It had only been a phone call to Vadaz Island, but she felt as if Nicos were close enough to touch her. Memories were flooding back to her. Yes, she remembered Salva. He had been there in the room when Nicos had fired the shot and Rosa had crumpled to the floor. He had even smiled when Nicos had done it.
“Stop looking like that.” Lassiter was suddenly beside her, his eyes glittering fiercely, his hands closing on her shoulders. “I told you I was going to do it.”
“Yes, you told me.” She pulled away from him. “And for some reason, you wanted to hurt me now. I’m a little confused and I can’t figure it out. It’s not as if I did anything to hurt you. I’m the one who you put through the wringer, and you tore my privacy to shreds.” She lifted a shaking hand to her hair. “But you must have had a reason, and I’ll work it out. But I wish you hadn’t called him. It will take me a little while to get over it so that I can—”
“Look, all you have to do is what I need you to do.” His hands were so tight on her shoulders they were almost painful, and his eyes were blazing down at her. “I’ll make sure that Nicos doesn’t hurt you. But you have to know that I’m going to do this. I have to do this.”
“I knew. You told me. You didn’t have to show me anything.” She pulled away from his grasp and started to back away from him. “Were you just trying to scare me? Well, you did it. Does it make you feel bigger, stronger?”
“I didn’t want to scare you,” he said roughly. “That wasn’t it.”
“No?” She turned and moved quickly away from him. “Then I don’t know why you did it. And I can’t stand here and try to figure it out.” She was almost running now. “So I’ll let you call Salva back and discuss how you’re going to—”
Blood.
Black-and-white tiles.
Rosa.
She was running past Cambry, then down the stairs to the cabin.
She slammed the door behind her.
She leaned back against it and closed her eyes.
Fear. Cold fear.
And hurt. Hurt because Lassiter had done this to her. She shouldn’t be hurt. It was stupid. She knew that he had a purpose and nothing was going to stand in his way. Yet she’d been lulled by that smile and charm for most of the day.
And that last gentle touch that had magically soothed and made her feel … treasured. Made her feel that no matter what had gone before, all the pain would be gone now. And then he’d struck when she was most vulnerable, followed by the shock of his moving so quickly to toss her back in time to Salva and Nicos and …
Black-and-white tiles.
Blood.
The gun.
Dammit, the tears were running down her cheeks.
Weak. She couldn’t be this weak. Get control.
“Margaret.”
Lassiter on the other side of the door.
She didn’t answer.
“Margaret, I’m coming in. Is that okay?”
“No.” She quickly wiped her cheeks on the back of her hands. “But I can’t stop you, can I? You showed me how helpless I am. Do what you like.” She moved away from the door. “But I don’t want you here, Lassiter.”
Silence. “Then I won’t come in right now. But I’ll have to do it later. I won’t be able to take it if I don’t.”
The sound of his footsteps going back up the stairs.
She didn’t have any idea what he meant and she didn’t care. She hadn’t expected that he’d pay any attention to her words. The fact that he’d given her this time to recover both her composure and her independence filled her with a deep sense of relief. She needed this period to prepare herself to face him again. She didn’t know why he had given her that grace period, but she would take it.
And try to block out that memory of the blood on those black-and-white tiles.
And the hurt when Lassiter had hurled her back to that day three years ago.
She’d be all right. She’d be fine. She just needed a little time to heal.…
CHAPTER FOUR
There was someone in the cabin.
Someone there in the darkness.
The realization jarred Margaret from deep sleep to instant consciousness. She jerked upright in bed.
“It’s all right,” Lassiter said quietly from his chair on the far side of the cabin. “Don’t be afraid. It’s only me.”
“Only you?” She could see his shadowy form in the darkness. “There’s no ‘only’ about you, Lassiter.” She started to reach over to turn on the lamp on the nightstand, but then stopped. She didn’t want to see him right now, didn’t want to feel the impact of the intensity and power that emanated from him. “And I’m not afraid.”
“You could have fooled me,” he said quietly. “I’ve been sitting here for the last twenty minutes and you were moaning and whimpering for at least fifteen of them. I was just going to wake you. I couldn’t take it. Nightmares, Margaret?”
Vulnerable again. “So?” She pulled the bedcover higher over her arms. “Everyone has nightmares. Don’t you, Lassiter?”
“Oh, yes.” He leaned back in the chair. “But I’m finding I don’t like the idea that I may be responsible for yours. It bothers me.”
“Guilt? Don’t flatter yourself. I wouldn’t let you have that kind of effect on me. I learned a long time ago that no one could hurt me if I didn’t let them. It was the shock. I should have been expecting something like that from you and I didn’t. I had to come to terms— I had to go—”
“Be quiet,” he said roughly. “I did hurt you. I could see it. Maybe I even meant to do it. Why else did you run down here like an animal in pain? Why wouldn’t you eat the supper Cambry brought you?”
“I wasn’t hungry. And I didn’t want to be around you, Lassiter.”
“And you were hurting enough that you curled up in that bed and tried to go away from it any way you could. But it followed you, didn’t it?”
Yes, it had followed her. She had been afraid that it would. “Everyone has nightmares,” she repeated. “Why are you here? I don’t want to talk to you. Our last conversation didn’t turn out so well for me.”
“Tell me about it. It turned out shit for me. And I can’t leave it like that. May I turn on that light?”
“No. Why would you want to?”
“I have no idea. It’s probably a mistake. You have some weird effect on me. That’s what got me into trouble up on deck.”
“You weren’t in trouble. You just saw that I was in trouble. Or would be, at your earliest convenience. Isn’t that why you called Salva and—”
“Be quiet.” He was across the room in seconds. The lamp was suddenly lit and glowing softly.
That’s the only softness in the room, she thought. Everything about Lassiter was razor sharp, green eyes glittering, muscles filled with leashed tension. She tensed, instinctively responding to it.
“That’s better,” he said curtly as he sat down on the bed beside her. “Now stop talking around me and talk to me.”
He wasn’t touching her, but she could feel the tingling warmth he was emitting. It was … disturbing. “What am I supposed to say?”
“Anything you want to say. Curse me, tell me what a son of a bitch I am. Whatever comes to mind,” he said harshly. “Just don’t look at me like you did on deck. It … was not good.”