The Right Path Part 24

Yet awake and alone, she found herself remembering the inlet-the face under the water, the slim black stub of a cigarette. And Iona, pale and barely alive, with her thick mane of hair streaming nearly to the floor.

Why was it she couldn't rid herself of the thought that one had something to do with the other?

There was too much s.p.a.ce, too much quiet in the vil a to be tolerated in solitude.

Even the air seemed hot and oppressive. As fatigue began to take over, Morgan found herself caught between sleep and wakefulness, that vulnerable land where thoughts can drift and tease.

She could hear Alex's voice, cold and hard, tel ing her that Iona would be better off dead. There were Dorian's eyes, so calm, so cool, as he lifted a thin black cigarette to his lips. Andrew smiling grimly as he waited for his ship to come in.

Liz vowing pa.s.sionately that she would protect her husband from anyone and anything. And the knife blade, so sharp and deadly. She knew without seeing that Nick's hand gripped the handle.

On a half scream, Morgan sat up and wil ed herself awake. No, she wouldn't sleep, not alone. She didn't dare.

Before giving herself time to think, she rose and slipped on jeans and a shirt. The beach had given her peace that afternoon. Maybe it would do the same for her tonight.

Outside, she found the openness comforting. There were no wal s here or empty rooms. There were stars and the scent of blossoms. She could hear the cypress leaves whisper. The feeling of dread slid from her with every step. She headed for the beach.

The moon was nearly ful now, and white as bone. The breeze off the water was degrees cooler than the air had been in her room. She fol owed the path without hesitation, without fear. Some instinct told her nothing would harm her that night.

After rol ing up her pants legs, she stood, letting the water lap over her ankles, warm and silky. Grateful y, she breathed in the moist sea air and felt it soothe her.

She stretched her arms toward the stars.

"Wil you never learn to stay in bed?"

Morgan spun around to find herself face-to-face with Nick. Had he already been there? she wondered. She hadn't heard him walk behind her. Straightening, she eyed him cool y. Like her, he wore jeans and no shoes. His shirt hung unb.u.t.toned over his bare chest. What madness was it, she wondered, that made her long to go to him. Whatever madness drew her to him, she suppressed.

"That's not your concern." Morgan turned her back on him.

Nick barely prevented himself from yanking her back around. He'd been standing sleepless at his window when he'd seen her leave the house. Almost before he had known what he was doing, he was coming down the beach steps to find her.

And it was ice, that same ice, she greeted him with.

"Have you forgotten what happens to women who wander night beaches alone?"

The words rang with mockery as he tangled his fingers in her hair. He'd touch her if he chose, he thought furiously. No one would stop him.

"If you plan to drag me around this time, Nicholas, I warn you, I'l bite and scratch."

"That should make it interesting." His fingers tightened as she tossed her head to dislodge his grip. "I'd think you'd have had your fil of beaches today, Aphrodite.

Or are you expecting Andrew again?"

She ignored the taunt and the peculiar thril that came whenever he cal ed her by that name. "I'm not expecting anyone. I came here to be alone. I f you'd go away, I could enjoy myself."

Hurting, wanting, Nick spun her around. His fingers bruised her skin so that she made a surprised sound of pain before she could clamp it down. "d.a.m.n you, Morgan, don't push me any more. You'l find me a different breed from young Andrew."

"Take your hands off me." She managed to control her voice to a hard, cold steadiness. Her eyes glimmered with frost as they stared into his. She wouldn't cower before him again, and she wouldn't yield. "You'd do wel to take lessons from Andrew"-deliberately, she tossed her head and smiled-"or Dorian on how to treat a woman."

Nick swore with quick Greek expertise. Unable to do otherwise, he gripped her tighter, but this time she made no sound. Morgan watched as the dark fury took total command of his face. He was half devil now, violent, with barely a trace of the man others knew. It gave her a perverse enjoyment to know she had driven him to it.

"So you offer yourself to Dorian as wel ?" He bit off the words as he fought to find some hold on his control. "How many men do you need?"

A flood of fury rose, but she stamped it down. "Isn't it strange, Nicholas," she said calmly, "how your Greek half seems to take over when you're angry? I simply can't see how you and Andrew can be related, however remotely."

"You enjoy leading him on, don't you?" The comparison stroked his fury higher.

Morgan found she was gritting her teeth to prevent a whimper at the pain.

She wouldn't give him the satisfaction. "Heartless b.i.t.c.h," he hissed at her. "How long do you intend to dangle and tease?"

"How dare you!" Morgan pushed against him. Anger, unreasonable and ful , wel ed up in her for al the sleepless hours he'd given her, and al the pain.

"How dare you criticize me for anything! You, with the filthy games you play, and the lies. You care about no one-no one but yourself. I detest you and everything you are!" Wrenching free, Morgan fled into the sea, blind and senseless with rage.

"Stupid woman!" Nick tore through two sentences of furious Greek before he caught her and pul ed her around. The water lapped around her hips as he shook her. When her feet slipped on the bottom, he dragged her back up. He couldn't think now, couldn't reason. His voice whipped out with the violence of his thoughts. "I'l be d.a.m.ned if you'l make me crawl. d.a.m.ned if I'l beg for your good feelings. I do what I have to do; it's a matter of necessity. Do you think I enjoy it?"

"I don't care about your necessities or your smuggling or your murders! I don't care about anything that has to do with you. I hate you!" She took a swing at his chest and nearly submerged again. "I hate everything about you. I hate myself for ever letting you touch me!"

The words cut at him, deeper than he wanted them to. He fought not to remember what it had felt like to hold her, to press his mouth against her and feel her melt against him.

"That's fine. Just keep your distance and we'l get along perfectly."

"There's nothing I want more than to keep away from you." Her eyes glittered as the words brought her a slash of pain. "Nothing I want more than to never see your face again or hear your name."

He control ed himself with an effort-for there was nothing he wanted more at that moment than to crush her against him and beg, as he'd never begged anyone, for whatever she'd give him. "Then that's what you'l have, Aphrodite. Play your games with Dorian if you like, but tread careful y with Andrew.

Tread careful y, or I'l break your beautiful neck."

"Don't you threaten me. I'l see Andrew just as often as I like." Morgan pushed at her dripping hair and glared at him. "I don't think he'd appreciate your protection. He asked me to marry him."

In one swift move, Nick lifted her off her feet and dragged her against his chest.

Morgan kicked out, succeeding only in drenching both of them. "What did you tel him?"

"It's none of your business." She struggled, and though she was slick as an eel in the water, his hold remained firm. "Put me down! You can't treat me this way."

Fury was raging in him, uncontrol able, savage. No, he wouldn't stand by and watch her with another man. "d.a.m.n you, I said what did you tel him!" "No!" she shouted, more in anger than in fear. "I told him no."

Nick relaxed his grip. Morgan's feet met the sea bottom again as he formed a brittle smile. Her face was white as chalk and he cursed himself. G.o.d, would he do nothing but hurt her? Would she do nothing but hurt him? If there weren't so many wal s in his way ... if he could break down even one of them, he'd have her.

"That's fine." His voice was far from steady, but she had no way of knowing it was from panic rather than temper. "I won't stand by and watch you lead Andrew along. He's an innocent yet." He released her, knowing it might be the last time he'd ever touch her. "I don't suppose you chose to tel him about the lover you left behind."

"Lover?" Morgan pushed at her hair as she took a step back. "What lover?"

Nick lifted the medal ion at her neck, then let it fal before he gave into the need to rip it from her. "The one who gave you the trinket you treasure so much.

When a woman carries another man's brand, it's difficult to overlook it."

Morgan closed her hand over the smal piece of silver. She had thought nothing could make her more angry than she already was. She was blind and trembling with it. "Another man's brand," she repeated in a whisper. "How typical of you.

No one brands me, Nicholas. No one, no matter how I love."

"Your pardon, Aphrodite," he returned cool y. "An expression only."

"My father gave me this," she tossed at him. "He gave it to me when I was eight years old and broke my arm fal ing out of a tree. He's the kindest and most loving person I've ever known. You, Nicholas Gregoras, are a stupid man."

She turned and darted toward the beach, but he caught her again while the water was stil around her ankles. Ignoring her curses and struggles, Nick turned her to face him. His eyes bored into hers. His breath was coming in gasps, but not from rage. He needed an answer, and quickly, before he exploded.

"You don't have a lover in America?"

"I said let me go!" She was glorious in fury-eyes glittering, skin white as the moonlight. With her head thrown back, she dared him to defy her. In that moment he thought he would have died for her.

"Do you have a lover in America?" Nick demanded again, but his voice was quiet now. Morgan threw up her chin. "I haven't a lover anywhere."

On an oath that sounded more like a prayer, Nick drew her close. The heat from his body fused through the soaked shirts as if they had been naked.