Crimson Dahlia (8 page)

About
fifteen minutes later, Ramsey reached the clearing in the woods. At first he
couldn’t hear anything, only the sounds of the night… the breeze through the
trees… frogs croaking to each other… the rustling of some small animal in the
brush. Just as he started getting a little worried, Lila broke the surface of
the water. The moon wasn’t very full, so he couldn’t see her too clearly… just
her long blond hair slicked back from her face as she caught her breath.

“You
know it’s hazardous to swim alone at night,” Ramsey said.

Lila
gave a startled shriek. “Ramsey Pierce. You scared me to death!”

Ramsey
ducked his head to hide his smile. He crossed his arms over his chest and
leaned against a nearby tree.

Lila
floated around and kicked up her feet. “Are you just gonna stand there?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I
can’t swim around while you watch.”

“I’m
not letting you swim alone at night. It’s dangerous.” Ramsey drew out the last
word.

“So
don’t just stand there… c’mon in.”

Ramsey
stayed where he was.

Lila
made an irritated sound in the back of her throat. Pulling back her arm, she
skimmed it across the surface of the water. She did it so fast that she managed
to take Ramsey by surprise and doused him thoroughly.

“You
little—” Ramsey jumped to the edge of the water, fully intending to drag her
out, but stopped himself. He crossed his arms back over his chest. “You’re
gonna pay for that, little girl.”

Lila
shook her head. “Now I’m definitely not getting out.”

“Then
we’re gonna be here an awful long time. You’re gonna get all pruney.”

“I
guarantee I can out—” Lila twitched in the water and looked down. After a
second she looked back up and continued, “—out wait you.”

“I
seriously doubt that,” Ramsey said. Lila wasn’t known for her patience. And he,
well, it seemed like he’d been waiting his entire life.

“You
doubt—” Lila moved again and reached down to brush at her leg.

“You
know there’re probably snakes in there, right?” He didn’t really think there
were, but he didn’t mind playing dirty if it meant she’d get out of the pond.
She hated snakes.

Lila
froze and then jerked again. With a sudden squeal of terror, she rushed out of
the water and slammed right into Ramsey before he could move out of her way. He
steadied her by putting his hands on her waist, and sucked in a breath as he
felt her soft, warm, skin.

He
was going to push her away.  But when he looked down and found her looking at
him with such longing and heat, every thought, every protective impulse, went
right out of his head.

With
a muttered curse, Ramsey closed his mouth over hers. His kiss was not gentle.
It was full of pent up need and frustration. He didn’t merely kiss.  He felt
like he’d devour her, his need was so great.

His
hands moved over her. Every delectable inch of her body. He couldn’t get enough
of touching her. Every luscious curve under his hands spurred him to more
intimacy. He swept one hand around her waist to her lower back and then inched
his fingers under the elastic band of her undies.

Lila
suddenly broke off their kiss with a sharp cry. She stepped back from him,
realized that he could see all of her, and hurried over to the nearby brush to
grab her dress.

That’s
when Ramsey saw it. An ugly welt in the shape of a handprint was rising on the
back side of her hip.

“Lila,”
he choked.

She
pulled her dress over her head. “Don’t. It’s not your fault.”

“I
burned you.” The horror of what he’d done to her… and how much worse it could
have been….

“It’s
fine. I’m fine,” she said.

Lila
reached out for his hand, but Ramsey jerked away from her, stumbling a bit in
his haste.

“We
need to get Hugh. He’ll heal it for you,” he said.

“No!”
Lila practically shouted. “There is no way I’m explaining to my dad how your
handprint ended up burnt on my butt. It’s fine. It’ll heal on its own.”

“It’ll
scar.”

“I’ll
live with that.”

Ramsey
stared at her, lips compressed, but said nothing. Lila moved toward him again,
but he backed away.

“Ramsey?”

He
heard the question in her voice. The return of the longing.

“No,
Lila. You stay away from me.”

“But
you want me. I know you do now. You can’t deny it. Not after that.”

“I
don’t have to do anything about it either.”

“But
what if I want you to?”

Ramsey
shook his head. “I mean it, Lila. You stay away from me. I won’t come near you
like this again.”

Something
in his expression must have convinced her of his determination. She stopped
coming toward him. Her face fell, but her shoulders pulled back. “But what if
I
want
you
?”

Instead
of answering, Ramsey turned and walked away. It felt as though a rock suddenly lodged
inside his chest. It got bigger and heavier with every step he took. But he
kept going and didn’t look back, even when he heard her softly call his name.

He
didn’t look back.

Lila
hadn’t counted on what the feel of Ramsey’s body pressed up against her, with
one arm wrapped around her middle, would do to her once they were settled
inside the tent. He seemed to knock right out. Not her. She was so drained she
should’ve fallen asleep the second her head hit the pillow. But that was over
two hours ago and she still lay there, wide awake.

She
resisted the urge to move, knowing it would wake him.
“Fan-freakin-tastic,”
she thought.
“In that dream world, all I wanted was to wake up. And now all
I want is to go to sleep. And I—”

“Can’t
sleep?”

Lila
almost jumped out of her skin as Ramsey’s deep voice vibrated through her body.
She cleared her throat. “I didn’t know you were still up.”

Ramsey
shifted a bit. “I can still sense you for whatever reason. Makes it tough to
sleep.”

“Well.
Isn’t that… interesting.” Lila tried to scoot over to give him some space, but
couldn’t really go far.

“Why
do you think it is?”

Lila
felt his arm tighten around her. Images of a night long ago flashed through her
mind. She pushed the memory away and focused on his question.

“Um…
Something to do with my emotional power is my guess. Though I don’t know why
you’d
be feeling it.” After a moment of silence, Lila glanced over her shoulder to
find him watching her with an odd little half smile.

She
frowned. “What?”

“I
don’t think you quite get what I mean when I say I feel a connection.”

Lila’s
heart sped up.
Oh jeez. What exactly does he know?
“So explain it to
me,” she said to him, proud of how unruffled her voice sounded.

“Well,
earlier I could feel your frustration and restlessness.”

So
he can feel specific emotions. Like I do.

“…And
just now I know that you felt… longing maybe.” That darn half smile was back. She
could hear it in his voice.

Lila
was grateful for the dark, because she was sure her face was bright red. And
then her determination to push Ramsey out of her life kicked back in. She’d
just spent the last year getting over her infatuation with him.

“Embarrassment.
Irritation,” he murmured.

“Okay.
I get it,” Lila snapped.

“Not
as fun when it’s turned back on you, is it?”

Lila
shifted uncomfortably. “I only watched for your more volatile negative
emotions. I didn’t sit there and read everything.”

“Are
you reading my emotions right now?”

The
deeper note in his voice had her turning to see his expression. “No,” she
whispered.

“Why
not?”

The
green of his eyes held her gaze. Lila felt mesmerized. She couldn’t look away.

“You’re
not losing control, so…”

“Maybe
not in an angry way,” he said.  “But I don’t think I’ve ever been less in
control.”

Lila
simply looked at him. And Ramsey waited for her. She was used to Ramsey
avoiding her, or being gruff with her, or walking away from her. She wasn’t
quite sure what to do with
this
Ramsey. Maybe she’d just dreamt being
freed from that stasis. Maybe she was still in a coma on that uncomfortable
metal table in Maddox’s prison.

Curiosity
won out. “What are you trying to control?” she murmured.

Ramsey
lifted his hand and lightly brushed the backs of his fingers across the bare
skin of her arm. “The need to touch you,” he murmured.

Lila’s
heart was beating so hard it was making it hard to breathe. She didn’t want
Ramsey to feel that – to know how much he affected her. She tried to regulate
the air moving in and out of her lungs, but her efforts only made her need for
oxygen seem more urgent.

“You’ve
never had a problem not touching me before,” she finally said.

Ramsey’s
lips twisted bitterly. “I’ve
always
had trouble keeping my hands off
you.”

Lila
shook her head and pulled her arm back slightly, away from his touch. After sixty-some-odd
years of rejection, she was through with wishful thinking where Ramsey was
concerned.

“You
don’t believe me?” he asked.

“Not
really,” Lila muttered.

“I’d
like to kiss you, Lily.”

His
eyes focused on her lips. In slow motion he leaned toward her. Lila had no idea
what to do. The part of her that had always longed for this wanted him to move
faster. The part of her that had moved on wanted him to stop. Before she could
make up her mind, their lips met.

The
kiss started out soft and sweet. Ramsey feathered his lips across hers in a barely
there touch that had her leaning into him, trying to get closer. He rewarded
her with an open- mouthed kiss, still soft and sweet, but then he sucked her
bottom lip between his teeth. He gave her a little nip and then soothed it with
his tongue.

Lila
whimpered.

Ramsey
shifted so that she was lying partially under him. While his lips played havoc
with her mouth, her neck, her earlobe, her collarbone, and back to her lips,
his hands wandered her body.

Touching…
but not quite touching. His fingers whispered down her side, barely brushed the
underside of her breast, traced her ribs, and lingered at the dip in her waist.
Lila held her breath when his hand stopped at the elastic band of her sweats.
Would he?

Oh
yes, he would.
His fingers snuck under the band and squeezed her hip. Suddenly Ramsey froze.
He placed a swift, hard kiss on her lips and then pulled back. Lila opened her
eyes, slightly apprehensive at what she might see in his.

She
saw that he was focused on where his hand had been. He rolled her slightly onto
her side. “Ramsey what are you...?”

He
inched her pants down to reveal a hand-shaped scar. “I’m so sorry I hurt you.”
He leaned down and kissed the damaged skin tenderly.

Lila
shivered at the sensation of his lips on her body. “I never was sorry.”

“No?”

She
shrugged. “I’ve always thought of it like…”

A
thought struck Lila, or more accurately, a series of memories reared their ugly
heads. All the reasons she’d let go and moved on. Echoes of past words that had
ripped out her heart and trampled it into the ground sounded in her mind…

I
mean it, Lila. You stay away from me. I won’t come near you like this again.

I’ve
moved on, a long time ago. You should too.

I
don’t want her anywhere near me!

Ramsey
frowned as he felt her body stiffen beneath him. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Lila
reached down to pull her pants back up, and he leaned away, giving her the
space her body language demanded.

“You
don’t want me anywhere near you.”

Lila
wasn’t positive, Ramsey was always so hard to read, but it looked like sadness
entered his eyes. “I was trying to protect you,” he said.

“I
didn’t need your protection. I was a big girl. I could make my own decisions.”

“You
weren’t thinking clearly when it came to me. One of us had to keep you safe.
That scar is only a tiny bit of what could’ve happened to you. How could I have
lived with myself if I had hurt you?”

Anger
sparked in Lila’s eyes. “So you decided to live without me?”

“As
much as I was able. I never did manage to force myself to leave the family.”
Ramsey grimaced.

Lila’s
frown deepened. “No. I had to do that.”

“Why
did you go?” He reached for her hand, but she pulled it back.

“You
made it clear you didn’t want
me
. And you’re in love with
Selene
.”

Ramsey
sat back with a jerk. “What? What made you… Did Adelaide tell you that?”

“She
didn’t have to. I could sense your emotions around Selene.”

“Is
that the main reason you left?”

Lila
wanted to scream
yes
, but she still had some pride. “Despite what you
believe, not everything I do is about you. It was more than time I learned a
little independence.”

Ramsey
just gave her a steady look. “I think I can guess why you got the impression I
had feelings for Selene.”

“I
don’t need an explanation, and it wasn’t just an impression,” Lila insisted.

Ramsey
looked a little stunned. “You’re not going to let me try to explain?”

“There’s
nothing to explain.” Lila’s chin jutted out stubbornly. Ramsey knew that look.
Something else was coming that he wouldn’t like. “Besides… as soon as Marcus is
ready to leave, I’m going back out with him.”

Lila
stared at Ramsey belligerently as he sat straight up. She could see the anger
practically coming off him in waves of heat.

“Do
you even know what I— what we went through to find you? To
save
you? And
you’re just going to go back out there? Are you freakin’ kidding me!?”

Lila
sent out a pulse of calm toward him, and Ramsey twitched.

“Don’t
you dare try to calm me down,” he practically shouted at her. “You’re not
leaving. You leave and I will follow you and drag you back if I have to!”

It
was Lila’s turn to sit up. “You have absolutely no right to order me around.
You’ve wanted me away from you for the last sixty years. Well, guess what? I’m
granting your wish!”

“That’s
not
what I want!”

“Sucks,
doesn’t it? When someone doesn’t take your wants into consideration?” She
flopped back down in the sleeping bag with her back to him. “I’m going to sleep
now.”

Ramsey
didn’t move a muscle, but Lila could feel him glaring at her.

Lila
jerked her shoulders. “Don’t make me force a feeling of sleepiness on you. I’ll
do it.”

“Fine.
But we’re not done taking about this,” he finally said.

“You
might not be done. But I was over it a year ago,” she shot back.

 “We’ll
talk more about this tomorrow when you’re more rational.”

“I’ll
give you rational,” Lila muttered. She pushed all of her swirling emotions at
him at once. But instead of a pulse of emotion, a pulse of power left her body.
A moment later a crack sounded, then an ominous creaking, followed by a
thunderous crash.

“What
the hell?” Ramsey bolted out of the tent. “Jeez, Lila. You felled a tree. Big
one,” he called from outside.

“
Whoa
,”
Lila breathed, as Ramsey poked his head back in the tent, his eyes wide. It had
been a lower power version of what she’d done when Maddox’s forces had attacked
the castle last year.

Then
she glanced up at Ramsey, and her anger from a moment ago washed back over her.
“I was trying to hit you.” She flopped back down and closed her eyes.

After
a few seconds of silence, he climbed into the sleeping bag with her and wrapped
his arm around her again. Neither of them said anything.