Edge of Danger (28 page)

 
Table lamps brightened areas of the room that were already shadowed as the sun set over the mountains. The discreetly-placed large screen TV was on, and the sound of CNN played softly in the background.

 
“That’s pretty cynical,” Eden said, not unsympathetically, inhaling the musty fragrance of the thousands of leather-bound books on the shelves, and the sweet, spicy scent of the fresh flowers gracing the stone mantel.

 
She nodded when he held up a bottle of wine. Eden knew that Magnus and Cait Edge had had a Romeo and Juliet kind of forbidden love that had kept them apart. Judging from Gabriel’s expression right now, he was bored with the subject.

 
She settled back into the corner of the comfortably squishy sofa. “Tell me about the people you work for.”

 
Eden didn’t give a damn about the counterterrorist organization he worked for. What she really wanted to know was who Gabriel Edge was. Her body still felt the effects of their lovemaking, which had transcended anything she’d ever experienced.

 
She wished he’d come and sit beside her. Having him stand halfway across the room, after spending the last several hours in his arms, felt wrong on every level.

 
He came close enough to hand her a crystal glass of pale wine. A zing of electricity passed from his fingers to hers and her heart started beating faster. God. The attraction she felt for this man was mind-boggling.

 
“At least you can still manage to walk,” she said dryly, and felt her heart trip over the extra beats as his lips curved in a sensual smile. “Talk to me.”

 
“T-FLAC is a private organization to counter terrorism worldwide. We go where we’re needed. And God only knows, we’re needed often.”

 
Eden sipped the crisp fruity wine, waiting for him to sit down. He didn’t. He wasn’t drinking either. “And is everyone…a wizard?”

 
Honest to God, as a scientist she knew no such thing existed. She was positive. Yet here she was and here he was and unless this entire surreal experience was a hallucination, he was very much what he said he was. She looked at him across the vast expanse of the library. Tall and fit, his body hard—not an ounce of fat anywhere.

 
She shivered. No matter what magical powers he professed to possess, bottom line, he was a warrior.

 
A man far removed from the scientists and mathematicians she was used to dealing with on a daily basis. A man far removed from her normal life. If not for Rex, her and Gabriel’s paths would never have crossed.

 
He glanced at the big-screen TV, where they were covering an uprising in yet another war-torn country. “No. T-FLAC operatives don’t have our skills. I work for the psi/spec ops paranormal unit.”

 
On the screen a car bomb exploded, shrapnel flew. People screamed. Was that the sort of thing he did in his job when he wasn’t babysitting scientists?

 
“And all of you in this special unit are wizards?” Eden heard how normal her voice sounded asking the abnormal question, and was amazed.

 
He shook his head, clearly only half listening to her as he watched the action. “Everyone in the unit has their own unique talent.”

 
His special talent must be exquisite lovemaking, Eden decided. “And what’s yours?”

 
“This and that. Transmogrify into a living thing—”

 
She’d noticed. Didn’t believe what she’d seen with her own two eyes. But she’d definitely noticed. “Can you transmogrify into someone else?”

 
“Not a human. Animals only,” he told her as absently as one might mention the ability to play the piano. “Invisibility. Teleporting. Making people see what I want them to see. For instance, anyone approaching the castle will see a derelict ranch house. The original house my mother lived in with her parents.” He glanced at her with a small frown. “More interesting at the moment are the things I
can’t
do.”

 
“Like what?”

 
“Usually I can extract information from someone’s mind very easily.” He looked disgruntled. “Everyone’s except yours, unfortunately.”

 
The concept that he could do any of the things he claimed to be capable of was as bizarre as it was fascinating. What intrigued Eden even more was the fact that some of them didn’t work on
her.
“Why is that?”

 
“Hell if I know.” He was lying. She knew instinctively. But she had no idea why. Despite the absolute impossibility of it, Eden had
witnessed
Gabriel transform himself into a panther. She’d
seen
him teleporting. Been teleported with him, God help her. Wizards didn’t exist except in fiction. But here he was.

 
She gave him a curious look. “You can read my mind when I’m climaxing, though. Isn’t that what you told me?”

 
“Yeah, when your shields are down.”

 
Wasn’t going to happen. She needed all her shields up with him around. “Can you really duplicate Rex after reading my mind?”

 
“Yeah. Ready to give it a shot?”

 
She shuddered, loathing the idea of anyone, even this man with the dark magnetic eyes and body that had given her so much pleasure, getting into her mind. It gave her the willies. “No, I’m not. I told you, once I’ve spoken to Homeland Security I’d be willing to rebuild Rex in your lab. I’d need Marshall here to help me.”

 
“I have SA Dixon arriving any minute. Do you remember him?”

 
“Of course,” Eden said dryly. “He interviewed me several times. Does he know who and what you are?”

 
“I’m a T-FLAC operative,” Gabriel said shortly. “Everyone in the business knows T-FLAC.”

 
“Well, excuse me for being so out of the loop.” She had a sudden thought. Preposterous, but she asked anyway. “Can you duplicate
people
?” How would she know if Agent Dixon was the real deal or not?

 
“Jesus, Eden. This isn’t
The Stepford Wives.
What the hell do you think I am?”

 
Her eyes locked with his. “You know what? I’ve never met a wizard before. I’m not even sure if what I’ve seen is real or not. And since you appear to be quite capable of turning into a
panther, and
you keep dematerializing m—”

 
“Teleport.”

 
“
Teleporting
me all over the place, I have a right to know your skills and limitations.”

 
“Christ.” He ran his fingers through his hair in an exasperated gesture. “What a mess. You shouldn’t even
be
here.” His voice was cold, devoid of emotion, his eyes a flat dark blue as he looked at her without expression.

 
Hurt beyond reason, Eden set the beautiful crystal flute down on a side table very gently, and got to her feet. He’d made love with her for hours—almost all day, in fact. And he
stood
there cool, calm, and collected, telling her this was a
mess
?

 
That she shouldn’t even
be
here?

 
When he was the one who’d
brought
her here.

 
When
he
was the one who’d put her in the middle of whatever it was he was manipulating?

 
Her blood pressure rose. She knew her cheeks were pink with temper. She so rarely lost it that she knew the next step was crying with sheer, unadulterated fury. She’d lost her temper once today. Once was her absolute limit.

 
“Then
teleport
me back to Tempe and my apartment,” she spoke through gritted teeth. “I didn’t
ask
to be brought here, I didn’t ask for…”

 
Ah, crap, she was going to lose it. It made her
insane
that when she got angry enough she cried.

 
“Don’t cry, for God’s sake.”

 
Her eyes stung and she dashed a hand across her cheeks. Dry and hot. But she was close. Damn close. And she refused to shed one tear in front of this insensitive…
oaf.
“Go to hell.”

 
“Eden…”

 
She speared him with a heated look as she strode across the carpet in her lucky Marc Jacobs gold leather sandals. The shoes had been lucky when she’d gotten her last, substantial raise wearing them. They’d been lucky when Jason had given her a Mercedes as a bonus.

 
Apparently they weren’t lucky with
wizards.

 
Desperate to escape so she could figure out where things had zigged instead of zagged, Eden wanted to get out of his force field and go use her lucky shoes to
kick
something.

 
Gabriel stepped quickly out of her way as she strode past. He might as well have hit her, she thought, stunned at how his evasive action, layered over his tone of voice, hurt. What did he think after making love to her for hours? That she suddenly had cooties? The son of a bitch.

 
Suddenly she was back to being a too brainy, too overweight, too
vulnerable
sixteen-year-old. Out of her element. Confused by emotions that had no logical outlet. Damn him.
Damn him.

 
“Where are you going?”

 
“Where
can
I go?” she asked flatly.

 
She wasn’t sixteen anymore, Eden reminded herself. Nor was she fifty pounds overweight. And her emotions did have an outlet. Or they had half an hour ago.

 
Perhaps her emotions were retarded by the way she’d grown up. She felt as though she were missing an important bit of data here. He’d gone from practically eating her alive to cold disinterest between one breath and the next.

 
And while it had been a hard lesson learned at the knee of a master, she knew that she wasn’t
always
at fault. She was an adult; she accepted that she made mistakes in the man/woman thing. But in this instance it was
his
attitude that sucked.

 
“Where can you go?” he repeated. Walking around the back of one of the large leather armchairs, he put the piece of furniture between them like a shield. He gave her a cool look from hot blue eyes. “As soon as I have a bot? Back to your life.”

 
“Right. Like that hasn’t changed irrevocably,” she said, jaw aching she was clenching her teeth so tightly. “Theo is dead. Someone stole Rex.” Silently she added to the list…life-altering sex with a
wizard.
“Right. I’ll just slip right back into my old life as if none of this ever happened. I wish you’d never brought me here.”