Free Edge of Danger by Cherry Adair Page A

twitched. His predatory smile was that of a male intensely physically aware of a female. Or a jungle cat about to have lunch. “If you think that smile will allay my fears,” she told him coolly, “it doesn’t.”
     
      Over two thousand people worked in the building. The computer lab right next door held several hundred of them. Just a—soundproof, damn it—wall away. Not only that, but even after several weeks, the building was crawling with Jason’s security people, uniformed officers, detectives, FBI, and a fruit salad of other agencies.
     
      “How did I get in? Magic.” His gravelly baritone was ironic.
     
      That voice again. The one she’d heard in her erotic dream. The one that had haunted her since.
     
      Which was, of course, ridiculous. The room was flooded with sunlight, yet to Eden it felt as though it were filled with shadows. This man’s presence seemed larger than life. She could ponder his method of gaining entrance later. The fact that he was ten feet away from her, that she was alone with him behind three locked high-security doors, that somehow he was raising her body temperature and heartbeat without touching her, all bothered her a great deal.
     
      She had to lick her lips before she could push the words out. “You’re wasting your time.” Her voice was steady, but she stuffed her shaking fingers into the front pockets of her jeans so neither of them would know just how damn scared she really was. He didn’t move, but his heated gaze was on her mouth as she spoke. Slowly he lifted his eyes to meet hers. The nonphysical contact jolted Eden right to her bones.
     
      Oh, God. She had to get to that buzzer. Theo had been shot. Did this guy have a gun secreted somewhere on him? Probably.
     
      Her little gun was in her purse, which unfortunately was directly behind him in her desk drawer. Her only hope was hitting that silent alarm. And the odds of her doing that before he reached her were slim to none.
     
      “You’ll get no more from me than you got from Theo. How could you kill a defenseless, harmless old man?”
     
      “Who said I did?”
     
      Eden rolled her eyes. “Well, it defies logic to think more than one person has managed to break the Verdine security system in such a short window of time. It’s called deductive reasoning. If you’re here now, you must have killed Theo. But this stealthy little visit is a waste of your time.”
     
      “Why is that?” he asked softly.
     
      He stood between her and the emergency security button under her desk. But Theo’s desk was about five feet to her right. She held his gaze as she took a casual step closer to the desk. “Because you’ve already killed Dr. Kirchner and taken everything of value. Killing me would be—redundant.”
     
      “Is that right?”
     
      When she didn’t respond he asked softly, “Stupid or brave, Doctor?”
     
      She met his eyes. They weren’t black, but a dark, fathomless, deep blue. “If you’re referring to me not running like hell— neither. I’m paralyzed with terror.”
     
      His expression darkened. “Are you always this honest?”
     
      “No. Yes.”
     
      “Which is it?”
     
      “What difference does it make?”
     
      “Close your eyes, Dr. Cahill.”
     
      With him scowling at her like that? Not a freaking chance. “Don’t be ridiculous. I want to see what you’re doing.” Marshall would be back soon, she thought with rising panic. But soon enough to prevent her death?
     
      “Are you going to scream?”
     
      Hell, yes. She could feel it building deep in her diaphragm as he approached as silently as a large, predatory cat. “What’s the point? This is a soundproof room.”
     
      He frowned. “That is a dumb-ass thing to tell a man you believe is a killer.”
     
      “I’m not going to waste oxygen screaming.” No matter how logical that response might be, the tightness in her chest ratcheted up another notch as the scream