“I’m not in love with her,” he denied. “Where did you get that?”

“No, you just feel you threw your entire life away for her and she got you into this mess. The children aren’t your ‘mess.’ They’re human beings, no matter what Braden or anyone else did to them. I don’t want them anywhere near someone who feels they’re a ‘mess,’ just a responsibility one has to clean up. They’re children and they deserve a happy life.”

Her hot little temper made him want to smile. That wasn’t a good idea when he was so close to her. He knew she could be lethal, and he didn’t want to test her until he knew exactly what he was dealing with. He hid the grin. “I didn’ mean the children.”

She shrugged and turned away from him, subsiding against the pillows. “I’m tired. I need to sleep.”

Dismissing him. “No way, sugar. That doesn’ happen. We talk thin’s out in my world. Pepper, you’re not goin’ to run off with these kids because you’re angry with me. That would be sheer stupidity, and you’re not stupid.”

“Maybe not, but I’d rather they feel loved than be with someone just hanging around because they feel they have to. That’s not the way to raise a child.”

“You caught a small glimpse of my thoughts and you’re condemin’ me. That’s not right. When I first came home, that first night, I stood lookin’ at this house, Grand-mere’s house, my home, and I knew then what a fool I’d been over Joy. And then, long before I knew about the children, I acknowledged I was in a mess. When I joined the program to be enhanced, it was for a psychic enhancement, not a genetic one. I received both. I was goin’ to have to go to ma grand-mere and let her see what I was – what I’d become – and I was ashamed of myself for doin’ such a stupid thing over a woman who didn’ want me and worse, and more importantly – I didn’t want her. I was never in love with her, only the childish illusion of rescuing her.”

“You mean like you’re rescuing me?”

Her long lashes fluttered. He could see the sweep of them, feathery and full, sending little shock waves through his stomach straight to his groin. Her profile was beautiful, a work of art, and he realized no man could have produced that even with heavy sculpting. She had a small white scar on her neck just below her ear, but her face was flawless, rose petal skin smoothed over perfect bone structure.

Revelations were the very devil, and he didn’t like where his mind, his brilliant mind, was taking him. All along, from the moment he’d laid eyes on her. Practically from the moment when he’d been aware on some level that the Rougarou in the swamp was really a woman. From the time he’d seen those small fingers curled around the hilt of a knife. The parlor floor had trembled under his feet and it had nothing at all to do with his temper and everything to do with this woman’s impact on him.

He wanted to believe Whitney had created her for him. He wanted that excuse. He wanted to blame her for the sexual lure he felt every time he was close to her. He thought about her all the time, and he’d tried to make her less than human so he could believe himself superior to her. He even wanted the excuse she just handed him – that he wanted to rescue her. Even if it were true, there was far more to it than that.

Wyatt sank down onto the side of the bed, pushing one hand through his thick, wavy hair. He wanted to grab it and pull, to feel the shock of reality. “It’s interestin’ to me how humans manage to delude themselves into believin’ the things they want to believe. You aren’t tryin’ to seduce me, Pepper. But I’m still bein’ seduced. And no, I didn’t want that. I wanted to believe I was madly in love with a woman who was heartless. But she’s not. She just wanted somethin’ different, somethin’ that wasn’t me. I realized I never loved her. I made up a fantasy and never saw who she was or what she needed.”

Pepper turned over, her dark eyes moving over his face.

“She wanted out of the bayou, and I love it here. She wanted away from everythin’ and everyone I call home. I wanted to blame her for what I’d done, but in the end, I have to face the fact that all along, ever since I saw my brother and the things he could do, I wanted that as well. I’m too much the scientist. My brain likes puzzles and answers. I did this. Not Joy. Me. Just as I’m the one attracted to you. Not the sexual enhancements, that’s not the lure for me. It’s just you.”

Her eyes changed, going from the deep purple to warm violet. He watched in amazement as the diamond-colored ring surrounding the dark color began to bleed into it, a strange, beautiful starburst that changed her eyes completely.

“Maybe rescuin’ you is part of the attraction, or maybe you’re rescuin’ me. Did you ever think of that? That you might be my savior?”

She reached up with her bare, slender arm, her fingers curving around the nape of his neck one by one, and she slowly pulled him down toward her.

Wyatt’s breath rushed out of his lungs, leaving him burning for air. The ground shifted and the bed trembled. He could see every detail of her beautiful, perfect face. The long feathery sweep of her lashes, the strange starburst in her eyes that beckoned a man to fall into paradise. He knew the details of this moment would be branded for all time in his mind.

Her skin, close up, was soft and flawless, a lure of satin, and her thick hair was luxurious silk. He wanted to pull her braid apart and bury his hands and face in the dark cloud. His gaze dropped to her lips. The soft curve, the formation, the fullness. His heart pounded nearly out of control.