Atlantis Rising

Intense.'

That smug, all-male smile returned to his face, which, in spite of every feminist principle she'd ever known, somehow made her want to put her mouth on him.

All over him.

A wave of heat washed over her, and she groaned. 'Conlan, I don't know what this is about. Could it be—could it be some kind of side effect of reading your emotions? Maybe I'll react this way to every Atlantean I meet.'

He immediately tensed in his chair, leaning forward, the hands clasped in his lap going white-knuckled. 'For whatever reason, Riley,' he ground out through gritted teeth, 'I don't seem to be able to handle the thought of you reacting this way to any other male, Atlantean or otherwise.'

She watched him as he visibly fought for control, his nostrils flaring as he breathed deeply, white lines deepening at the corners of his mouth. The thought that she did that to him—made him lose control, even a little—was, oddly enough, turning her on.

A lot.

Especially since she had the feeling he wasn't the type to lose control all that much. She'd seen inside his mind, after all. Rigid control, duty, and honor. Not a lot of spontaneity or footloose happiness.

And the pain. Oh, she'd never forget the pain.

'Conlan, not that I encourage this tree swinging and chest beating, but I think—I think it's not a problem,' she ventured. 'After all, I kinda forgot that your brother was just in the room. He even looks like you, and he must have a lot of the same superpowered Atlantean DNA, right?'

Conlan smiled a little and nodded, still clenching his hands together.

'Well, there was nothing. Zip,' she said, shrugging. 'I mean, he's great-looking and all—'

Conlan made that strange growling noise low in his throat again, and she held up her hands, palms out. 'I meant to say that he's okay-looking and all, but I didn't have any urge to strip his clothes off and lick him all over or anything,' she finished, smiling.

Then she realized what she'd just said, by implication.

Oh, crap.

Conlan hadn't missed it, either, if the expression on his face was anything to go by. The look that said he wanted to lick her right back.

Heat spiked through her center, making her actually clench her legs together against the wetness that threatened to spill out.

Okay, this is bad. Thoughts of hunky prince licking anybody— er, anything—are off-limits.

He shoved a hand through that delicious black hair of his and shot up out of the chair. Then he started doing a little pacing of his own. 'Riley, until we understand why we're reacting like this to each other, it's perhaps better if we stay away from each other.'

'Yeah, okay, that's fine. In fact, why don't you take me back to my house—or just call me a cab, a cab would be good, and I'll get out of your hair,' she said, inexplicably hurt by his having voiced the same thing she'd been thinking only moments before.

He stopped pacing and turned to stare down at her. 'I'm sorry, but you're not going anywhere.'

Hurt changed in a flash to pissed off. 'What do you mean? Look, buddy, you may have the right to order your Atlantean flunkies around, but I'm an American citizen. You've got zero rights where I'm concerned.'

He strode over to the bed and sat next to her before she could move. 'It's not about rights, aknasha. It's about your own protection. The vampires who attacked us at your house— why were they there? Were they after us? I suspect so, given the nature of the attack.'

Taking her hands in his, he continued. 'But now they know you live in that house. They're going to be wondering what connection you have to us. You won't be safe there anymore.'

She looked down at their hands, wondering if he even realized that his thumb was caressing the back of her hand. Wondering how such a small gesture could make her bones turn to liquid.

Suddenly afraid that he was using some sort of Atlantean version of mind control on her.

She yanked her hands away from his. 'So what you're saying is that you've ruined my life.'

'No,' he said softly. 'I think what I'm saying is that you've complicated mine.'

Scooting back from him on the bed, she tried to be rational. 'All right. Let's back up. Tell me what I need to know about Atlantis. Tell me why these vampires are after you. Tell me what aknasha means, and why you're so freaked out that I might be one. I work better with information, so give me some already.'

Conlan smiled, and some of the tension seemed to leave his shoulders. 'Information is definitely something I can give you. You deserve it. First, my homeland. Atlantis. It would take years for me to tell you about Atlantis. Much of the myth, some of the legend, and even some of the fantasy is true.'

'But no gills?' Riley couldn't help but return his smile, her own a little mischievous.

'Definitely no gills. We are much like you.'

'So, human, then, with special powers?'

He shook his head. 'No, not human. A cousin to your species, certainly. Closer to humankind than to the shape-shifters. Far different from the undead. We lived in harmony with your kind for many thousands of years.'

'And then you sank below the water, and now you live in a bubble, right?' Riley knew she was being flippant, but a girl had limits as to how much she could absorb in one night.

That unbelievably sensuous smile quirked the edges of his lips, and he leaned back against the headboard of the bed. 'No, no bubbles. No mermaids, either, before you ask. Hollywood movies aren't really a source of historical fact, Riley, in spite of what my brother might think.'

'Hey! I loved mermaids when I was a little girl. I wanted to grow up and have a dolphin for a pet and swim with my fish tail and the whole thing,' she said indignantly.

He leaned forward, suddenly intent. 'You were at the beach tonight, after experiencing traumatic events, instead of retreating to your home. Why was that?'

Suddenly uncomfortable, Riley shifted on the bed, looking anywhere but at him. 'I don't know,' she admitted. 'I've always been that way. I go to the ocean for solace, for solitude. For healing.'

The starkness of her words hung in the silence between them for a long moment, and then he leaned back against the headboard again. 'That may be important, Riley. I don't know why, but it feels like something important. Maybe Alaric will know.'

The name sounded familiar, and she squirmed a bit. 'Alaric? Is he the scary one who looked at me like I was a bug stuck to the end of a pin? I kinda threatened to hurt him.'

His eyes widened, and then he grinned. 'Oh, I'd give half the royal treasury to have seen that.'

Riley laughed, trying not to freak out about a guy who calmly said things like 'half the royal treasury.' Holy crap.

He raised one eyebrow, and seemed to get tense all over again. 'You're not going to tell me that you thought he was great-looking, too?'

'He looked like a convicted felon,' she said flatly. 'He made me want to call for backup. So, no worries, not even the slightest hint of an attraction there.'

He leaned forward so quickly she almost didn't see him move and lifted one of her hands to his mouth, kissed it briefly, and released it. 'Thank you for that, Riley. I don't understand why—and I have to be honest, I don't like it one bit—but I seem to have a need to know that you're not attracted to any of my warriors. To any other males at all.'

She rolled her eyes. 'Look, Conlan, I know you might think otherwise, because of the way I reacted to you, but it's not like I'm some kind of nymphomaniac.'

'And that would be bad because…' he drawled, the gleam coming back to his eyes, and the intriguing blue- green flame in his pupils flashing at her.

'Don't be a pervert,' she said, laughing. 'Okay, and that's another thing. Why do your eyes get that blue-green flicker in the middle of them, like right now?'