Edge Of Danger Read online

  Marshall pulled out his chair and sat at his workstation, picking up a small red ball. “I have no idea why I’m holding on to this stuff. It’s not as if we’ll need it again.”

  They’d used dozens of toys as learning tools for the robot. Balls, mechanical insects, colored blocks. Flash cards. Items that to untrained eyes were just clutter.

  Apparently whoever had killed Theo hadn’t taken any chances of leaving anything behind. They’d taken every disk, every scrap of paper, everything except an overlooked red ball.

  “Hey, you never know.” Eden sat down in her ergonomic, five-thousand-dollar chair, booted her computer, and tried to sound cheerful. “Maybe Jason will give us the go-ahead to rebuild him.”

  And if I could do it again?she asked herself.Honestly? In a heartbeat. It had been the most exhilarating, fulfilling event in her career.

  But realistically? Now that I know someone can just walk in and take the technology? Absolutely not.

  “Not with every government agency breathing down his neck, he won’t,” Marshall said with disgust.

  Eden looked at the preliminary designs for the voice-tech band and wanted to hit delete. Who cared? Yes, she grudgingly acknowledged, the concept had military as well as practical applications. The skeletal line-drawing rotated in virtual 3-D on her computer. The unit was no larger than an average wristwatch, but this design would allow the embedded computer portability as well as incorporating basic AI. Once built, it could process, analyze, and mimic everything from the commands of a seasoned general in battle to the mundane dictates of a babysitter. Eden thought it was an unambitious project. A freaking micro-nanny. It wasn’t Rex, damn it.

  Marshall gave her a cautious look. “Maybe you shouldn’t have been so evasive about Rex to that Homeland Security guy.”

  “I didn’t lie to Special Agent Dixon.”She’d lied by omission though. Once the authorities realized the extent of the technology unleashed, the shit would hit the proverbial fan.

  The pterodactyls went kamikaze, and she pressed her hand to her midriff.They don’t know half of what he’scapable of. And please God, let’s hope they never need to find out.

  “To give Jason his due,” she said, striving for calm she was in no way feeling, “they probably gave him no choice but to shut down the program.” She was torn. Admit the full extent of her research. Or pray that whoever had Rex never discovered all his capabilities.

  Marshall snorted. “I hate to be cynical, but Mr. Verdine will make a mint from the insurance claim. Without having to go to the trouble of putting Rex into production.”

  “That’s ridiculous. He was the one who told us to come up with a humanlike robot they could use as a medic in war zones in the first place.”

  “True…Radio on or off?” He asked absently, already focused on his computer.

  He’d been about to say something else, Eden knew. Marshall didn’t much like Jason Verdine. “On.”

  He turned on the state-of-the-art stereo system, and the too quiet lab filled with quiet jazz.

  She was going to have to come clean to the authorities. She knew it. She had no choice. She’d already waited too long. Guilt was burning a hole in her brain, and in her poor, abused stomach.

  She’d honored Theo’s dying last words as promised. But she was going to have to break that promise. Because the longer she kept these secrets the worse the possibilities became. She couldn’t in good conscience not forewarn the authorities, even if the bad guys never figured out what they had.

  The authorities might or might not find the perpetrator and retrieve Rex, but Dr. Kirchner would still be dead. She could at least give him the credit for her work—

  Oh for God’s sake. Eden thought, furious with herself. And then they’d blameDr. Theo Kirchner for being an overreaching, overachieving, overeducated…moronfor unleashing Rex on the world.

  She wouldn’t do that to Theo.

  He’d been more family than her own. He’d shared her frustrations. He’d celebrated her successes. He’d understood her. Something that couldn’t be said for pretty much anyone she now knew. She’d loved her professor like a grandfather. She would miss his gentle humor, his sharp intellect before age had diminished it. She’d miss their shared experience, miss his joy and pride at each new discovery she made. God. She missedhim. Desperately.

  She’d felt more alone, moreseparate than ever, standing at his graveside. He’d had no family there. The closest “family” had been her and Marshall. How sad was that? And who would stand wet-eyed besideher grave? It was a sobering thought.

  Having no interest or excitement in this new project, Eden’s gaze kept returning to the other end of the room and the doorway to the kitchenette where she’d discovered Theo barely alive that night two weeks ago.

  “Destroy everything. Trust no one. Promise me.”

  Well, she’d destroyed what was left, and God only knew, she had trust issues by the bushel already.

  She wished she could share her guilt with Marshall. Wished she could confess that she’d been an egotistical idiot to push so far and so fast with the technology. Marshall would certainly understand. Hell, he’d be ecstatic to learn just how far she’d been able to go. But as strongly as she wanted to tell him, Eden knew she would never put Marshall in the position of knowing something that could get him at best arrested, at worst, killed.

  God, what a mess she’d made.

  And how could she drag Marshall into the abyss with her? She knew without looking that his brow would be furrowed like a sharpei as he concentrated. He was cute and geeky, with no social skills, little self-confidence, and a brain few people understood. He reminded Eden of herself at the same age.

  Like herself, Marshall had a few body image issues. She’d been a plump, shy misfit until she’d gotten rid of two hundred and forty some pounds. Fifty excess pounds of her own, and a hundred and ninety of ex-husband.

  She missed neither her ex, nor the weight she’d lost through mind-numbing diligence, discipline, and sheer determination.

  Marshall would come into his own. He was only twenty-two, a mishmash of disproportionate body parts. Not that Eden gave a damn what he looked like. He was funny and dear, and the best lab assistant she’d ever had. He’d worked with her for three years, and she trusted him implicitly. Something she couldn’t say about most men of her acquaintance.

  She could hear Marshall typing behind her, clicking away as his fingers flew over his keyboard. It didn’t take much to get Marshall deeply involved.

  Eden glared at her monitor and lightly tapped a short nail on the delete key.

  She felt burned out. Guilt ridden. Stressed as well. She hated that she had those bodyguards with her 24/7. They’d gone with her to Sacramento, and camped out at her mom’s while she slept. Not that she’d been sleeping well lately.

  Which brought her full circle to the bizarre dream she couldn’t forget.

  Suddenly her heart started pounding erratically and she felt hot. Fever hot. She scowled. A hell of a dream if just the memory of it got her all hot and bothered.

  She related the sensations she was experiencing to a surge of adrenaline. No—more likeanticipation. Of what she had no idea. She had the sense that, somehow, she was on the brink of something…life altering.

  Fanciful nonsense, she told herself. She was a scientist. Her elevated heart rate and respiration were directly correlated to her thoughts about everything that had happened in the last few weeks. Her fear was justified. Under the circumstances, she’d be a damn foolnot to be scared. The ramifications of what had been stolen were far-reaching and of monumental proportions in the wrong hands. And she was almost wholly responsible.

  Guilt was a heavy burden.

  She doesn’t look happy, Gabriel thought, not too fucking happy himself. Invisible, he stood unnoticed twenty feet away from her, yet he still felt the same pull he’d felt in her bedroom earlier. He let his gaze slide down her lush body as she sat at her computer.

  He closed his eyes
briefly as her fragrance filled his senses, hoping, praying that the unbearable tension inside him would ease. His attraction to her was powerful. Good sense clanged a loud warning to get as far away from this woman as possible before it was too late.

  Stunned by the strength of the blinding physical awareness he felt justlooking at her, Gabriel wanted to be anywhere but here. Wanted to feel anything but the raw longing scorching him deep inside.

  The fact that he’dimagined her naked before he’d entered her bedroom in the early hours of this morning, and she hadbecome naked, concerned him a great deal. How was his subconscious suddenly capable of performing magic tasks not commanded by his conscious thought?

  That had never happened before.

  He’d have to be a damn sight more vigilant about what the hell he was thinking when he was around Dr. Cahill.

  Thank God he wouldn’t have to be around her for long.

  Unfortunately he was near hernow.

  He remembered the sight of her beautiful plump breasts with the peaks of her aroused nipples begging for his touch. He pictured her parted lips, and the sounds she made as her arousal built, and gritted his teeth hard enough for his jaw to ache, willing away the vivid pictures in his brain.

  What would happen if he gave in to the powerful temptation? Just totouch her? How dangerous could a touch be? Lust wasn’t love. And God only knew, this was lust to the nth power.

  It was useless trying to resist the compulsion to stare at her. Impossible. He’d provedthat to himself the last time he’d watched her here in the lab several days ago, and again early this morning before the sun was up.

  It was even worse this morning. He’d known—known—that seeing this woman again would be dangerous. But what choice had he had?

  The Curse.

  The fucking, goddamned Curse was alive and well and already biting him in the ass. He’d felt the pull the very first time he’d laid eyes on this woman. A pull he’d never felt before in his life, but one he recognized immediately. Scared the living bejesus out of him.

  When a Lifemate is chosen by the heart of a son: No protection can be given, again I have won.

  Not that he’d let it getthat far. Hell no. He’d do what he had to do and get the hell out of Dodge. Besides, it wasn’t hisheart that was turned on by Dr. Eden Cahill.

  Close enough to reach out and touch her, he watched her work. Her hair gleamed, beckoning to be stroked. The curly, chin-length strands bared the vulnerable curve of her neck as she leaned over the keyboard. He wanted to put his mouth there. Her dark lashes cast shadows on her cheeks; he wanted to feel the brush of them on his skin. He wanted to run his mouth lightly across the smooth skin beneath her stubborn jaw, and then taste the lobe of her ear. She was oblivious to his presence as she concentrated. He wanted her to be that focused, that intense as she became familiar with his body.

  Strictly speaking, she wasn’t beautiful, merely pretty, he thought desperately. Her mouth was full, and clearly used to smiling, although right now she was frowning, and looked very serious. Her eyelashes were thick and naturally dark, long enough to cast shadows on her cheekbones. Her large, chocolate brown eyes were pensive as she stared into space. Something was worrying Dr. Cahill. Something that had her combing her fingers through her dark hair. He almost groaned; he wanted to push her hands aside and do that himself. He didn’t wonder how it would feel—he couldsee how soft and silky her hair would be, tangled between his fingers.

  Resisting her was like trying not to breathe. He could manage it for slightly longer than he could hold his breath on a deep sea dive, but eventually the clawing need had him again.

  Every muscle in his body was tight. The magnetism was undoubtedly sexual. But it was more than that.

  Stronger even than lust.

  The knowledge that this was beyond lust terrified him right down to his marrow.

  He’d felt sexual attraction to plenty of women in his thirty-four years. Lust at first sight a time or two. But never like this. Never a slam in the gut so powerful he grew hard.

  Every hunter’s instinct in him demanded he go to her. Claim her. Right now. Right there in her chair. And to hell with her assistant. To hell with the consequences.

  He’d slide the zipper down on her jeans, yank them off and spread her legs—Ah, Jesus—He crushed the thought, because if he let himself finish it, the tenuous hold he had on his control would shatter.

  Today she was wearing jeans and a plain red T-shirt with a little pocket over the swell of her right breast. Gabriel’s hungry gaze traveled greedily down her body, all the way to her pretty feet with their bright pink polish and little black ring on the pinkie toe of her right foot. His gut tightened just looking at her sexy toes in those high-heeled sandals that showed off her slender ankles.

  He wanted to hold her in his arms for real. Hold her and touch her silky skin. His hands hurt from wanting to touch her. His breathing had to be shallow, because he could smell her heady, womanly fragrance, and it made him dizzy with longing. She liked perfume, different ones. He’d seen the fancy bottles lined up in her bathroom. Today she had on something intensely feminine, smelling of flowers and sunshine. The fragrance mingled with the scent of her skin in a way that made Gabriel feel drunk just inhaling it.

  He knew she’d taste as delicious as she smelled.

  Don’t go there.He wished to God he could do this to her from a distance. About five thousand miles might do it. But to do what he needed to do, he had to be within sight of her. Frigging hell, he thought, so frustrated he wanted to chew glass.

  It hadn’t worked six hours ago.

  He was desperate enough to try again. He couldn’t take her back to the castle. He just fuckingcouldn’t. She was seductive and succulent enough as it was, sitting here in a sterile white lab. What in God’s name would he do if he ever saw her naked again? Just the memory almost made him swallow his tongue.

  He liked that she was womanly. Not fat by any stretch of the imagination, but magnificently curvy. She had a spectacular ass, long gorgeous legs, and fantasy-worthy breasts.

  He hungered to see her naked again. He wanted to mold the thin cotton to her breasts with his hands. He wanted to slide his fingers beneath the shirt and feel her smooth, bare skin. It would be warm. Silky smooth. Responsive—

  Half expecting her to look up, he thought it inconceivable that she wasn’t just as aware of him as he was of her. His own elevated heartbeat threatened to choke him. All his senses were so sharply attuned to hers.

  Indeed, he’d noticed that within moments of his appearance her heart ratehad shot up, and her respirationhad changed. So she felt the same inescapable pull he did, even though she couldn’t possibly know that he was watching her.

  She was clearly thinking, her eyes as large and trusting as a child’s as she stared into space.What’s going on in that clever brain of yours, Doctor? She chewed on her lush lower lip, and Gabriel bit back a groan. Damn it. He had to make this quick. But first he needed to get Marshall Davis out of the room. He considered just vaporizing the guy, but dismissed the idea as medieval. Fast, expedient, but unduly harsh.

  A woman as strong-willed as Eden Cahill wasn’t suddenly going to allow herself to let go to the extent he needed her to let go. Not with someone else in the room.

  He placed a suggestion in Davis’s mind.

  The younger man swiveled in his chair. “Hey, you didn’t have your tea yet, did you? Want me to get it for you?”

  She blinked, and her eyes came slowly back into focus. “That’s okay, I’ll get it in a minute.”

  Get her the fucking tea.

  “No prob. Be right back.” Davis darted to the back of the lab and the kitchenette. He started opening and closing cabinet doors in his search for the tea bags. That would take a while, since Gabriel added an oldie but goodie to his mental messaging to Marshall, blanking the definition of a tea bag from the kid’s brain.

  Gabriel closed his eyes and imagined touching the soft, tender skin of Eden’s nap
e where, he’d discovered last night, she was extremely sensitive. Mentally he brushed her hair aside, then ran his lips from her hairline to the first vertebra of her spine. She tilted her head and shivered.

  He concentrated on arousing her. No matter how much of a hurry he was in—and God help him, he wanted to get the hell out of there P-fucking-DQ—he needed her to climax for at least twelve seconds. He’d have to have that much time to get into her mind and retrieve the data.

  He imagined his hand on the fullness of her breast, felt the weight and the texture. Jesus…He was swimming in shark-infested waters here. His own arousal profound and painful, he teased her nipple to a sharp point. Then made the mistake of opening his eyes to watch her.

  Head resting against the back of her chair, eyes closed, she’d sunk her teeth into her lower lip. Gabriel almost fell to his knees, he wanted her so badly.