Beyond the Shadows (7 page)

A thick beard covered a face made more angular with weight loss, the cheekbones more prominent. His mouth looked the same, set in its usual grim line, but his eyes had changed. He leaned closer, peering intently into the green orbs to work out exactly why. The shape hadn’t altered, and they were still fringed by the long, dark lashes he’d hated so much as a boy. They’d caused him a fight or two during his early teens until his ferocity and downright dirtiness earned him grudging respect from his peers. But the girls were a different story. His mouth tugged up at the memory of their reaction to him during those same years. They thought him soulful and mysterious. He’d seen no reason to disillusion them, especially once he realized one look could charm the pants off any girl that took his fancy.

Older and wiser now, he’d reformed from his bachelor years and immersed himself in police-work. Seeing the worst humanity had to offer, day to day, had a way of hardening soft edges. The murder of his sister obliterated the stubborn ones completely, leaving him an empty, jagged shell. The frown between his brows had become permanent. Tragedy had shaped him into a man most people instinctively kept at a distance, a man formed of hard edges, a man even he didn’t like.

And then he realized what had changed. A hint of warmth reflected in his gaze, a spark of life, where before there had been only the,
don’t screw with me,
cold-eyed stare. Not wanting to dwell on the cause, he turned his attention back to ridding his face of bristles.

Swishing the blade through the water, Nate stretched his chin and bit by bit, revealed the man beneath the mask. A new man emerged and he smiled at the imagery, wondering if he could live up to it. A cool breeze touched his newly naked cheek with a feathery touch, and he turned his head.

“Jesus Christ!” The hand holding the blade on the edge of his jaw jerked sharply. The nick stung, but not nearly as much as the shock at seeing what stood beside him.

Not Jesus. Just me.

His sister, Thea, stood beside him, the crooked grin he’d missed like hell on her translucent lips. Tears blinded him as he gazed at her, afraid to blink in case she disappeared as abruptly as she’d appeared. Blood from the cut trickled down his neck but he ignored it, his attention fully focused on the impossible.

“Thea,” he finally whispered and reached for her. Sorrow flitted over her features as his hand passed through her. His fingers curled into his palms. “God, I’ve missed you. You have no idea.”

The sadness intensified.
Oh, but I do, Nate. I’ve been watching you systematically destroy your life, pushing people away for far too long.
She smiled gently, and a subtle feeling of warmth flooded his body from the center out.
You weren’t to blame for my death. Nor are you responsible for Wade getting off. True justice caught up to him here on this plane anyway. It was more terrifying than you can imagine.

Nate’s eyes widened as a mental image flashed into his brain, but before he grasped it completely, it was gone. He was left with the feeling he’d glimpsed something no mortal should ever lay eyes on, leaving him shaken to the core, nausea swirling in his stomach.

Why haven’t you found him, yet?
Thea interrupted his thoughts.
You have to keep looking. You were wrong. It’s time to acknowledge that or risk losing another you care about.

He shook his head, his gaze never straying from the illusion. “Who? The people I cared about were taken from me. There’s no one left.” Kelly’s image flooded his brain, and he shook his head to clear it. At the knowing smirk on his sister’s lips, he scowled. “Get out of my head. And what am I doing talking to a ghost?” He straightened and raised his voice. “You’re dead and I’m crazy.”

“O’Leary?”

Startled, his gaze shot to the closed door.

“You okay? I thought I heard you call out.”

He turned back, but Thea had disappeared as if she had never been. A quick visual search of the room amounted to nothing. He stared into the mirror, looking for signs of madness. Finding none, he looked down at his shaving hand and willed it to stop shaking. “I’m fine. Be out in a couple of minutes.” At the sound of her retreating footsteps, he hurriedly resumed his shave without meeting his own eyes and tried not to think about the fact madness wasn’t always on the surface for everyone to see.

Chapter Five

“Mmm. That smells great.”

Kelly paused, a knife in her hand. The smile she gave him squeezed his lungs. “Well, anything will be good after a week of food through a tube I imagine.”

He admired the grace of her long fingers as they aligned the utensil beside the placemat. How had he never noticed how elegant they were? He glanced at his own as they wrapped around the back of her chair to pull it out. Square tipped and large, they suited his chosen profession. He would never have made a doctor and he supposed it was lucky he didn’t have an artistic bone in his body. He looked up to find her staring at him.

“What?”

“Why’d you do that?”

Nate frowned. “Do what?” He followed her gaze to his hand resting on the back of her chair and shrugged. “You’re a lady aren’t you?”

“First time you’ve noticed that,” she mumbled sarcastically and sat down, dragging her chair closer to the table.

He leaned close, his fingertips barely grazing her shoulders. Goosebumps rose in their wake, and he allowed his breath to stir the hair around her ear. “Oh, I’ve noticed all right.” He grinned at her quickly indrawn breath and the accompanying shiver and breathed deeply of the delicate scent her flushed skin released. His head lowered before he caught himself. Clamping his jaw shut, he pulled away to prevent taking her earlobe between his teeth. Her perfume followed his retreat, teasing his nostrils the long walk to his own chair.

God, yes he’d noticed, and that’s precisely why he tried so hard to treat her as one of the boys. But with her here in his home, suddenly, the boundaries he’d set between them no longer existed. At this moment, he had a hard time working out why he’d erected them in the first place.

He sat down and picked up his utensils, keeping his gaze firmly on the plate in front of him, and concentrating on every mouthful. Perhaps if he kept his mind busy isolating and identifying each individual ingredient by taste alone, the overpowering urge to learn hers would leave him be.

The silence was companionable, one of the things he most appreciated about Kelly. She seemed to know when to push him and when to leave him the hell alone. Or maybe, his blatant comment had freaked her out. She’d hardly touched her meal. The food he’d just placed in his mouth turned to ash at the thought, and he snatched up his drink to wash it down. He stole a glance at her over the rim of the glass to find her direct blue gaze already on him. His gut clenched. She didn’t
look
freaked out. She looked—soft. And inviting. And—oh, hell.

He pushed his plate away and stood up suddenly. Then he wished he hadn’t. The few bites of frittata sat uneasily in his stomach. His head grew dizzy and his sight fuzzed around the edges. Reaching out, he grasped the table to steady himself and the sound of cutlery clattered in his ears.

An arm snaked around his waist and her voice scolded softly in his ear. “You need to stop pushing yourself, Nate. Your strength will come back in time.”

She led him towards the couch where he collapsed and closed his eyes, his breath coming in ragged pants as he struggled to keep the nausea at bay. His fists clenched and he growled in frustration.

“Go easy on yourself. You have come back from the dead, after all.”

His eyes snapped open at her choice of words. They reminded him of his strange dream and the visitation in the bathroom. As much as he’d like to believe that really had been Thea and not a figment of his imagination, his rational mind struggled to accept it.
What did that say about his mental health?
With a grunt, he pulled himself into a sitting position and stared at his partner as she sat across from him. “Tell me what happened, Kelly. The last thing I remember is the bullet hitting me and crumpling. How did we get out of there alive?”

Emotions flitted across her face. Remembered fear, rage and—he frowned, puzzled—embarrassment. She’d always been an open book, her thoughts clearly expressed on her lovely features. He’d often wondered if she was too soft to be in such a cynical job. Maybe it explained why the Sergeant had paired them up. Classic good cop, bad cop. Or maybe he’d hoped some of her goodness would rub off on him. His mouth twitched at the thought.

“What the hell were you thinking jumping the gun like that?”

He smiled, recognizing the diversion tactic. She had learned a thing or two from him, after all. He didn’t think that’s what the Sergeant had planned on though.

“It’s not funny,” she fumed. “You almost died.” Her voice broke on the last word.

He sobered instantly, his gaze sharpening on the slight quiver to her bottom lip. “I’m sorry, Kelly. And even sorrier for putting you in danger like that. It was stupid of me.”

She let out a harsh laugh. “Yeah. It was.”

His eyes sought hers. “I’d still like to know what happened.”

She shrugged, broke eye contact, and looked down at her hands. “I don’t remember much myself. Everything happened in a blur.”

She was lying. And there was that flicker of embarrassment again. Interesting. But why? He prodded a bit more. “What about the cameraman?”

“That guy,” she spat, her brows pulled down in a scowl. “The asshole kept rolling the bloody camera instead of running to get help. It was as if all his wet-dreams happened at once.” She paused and her nostrils flared as she sucked in deep draughts of air. Finally, she nodded as if coming to a decision. “They’re playing the footage in a special show of
Cops
tomorrow night. I’ve been fielding calls from them for days now and trying to convince them not to show it, to no avail.” She snorted and rolled her eyes. “They’ve got the okay from the sergeant, so they don’t need my permission.”

“How did they wangle that?”

“Apparently, he’s been featured throughout the segment.”

“Huh. That’ll do it. Oh, well. Sounds like it’ll make good TV. I hope they got my good side.”

“How can you be flippant about this?”

Nate shrugged, wincing slightly at the pull on tender skin. “I’m alive. And people are curious beasts. Where’s the harm?”

Kelly stood and turned to him in white-lipped anger. “Where’s the harm?” Her voice dropped to a deadly whisper, her eyes shards of ice as she advanced on him. “We are going to look like morons. The camera caught everything.” She placed her hands both sides of his head and leaned forward. “Everything,” she enunciated slowly through her teeth. “First, you leap out of the car to confront them like some great big action hero, while I sit twiddling my thumbs and fretting like a dumb blonde. Like the script so far?”

Her scent came at him in waves. He froze and willed his body to do the same. That damned vanilla made him think of creamy sweetness that led to thoughts of parts of her body where the sun didn’t shine. He could barely concentrate on the words coming out of her mouth. All he could think of was where he wanted that mouth.

“Then, the camera’s beady eye zooms in on me,” she continued, “while I try to act like your actions are normal, and then the gun goes off. I don’t think the boss will enjoy seeing what the camera saw that day, and I sure as hell don’t want to relive it.”

Temper sharpened her gaze. “Are you even listening to me?”

“You might want to back off,” he warned in a strained voice.

“Oh, might I? And why would that be?”

Nate looked down. The top of her dress stretched tight over her heaving chest, the position affording him a glorious view of cleavage. The peaks of her breasts were so close, if he took a deep breath, they’d brush against him. It took everything in him to take shallow breaths even as his tongue salivated at the thought of exploring the lush valley under the material. And who knew what he’d do then. She followed his gaze, and he heard her stifle a gasp. When she didn’t move away, his body hardened to the point of pain.

She lifted her head and another rush of blood went straight to his cock. Her pupils had dilated, her eyes darkened to midnight blue and a slow, feline smile stretched her generous mouth. “Why would I do that?” she repeated in a soft drawl.

“Because you might not like my reaction,” he growled, mindful to keep his breathing shallow.

Slowly, she lowered her head and allowed her body to drop closer until they were just a sliver apart. “But what if I do?”

Need ripped through him and without further thought, he shifted his knees wider, bringing her flush against his length. She groaned softly and his control snapped. Reaching out with graceless fingers, he snagged her hair, his fingers pulling on the tie holding it back. Blonde silk cascaded forward, the fragrant tresses shielding them from outside distractions. His hands bunched in the cool strands, delighting in the warmth of her scalp under his palm, and impatiently he tugged her towards him.

The phone rang, jarring them out of the sensual haze. Kelly’s eyes flew open, millimeters from his and stared at him in what looked like horror. She backed off, forcing his hand to drop from her head.

“Kelly,” he groaned, his hand beseeching the air. At the shake to her head, he let it drop and watched as she walked on stiff legs to silence the shrill instrument.

Her low, melodious voice answered then turned sharp and abrupt before slamming the handset down. Within seconds, it rang again and she bent down and deftly popped the cord out of the wall.

She turned and strode back to him, all traces of the soft, sensual woman gone. “Media. Wanting an exclusive.” Her mouth tightened and she rolled her shoulders as if to loosen them. “We need to arrange a press release. With this documentary showing tomorrow, they’ll all want a piece of you. It won’t be anything as civilized as today’s showing at the hospital.”