Catherine could feel her frustration rising by the minute. He was answering her, but the answers were totally unrevealing, and she knew if she delved any deeper, he would close up. “And yet you couldn’t go after her and get her away from that bastard?”
“I did what I could.”
“The hell you did.”
“It was a risk I wasn’t allowed to take,” he said quietly.
“You son of a bitch; I saw what he did to her.”
“And so did I. I was with her every time he touched her,” he said. “I taught her how to block out the pain. It was all I could do for her until I found the right person to go after her.”
“Hu Chang.”
“Yes.” He paused. “It was going to be Hu Chang. Until I found out about you. You were always there in Hu Chang’s mind. I became very familiar with you. And, to my regret, I knew it had to be you who went to get Erin.”
She stared at him in shock. “You’re telling me that you were pulling the strings? No way.”
“I’m very good at it. I could have lied to you about that. I know the idea of manipulation would be salt on a wound. But I’m trying to be as honest as I can be.” He leaned his head back on the leather armchair. There was a lazy, sensual, catlike grace in the movement. “You’ll probably never trust me, but you have to be able to work with me. As I said, I was going to deal through Erin, but you wanted to be in control.” The thread of steel in his voice suddenly belied his indolent position. “That’s not going to happen. I’ll always be in control. It’s what I do. It’s what I am.”
“Not when you hide away and just play around with these mental hijinks. When you come out in the daylight and do something with your own hands, then you can show me why you deserve to be in control.”
“Catherine.” For an instant there was a flash of anger in those glittering light eyes. Then he relaxed and smiled. “Hold your tongue. It’s sharp as that knife you carry in that sheath on your calf. For a moment, I actually felt pain. It’s been a long time since I permitted myself to get that annoyed. You’re arousing all kinds of emotions.” He held her gaze. “I’m tempted to arouse a few interesting emotions in you. That would be very … satisfying.”
A wave of heat.
Breathlessness.
A swelling and tingling in her nipples.
“And that’s only physical,” he said softly. “That’s satisfying, too, but emotional response can tear you apart.”
She drew a deep breath. She had been caught off guard, and she was still shaken. “You’re not in control. Not of me, not of Erin. As for that childish little display, next time I’ll be prepared, and it won’t happen.”
He was silent. Then he chuckled. “It was hardly childish. But I’ll try to keep it from happening again.” He paused. “Unless I decide to heed your suggestion and show up in person.”
“Show up for sex but not to save Erin from being tortured?”
His lips tightened. “You’re doing it again. I’m not going to make excuses. I had only two options with Erin. I’ve told you the one I chose.”
“What was the other option?”
“To kill her,” he said simply.
“My God.”
“You asked.” He sat up straight in the chair. “And now we have to deal with what’s important. I want Erin off this mountain.”
“So do I.”
“And I will help you in any way I can to get her away from Kadmus’s men and out of Tibet. But that’s not going to be good enough. Take her back to the U.S. and hide her until I send someone to kill Kadmus. She won’t be safe while he’s still alive.” He paused. “I admit I had hoped that you might take care of that when you went after Erin.”
“It was Erin who was important. I didn’t give a damn about Kadmus at the time.”
“I thought as much, but there was a chance.”
“In that charming little scenario that you said you contrived? Too bad. I did what I could.”
“And you did it brilliantly.”
“Then do some more contriving and come up with a way that we can skirt Kadmus’s men and find our way to a place where I can safely contact Caudell. It was you who told Erin about this cave, wasn’t it? Can’t you come up with something else useful?”
“I’m trying. It takes research … and consultation. But I’ll manage to do it given a little more time.”
“We don’t have time. Kadmus is on the hunt. Who’s to say he won’t find this cave and catch us off guard.”
“I won’t allow that. I’ll know long before he gets to you and warn you.”
“How?”
He shook his head. “I’ll warn you,” he repeated. “Relax. Try to sleep.” He smiled faintly. “And don’t try to pull me back here. I have Hu Chang to deal with, and I need to concentrate on keeping him from storming the mountain to get to you.”
“Hu Chang?” She stiffened. “He’s in Hong Kong. I told him to stay there and take care of Luke.”
“And I’m sure he will do it but in his own way. You might have had a chance of keeping him at bay if you’d been able to make that helicopter.” He got to his feet and moved toward the fire. “And we both have a good deal of trouble persuading Hu Chang to do anything he doesn’t want to do.”
“He mustn’t come here.”
“Back to square one. Then we must get you off this mountain.” He was only a dark silhouette against the leaping flames again. But now she knew him, the power, the charisma, the hard edge behind that velvet, sensual surface.
And the danger of which Hu Chang had spoken.
“I hope not to you, Catherine,” he said gently. “I’m trying not to hurt you.”
Dammit, she had forgotten he could read her mind during the conversation that had transpired. “I wouldn’t let you hurt me.”
“It’s time for me to leave and let you come to terms with all that I’ve bombarded you. You’ve taken it extraordinarily well, but then I knew you would.” He chuckled. “I’m looking forward to our next meeting.”
“And I’m looking forward to you making it up to Erin for covering your ass and not going in and getting her away from Kadmus. I can’t see why—”
Cold.
No fire.
No cozy, book-lined room.
No Cameron.
She knew when she opened her eyes it would be to see Erin in her sleeping bag a few yards away and the stark dimness of the cave.
She wouldn’t open her eyes and face that reality yet. It would come as too much of a shock, and she had to assimilate all that Cameron had said and revealed. It was all weird and difficult and frustrating … and frightening. No, not frightening. She wouldn’t accept fear. It was just that she’d felt momentarily helpless when she’d realized that her thoughts were transparent, and he could create a scene for her that didn’t exist down to the last detail.