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.The artifact flared dangerously higher.That was not a good sign, she thought.Perhaps it was responding to her presence.Unable to think of any other course of action, she crouched beside Griffin and very gingerly touched his arm.She thought she was braced for the direct contact but nothing could have prepared her for the hurricane of nightmare energy that tore across her senses.She could not actually see the scenes of Griffin’s hellish dream but the intuitive nature of her talent interpreted the energy in shatteringly clear images.Blood, a pale arm draped over the side of the bed, the ghostly reflection of his own image in the dressing table mirror and the knowledge that something horrible had been done.Above all was the soul-wrenching knowledge that he was too late to save his parents.The visual impressions did not surprise her, given what she knew of Griffin’s recurring nightmare.What stunned her was the realization that she was not sensing the usual seething chaos that was the signature of dream energy.Griffin was in control of the nightmare.He could end it at any time.But she did not like what was happening to the lamp.The metal was translucent now.Soon the crystals would flare.She took her fingers off his arm and reached toward the rim of the artifact.Griffin slammed instantly into full awareness.She could tell that his senses were still aroused, still flooding the atmosphere with power.But the hot currents of nightmare energy altered dramatically with his awakening.“Adelaide.” The harsh whisper sounded as though it came from the depths of a vast cavern.His hand locked around her wrist, chaining her.“Are you all right?” she asked, a little breathless because her own senses were soaring and whirling just as they had last night when he had taken her into his arms.“I promised you that I would not touch you tonight,” he said.At last she understood.A moment ago he had been controlling the dark chaos of nightmare energy.When she had shattered his trance, the violent currents of power that he had been wielding had not suddenly evaporated.They simply had been transformed into another kind of energy.But he was still in control, she realized.It was astonishing.Her own senses exalted in the dizzying excitement.“I release you from your promise,” she whispered.“Are you sure you want to do that?”“Yes.Oh, yes.”She drew the fingertips of her free hand along the edge of his rigid jaw.His skin was feverish.So were his eyes.She felt the shudder that went through him.Instinctively she started to lean closer.The lamp immediately brightened.She sensed that the forces unfurling inside the artifact would soon be beyond anyone’s control.She clamped her fingers around the rim.The shock that crackled through her made her grit her teeth.She knew that Griffin felt it too because his hand tightened convulsively around her wrist.But a heartbeat later she found the pattern of the wildly resonating currents.She wove her own energy into it, aware that she could not possibly assume control.The lamp was Griffin’s to command.But if she worked subtly and carefully, she could hold the center of power for him.Griffin looked at the lamp, the alchemist in him very close to the surface.“I do believe we are playing with fire,” he whispered.She caught his chin with her free hand.“Griffin, listen to me.You must shut it down.”His smile was soul-shatteringly sensual.He used the grip on her wrist to draw her to him.“It’s all right,” he said.“I’m in control.”A little flicker of panic seared off some of the heavy heat of passion.“There is no knowing what the lamp might do in this state,” she said.“It is extremely dangerous.You must shut it down.”“I want to know what lies at the heart of the storm.I need to understand.”“Please,” she said.“Turn off the lamp.For my sake.”He smiled again and brushed his mouth across hers.“For you, Adelaide, anything,” he said.The lamp winked out with startling suddenness, plunging the room back into moonlit darkness.The ominous energy that had been swirling in the atmosphere dropped back to what Adelaide knew to be a normal level in the proximity of the artifact.There was a thud and a heavy clatter of metal on wood.Adelaide barely had time to register the fact that Griffin had swept the relic aside before she found herself flat on her back on the bedroll.He came down on top of her, his body heavy and tight and hard against her own.His mouth closed over hers.Energy flared again in the shadows but this time she recognized it and gloried in it.These were the exciting, unique currents that always shimmered in the atmosphere between them.He opened his trousers and went to work unfastening her nightgown.She gripped his uninjured shoulder, digging her fingers into the sleek muscle there.His shirt was unbuttoned.She stroked her palm down his bare chest and then reached lower.She found the taut, full length of him and squeezed gently.“Talk about playing with fire,” he said.He worked his way to her throat and then to her breasts, following the retreating tide of silk.Her nipples were so sensitive she cried out softly when she felt his tongue on them.Everything inside her clenched.She was damp and aching for him.Griffin’s hand flattened on her belly, warm and strong.She gasped when she felt his teeth sink very gently into the tender skin of the inside of her thigh.And then he was kissing her in the most shockingly intimate manner possible.She was a woman of the world, she reminded herself.Nevertheless, she had never allowed any of her small number of lovers such an intimate caress.“GriffiN.”“Anything for you, Adelaide,” he said again, his voice as hard and tight as his body.The climax spilled through her.She was still flying on the dazzling energy when Griffin entered her, thrusting deep and hard.Her body, already exquisitely tuned to the breaking point, responded to the impossibly full, impossibly tight sensation with another burst of stunning aftershocks.Griffin braced himself above her and began to move slowly, heavily, deliberately.Every motion was an act of supreme control.She wrapped herself around him.“You don’t have to prove anything to me.”“Maybe this is for me,” he said.His voice was hoarse and raw with the force of the effort he was exerting.“No,” she whispered.She struggled a little, pushing at him until he obligingly rolled onto his back.She came down on top of him, fitting herself to him with great care.“This is for you,” she said.For a moment she thought he would not be able to relinquish control to her.But with a groan he set himself free from his self- imposed restraints.She sensed that it was an act of trust.Thrilled, she took command of the passionate energy that flashed between them.Griffin surrendered to his climax with an exultant shout.He surged into her for a timeless moment, his entire body wracked with the shudders of a raging release.It seemed to Adelaide that the room had suddenly filled with a luminous mist.For a few timeless seconds she was acutely aware of the feeling that her aura was somehow fusing, however fleetingly, with Griffin’s.It was as if they were touching each other’s souls.In the next breath it was over.She felt Griffin sink slowly back into himself.She waited until he lay, damp and still, utterly relaxed, beneath her [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]