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Jameson drove away from White Plains, and as he did, he tried to keep his eyes, and his hway ahead of him But that was useless, because his curiosity about the woth with every ins Twice now, and he&039;d been rudely slapped down on both occasions He wouldn&039;t give her the satisfaction of asking again
But he couldn&039;t help but wonder about her What kind of woed, and by whohly?
She leaned back in the passenger seat, her head resting against the black leather, her eyes closed She wasn&039;t sleeping No Not at all She was feeling As Jahts slip unnoticed into herthat connection she&039;d described to him The one that would tell her when her child-his child-was near Her h which they sped, to search every car they passed, and every building, and every field and every wood-lot And the farther they went, the more desperate that search beca out to the child
She&039;d taken only a very little sustenance froh She was draining her own energy, sapping her strength in this mental search, and as little as she understood about her own nature, Jameson was surprised at her ability to even try it Instinctive, he supposed
She was paling, now Her eyelids twitched in protest, and a gentle shudder worked through her body
He wanted to despise her And he should He certainly should She&039;d attempted to murder him She&039;d handed herself over to his oldest enemies, allowed herself to be used by them, and because of her, they now had his child The only child he&039;d ever have In the hands of the people he despised with everything in him All because of her
And yet he didn&039;t quite hate the woed and mentally shook himself It was natural that he couldn&039;t hate her just now She was barely able to remain conscious, as weak as she was Months of captivity, and God knehat kind of abuse Pale and tre and sickly No, he couldn&039;t hate any person in this kind of sorry state Not even her He&039;d worry about hating her later No doubt it would coelica," he said, and then schooled his voice before going on It should have the sharp ring of command, rather than that quiet hint of concern "Stop, you&039;re not strong enough" Her eyes opened, but slowly, and she blinked at hiaze focused, her eyes narrowed "What do you care how strong I a I&039;et," he told her "And elica, is that you not waste all of it and kill yourself before I findflashed in her eyes A fierceness that surprised hio, he&039;d sensed no viciousness in her Only desperation This was quite different Like a lioness eyeing a careless hunter and licking her chops A half-dead lioness, still e for what she perceived as a threat to her young
"You need to understand so even this harsh whisper sound violent "No matter what you do to me, no matter how you try, you will never have that innocent child I ao I&039;d have believed it impossible I am her mother And I will raise her in a fine and moral manner She will not be touched by the likes of you I will not have her corrupted by your evil If you want her" She closed her eyes, took a breath, as if the very act of speaking was draining her "You&039;ll have to kill me"
Jameson closed his eyes very briefly and shook his head as if to shake the confusion away "The likes of lances "Angelica, you are the likes ofout theinto the night "I&039;ll never be like you"
"And how can you be so sure of that, when you have no idea what I&039; the exit that led to the isolated estate on Long Island, which through a series of tricky legal ed to Eric It had been so hted there that DPI had long ago stopped keeping the place under surveillance Eric had been there, though And he&039;d been busy
"I knohat you&039;re like," she said, and her whisper eaker now
She was re that made her stomach heave and her heart race with fear A dark alley, and an a her down and-
"Stop it!" She snapped her head around to face hi ut level She had every right to order hihts He knew better than to read another&039;s mind without permission It was just that he was so da hed hard "I don&039;t like you, Angelica That&039;s no secret But if you&039;re to be of any help at all in finding our daughter, you&039;re going to need to learn a bit more about your own nature And I suppose there&039;s no one else to teach you, so"
She let her head fall back against the seat "I don&039;t want to know anything you ht want to teach uard your thoughts? Not even how to keepyour lance, filled with suspicion and elica, and once the technique is learned, your thoughts will only be readable if and when you intend them to be"
Her head came around a little farther, eyes narrowed "Black arts, no doubt Sorcery Satanism"
"I don&039;t believe in Satan," he said "So it can&039;t be that"
"Heretic," she ed "Close your eyes and envision your hts as its inhabitants
And you as theher eyes or doing anything he told her to But she was filing it all away for later consideration, he thought
"Others wish to invade your home, and it&039;s your responsibility to protect those who live there So you build a wall Pick any material you like Brick or steel or stone But see yourself, very clearly, building that wall, her, until your house is no longer just a house, but a castle A fortress Impenetrable"
A bit of the suspicion left those violet eyes They widened, and for once, looked directly into his And their impact, when she did, jolted hiazeshis were the trigger to release the sthe desirethe touch of her lips and
He blinked, and jerked his own gaze back to the road ahead, breaking the powerful connection He realized he&039;d missed his turnoff, and pulled a U-turn in the road and headed back the other way Then, clearing his throat, he went on, trying very hard to pretend he&039;d noticed nothing unusual when their eyes hadher how to protect her mind "See yourself as the keeper of the wall you build," he said "You can send lanced at her again Wider now, those eyes, and filled with purple wonder Molazed as she felt the sas he had But like him, she&039;d done her best to hide it And focused instead on the words they&039;d been saying Words, floating on the surface of a still lake, while the deeper waters churned into chaos just below
She was looking so innocent right now So surprised at what he&039;d told her He caught hi at her, and checked it with ease "Yes, of course you can And you can hear the thoughts of others as well"
"Yes," she said, very softly "I do hear the Like a constant roar in arbled I-" She looked up quickly, as if everything she&039;d just said had tumbled fro that she was speaking to hi other than a ave her head a tired shake
It angered him But he spoke all the saes you wish to receive
All others will bounce off it like carelessly ai, but hoping, he could see thatto see that distrust in her eyes anymore "Try it and see for yourself if you&039;re so certain I&039;m a liar Go on, do it Concentrate Build your wall" Her lips thinned and she rolled her eyes, but seconds later, he saw her leaning back, relaxing, and focusing inwardly on the things he had told her He gave her ti at the coastline as it ca and probing And he found her wall Felt it there, a flih if necessary, but her defenses would get stronger with tiood," he said "Not bad at all, in fact"
She looked at hi to confuse me with all this nonsense"
"Am I?" he said And then he focused hisaloud, said, We&039;re near the sea now, Angelica See it, off in the distance ?
And he saw her stiffen, and turn toward him as if he&039;d spoken Saw her flinch when she noticed that his lips were notSaw her look off in the direction he&039;d mentally indicated, and notice the Atlantic shore
"It&039;sit&039;s uncanny It&039;s unnatural," she whispered
"No, not to us it isn&039;t And it can be damned convenient Especially when you find yourself in a scrape
You can send out your cry for help across theothers to your aid" She lowered her head, shook it "I&039;d rather take my chances with my own trouble, thank you all the saelica?"
She lifted her brows and her shoulders at the same time "Same reason it&039;s unwise to deal with the devil, Va made of true evil can be"
"So we&039;re like Satan himself, now, are we? Made of evil? Not to be trusted? I didn&039;t realize you were in such close contact with the Alelica Has He told you all this personally? Or are you judging e you," she whispered "You&039;ve already shown your true colors You began as my rescuer and became my captor I&039;ll know better than to ain"
"If I were untrustworthy, that wouldn&039;t necessarily el of wisdom
And while we&039;re at it, let&039;s set the record straight I began as your rescuer, that&039;s true Then I becael, I becaasp that stateated He even smiled a little "True, it was only in a test tube, but we elica, I am both rescuer and captor, but only to prevent you fro the role of child abductor"
She lowered her head, closed her eyes
"How can anyone so detest the very thing they are?" he asked, half to hielica When you condemn us, you condemn yourself"
"I&039;m not the one who&039;s condemned you," she whispered "God has And for some reason, He&039;s turned His wrath on me as well"
He tilted his head to one side, saw the utter torment on her pretty face "You believe this is some form of punishment from God?"
"It&039;s hell," she whispered "I died in that alley, and this is hell"
"What alley?" He knewshe&039;d been ainst her will, quite obviously But he wanted to know
She averted her face, bit her lip, refused to answer hiel, you&039;re really without a clue You have no inkling of what being a va to conclusions without the slightest bit of evidence Do you have any idea how self-righteous and arrogant that is?"