Free The Wicked by Thea Harrison Page B

was giving her time to find some way to stop him or turn him away. It would be entirely her choice whether or not they let their budding connection become public.
    But she could not imagine turning away from him in that moment.
    Insane though it sounded, she could not imagine ever turning away from him.
    Whoa, Nelly. Don’t panic, it was just a thought. Of course they hardly knew each other, and falling in love that fast with a (near) total stranger was inconceivable, and…
    Blah blah blah…
    She let the supposedly calm, logical part of her mind babble away. In the meantime, she had more important things to do. Stepping forward, she raised her face and met his kiss halfway.
    His firm lips settled over hers. Compared to the crazed escalation from the previous night, this kiss was positively tame, just nestling their lips together in a gesture that was more affectionate than anything else. He rested his hands on her hips, and she covered them with her own. The most intimate thing about it all was that it was so public.
    Except that his hot, male Power wrapped around her, invisible and possessive, and the fire that he had started in her last night flared up again, hectic and out of control.
    She managed not to reach out and clutch him to her in a totally inappropriate embrace, but her body shook with the effort. He held back too, but standing so close to him, she could feel the tension vibrating off his taut body. His fingers dug into the soft flesh of her hips. She knew he would leave marks on her pale skin. She didn’t mind. She wanted to egg him on.
    So the crazed creature that had taken over her body was still in residence, alive and well. She drew back, mouth trembling.
    His well-formed lips pulled into the sexiest smile she had ever seen, and the laugh lines bracketing his mouth deepened.
    In the meantime, silence had descended on deck. She glanced around cautiously. Dendera looked shocked, and almost everyone got very busy, all except for Bailey, who gave her a thumbs up and a grin.
    And Steve, who stared at her with a cold, unfriendly gaze.

Chapter Seven
    After all their preparation, and despite Sebastian’s concerns about the inexperienced symbologists, the crossover went without a hitch. Phaedra sank into the ocean with them and shortly afterward the Djinn’s physical form dissipated as she settled at the passageway’s entrance.
    Bailey swam along the passageway first, hauling two containers that had been carefully weighted so that they floated a few feet above the sea floor. She cast magical light spells as she went. The balls of light flared and then slowly faded, giving everybody that followed plenty of illumination for their journey.
    Behind her mask, Olivia’s expression was full of wonder as they swam along the passageway. Sebastian stayed close beside her protectively, but she made an excellent crossing. They both hauled containers. She transported empty ones designed for the library collection, and he pulled food supplies and packs.
    Land magic swirled around them, and partway through the trip the seabed changed. They couldn’t rise to the surface with the containers, so they swam until the water grew shallow enough that they could stand. Then they pushed back their masks and stared at the land in front of them.
    A sandy beach lay directly ahead of them just yards away. A bluff rose from the beach, with a path zigzagging up the side. The heavy gold sunlight of late afternoon drenched the scene. A stone fence ran along the top of the bluff, and beyond that, a partially visible manor house sprawled.
    Underneath the constant murmur of the surf and the sound of wind, a certain kind of silence lay over the scene, a complete lack of traffic or any other man-made sounds. A bird of some kind called in the distance, warbling a sharp warning of their arrival.
    They knew from information that Carling had given them that the island was kidney-shaped and four miles long. Behind the house was an extensive vegetable