Predatory Game

curls. “Baby.” He groaned it softly in a kind of anguish. “Don’t, don’t do this.”

“Go away.” Her voice was muffled.

“You know I’m not going to do that,” he replied, keeping his voice low. “You’re sick, Saber, I’m not just leaving you up here to fend for yourself.” His hand stroked her hair. “Come on, love, you’ve got to stop crying. You’ll get a headache.”

“I already have a headache,” she sniffed. “Go away, Jesse, I don’t want you to see me like this.”

“Who can see? It’s dark in here,” he teased, hands sliding to her shoulders in a calming rhythm.

“Where’d your little friend go?” Saber couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out, could have bitten her tongue off for doing so. As if she cared. He could have fifty women, a whole harem over every night while she worked at the station.

Jess found himself smiling in spite of everything, and had to hastily control his voice. “You’re running a fever, little one, let me get you a cold cloth. Have you taken any aspirin?”

“So perceptive of you to notice.” Saber sat up, rubbing her eyes with her fist, furious with herself for crying. She swept a hand through the mass of raven-colored curls in a vain effort to smooth the disheveled mess. “And I can take an aspirin all by myself.”

He was already halfway to her bathroom. “True, but would you?” he queried as he pushed open the door.

Jess had designed the remodel of his house, making certain that every door was comfortably wide, everything was low enough for him. Now, he was particularly grateful that he’d made certain he had ease of movement upstairs as well as down. Ignoring the lacy scraps of female underwear hanging to dry on the towel rack, Jess scooped up a washcloth.

Saber made an effort to pull herself together. So she wasn’t feeling good. Big deal. So her best friend in the entire world had scared the hell out of her. Big deal. Jess was sneaking around with some woman he didn’t want her to know about. Rotten, stinking, no-good bum. Saber smoldered with resentment, frustration, and something that was far too close to jealousy.

Just what was he doing with all the lights out? How often did Jezebel visit while she was gone? It wasn’t like Saber didn’t tell him about every single disgusting date she went on. They had endless discussions about them. She didn’t sneak behind his back.

Jess stifled a small grin. It took tremendous effort for him to keep his expression blank. Her violet-blue eyes spit fire at him. Jealousy meant she cared, whether she wanted to care or not. Something stirred in him deep down, something gentle and tender and long forgotten.

“Baby,” he said gently, “if you continue to look at me like that I’m bound to fall dead on the floor.” The cool washcloth moved over her burning face, stroked down her neck.

“Good idea, great idea, in fact,” Saber snapped, but she didn’t pull away from his ministrations.

“Shall I call Eric?” He pushed back her hair.

Eric Lambert was the surgeon who had saved Jesse’s life, Saber knew, a really big deal, apparently famous among doctors, and he still made house calls-at least to Jess. Sometimes he came with another doctor, a woman, although Saber had never met her. But she knew Jess had been violently ill after the last time they’d both come; she didn’t want any part of that.

“I’ve got the flu, Jesse,” she reassured him in spite of the fact that he deserved the death penalty. “No big deal, I don’t need a doctor.”

“You need to get out of these clothes.” His voice dropped a husky octave.

“Don’t hold your breath.” Having an affair without saying a single word when he wanted to know every detail of her dates? How dare he?

“Who did you think I was?” He slipped the question in with all the precision of a skilled surgeon wielding a knife.

Beneath his hands she went still, blue eyes skittering away from his. One finger nervously twisted a lock of hair around it. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Jess lifted the washcloth, caught her chin in a firm grip, and forced her to meet his steady, probing gaze. “You’re getting to be a terrible liar.”

Saber jerked her chin free. “I thought you were safe in bed, caveman. Why do you think I was stumbling around in the dark? I was being considerate. How was I supposed to know you were carrying on a clandestine meeting with the local harlot?” Furious, Saber sat up and switched on the dim lamp on her nightstand. “I can’t believe you actually tripped me and held a gun on me.”

“I can’t believe you behaved so stupidly. If I had been an intruder, you’d be dead right now,” he bit back, dark eyes glittering.

“Well, maybe I knew it was you all along. Did that ever occur to you?” Saber jumped up, putting distance between them.

“Like hell you did.”

“Don’t you dare get mad at me. I wasn’t the one pointing a gun at your head. I didn’t even know you had a gun in the house. I hate guns,” she declared. But she knew how to use them. She could break one down and put it back together in seconds, less than that when needed. She was fast, efficient, deadly.

“So I noticed.” He smiled in spite of himself.

She paced the length of the room with the familiar flowing grace of a ballet dancer. “Well, just who did you think I was, some private investigator hired by that woman’s husband?”

Jess didn’t even blink. “I don’t know what you imagined you saw,” he began.

“I saw a woman. She ducked into the shadows,” Saber was adamant.

“It happened so fast, honey, and you were frightened.”

“Hit the big slide, Jesse,” Saber said rudely.

“I’m not exactly certain what that means.”

“Don’t you laugh. Don’t you dare laugh. It means go to hell, and for your information, I wasn’t that scared. I know I saw a woman.” She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head to scowl at him. “Not that I blame you for wanting to deny her existence. Her dog probably wants to deny her existence. But I know what I saw.”

“Okay, okay,” he said soothingly. “You saw a woman hiding in our living room, I believe you. Now get out of those clothes and into your night things.”

Saber glared at him. “You’re patronizing me, pretending to pretend to believe me.”

His eyebrow shot up. “This is far too complicated to sort out with you so ill. I can’t even follow the logic of that. If it makes you feel better I’ll close my eyes.”

She considered throwing things at him, but her head was pounding and she was unbearably hot. “So keep them closed,” she ordered and stalked into the bathroom.

Saber was observant; he had to hand it to her, although it shouldn’t surprise him. She was running a high fever, was terrified of the dark, and must have been even more so by his unexpected assault. Yet she had noticed that whisper of movement in the darkest corner of the room. And her movements had been calm enough, calculated, and might have worked on someone with less training.

She emerged, clad in a long T-shirt reaching halfway to her knees, looking more beautiful than ever. “Are you still here?” she demanded as she flounced across the floor to fling herself on the bed.

“Did you take aspirin?”

“Yes.” She made a face at him to show him he wasn’t forgiven. “Are you happy?”

Jess sighed softly. “You’re still angry with me.”

Saber curled up in a little ball, facing away from him, actually hunching a shoulder. “You think?”

It took one powerful motion of his incredibly strong arms and Jess had shifted himself from his chair to her bed. Saber’s slender body stiffened as he stretched out beside her, but she didn’t protest.

He pulled her close, fitting her into his shoulder, amazed at how soft her skin was, how fragile and small she appeared next to him. He reached out a lazy hand to snap off the lamp.

“Don’t.”

“It’s time for you to sleep, baby,” he prompted, plunging the room into darkness with a quick flick of his fingers.

Instantly he felt the shudder run through her body. “I sleep with the light on.”

“Not tonight. Tonight you sleep in my arms, knowing I’ll keep you safe.” He stroked her hair tenderly.