Edge of Danger (48 page)

Authors: Cherry Adair

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #General, #Man-Woman Relationships, #Suspense, #Occult Fiction, #Telepathy, #Women Scientists

“You won’t,” he told her unequivocally. “You won’t die. That’s the point. You’ll just feel as though your heart’s being ripped out. But eventually you’ll go on. Eventually you’ll forget.”

“Will you?” she asked, trying to read anything in his darkly shadowed eyes. “Will you forget me?”

“A man would have to be dead to forget you.”

She didn’t realize that her body had been braced for a flat out
Yes, I’ll forget you,
and she let out the air she’d been holding in her lungs. “Then let’s take a chance,” she begged softly. “A little time together is better than a lifetime apart.”

“Don’t you think I want that?” He traced a finger across her upper lip, then the lower, as if memorizing the feel of her mouth, and all the while his gaze played across her face as if storing her features to retrieve later. When she was gone.

“I want more time together more than I’ve ever wanted anything. But no. The price is too high.”

The sun was moving, changing the patterns of sunlight and shadow all the way down the hallway, and Eden blinked as the bright stripe started moving over them, bathing them in warmth and golden yellow light. What a crock. If she was going to have this miserably depressing conversation she’d rather do it in shadow.

“I’m willing to risk it.”

“I’m not—” He frowned, brushing her cheek with his knuckle. “Jesus. What’s the matter? You’ve gone ash white.”

“Oh, my God! Gabriel! Look at Grandma Rose’s ring!”

She grabbed his hand where something glinted in the shifting light. “Look at the ring. Look at the
ring
!”

“Yeah. I was going to give it back to y—”

“
Look
at it,” Eden was practically vibrating with excitement, her fingers curled around his as she lifted their joined hands. Gabriel looked at the tiny silver ring on the first knuckle of his left pinkie. He brought his other hand up, and started to pull it off his hand.

“Christ, sweetheart. The last thing I want to do right n—Okay. Okay.” He held his hand up. “Hey. The black wore off. Looks like silver. Couple of hearts—what am I supposed to see exactly?” Gabriel lifted his head to stare at her with puzzlement. “It’s similar—” They turned at the same time, hands entwined as they faced Janet’s portrait.

“Not similar. It’s
exactly
the same.” Eden said softly. “Look at her finger, my love.”

He turned to look at the portrait of Janet. Where once she’d been bare-fingered, now she wore the twined silver hearts on her pale thin finger. The exact same ring Gabriel was wearing on his hand. “It can’t be.” But his heart beat wildly enough for him to believe that even this miracle was possible with Eden by his side.

“It
is.
The curse is broken.” Her fingers tightened around his. “How does the end go? ‘Only freely given will this curse be done. To break the spell, three must work as one’? I gave you Grandma Rose’s ring freely. Do you realize what powers were at work to allow my grandmother to find your family ring at a Parisian fair sixty years ago? And strong enough to bring us together in these weird circumstances? Incredible.”

“Incredible? How about a
miracle.
” He glanced down at the clasped hands where the sunlight bounced off the silver. “It feels warm.”

“Look at it! It’s glowing.”

“ ‘Three must work as one.’ ”

“That means your brothers must each be given one of the other pieces of the jewelry to break the spell completely.”

He already had his phone in his hand. Eden grabbed his wrist. “What are you doing?”

“Calling Duncan and Caleb—”

“You can’t. It has to be given freely, remember?”

“How will they know it’s the jewelry that will break Nairne’s Curse? Hell, how will they find the person who’s in possession of it? I have t—”

“They won’t. You didn’t. You can’t tell them anything, Gabriel. Not a word. Nairne made sure that all three of you would have to work together to break her Curse.” She wrapped her arms about his neck. “I think she means
at the same time.
Let them each find their Lifemate in their own way. Let Nairne have her last word. Let this Curse be over for all time.”

“How did you get to be so wise?”

“Desperation?” Her tone was wry. Sunlight streamed over them, illuminating Janet’s portrait. It seemed to Eden as though the woman’s mouth had curved up—just a little—in a smile. She looked back at Gabriel.

He shimmered them to the bedroom and prone on the bed. With a smug smile, Eden opened her eyes as soon as he made their clothing vanish. Bathed in yellow sunlight she looked about as perfect as a wish. “God,” she said happily, snuggling her warm naked body against his. “I love that mode of transportation. I love being naked with you. I love you.”

“I love you, Dr. Eden Cahill. I love you more than life itself.”

She pulled his head down until he could feel her smile against his lips. Then pulled his mouth to hers and kissed him back with all the love she had in her.

She couldn’t breathe and she didn’t care. She wanted the kiss to go on and on. She could have been struck by lightning right there and then, and not cared. She was already being incinerated by Gabriel Edge’s clever—God,
so
clever—mouth. The sheer pleasure as his tongue touched hers, the slide and glide.

He dragged his mouth off hers, pulling in a deep breath that moved his chest against her aching breasts. Eden hauled him back for another soul shattering kiss. “I wasn’t done telling you how I feel.”

He touched her face, saw how her glorious brown eyes captured the light as she looked up at him. And knew that nothing, not even magic, could ever come close to the perfection of this woman in his arms. “We have the rest of our lives, sweetheart. We have the rest of our lives.”

“I know. How magical is
that
?”

Edge of Danger
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

A Ballantine Books Mass Market Original

Excerpt of
Edge of Fear
copyright © 2006 by Cherry Adair

Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

BALLANTINEand colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming book
Edge of Fear
by Cherry Adair. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.

eISBN-13: 978-0-345-49348-4

eISBN-10: 0-345-49348-6

www.ballantinebooks.com

v1.0

In loving memory of my father, Ralph Campbell

October 4, 1915–September 18, 2005

From curtain rise to curtain fall

He lived life to the fullest and with great gusto

Gone, but in my heart always.

I have been given this day to use as I will.

I can waste it or use it for good.

Whatever I choose to do is important,

because I am exchanging a day of

my life for it.

—ANONYMOUS

From across the room, Gabriel closed his eyes and imagined touching Eden’s soft, tender skin. Mentally he concentrated on arousing her.

He imagined his hand on the fullness of her breast, felt the weight and the texture. Jesus…he gritted his teeth, his own arousal profound and painful as he teased her nipple to a sharp point. Lips parted, a hectic pink bloomed in her cheeks. She was close. Damn close.

Jesus. This was killing him. Letting his mind touch her as he wanted to do, Gabriel eased her jean-clad thighs apart. Almost there.

Glass shattered, breaking the moment, and there was a yell from the kitchen. “Sorry!”

Eden moaned. Dazed and disoriented, she opened her eyes. “What the hell was
that
?!” she whispered, shaken.