CHAPTER SIXTEEN
EVE TOSSED AND TURNED, UNABLE TO FALL ASLEEP, MOSTLY LYING awake and staring at the ceiling. Her mind was spinning with thoughts, scrambling over details, rethinking what she had seen in the basement of the asylum, trying to make sense of it all.
Thoughts arose of Ransom King and her mixed emotions where he was concerned. Along with a bit of regret that she hadn’t invited him to spend the night in her bed.
Ran had made his desire for her clear. Ransom King was a man who made no effort to hide his intentions, not when there was something he wanted.
Eve didn’t fall asleep until well after midnight. When she slept she dreamed. A vision slipped in of little Wally, of the two of them as children. She remembered him well now, remembered the sound of his childish laughter. How he loved to visit her when she was playing on the grass in the garden.
She could almost hear him saying her name, calling her Evie, as he always did. His giggling laugher awakened her. Eve cracked open her eyes and surveyed the room, quickly realizing she wasn’t dreaming at all.
Or perhaps she was.
Wally stood at the foot of the bed in his little blue sailor suit. Come and play with me, Evie. Let’s go out and play.
Her mouth went dry. She sat up a little straighter, propping her back against the headboard, certain the image would vanish and she would truly awaken. Instead, Wally floated several inches above the floor, a wide smile on his round, freckled face.
“Wally . . .” She could barely force out the word.
The little boy motioned for her to follow him. Eve couldn’t move.
Come on, Evie. . . .
The fierce beating of her heart pounded in her ears. She wanted to believe she was still sleeping, that this was just her imagination. But the red numbers on the digital clock read 2:10 a.m., and she could hear the storm blowing outside the window.
The chair in front of the vanity moved several inches, scraping across the floor, and a second figure appeared in the room. Eve’s head spun.
Wally floated toward the chair. This is my friend, Herbert.
He was taller than Wally, maybe a year older, starvation thin, with shaggy dark hair and sunken features. His brown twill knickers and coarse linen shirt hung like sacks on his skinny, undernourished frame.
Herbie lives in the orphanage.
Oh, dear God. Eve’s heart broke for the little boy and the life he must have led. She forced herself to smile and wondered if a ghost could see it. “It . . . it’s nice to meet you, Herbie.”
She realized she was gripping the front of her high-necked white cotton nightgown and managed to loosen her fingers. She wished Ran were here. Ran would know if any of this were real or if her mind was slipping.
A movement at the door caught her attention. Not Ran. Something she couldn’t quite see. A man’s voice she recognized boomed into the room, his attention fixed on the boys.
Get back where you belong! It was one of the men she had heard arguing. Go! Now!
Wally and Herbie both disappeared. One moment they were there; the next they had vanished. Eve sat frozen.
The voice became the sphere of light that had confronted her that night in the hall. The light hovered, swelled, shot from one side of the room to the other, shot back again.
Eve trembled. She remembered the board with the nail in the end. She wasn’t sure who had sent that warning, but she didn’t want to chance an incident like that again.
She eased out of bed and began inching her way toward the door. Her hairbrush went flying off the vanity and crashed into the wall a few feet in front of her.
Eve squared her shoulders, determined not to show her fear. “What do you want?”
They! Are! Mine!
The voice was loud and violent and sent a sweep of nausea into Eve’s stomach. The bedroom door crashed open and Ran stood in the hallway, barefoot, bare-chested, wearing only his jeans, the long-handled flashlight in his hand.
The sphere of brilliant light raced around the room, increasing its speed until the light was just a brilliant circling blur; then it streaked past Ran and shot out into the hallway. Ran stepped into the bedroom and the door slammed violently closed behind him, jarring the perfume bottles on the dresser.
“Ran!” Eve raced toward him. Ran tossed the flashlight aside, opened his arms, and swept her against his chest.
“I was afraid something like this might happen,” he said against her hair. His hold tightened. “He’s gone. I’m here now. Everything’s okay.”
The heat and strength of him seeped into her. Eve took a moment to absorb the courage his solid presence gave her.
She eased back to look at him. “You saw it?”
“I heard the voice. I was afraid he might hurt you. I saw the light when I opened the door.”
“Whoever he is—whatever it is—it was here before.”
“Yes, that night in the hall.”
Her knees felt weak. She leaned against him, pressed her cheek against his bare chest, held on a few seconds longer than she should have, finally forced herself to move away.
“Wally was here,” she said. “He brought a friend named Herbie.”
He caught her shoulders. “You could see them?”
“Yes.”
Ran swore under his breath. “There’s nothing easy about this place.”
“You think they’ll be back?”
He raked his fingers through his wavy black hair. “Probably not tonight. In my experience, manifestations as powerful as the ones we’re dealing with require a great deal of energy. They’ll need time to recharge.”
She frowned. “Like a battery?”
When his mouth edged up, a little curl of heat replaced the nerves in her stomach.
“Not exactly,” he said. “But energy is energy. The principle’s the same.” His eyes ran over her prim little nightgown and she wished she were wearing sheer red lace.
“I’ll get you a glass of water,” he said, but she didn’t move away.
She didn’t want him to go. The day had been long and exhausting, the night pure hell. She didn’t want to be alone.
“I don’t need any water.” She flattened her palms on his chest, felt the sculpted ridges of muscle beneath her hands. “I don’t want you to go. I want you to stay with me.”
His big frame stiffened with tension. She told herself to be brave, take the risk. Eve slid her arms around his neck, went up on her toes, and pressed her mouth over his.
Ran didn’t hesitate. Just tightened his hold and took control of the kiss, his hand sliding into her hair to hold her in place as he kissed her one way and then another, kissed her until she could barely think.
“I’ll take good care of you,” he promised, his mouth on the side of her neck. “I’ll make you forget all of the unpleasantness you’ve seen today.” Ran tipped her chin up and pressed hot kisses along her jaw. He framed her face between his hands, tipped her head back, and claimed her mouth, just sank in and tasted. Every move he made went straight to her core.
Heat and need, hungry desire unlike any she had ever known, tore through her. A little sound escaped that she didn’t recognize as coming from her throat.
Ran pulled the ribbon on the front of the cotton nightgown she had worn as some kind of barrier against her own desires and shoved the fabric off her shoulders. He traced a finger over her skin, over her nipple, making it tighten. His mouth followed, opening to capture her breast, teasing and tasting until her legs began to tremble.
“I want you,” he said. “I didn’t lie about that. I’m just afraid this won’t be enough.”
Eve whimpered. She didn’t know exactly what he meant, but she felt it, too. That being with Ran tonight wouldn’t be enough, might never be enough. She wanted more, clung to him when he lifted her into his arms and carried her over to the bed, stripped off the silly nightgown.
This man wouldn’t settle for any sort of barrier between them. He was going to strip her naked clear to her soul. She could feel it in every cell in her body.
Naked, he joined her in bed and the heat of him enveloped her. Hot, wet kisses rained down on her, his mouth moving with the kind of expertise that said he didn’t do anything halfway, the kind of determination he’d employed to make himself a billionaire. She wondered if there had ever been anything at which he had failed.
The thought arose of the single moment in his life when he had been powerless, unable to save his wife and daughter. She tried not to ache for him and what he must have suffered.
She felt his mouth and hands skimming over her body, moving lower, giving her the pleasure he had promised. The first wave of climax struck so hard she shook all over.
“Ran . . .” His name came out as a plea. She wanted to feel him inside her, prayed he could hear the need in her voice that hadn’t gone away.
“Not yet. Not until you’re ready.”
She moaned as he started all over again, driving her up, teaching her things about her body she had never known. It wasn’t until his heavy length filled her and he began to move that she felt the wildness, the hunger that rose like a tide inside her. The rhythm increased, pounding, pounding, forcing her over the edge one more time as he followed her to release. Only then did the wildness subside, the hunger finally ebb and slip away.
Ran kissed her deeply one last time, and she rejoiced in knowing she had pleased him. Time spun out. Ran curled her against his side and pressed a soft kiss on her temple. For the first time in days, Eve drifted into a deep, peaceful sleep.