Free Raven on the Wing by Kay Hooper Page B

lifted to gently brush back a strand of her long hair, and his eyes followed the movement fleetingly until his hand lay against her neck warmly. “My stepfather thought it best. If no one knew my sister and Icould defend ourselves, we had an ace up our sleeves.”
    Raven swallowed, aware suddenly of throbbing desire; she wasn’t sure if it was hers or his. It didn’t matter. “Why was it necessary? Because you were wealthy?”
    “Partly.” His voice had deepened, grown husky. “But also because my stepfather is Stuart Jameson.”
    Her eyes widened; she might not have been familiar with the social and business scene, but the top scientific circles held no faces that would have been strange to her. “I heard him lecture years ago. He talked to us about worst-case scenarios; he said you always had to plan for the worst, and know what you’d do if it happened.”
    Josh nodded slowly, his eyes now fixed on her lips. “He told Serena and me the same thing from the time we were very young.”
    Raven remembered something else then, and her breath caught in her throat. “His wife … she was killed by accident, because someone was trying to get to him.”
    His eyes darkening, Josh nodded again. “My mother.”
    She was scarcely aware that he’d released her wrists, and wasn’t conscious of her action when she lifted her arms and slid them around his waist. Her heart was aching suddenly. “Your mother … Josh, I’m sorry.”
    “It was a long time ago.” Still, there was a thread of grief in his voice. “But I haven’t forgotten Stuart’s lessons. You see, Raven, when I realized what I’d done, and what you were involved in, those years of lessons took control. I saw so clearly what Travers could do to you. All the ways he could hurt you.” He drew a deep breath unsteadily.
    “I didn’t realize …”
    In a peculiarly conversational tone far more chilling than any outburst would have been, Josh said, “I would have killed him, you know. If you hadn’t walked in, I would have gone after him. I just couldn’t take the chance he wouldn’t turn on you.”
    “Josh—”
    His hand tangled in her long hair, and Joshbent his head, taking her mouth fiercely. Raven’s lips parted instantly, allowing the slow probing of his tongue, feeling that stark caress ignite a curl of fire deep inside her.
    And there was something else deep inside her, something both excited and astonished. Never in her life had a man’s touch affected her like this, ignited fire so swiftly and completely. She had known she loved him, but not even that knowledge had prepared her for this instantaneous explosion of all her senses, this mindless need to belong to him.
    The past years had been filled with too much reality for Raven to indulge in fantasies, but her mind conjured images now, inspired by the demands of her body. She could see him naked and powerful in his desire, his muscled body sleek and strong and primitive. And her own body ached hollowly, insistently, demanding his strength to fill the emptiness.
    Her soft moan was lost in his mouth as she felt him move against her, the thin barriers of her silk dress and his clothing flimsy things easilypenetrated by the heat and demand of their bodies. The curl of fire in her belly became molten, flowing through her veins until she was burning from head to foot.
    The restless heat made her move unconsciously against him, instinctively seeking relief from the growing tension, her nails digging into his back. And even though a distant, constantly guarded part of her mind was aware of voices and activity in the room around them, she was gloriously unconcerned by it.
    “Uh … Josh?”
    Josh lifted his head, staring down into her dazed eyes. “Get out of here, Zach,” he murmured hoarsely, his fixed gaze drifting downward to absorb the faintly swollen red lips that were parted and seemed mutely to beg for another kiss. And he wanted to oblige. Dear Lord, how he wanted to oblige.
    “I’d love