Chapter 6

Jess had been all over the world and he had chosen Sheridan, Wyoming, as his home, not only for its warm, friendly people, but because of its rich history and the year-round activities. It was a beautiful city close to the Big Horn Mountains. It was home to him, and after he had been put in a wheelchair he had planned to stay-until Lily and Eric had talked to him about the bionics program.

He still had nightmares about how he’d gotten into the wheelchair in the first place. He often woke up drenched in sweat, his heart pounding, pain twisting his gut into knots and his legs jumping with the memory of first the bullets slamming into his bones, and then the torture that followed. It had seemed endless, a sea of pain, the pattern of blood splattering the walls, memories of the brutal men slamming objects into the mess that had been his legs. He remembered it so vividly. Time hadn’t dulled any of it. Nothing had helped until he opened his door and let Saber Wynter into his life. The nightmares hadn’t stopped, but since Saber’s arrival, they had eased.

Saber remained silent as they drove through the streets, but as always, he felt peace steal into him when he was with her. His response was strange, since Saber wasn’t exactly a restful person. She had too much energy and too many causes, but every time he was with her, he felt happy. On their evening walks, she often jogged beside him as he wheeled his chair along Main Street, past the scenic buildings.

She was enhanced. Whether he admitted it to himself or not-or even whether she did-she was a GhostWalker just like him. She was good-too good-and that meant she’d been trained, or she would have slipped up long before now.

Being a GhostWalker explained her voice, so popular on the airwaves that his little radio station was becoming a huge hit. It explained her need for solitude. She wasn’t an anchor and she couldn’t be around other people without pain. It explained everything but why she was in his home. Because no matter how much in love with her crazy ways he was, he couldn’t ignore the fact that she had to be a plant. That was the only explanation he could think of to explain why her fingerprints hadn’t kicked a red flag back at him.

He drove the van west on Loucks Street, but was so busy watching Saber he nearly missed the turn onto Badger. Kendrick Park was dead ahead. This time of year, with the air cooling rapidly but the snow not yet here, few people used the park. Big Goose Creek bordered the park, with its wealth of evergreens and tall, elegant cottonwoods.

“Perfect picnic area. All the tourists say so,” he commented, looking carefully, cautiously around. Suddenly his senses were prickling-nothing too big, but a definite hit. His hand slid over his pack to feel the weight of his gun.

Saber laughed. “This park is packed in the summer. I thought for sure you were taking me to Fort Phil Kearny. You’ve been promising for three months.”

“True, I also said we’d go to…”

“Buffalo Bill Museum.” She laughed. “There’s so much to do. We couldn’t miss the rodeo, that would have been a sacrilege.” And she wanted to do it all before she left-she wanted to do it all with Jess, because nothing would ever feel the same again.

“Would you rather go to the Fort? We could go exploring.” He paused in the act of gathering up their supplies. He had room here if an enemy attacked, both room and cover. He’d rather stay.

“No, this is perfect. I’d like a little peace and quiet, maybe take a nap since I didn’t get much sleep last night.” She shivered a little in the cool air. “You did bring blankets I hope.”

“I remembered everything with no help from you.”

She flashed a sassy grin at him. She hadn’t helped him pack for the picnic because she’d been trying to come to terms with the fact that Jess was more than a Navy SEAL; he was part of a GhostWalker team. It explained everything, especially why she could so easily be in his company. She had never been able to tolerate being around people for very long until she was with Jess. He was definitely an anchor and he drew energy away from her. She should have known. Well, on some level she had known; she just hadn’t wanted to bring it out in the open and examine it.

They made their way to a secluded area near the stream, where water bubbled over rocks and where they had a good view of anyone approaching them. After spreading the ground sheet out at the bottom of a thick tree trunk, Jess slid from his chair and sat with his back propped against the tree, blankets-and gun-within easy reach.

Saber sat a foot away, facing him, the wind playing with her hair. “I could stay here forever,” she said softly. And she wanted to stay with him.

“That could be arranged,” he agreed.

Saber pushed silken strands from her face. “Sometimes I can’t tell if you’re serious or joking.”

“I told you, honey, I take you very seriously.”

His black gaze bored into her, causing her womb to clench. She looked away. “Can you imagine all this a hundred years ago? The battles fought in this country? The famous Indians and frontiersmen who walked this ground?”

“Red Cloud, Chief Dull Knife, Little Wolf,” he recited.

“General Cooke, Captain Fetterman, Jim Bridger,” Saber listed, not to be outdone. She knew her history. She could read a page and recite it verbatim.

Jess sighed. She was probably going to relate every historical event that had ever taken place in Sheridan County including the building of the Sheridan Inn and the stories of its resident ghost. He liked history but not right now. Saber was running from him just as surely as if her feet were burning up the pavement.

“Are we going to talk about the Fetterman Battle or about us?” he asked, his voice gentle.

“The Fetterman Battle.” Saber sent him a quick, almost desperate smile.

“How did I know you’d say that?”

Saber shrugged. “We could talk about cooking or restaurants.”

“I could shake you.”

“Restrain yourself.”

“Family, baby,” he suggested. “Let’s talk about family. Are your parents alive? You’ve never mentioned them.”

Saber scratched at the ground sheet, avoiding his probing gaze. “I grew up in an orphanage,” she said abruptly. “There’s not much to say, is there?” It was almost a challenge, as if she were daring him to push the issue.

She was going to run if he pushed; he could see the wariness in her eyes. Jess allowed the subject to pass, leaning with deceptive laziness against the tree, staring up at the clouds in the sky and then allowing his gaze to search every square inch around him that he could see. The ground. Brush. Even the trees.

Saber yawned, quickly covering it with her hand. “It was a good idea to come here, dragon king. It’s peaceful.”

Jess’s hand snaked out and tugged at Saber, unbalancing her. With a little squeak, she fell over against him, her head pillowed in his lap. His hand came up to caress her silky hair, lingering in the abundance of curls.

“Take a nap, angel face,” he coaxed. “I’ll watch over you.”

She relaxed against him, smiling as he tucked a blanket around the two of them. “You know, Jess, I love your house. If I haven’t told you that before, thank you for all the remodeling you did to make it perfect for me to live there. It was thoughtful of you and not at all necessary, but I’m so glad you did.”

“I thought it was our house now,” he replied mildly, intrigued by the blue highlights the sun was putting in the black of her hair. “It feels like our house.”

Her soft mouth curved. “It does, doesn’t it? I’ve been happy these last months, happier than I’ve ever been. You’re a good friend.”

His fingertip traced the velvet outline of her lip. “Is that what I am, honey?” Amusement colored the deep timbre of his voice. “A good friend? You’re beginning to sound as if you’re delivering a eulogy. ‘It’s been great, Jess, but I’m out of here.’”

Her teeth nipped his finger. “It’s not at all like that and you know it.”

“So tell me what it’s like.” He was careful to keep his voice quietly bland.

Her lashes swept down to lay like two thick crescents over her eyes. A jolt of electricity hit him hard in the stomach. For one moment his hand trembled badly as he forced his body under rigid control, then he was caressing her hair and earlobe with gentle fingers.

“I move around a lot, Jesse. You know that. I’ve been in New York, Florida, and several other states before here, not to mention different cities in each state.”

“Why?”

“Why?” she echoed. The tip of her tongue touched her full lower lip.

“Why,” he insisted, suppressing the groan threatening to rise in his chest.

There was a long silence, so long he was afraid she might not answer. “This is the most time I’ve ever spent in any one place. I’m getting far too attached to everyone. The people in this town are the nicest I’ve met anywhere. And if I stay much longer with you…” She trailed off with a sigh.

His hands moved over her face, tracing delicate bone structure as if committing it to memory. “It’s already too late, baby,” he said.

The long black lashes fluttered, lifted, and beautiful violet-blue eyes touched his burning gaze and then skittered away quickly. Her throat rippled. As she made a slight movement of withdrawal, Jess tightened his hold possessively and waited for the resistance to drain out of her.

“I thought you wanted to talk seriously.” He ruffled her hair because he couldn’t resist the corkscrew curls springing everywhere over her head.

“That was you.”

“Little coward.”

She caught his hand in both of hers, held it against her cheek, wild emotions racing chaotically. “I am, I’m sorry.” She choked the words out, sudden tears burning far too close. It was going to tear her heart out to leave him.

His hand cupped her cheek, thumb sliding firmly along her jaw. He bent his dark head slowly to hers, blotting out the sky, the light, until finally there was only Jess.

His mouth hovered inches from hers. “I won’t let you leave.” He said the words so quietly she barely caught them.

Her breath caught in her throat, mind and body at war. Everything in her yearned for this, craved him, while the sane part of her shrieked for self-preservation, screamed for her to jump up, save herself. His hand spanned her throat, felt the pulse fluttering wildly against his palm like the wings of a captured bird. He murmured something in an aching voice, his breath warm against her skin.

His lips slanted over hers, feather light, velvet soft, yet firm. At the first touch of his mouth her heart slammed in alarm against her breast, and her blood took fire. His teeth nipped at her lower lip. It was her startled gasp that gave him access to the warm, silky, moist interior of her mouth.

Everything changed. Everything.

His arms tightened around her, dragging her closer, the hand around her throat forcing her head to remain still, giving him exactly what he wanted. Pure black magic. He was everything male, sweeping her token resistance away, drinking her sweetness, exploring every inch of her mouth.

Pure feeling. The ground seemed to shift beneath her, colors whirled and blended. Her body was no longer her own, familiar, under control. It flamed into life, craving, crawling with the need to be touched, caressed. If any man in her life had ever kissed her before, Jess wiped him from her mind for all eternity. His mouth was on hers, hot and hard, so that her brain melted into mindless compliance, branding her as irrevocably his.

Saber moaned softly in despair. She was losing herself, clutching desperately at his heavily muscled shoulders to anchor herself to some reality.

Jess lifted his head reluctantly. She was so beautiful, staring up at him with such sensuous confusion he nearly ignored her distress. Saber pushed at the wall of his chest with her small hands, her strength easily overcome, but he obediently straightened, leaning back against the solid tree trunk. She sat up hastily, scrambled what she thought was a safe distance away, and kneeling, faced him.