… I needed a way to find you. I thought of you, sank into the chair you favored, and found the essence of you.” Another deep breath. “I connected with a link to your soul. It brought me to you.”
All the frozen muscles in his body contracted with a painful clench, and his heart stopped for one raw moment.
“That connection,” she said softly, “can never be broken.” Her slender throat worked on a swallow. “I can always find you now.”
His shoulders trembled with the force of restraint. Even so, his head fell forward. Her hair was cool, soft, and held the fragrance of ambergris and figs. “You’re right,” he said as his palm smoothed along her waist, noting the way she shivered, making him shiver in return. “I don’t like it.”
Control.
His hips touched her bustle. So much fabric he couldn’t feel her. And she couldn’t feel the strain of his erection against his trousers. “I hate it,” he whispered. Liar.
She shuddered, her arm twitching. But she said nothing, nor did she move away.
“Can you see—” His breath hitched with rage over his vulnerability. “What do you see?”
The way she tensed told him she understood the question perfectly. When she did not speak, he clenched her waist and pressed his mouth into the tender skin of her temple. Warm, she felt warm. Sweat dampened her hair.
“Tell me,” he said.
Her cheek moved as she licked her lower lip. He nearly groaned but did not waver. “What do you see?”
“Pain.” The word shot from her lips. “Rage, fear.” She gasped. Jack eased his hold but wouldn’t let go. Her back touched his chest as she breathed. “And hurt.” Her voice was so small then. As if she didn’t want him to hear it. But he did. When she spoke again, the sound rang in the pained silence. “But the greatest component, the one that has never changed, is obstinacy.” Her silken hair dragged across his face as she turned her head slightly, not looking at him but making sure she was heard. “Your will is the strongest I’ve ever seen.”
He closed his eyes to fight the burn there. He needed to tell her everything. And then she’d be gone forever. Neither of them moved until he forced himself to speak. “Yes,” he said. “It is.”
And then he fled. It wasn’t until later that he even wondered why she’d been spying on him.
Chapter Seventeen
Crisp air kissed Jack’s cheeks as he walked down a wide avenue that led into Mayfair. Darkness did not live here, but light. Clean houses lined up in a row, each black iron gate protecting a manicured front garden from unwanted visitors. Walking cleared Jack’s head and slowed his pulse.
Upon reflection, he was grateful that Chase had discovered him en déshabillé, as it were, instead of a quarter hour before. Likely she’d never have looked him in the eye again if she’d witnessed him tearing into Mercer Dawn. Jack scowled down at his dusty boots. It wasn’t Chase’s, or anyone else’s, business how he dealt with his pain. “Whatever you want to tell yourself, mate,” he muttered.
“Talking to yourself, Mr. Talent?” Lucien Stone stepped in front of him, blocking the narrow walkway.
Ever the dandy, Stone wore a dove-grey cashmere overcoat trimmed in ermine, and a grey silk top hat that would have better served as evening wear. Not that Jack would tell him so.
“What the devil do you want?” Jack was in no mood to trade quips with the sod.
Stone’s jewel-covered fingers tightened on his walking stick. “Mary Chase was nearly crushed by a freight car last night.”
Tell him something that he didn’t know. “You know, Stone, it occurs to me that you’re privy to everything that goes on in this city.”
Stone gave him a magnanimous nod.
“Which makes me wonder,” Jack went on, “why the bloody hell you don’t help out more? Oh, but I forgot, you let others do the dirty work while you hide away on your little boat.”
A sneer twisted Stone’s perfect features. “Careful, boy. I could kill you as easy as breathing.”
“Then do it,” Jack said. “Or sod off.” He moved to push past when Stone stepped forward.
It was the last straw. He slammed Stone into a garden wall. Stone’s teeth clacked, though he did not fight back, only glared with his glowing jade eyes. Jack pinned him, his forearm crushing the GIM’s windpipe. “Get the fuck out of my way.”
Stone grabbed hold of Jack’s wrist. Instantly, agonizing pain shot through his arm and down his side. Jack gritted his teeth as Stone pushed him off and leaned in close. “No.”