Touched by Darkness (36 page)

show you what it looks like."

"You can see it?" Alex asked, not at all sure he

wanted to go any further.

"The ghost isn't here now. I can see the energy it

left behind. So can you, if you'll take my hand, and

let me show you."

"Is it scary?"

"Nah. Nothing worse than
Casper.
Besides, you're a

Sentinel, bro. You can handle it." Luke's hand

remained outstretched, his gaze steady.

A Sentinel,
The words whispered through Alex,

beckoning him like a powerful lure, one even

stronger than getting to watch
Star Wars
or
Star

Trek,
or winning a soccer game. He finally

belonged somewhere, with people who were like

him.

Slowly, he stretched out his hand and placed it in

Luke's.

#

It was after dark when Damien returned to the

house with a bag of hamburgers, cheese fries, and

strawberry milkshakes from the Busy Bee. The

aroma of fast food and ice cream wafted inside the

house with him. The door closed behind him, and

the bolt turned to the locked position, both without

physical assistance.

Kara was curled up on the couch, trying to focus on

the paperwork she had stacked next to her. She'd

been pretty much unsuccessful, upset by her visit

with Luz, as well as distracted by thoughts of the

upcoming conduction. She watched Damien set the

food on the dining room table. He pulled an indigo

pillar candle from his duster pocket and also set it

on the table. She knew it was for the conduction,

and her heart skipped a beat.

"Any luck at the crime scene?" she asked.

"Yes." He took off the duster, walked over to hang

it on the wall rack by the front door. "I picked up a

strong energy trail. Should be able to get a good

conduction."

He strolled to the overstuffed chair, sleek and

graceful, reminding her of a very dangerous wild

animal. He settled into the chair, looking

deceptively relaxed. "Anything unusual at the

office today?"

Kara didn't mention her solitary visit to Luz,

although she'd been badly shaken by it. She didn't

want to deal with Damien's certain reaction right

now. She'd tell him later.

"Sharon Wills, Doris's oldest daughter, came by.

She's staying in Zorro for the rest of the month, to

close up Doris's house. The memorial service is

tomorrow, at two o'clock." She tried to push away

the overwhelming press of grief and sadness.

"I'll go with you." It was a command, not an option.

"That's fine."

He stared at her thoughtfully. "Anything else

happen?"

"Nothing major." She sighed. "But four of my

appointments cancelled. They told Bonnie they

wouldn't associate with anyone who was living in

sin. I guess they heard the latest rumors about you

and me."

"You know Texas is part of the Bible Belt."

"Apparently a lot of those 'Bible Belters' are

extremely interested in sin. Almost every adult

patient I saw today asked about you. And Mike

Johnson made a pass at me."

Damien's eyes narrowed. "Did he give you a hard

time?"

"I can handle inappropriate remarks and occasional

gropings."

"
He
groped you?"
His voice chilled about a

hundred degrees.

"I did
not
say that." Kara rolled her eyes. "Down,

boy! You don't have to come to my rescue. You'd be

surprised how many men lust after their female

doctors, or fantasize about them. Some women do,

too, but that's another can of worms."

"You don't have to come to my rescue, either,"

Damien said. "You shouldn't have told Greer we'd

been together all night, especially in front of that

crowd."

"He had no right to imply that you might be the

murderer, and without any proof. Not only that, but

I didn't want him focusing on you, when he needs

to be looking for the real killer." She rolled her

head, trying to ease the stiffness from her

shoulders. "As you pointed out yesterday, your car

parked in my driveway all night is pretty much the

equivalent of waving a red flag and shouting
'Dr.

Cantrell is having wild monkey sex with that

stranger'. "

His eyes took on a burning intensity. "They'll be

right after tonight."

Desire flashed through her lower body, while her

stomach felt like it was twisting itself into double

knots. Her apprehension must have shown on her

face—not that a mere human could hide anything

from a Sentinel—because his expression softened.

"Kara, you know I won't hurt you."

Not physically, but the emotional ramifications

were another matter entirely. She managed a small

nod. "I know."

He rose and crossed to the couch, taking her chin in

his hand. He tipped her face up, forcing her to meet

his mesmerizing gaze. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes, I do." She spoke the absolute truth. She'd

trust this man with both her and Alex's lives. He

was a warrior, sworn to protect the innocent.

"Good." He released her, stepped back. "Do you

want to eat first?"

The double knots in her stomach twisted into

triples. "I'm not hungry."

"I figured you wouldn't be able to eat now. I'll put

the food away until afterwards." He took the bags

into the kitchen, and she heard the fridge open and

shut. He returned to the living room as she stood

and stacked the files. Her hands were shaking.

She straightened, smoothed her sweater. "I guess

we'd better get to it."

He looked at her in that disconcerting way of his.

"No sense putting it off." He went to the table,

picked up the candle and gestured toward the

hallway. "After you."

She walked to her bedroom, the sound of his boots

thudding on the wood floor behind her. She flicked

on the light, moved over by the bed. He came in

behind her and sat in her wingback chair to pull off

his boots. She watched him, imagining how

magnificent he would look naked.

In a few moments, she wouldn't have to imagine.

A sudden thought occurred to her. "What about

protection?"

He set the second boot by the first. "Sentinels are

not susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases, as

you probably already know. And the only way you

can get pregnant is if a Sentinel soul chooses you as

a birth parent."

She pressed her palm against her belly. "Would

birth control prevent such a pregnancy?"

"No." He stood and unbuckled his belt. "But a

pregnancy won't occur unless The One and the

Sentinel soul are convinced it's feasible for all

involved parties." He slid the belt free, tossed it

into the chair. "In other words, if it is God's will,

then it will be. Some things are out of our control."

Another baby—one that would be a Sentinel? She

didn't know how she felt about that. Part of her

would love to have another baby, but to raise a

child in the Sentinel world... "I don't know if I

could handle having another child."

"If that's the case, then you won't get pregnant. You

have to trust in the Universe, Kara."

She wasn't sure she was capable of trusting

anymore. Yet she and Damien were the only things

standing between the Belian and the town of Zorro.

She could only hope she didn't get pregnant,

although it seemed like Russian roulette to her.

Damien pulled off his sweater, shaking his

gleaming hair free. He wore a white T-shirt

underneath, which emphasized his dark skin and

bulging biceps. Her mouth went dry. She didn't

know if she could nonchalantly strip in front of this

man and stretch out across the bed for his use in a

conduction. Feeling the heat rise to her cheeks, she

cursed herself for being such a prude. She was

doctor, used to dealing with naked bodies.

Even so, she felt like that innocent schoolgirl again,

about to experience her very first kiss. For a

woman who'd dated very few men, and who had

been celibate the past seven years, the thought of

hot, uninhibited conduction sex with a man she

hardly knew—and certainly wasn't in a relationship

with—was daunting, to say the least.
Terrifying

would be more accurate, yet Kara hated to think of

herself as a coward. Nor was she going back on her

word.

"Well, then." Blowing out her breath, she started

unbuttoning her sweater.

"Kara." He halted her with a hand on her arm. "Do

you have a robe?"

"It's in the bathroom."

"Undress in there and
put on the robe. I think that

will be easier."

He was far too perceptive. She turned toward the

bathroom, feeling like a fool. "I'm sorry to be so...

silly about this."

"You're doing just fine."

Easy for him to say. He did this on a regular basis

—which she found strangely unsettling. In the

bathroom, she stripped with shaking hands and

fumbled into the robe, tying it at the waist. The

chill from the tiled floor wafted up her bare legs,

and she shivered. Taking a deep breath, she stared

at the closed door.
Now or never.
She opened the

door, stepped into the room.

The lights were off, and the indigo candle had been

placed on her nightstand and lit. Damien was on the

far side of the bed, the covers just barely over his

hips. He was impossibly large and imposing,

dwarfing the queen-size bed. The candlelight

flickered on his bare chest, over the sleek bulge of

muscle, and the glint of his crystal. Glancing away,

she saw his clothes draped neatly over the nearby

armchair.

Aware of his gaze on her as she slid beneath the

covers, she settled onto her back. She stared at the

ceiling, tension invading her body. Some of it, of

course, was the sexual energy he was radiating like

a raging furnace.

"Turn on your side, facing me." His voice was like

rough velvet.

She did, meeting his gaze. He shifted closer, lifted a

hand to cup her cheek. She stared into the molten

silver of his eyes, feeling heat and desire flaring

from their two bodies, the sparks from his fingers

tingling on her face. She felt a tug at her waist,

realized he was untying her robe with his other

hand, and pushing the fabric behind her.

He slid his hand lightly along her bare hip and

midriff, his fingers leaving a scorching trail. Need

rose like a brilliant sunrise, and in her mind, she

saw two nude bodies entwined in raw hunger.
Dear

God.
She was about to melt into an incoherent

puddle, and they'd barely touched.

He settled his body mere inches from hers,

although he didn't caress her again or kiss her, as

Richard would have done. His hand remained

against her face, and she resisted the inordinate

urge to turn her lips into his palm.

"Don't be afraid," he said in that black-magic voice.

"I'll be... careful with you."

She knew he couldn't honestly say 'gentle', because

there was nothing soft or easy about conductor sex.

"I know," she whispered, shocked at the husky

timbre of her voice.

"Tell me if you feel any discomfort at any time."

Of its own volition, her gaze shifted lower to the

sizable, tented sheet above his groin.
Oh, my.
She

managed to nod.

He took her hands in the ritual conduction clasp.

"Don't let go, no matter how intense it gets."

It was already intense. The heat from his body had

raised her temperature to a simmer; his touch

elevated it to a full boil. The energy didn't initiate

in a steady flow, but like a tsunami wave. The

sexual surge exploded in her belly. A red haze

filmed her vision. She felt like she'd been slammed

against a wall.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
The four lower

chakras blasted open almost simultaneously, and

she jolted forward with a cry.

"Hold on," Damien's harsh voice came against her

ear. "This is going to be wild."

He eased her onto her back, shifting his body over

hers, setting every cell inside her on fire. She