“I…” He shook his head, suddenly very confused. “Wait a minute. You've admitted you're here for another reason. You owe it to us to tell us why you're here.”
“Do I?”
The sudden image of a curvy redhead touching him, of her hand healing the wounds on his chest, her big blue eyes round with wonder, struck him.
“You see, Jules, that’s why I'm here. I'm just the help, dear.” He shook his head, bemused by the odd flashes he kept having of Sheridan.
“What?”
“It'll make more sense once I'm through with Gunnar.”
“Tersch? What are you talking about?”
She smiled at him. “Why don't you get the door?” He gave her a perplexed look. “I don't understand.” Just then, the doorbell rang.
Sheridan Keyes stared at the door in front of her. She nervously ran a hand through her hair again, wondering if she would have looked better, more professional, by pulling it back. But Jules had seen it in a ponytail when she'd worn it before. Did it really matter how she looked? Odds were the drugs Julian Hawkins had been pumped full of would have negated him remembering anything about her, let alone his time with Ricardo. She'd come for one reason and one reason only: to get her grandfather's ring.
Sure, keep telling yourself that. As if you don’t care about seeing Jules again.
She licked her lips, feeling underdressed and overwhelmed. From the jungles of Brazil to the urban sprawl of Washington DC to a hidden mansion in the Croatan National Forest in North Carolina? Well, it was a whirlwind way of going from point A to point B. That was for sure.
Finding her way out of the Amazon had been easier than expected, with two larger-than-life Circs helping her. Making the right contacts in DC had been harder, but digging deep to find the courage to face the man—the Circ—she now knew to have a mercenary and murderous past had been hardest of all.
Why didn’t I sense his wrongness when I put that ring on his finger? The sapphire had never graced an unworthy hand before, and there I go, putting it on a man who is more than suspect. Dammit. Were the drugs in his system the reason he seemed so in need of healing? Or had he been tricking me all along, as Raul said?
Could the man Sheridan had taken deep inside her body, and her heart, really have killed so many for no better reason than to outdo his rival, Ricardo? Had she escaped from one murderer only to be tricked by an even bigger liar?
The thought of her grandfather's ring on the hand of such an undeserving man was unfathomable. But that Sheridan had been so wrong about Julian…that bothered her more than anything.
Perhaps Raul was wrong. Grayson had encouraged her to find out the truth for herself, and she liked and trusted the large Circ much more than Raul. With Grayson's help, she'd landed this job. It would serve, at the very least, as a temporary means of employment until she figured out what to do with her life. And in the process, she'd hopefully find a way to reconcile the Jules she thought she knew with the man he really was.
Yep. I’m going to deal with Jules and focus on work. Work is safe; work is good.
Even if Jules isn’t as horrible as Raul made him out to be, would Jules really want me anyway? I’m a freak. And a man as handsome as Julian Hawkins would never lower himself to be with someone like me if he didn’t have another choice. Right then, the door opened, and her good intentions to treat Jules as no more than a mystery to be solved went right out the window.
Julian Hawkins looked even better now than he did in her dreams. All six feet four inches of prime male stared down at her in shock, which soon turned to suspicion. Did he remember her after all?
“Alicia!” he yelled over his shoulder, then put a hand on her arm and yanked her into the mansion.
His palm completely closed over her thin bicep, and she reminded herself to start lifting weights as soon as she got the hell out of there.
If only she could forget the memories of his touch. The familiar scent of vanilla and grass wafted over her, and she couldn't stifle a soft moan. The minute she did so, his hand loosened.
“Sorry,” he said gruffly but continued to pull her with him through the grand foyer into the house.
Marble under her feet, ornate wooden frames over cream-colored walls, and rich wooden paneling under the chair rail detailed a place reeking of money. The chandelier overhead had to cost a freaking fortune. Sheridan glanced from Jules to the house again, never having anticipated that a man who could change into a beast, who'd actually fit in to the jungle as if a native, would live in such opulence.
But it certainly gave credence to Raul's theory that Jules was a successful crook.
He continued to tug her into the house until he came to a large room where several others stood to greet them.
Three other men and one woman stared at her with curiosity.
“Hello there,” one of the men drawled. Tall with dark brown hair and green eyes, he stood next to a slightly smaller man with a mixture of Asian and Anglican features. Both of them had the same rugged good looks and raw wildness she associated with Jules, and they both towered over her. Beyond them, a large, dark-haired man held hands with a beautiful woman—the kind Sheridan envied.
The woman was tall and slender with curves in all the right places, so pretty and sexy, she made Sheridan fade into the woodwork. Which is what I want. I’m nothing but furniture. Don’t see me, don’t know me. But a part of Sheridan wanted Jules to know her. To never forget the magic they'd shared, even if it had been no more than a passing dream of what could never be.
The woman frowned as she stared at Sheridan, and Sheridan had a bad feeling. She couldn't say why she did, but she raised her awareness and tried to block out any incoming psychic attacks. Growing up as a healer and with parents who could commune with plants, Sheridan believed wholeheartedly in extrasensory perception and the paranormal.
As well she should, standing as she was next to a shape-shifting mercenary who'd fought an actual monster in the jungle.
“I believe I'm to meet with Mrs. Sharpe,” Sheridan said.
Another male entered the room, this one a giant. Blond and with piercing blue eyes, he crossed his massive arms over his chest. “Why am I not surprised to hear her say that name?”
An older petite black woman entered the room and approached Jules and Sheridan. “Ah, you must be Sheridan Keyes. I'm pleased you found us.” Jules nodded at mention of her name and gave Sheridan a narrow-eyed stare that seemed to strip her bare.
She gave a subtle tug, and he slowly released her arm. “Mrs. Sharpe?” she asked in a breathy voice, wishing she sounded more at ease.
“That's me. I take it Admiral London gave you the necessary paperwork?”
“Yes.” She reached into her large carryall and found the folder Grayson had procured for her. “Here it is.”
Mrs. Sharpe took the stack and quickly peered through it. “Perfect. Now, Ms. Keyes—”
“Please, call me Sheridan.”
“Sheridan, let me introduce you to the team.”
“Sheridan Keyes,” Jules repeated in a low voice. His silver eyes blazed as he studied her. “You look very, very familiar.”
He ran a hand over his face; her grandfather's sapphire winked back at her.
Warmth unfurled. He hadn't taken it off. Again, she felt the rightness of seeing it there on his finger. Something flashed in his eyes as he looked back at her, a glimpse of the beast beneath his skin. To her astonishment, her entire body locked up in a searing lust that made her feel very unlike herself.
Good Lord, what is going on with me?
Satisfaction gleamed in his eyes, though he took a step back from her. She didn't dare look below his waist, sure she'd see an answering response in him.