pride was out of her price range! Lifting her foot from the sink where it was soaking in hot water, Rosh.e.l.le investigated the damage she had inflicted on herself.

The flesh on the bottom of her feet was swelling up in an effort to seal the cuts. Whatever stone covered the ground between the two houses, it was sharp enough to cut skin. The tougher skin of her heel and toes was fairing better than her arches, but several of the cuts were deep enough to require st.i.tching. But first she needed to get the dirt out of them. Sticking her foot back into the water, Rosh.e.l.le sucked in her breath as the open wounds shrieked in protest. Catching a look at herself in the bathroom mirror, half-covered in steam, her reflection stared back at her. And she laughed.

Tears were streaming down her cheeks by the time she stopped. All the conflicting emotions poured out of her in those tears. Yes, the future was still extremely uncertain, but a woman couldn't ask for a better protector than Jared.

Or a better lover. Rosh.e.l.le watched the blush as it colored her cheeks. Her body's response intrigued her. The way she went after him in the dark shocked her, but her body was currently craving another opportunity. She should be appalled but she wasn't. In fact, she was just a bit afraid that Jared wouldn't be interested in another night with her. The way he handled her body spoke volumes about his experience with women.

"I can't imagine what's so funny tonight."