But that didn’t explain what was going on now. Or why the hormone was showing itself once again. Unless, somehow Mercury was mating his little paper pusher as Jackal called her.
“Give Merc space, Jonas,” Jackal advised him as they stepped into the heli-jet. “If he’s acting weird, then he deserves it. That man is too damned calm the way it is.”
And Jonas would have agreed with him, until Ely’s report came through. Now he was starting to worry, and worry wasn’t something he liked. He preferred action, decisive forward motion. And in this case, he had a feeling that wasn’t going to help much.
The cabin was too quiet, and she had grown too used to Mercury’s presence. Even before he had been assigned to stay in the cabin with her, he had occasionally come in for a few moments. He had teased her just long enough to leave her wanting more before he left.
She had never been certain where he went, but he had always returned the next morning to escort her back to Sanctuary.
Now she felt a bit lost without him.
There was plenty of work to do. She still had the memory chips she had slipped out of Sanctuary this week, waiting on her to analyze them, to find the discrepancies she had been finding with alarming regularity.
Someone was slipping information from Sanctuary and selling it to a research lab determined to unlock the secret of the age depression that went along with mating heat. Forget figuring out why the mating heat occurred, or developing something to ease the symptoms of it. No, all these people cared about was reversing aging and creating fortunes off the desperation of millions.
It was a nightmare in the making.
And was she working on the chips that contained the information concerning who in Sanctuary could be selling those secrets. Of course she wasn’t. She was pacing her bedroom floor, rubbing her arms against the chill that seemed to seep into the cabin and wondering where Mercury had gone.
As she turned and paced back toward the bed, a scraping at the window had her turning quickly, and staring in shock as the window eased open and Mercury, all six feet four inches of incredible muscle, eased through the opening until he was standing in her bedroom. He closed the window, locked it and reclosed the thick curtains before turning back to her.
“How did you slip past the Breeds patrolling outside?” she asked him in surprise.
He snorted. “You don’t slip past Lawe and Rule. They know I’m here.”
Suddenly, the long, violet gown and robe she wore seemed too heavy, too warm. Where she had been cold moments before, she could feel herself heating.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” she hissed as he stared across the room at her, his amber eyes darker, those little sparks of blue twinkling in them. His expression was somber, his gaze too quiet, and too filled with things she didn’t want to see, because they too closely resembled things she didn’t want to admit she felt herself.
“Never had a man slip into your room?” he asked her as he moved to the door, opened it and checked outside before turning back to her.
He turned the lock and kept his gaze locked on hers as he did so.
“Are you scared?” he asked curiously.
Ria rolled her eyes. “Not hardly. But my original question remains. Why the hell are you sneaking into my bedroom rather than using the door?”
“Maybe I’m trying to romance you?” He arched a brow, and it looked sexy as hell. Too bad she knew better than to believe him.
“Am I now harboring a runaway Breed?” She tilted her head and looked him up and down. “Dane buys me jewels for allowing myself to get involved with his little schemes. What do you have to offer, Mr. Warrant?”
Oh, that smile. Tinted just a bit with a shade of bitterness, but hungry, confident and very much in control.
“Jewels don’t keep you warm at night,” he told her quietly.
And that was only too true. They were hard and cold, and she found little solace in them other than the knowledge that they had the power to restrain Dane. Sometimes.
“And you can?” she asked him.
He moved forward. A step at a time, slow, a confident swagger that had her forcing herself to calm her breathing.
He would be able to keep her warm on the coldest winter night, she thought. He was large enough, tall enough to curl right around her and hold the cold at bay.
“You stomped out today and forgot your duties,” she reminded him, hearing the nervousness in her voice. “Am I supposed to reward you now?”
His eyes gleamed. “I was never far from your side. You just didn’t see me. You can reward me for that if you feel a need to.”
He stopped in front of her, staring down at her with all those hungry shadows in his eyes. She could feel the need growing between them, building. Fighting it didn’t seem to help much, because she wanted to give in so desperately.
“What are you doing here, Mercury?” she sighed, lifting her hands to place them against the black material of his mission shirt. The heavy, conforming fabric was warm from the heat of his body, and he really needed to take it off, she thought irrationally.
“You tried to protect me today,” he said softly. “I don’t think anyone has ever thought to try to lie for me.”
His voice was musing, as though he were trying to figure out why she had done it.
“It wasn’t as much a lie as it seemed,” she said to excuse herself. “I was damned glad to see that camera go.”
“I’m glad I could accommodate you then.” His lips quirked, that hint of amusement clenching her thighs.
“Break security cameras often then?” Her voice had a tremor in it that wasn’t hard to read.
His smile deepened; his exotically lined and tilted eyes took on a sensual, drowsy cast. “Not often,” he admitted.
“Would a person have cause to lie for you often?” She lied for Dane all the time.
“I’m fairly honest.” His voice lowered further. “And as much as those damned ugly skirts of yours turn me on, I don’t need to hide behind them.”
“My skirts aren’t ugly.” They were detestable.
“This is much better.” He reached up and fingered the shoulder of her silky robe. “You look like a princess dressed in that. All that pretty hair flowing down your back. I should be shot for the things I think about doing to you.”
She licked her lips and breathed in roughly.
“Like what?” She almost winced at the question.
It had been a hell of a day, she rationalized. The stress of stealing information from Sanctuary, the risk of knowing she might be caught at any time, and now this. The knowledge that she hadn’t worked fast enough and she was getting entangled in her own emotions.
No. No emotions, she warned herself.
“Like taking the sadness out of your eyes, maybe?” He lowered his head, his lips pressing against her temple. “What goes through that pretty head when your eyes darken like that?”
No emotions. No entanglements.
She was fooling herself. He had charmed her from the first moment she met him, and look at her now. She was melting against him like butter.
“How foolish you were to sneak through the window when the doors work perfectly fine,” she told him breathlessly. “Are all Breed males so complicated?”
“Hmm.” His fingers threaded into the side of her hair, his hand cupping her head, holding her in place. “I just want a nice good-night kiss and then I’ll leave.”
“You don’t have to leave.”