“I can’t do that.”
“Try.”
She swallowed and looked straight ahead at the dying sun, now strangely swollen, its colors muted into eerie tones of burnt umber. “When my grandfather showed it to me”—she looked at him with an embarrassed smile—“I told him my tears were because of the sun. But they weren’t.”
“That’s better.”
“I’ll write ofhowit was found.” She needed to be precise.
“But not where.”
“No, not where.”
She refused to look at him because she felt the effect of his proximity already. “He shouldn’t have done it. It was against all his professional ethics, to cover up his tracks.”
“He left a myth surrounding it, instead of the facts.”
“The facts would have destroyed this place. Taken its soul away.” She couldn’t resist. She looked at him. “That’s what he believed anyway.”
His eyes narrowed with curiosity. “And is that what you believe? That places have souls?”
She nodded briefly, her eyes straying to his lips before returning to his eyes, which revealed an even more intense curiosity. He lifted a lock of her hair which had fallen across her face and tucked it behind her ear, stroking the length of it briefly before dropping his hand once more. “I know that’s a strange thing to believe,” she said softly.
He shrugged. “Many people in this world believe many things, and who am I to judge whether they are strange?”
She smiled. “You sound almost humble.”
“You mistake strength and purpose for arrogance.” He inclined his head closer to hers, and she gave a sharp intake of breath, which brought his scent into her lungs. “Don’t confuse things, Gabrielle. I’m a man who knows what he wants, and I intend to get it.”
She swallowed with a sudden stab of fear. “And how exactly do you intend to do that?”
A smile flickered on his lips, the first she’d seen in a long time. “Through something you once showed me… subtlety.”
He leaned closer, lifted her chin with his finger, and kissed her gently on the lips. He’d withdrawn before she could react. The kiss had been fleeting, but the effects were far from it. It brought something to life deep inside, something she didn’t want.
She jumped up and stepped away from him, pushing the back of her hand against her mouth as if to wipe the kiss away. She shook her head. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
He was beside her in an instant, taking her hand. “Don’t tell me that you don’t want my touch, that you don’t imagine the feel of my lips upon yours, because I don’t believe you.”
“It might be true, but it doesn’t mean that I’m going to act on it.”
She tried to tug her hand away, but he kissed it, holding it to his face and closing his eyes. “Gabrielle, I know why you’re resisting me. It’s because you feel you don’t belong, but you do. You talked of this land having a soul. No one who was not a part of this land would sense such a thing.”
“I know what you’re saying, Zavian, but it doesn’t matter. What people believe is what matters.”
“Which is why the stories are so important. We have to make them see. But before that, I have to makeyousee.”
“And how do you intend to do that?”
“To make youfeelagain.”
He tugged her to him, and she couldn’t stop herself. He caressed her shoulders, holding her close to him, searching her face, as if for signs of resistance. There were none. Her power to stop the inevitable was blown. And then his lips were upon hers, but the kiss was no tender glancing meeting of the lips. This time his mouth was hungry for passion, searching out her tongue until her stomach flipped with desire. He drew her closer to him, and she could feel every inch of tension, every contour of muscle, and his increasing arousal.
Her blood raced with desire, her sex was wet with it as she pushed herself against him. His heartbeat exploded under the palm of her hand, which had somehow slipped beneath his shirt. She wanted him as she’d never wanted him before—with a raw passion which bypassed any thinking or feeling. She simply needed him.
He pulled away first and pressed his forehead against hers. Their breathing came in jagged pants as desire—hot and intense—gripped them both.
“I could have you here, now, Gabrielle.”