All Through the Night (9 page)

happened. She didn’t know when her breasts had come to be bared. How her whole body had come to this wild flash point of desire.

She had to turn away.

This was her last chance.

That thought took hold of her, but when she tried, he spun her back into his arms. Her head dropped back with a gasp and weakness flooded her. Shock burned her face and her jaw fell slack.
What was happening? The more powerful he became, the weaker she got, and that made her utterly breathless
.

“You can’t win this game by bluffing, Kerry. You have to show your hand.”

“I’m naked,” she whispered. “Look at me. What more can I show you?”

“Yourself, show me that.”

Show him that.

“The entire rainbow, Kerry… it’s all yours to feel.”

“It’s too much feeling.”

“Breathe… let go of everything else… breathe and float…”

Her eyelids fluttered, and she became aware of her breathing. It was deep and regular. She was succumbing again, falling more deeply under his spell, and soon there would be no hope for her. Maybe there never had been. A sensation lived in the pit of her stomach. It was as crystal clear as a violin’s song. Her body was making music again. She could hear the clarion tones that rang from within, and they were even more compelling than his voice.

A moan slipped out. “Mmmmmmmm…”

He gripped her arms, and she was glad. If she made him crazy with her sounds, then yes, she was glad. She wanted power over him, any little bit of power she could get.

They were standing by the console, his legs braced wide and hers between them. He had brought her here to make love to her, female intuition told her that. He had laced his hands through her hair and searched for the secrets in her gaze and said her name.
Said it with hunger
. Passion burned off him like radiant energy—rough and tender passion— and it was all she could do to stay on her feet.

“A highwayman,” he whispered near the lobe of her ear, “who sees a woman running through the fields in a transparent gown…”

Who rides her down on his horse and takes her against a tree.

Kerry’s toes curled into the carpet beneath her feet. The edge of the console dug into her back, but she was grateful it was there to steady her. She couldn’t move against him, but he could move against her. And he did.

“A male slave so aroused by a woman he can’t hide it…”

His erection burned her belly, and she melted against it like candy in the heat. It was beautiful the way he wrapped her in his arms, protecting her nakedness, and at the same time whispering forbidden things in her ear.
Terrible, terrible things and she wanted every one of them to happen to her
.

“The handsome stranger behind you in line, who murmurs that he has been fantasizing about you in a dress with no panties underneath…”

A sound vibrated in his throat. It ran all through Kerry.

He startled her by holding her at arm’s length and looking down at her body, admiring her in the way that hungry males do succulent females. She had never thought of herself as edible, but his expression forced her to. His eyes were hot and his mouth was just slack enough to make her imagination run wild. Those moody lips and white, glistening teeth.

What those teeth could do.
Had done
. She felt another bolt of electricity at the thought. Such excruciating pleasure.

“Come with me,” he said. “Come with me on a tour of
us
.”

He lifted her onto the console and moved between her legs. The inside of her thighs ached with anticipation, and the ache deepened as he moved closer, spreading her legs wider. Pressure built within her, and it was wildly irresistible, one of the more glorious feelings she’d ever experienced.

She hadn’t paid any attention to the fact that he was still dressed. She barely knew what she had on. But when he trailed his knuckles up her thigh and toyed with the leg of her bikini panties, it released a shower of thrills. She was down to one skimpy article of clothing, which wasn’t doing her much good at all.

His fingers had become her sun, the center of everything. She could think about nothing else. Every move they made riveted her, especially as they delved inside the elastic of her panties and touched the nest of curls there. She was hit by bolt after bolt, and moisture gushed.

He continued his exploration, delving farther.

Kerry’s head snapped up, and her breath caught fire.

Lord, how she wanted him to touch her there, deeply, taste her there. But to her surprise, he didn’t do either of those things. He shocked her breathless by asking her to pleasure herself.

“What?”

“Touch yourself the way you want to be touched. Show me, Kerry. Show your hand.”

She was self-conscious, but with his encouragement, she caressed the curve of her own throat, including the sensitive little pocket just beneath her chin—and decided it must be the softest part of her body. Of course, that was before she got to the insides of her elbows and wrists. Hundreds of receptors? She had thousands. Her thighs were like water and her fingertips, sunlight. They left diamonds everywhere they traced.

God, how she ached, how wonderfully she ached for him.

There wasn’t anywhere she
didn’t
want to be touched.

He guided her hand to where his had been, and she had barely brushed the silky curls before the voltage started. A shaking breath slipped from her throat. Her whole body throbbed. For a moment she was swept by the intensity, and all she could do was rock forward. When she opened her eyes, he was picking her up in his arms.

He laid her on the bed, and then he began to undress. Candlelight flickered over him as he pulled off his shirt, and Kerry was dazed by how powerful he looked. His shoulders were wide and muscular, his arms dark with hair. He unbuttoned his pants, but left them on as he moved over her.

His weight pressed her deeply into the mattress, and she gave out a little cry. They really were going to make love, and she was stunned by that possibility. She had to stop him.

“Can you feel that, Jean? Are you shuddering like I am?”

“God, yes, I can feel it.” He pulled her into his arms. “It’s beautiful, even my breath is shaking.”

“Then you’re free? You must be free.”

Something compelled her to search his face, even though her body ached for his attention. She was quivering for completion, for the journey she’d never taken. But she had to know if he felt the way she did.

“Is this it? Is this the shuddering you were talking about?”

He touched her face, her mouth, but he didn’t answer her right away. He looked a little shell-shocked too.

“Kerry, I’m not sure,” he said. “It has to come from the soul. This is incredible. I’ve never felt anything like it, but I just don’t know.”

Kerry was hurt and bewildered. She couldn’t hide it. “How can you not know? You said that you
would
know. I remember.”

He studied her searchingly. “This isn’t about me. It’s about you, your feelings. It’s about the rainbow. Let me give you that—”

Her
shuddering did come from the soul. He didn’t feel that way?

“No,” she insisted, “this has never been about me. It’s about freeing you from the curse. Why else are we doing this?”

“Because we want to. I can’t imagine any greater pleasure than making you happy, than making
you
shudder.”

He didn’t feel the tremors she felt, this ecstasy? She had failed utterly in her attempts to reach him? That destroyed her. It simply did.

“I can’t do this,” she said. “I can’t go on with it.”

“Kerry, don’t—”

“I’m sorry, I can’t.”

She covered herself with her arms and refused to look at him.

“Kerry, for God’s sake, don’t,” he whispered. “There is no curse on me except you. If I can’t have you, I don’t want anything else. To live like a normal man would be hell.”

His rough voice sent a thrill through her. It didn’t sound like Jean at all. He sounded desperate, and Kerry was torn. She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t let him do these things to her. The feelings were too intimate. They had to be mutual. She couldn’t be the only one falling in love.

She looked up to tell him that… but he was gone.

This time Kerry got traction on the doorknob the first time she tried. It was even more amazing that she’d been able to walk to her front door, turn the knob, and open it without an internal earthquake. The floor didn’t ripple and warp, the lights didn’t dance, but her pulse was kicking painfully. And now that she had the door open, she couldn’t seem to move.

He was gone, and she had to find out if he’d ever existed. Could she have dreamed him? Was she crazy? Someone had aroused her to the point of delirium last night, but this morning she awoke to burned down candles and her own discarded clothing. He was gone. Parts of her body were still throbbing, and her heart was an aching knot. What had

happened? Was she so desperate that she had to dream a man into existence to make love to her?

It didn’t seem possible to feel things so intensely in a dream. But if he really did exist, the implications were staggering. It meant that a virtual stranger had come into her bedroom last night and rendered her naked and utterly helpless with desire. Despite all the stories her grandfather had told her, Kerry no longer believed in curses and fairy tales. The man was real, and therefore he must have broken into her house.

He wasn’t a stranger either. He looked exactly like Jean, and he knew about the game. He talked about it. Malcolm’s paranoia seemed less scary to her in comparison to this. Maybe her tenant was right. Someone was spying on them through their computers and Palm Pilots. Everyone was under surveillance and it was a government plot.

But why did the government care whether or not she had an orgasm?

She was going crazy. She was.

Icy air gusted through the open doorway. She hadn’t thought to put on her parka or flap hat. Talk about shuddering. Her legs began to shake, but her hands were clammy, despite the frigid weather.

She should have called the police immediately. Why hadn’t she done that?

She rubbed her arms for warmth. No, it was too soon to bring the police in on something like this. And it was too strange a story. She had to find out for herself what was going on before someone had her carted off to an asylum.

Go outside and check the door, Kerry.

It was early, and the world was still hushed under a fresh layer of white, but someone had shoveled her walk, she saw. The concrete steps were wet with a film of melted snow. It was probably her neighbor, the retired grocery store manager who’d pretended not to see while she was being mugged. The gangs had made everyone afraid of reprisals, but Kerry would never understand why someone who’d lived next door long enough to know her grandparents hadn’t tried to help. She would have taken on the thugs herself if he’d been attacked.

She checked the knob on the outside of the door, but there weren’t any visible scratches or marks. That didn’t mean there wasn’t a break-in, however. A real professional wouldn’t have left any evidence. Kerry had no idea what she was dealing with, but this was beginning to feel more bizarre every moment, if that was possible.

“Kerry? What’s wrong?”

The whispered question came from behind her.

Kerry nearly slipped on a patch of ice, trying to get turned around. It was Malcolm, standing alongside the house. He’d scared her half to death, but she didn’t have time to be upset with him.

“Malcolm, did you see anything odd going on around here last night? Anyone strange lurking around?”

He crept toward the porch, peeking out at her from under a baseball hat. He was bundled up in the pea jacket and a heavy turtleneck that was mostly hidden by his beard. His breath was as steamy as a horse’s.

“Why?” he asked, flipping up the collar of his coat. “Has someone been lurking around?”

“I just asked
you
that question, Malcolm.”

A smile glimmered. “Oh, yeah, you did. No, I haven’t seen anybody. Are you missing something?”

“Not really.”
Just my sanity, my dignity, and possibly my faith in mankind
. “I thought I heard noises, but you know how that is. Maybe it was a dream. Thanks anyway.”

She gave him a halfhearted wave and started inside. The plan was to beat a hasty retreat, but something stopped her midstride. Her other hand was frozen on the railing, and she couldn’t move. It felt as if she were being zapped with electric current. She could not move. Could not. Move.

Dear God, she thought. She was outside, and she couldn’t get back. This was her worst fear realized. She was as paralyzed as the statue across the street. She hadn’t been out of the house in weeks. What had made her think that she could do this?