“Fine.” The golden eyes narrowed. “I’m not looking for you, anyway.”
Oh. Another stab of disappointment.
“Then why are you here?”
“I’m looking for Dr. Parker.”
She frowned in confusion. Did he mean her father? Surely not. He’d passed away ten years ago.
“Why?”
He gave the net a frustrated shake. “Get me the hell out of here.”
She clutched the letter opener, trying to ignore her uncontrollable reaction to the stranger.
Not easy. He really was a magnificent specimen of manhood.
Tall, muscular, starkly beautiful…
She shivered, heat licking over her skin.
Why was it suddenly so hot?
“Not until you tell me what you want with Dr. Parker,” she forced herself to demand.
A low growl rumbled in his throat. “Xavier sent me”
Sage made a sound of shock. “XavierTopGeek?”
The stranger’s eyes widened, something that might have been amusement shimmering in the golden depths.
“Top Geek?” He gave a sharp laugh. “Oh hell, I’m going to have to share that sweet nugget with my fellow Hunters.”
“I don’t understand.”
All humor was wiped from the intensely male face. “You don’t need to,” he snapped. “Let me out or you’re not going to like the consequences.”
Sage frowned, turning to study a nearby pile of books. Her mind didn’t work properly when she was looking directly at the intruder.
“Hush, I’m thinking…” Her inner debate of whether or not to try and contact the man she’d been chatting with online for the past few years was brought to a sharp and painful end as arms wrapped around her and she was tossed onto the nearby bed. “Eek.”
She slashed the letter opener toward her attacker only to have it knocked out of her hand as the man leaped on top of her, pressing her into the mattress.
“Not so fun being trapped, is it?” he rasped, his eyes darkening as she struggled beneath him. Heat abruptly sizzled between them as his body hardened. “Although I’m beginning to realize there are a few unexpected benefits.”
A combination of fear, and anger, and potent arousal exploded through Sage.
“Get off me.” She slammed her hands against his chest, panic thundering through her.
Regret softened his harsh expression as he gazed down at her, but he refused to budge.
“Where is Dr. Parker?” he demanded.
“Why?”
“I need to speak with him.”
“About what?”
He hissed in frustration. “Do you always answer a question with another question?”
“No.” Sage grimaced. Even being held hostage by a stranger she found it impossible to lie. “Okay, maybe I do. It’s a habit.”
“Look, I have no intention of hurting you, but this is important,” he said, an unmistakable sincerity in his voice. “Can you just tell me how to find the scholar?”
Sage cleared her throat. If Xavier had sent the man, then he couldn’t be looking for her father. And it was obvious she wasn’t going to get rid of him until he’d spoken to ‘Dr. Parker.’
“You already have.”
Chapter 2
Sage watched shock tighten the man’s expression, something in the back of his eyes making her stiffen in alarm.
What the hell?
She could have sworn…
The thought wasn’t allowed to fully form as the stranger pushed himself off the bed, glaring at her in disbelief.
“Is that supposed to be a joke?”
Sage pushed herself to a seated position, her body still carrying the heat and scent of him.
“Why would I joke?”
He scowled, folding his arms over his chest. “You’re the expert in ancient languages?”
“Yes.”
“You’re—” He halted, giving a shake of his head.
“I’m what?”
“Young.”
“Not really. I’m thirty-two.” She tilted her chin. This was a familiar argument. “And not to boast, but I had my doctorate by the age of twenty so I’ve had more time than most to concentrate on my own research. Plus, I’ve been an adjunct professor for the past ten years.”
He glanced around the room that was nearly overrun with books.
“You live here alone?”
She absently rubbed her hands over her bare arms. His presence seemed to fill the entire room.
“I think it’s your turn to answer some questions.”
He pressed his lips together, impatience crackling around him. Then, with an obvious effort, he leashed his temper.
“Ask.”
Her hands gripped the handmade quilt that covered the bed. “Who are you?”
“Lian.”
“Just Lian?”
He shrugged. “Just Lian.”
She narrowed her eyes. He might be gorgeous, but he was clearly a jackass.
“You’re a friend of Xavier?”
“More of a relation.”
Hmm. There was something in the way he said relation that made her think he wasn’t talking traditional brother or cousin.
“What do you want from me?”
“Xavier has several scrolls he wants you to translate.”
Okay. That didn’t seem so…creepy. She was contacted several times a week by people who wanted her expertise in decoding ancient texts.
She was, without false modesty, the best in the business.
Still, most of her potential clients didn’t send someone to break into her house.
“Why didn’t he just ask me? I would have had him mail them to me.”
“The scrolls are too fragile,” he said. “They can’t be moved.”
Sage was prepared for the complication. Her work often dealt with fragile parchment.
“He could scan them or even take a picture and send me the images in an email.”
Lian took a step forward, studying her with an alarming intensity.
“I thought scholars salivated over the opportunity to get their hands on rare artifacts?”
She lowered her gaze, well aware that her face revealed her every emotion.
One of many reasons she didn’t play poker.
“I don’t travel.”
He heaved a harsh sigh. “Why not?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Do you have a medical condition?”
She swallowed a humorless laugh, shoving herself off the bed. A medical condition would almost be preferable.
“You’ve wasted enough of my day,” she informed her aggravating guest. “You can leave the same way you came.”
She started to edge past his large body only to be forced to a halt when he deliberately moved to block her path.
“What’s your name?”
“You know my name,” she snapped.
“Your first name.”
Her gaze moved to the forgotten letter opener on the ground. Not as protection. If this man wanted to hurt her there was nothing she could do to stop him.
No. But she wouldn’t mind stabbing the annoying creature in the leg.
His persistence was pissing her off.
“Sage,” she at last admitted.
“Sage.” Her name rolled off his tongue with a hint of a Cajun accent. A tiny shiver raced through her.
Nope, she wasn’t ready for that level of intimacy.
“You can call me Dr. Parker.”
His lips twitched. “Fine…Dr. Parker.” His brief amusement faded. “This is important.”
Excitement fluttered in the pit of her stomach.
He was close enough she could feel his heat wrap around her, the spicy musk clouding her mind with thoughts of smooth, bronzed skin beneath her tongue.
Good lord. She needed to get this man out of her house before her brain turned to complete mush.
“So is my research, plus I have papers to grade and—”
“This is life or death,” he interrupted sharply.
“If you say so.”
A strange growl rumbled in the air. Was that coming from Lian?
“Did you hear me?”
“We all believe our work is vital.”
“No.” He grabbed her chin, tilting back her head so she was forced to meet his fierce gaze. “This is a matter of life and death.”
Heat blasted through her at his touch.
“Would you please…” Her words faltered as she once again caught sight of that shadow moving in the back of his eyes. There was something in there. Something that was focused on her with the smoldering hunger of a predator. “Oh…you’re not human.”
* * *
Lian cursed at his odd reaction to the female.
It wasn’t just his astonishment at discovering that she was a she, not a he. Or even that she wasn’t the old, slightly batty professor he’d been expecting.
It was the intense, blistering awareness that had slammed into him the second she’d stepped into the room.
Man. He could think of nothing but the overwhelming need to somehow get her beneath him so he could be buried deep inside her.
It was only because he’d been pissed as hell at being caught sneaking into the cottage—like he was nothing more than an unskilled cub—that had allowed him to leash the animal inside him that was roaring for a taste.
There would be no ravaging until he had her in the Wildlands, he’d warned himself.
Now he realized that his intense awareness had allowed him to overlook the obvious.
There was no way in hell he should have been trapped in that net unless there’d been a magical spell attached to it.
“I see your cat,” she murmured, looking more curious than frightened.