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But as she reached for the plates, something crashed outside, making her stop. The wild clanking of the dock lines told her it was just the wind, but in the next instant, a crack of thunder had her running for the door.
“My laptop!” She’d left it outside.
The wind buffeted her as she dove out the door. Sea spray stung her face, but she pushed toward the back deck and the small table she’d used earlier. The chair had fallen over, but her computer was where she’d left it, thank goodness. The sky had turned dark fast with the rising storm. A distant flash lit the clouds, followed by a low roll of thunder. She grabbed the laptop, and turned to find Kade right behind her.
“We’ve got to get this furniture in the hatch,” she said, yelling over the howl of the wind. “It’s here.” She took three steps and tapped the hatch door beneath her foot. “I’ll be right back.”
She escaped into the relative calm of the houseboat, deposited her laptop on the kitchen counter and grabbed the hatch keys so she could lock up once everything was stored. When she returned to the deck, Kade was lowering the table into the hatch, but the chair that had fallen over was on the move again. Lifted on a gust of wind, it was bounding across the deck, end over end, toward the rail.
The boat rocked on the swells, making walking nearly impossible, but that chair belonged to Larsen and she wasn’t going to lose it. She lunged for it, lurching across the deck. But as she reached for the escaping furniture, she lost her balance and tipped toward the rail. For one dismal instant, she prepared herself for an icy swim. But at the last moment, a strong arm snagged her around the waist and hauled her against a rock-solid chest.
“I’ve got you.”
Autumn collapsed against him, heart pounding in her throat, then noticed the chair tight in his other hand. “Nice catch.”
A low sound that might have been laughter vibrated against her back. “I wouldn’t let you escape me that easily.”
The boat bobbed, but held by his strong arm, she didn’t stumble. Couldn’t fall. She felt safe. Protected. And for the first time in years…not alone.
She turned to face him. Their gazes met and locked in the flash of distant lightning and she caught a glimpse of his face, of a brooding intensity in his eyes. Her heart, still thudding from her near fall, began to race as her storm-whipped senses became focused only on the man. The pressure in her chest increased and she lifted her hand and pressed it against his cheek. Gone was the crazed out-of-control need that had gripped her before. In its place was a need for connection as deep as her soul.
As the wind tossed his loose hair, he lowered his face to hers. His mouth brushed hers, gently at first then with more insistence, sending warm desire flowing through her, sliding through her limbs. He tasted like heaven and smelled like the forest and the sea joined in a battle as old as the stars. She wanted this, wanted him, and she kissed him back, losing herself in a whirlwind of sensations. The feel of his strong arm around her, the slide of his tongue against hers drove her excitement with the rising storm.
Lightning lit the sky with a crack of close thunder and the first large raindrops landed on their heads. Slowly Kade pulled back, releasing her mouth even as he continued to hold her. His expression was lost to the shadows until another flash of lightning illuminated his face, revealing a longing in his eyes she didn’t understand. Almost a loneliness.
The raindrops began a steady bombardment and they pulled apart. As one, they ran for the hatch. Kade dropped the chair inside and Autumn locked the door then ran for sanctuary. She closed the door behind them and sank back against the cool glass, raindrops tickling her cheeks. Kade ran his hands through his hair, flinging the droplets everywhere, showering her anew.
“Kade!” She laughed and looked at him, but the expression in his eyes caught her fast, silencing her. She couldn’t look away. Didn’t want to look away. They weren’t even touching, yet she’d never felt so close to another, so aware of another, in her life. She felt as if he could see into her soul and learn all her fears and secrets. And if she looked closely enough, she could learn his.
Her pulse throbbed with an ache of recognition and the illogical certainty that this man was the one she’d been waiting for.
“Autumn…”
The ring of the phone interrupted whatever he was going to say, breaking that gossamer thread of connection. She ran to grab the phone from the counter.
“Autumn, it’s Larsen. We’re ready. Drive to Charlie’s and give me a call when you reach the parking garage. I’ll tell you where to meet us.”
“Okay. Bye, Larsen.”
Autumn slowly pushed her phone into her pocket, chilled suddenly by the thought of dragging Kade into the Sitheens’ trap. She didn’t have a choice. If she was right, and Kade Smith was the good, decent man she believed, he’d forgive her. Eventually.
And if she was wrong? Then he was Esri and he deserved to die. There was nothing she could…or would…do to stop it. Though she had a feeling she would regret it for the rest of her life.
Chapter 4
She’d enchanted him. That was the only explanation.
Kaderil stared into the dark at the lights glowing from the windows of passing buildings as Autumn drove him to meet Larsen Vale. The wiper screeched on the now dry windshield and Autumn turned it off, the rain already having stopped.
She couldn’t have enchanted him, of course. The woman was fully human. But he struggled for a better explanation for the weakness that grew worse with every moment he spent in her company. He’d smiled at her! He’d told himself he wouldn’t kiss her again, yet every time he was in reach of her he could think of nothing else.
The time he’d known her was less than the blink of an eye, yet already she filled his mind. It infuriated him. He was the Punisher, not some besotted fool of an Esri lord.
He would not let her control his thoughts this way. But even as the thought went through his mind, he found his head swiveling to the left, his gaze once more seeking her out.
Unable to fight his traitorous fascination, he drank his fill. Even in the shadows he could make out the shape of her pleasing profile, her slender nose and full, sweet-tasting mouth. Her taste still lingered on his tongue, stirring unwanted need all over again.
Enchanted. That was the only possibility.
The last thing he wanted was to be attracted to her, a human, the very human who was leading him to his prey. He resented the kick of guilt that plagued him.
The Punisher was without guilt. Without conscience. He did his duty with little thought and no remorse. But with every moment Kaderil spent in this woman’s company, forced to pretend to be the nice human, Kade Smith, he felt the Punisher slipping a little more out of his grasp.
Kaderil forced himself to go back to looking out his window, but his hungry gaze wouldn’t be denied. Within moments, he found his head swiveling back toward Autumn. The lights of a passing car illuminated her face fully, revealing a tenseness around her eyes and that lush mouth, a tenseness that made him wonder what was going on inside her head. Did the driving require such deep concentration?
Autumn glanced at him, licking her lower lip with an unconscious nervousness that caught his attention and gave him pause.
“I’m sorry you had to eat so quickly.”
“I didn’t mind. Eating quickly didn’t diminish my enjoyment.”
She nodded and returned her gaze to the road, but cleared her throat in a way that told him she had something more to say. “Kade, I need to tell you something. You’ve had some weird dreams, right? About a white-skinned man? Do you know who he is? What he is?”
Kaderil relaxed, realizing her nervousness was a result of uncertainty over how to broach the subject of the Esri with a fellow human who knew nothing. She was easing into it gently, as he was coming to understand