Hot Zone (25 page)

“That stupid mutt again,” he said.

“She’s not hurting anyone,” I defended her. “And she’s obviously hungry.”

The guard snorted. “I’m not here to play with Rin Tin Stupid,” he said, laughing at his own joke.

I turned to the dog, leaning down to scratch it behind the ears. “You’d better go.” I stood, ready to shoo the dog away, well aware that it probably wouldn’t be easy to do. I was surprised when the dog gave a baleful look at the guard and trotted off back to where I’d first seen her. Huh, guess I’d overestimated my appeal.

I went into the house, found my cell and made my two calls. Fred sounded tired but hopeful, and Tucker’s phone switched me to voice mail. I called Meri and got the same treatment. Fine, I’d call them later. I’d told Fred I’d come to the hospital after lunch and was determined to keep that promise even if I had to walk.

I hurried to the place where we’d waited to see Gabriel the first day we’d come here. It seemed like so much more than just a week ago. Suddenly I realized the meeting to decide on joining Gabriel was this afternoon in Catfish Lake, and wondered if I should go back or just let Tucker, Meri and Phil handle it.

Melissa was at her desk and there were two other women in the office, which was nearly four times the size of Gabriel’s smallish office. I wondered about that. Why wouldn’t he want the grandest office? If I’d read the literature correctly, the reception area for Gabriel used to be the library, and the office that Gabriel used was the once the den.

Melissa broke into my thoughts. “Hello, Miss Moreton.”

“Please, call me Madde,” I said automatically.

“If you wish. Gabriel is expecting you.” She sounded as pleased as she could possibly be. She almost glowed. I suddenly noticed that the other two women working in here were exceptionally beautiful. A knot that I didn’t even want to admit existed twisted in my stomach.
This is
so
not my business,
I told myself firmly.

Regardless, when I entered Gabriel’s office and he looked up at me; I simply looked at him aloofly. He seemed a little taken aback, but didn’t say anything, instead asking Melissa to get us both something to eat.

He gestured to the couch. “Have a good morning?” he asked solicitously.

“Yes, thank you,” I said distantly.

He came out from behind his desk and leaned against it, crossing his arms over his chest. “Is there a problem?”

“No. No problem,” I denied.

He looked skeptically at me but apparently decided not to pursue it. “I wanted to talk to you about something important. I’m hoping you hear me out before making a decision. Do you think you could do that?”

I was intrigued. Still, my voice came out formal and stiff. “Of course.”

He was getting annoyed, I thought. I needed to cool it or he’d demand to know why I was mad, which I wasn’t
of course
, because I had no reason to be mad or jealous or anything. I had no hold on him, nor did I want one. Certainly not. It was completely none of my business. None at all. “All right.” He was still watching me carefully. “You have seen how there is a downside to this … gift I have. Besides having people occasionally overreact to what they consider attacks against me, there is also a problem with people losing their ability to make decisions where I’m involved.” He gave a little shrug. “It’s as if they worry so much about what I would want them to do they are unable to do anything at all. There are a few, a very few, who are able to make decisions and follow them through, even when occasionally I don’t like what they did. Are you with me so far?”

“Yes.” I was interested now. I’d seen this very thing and thought it must be a problem for an organization like his. “I imagine that it would be very hard for anyone to hear that you aren’t pleased with a decision he or she made.” My voice was still rather formal.

“Exactly. I can’t simply say to someone that he screwed up. It makes them … fragile and very, very
upset.”

I wondered what had happened for him to phrase it that way. Had someone killed himself because Gabriel was disappointed in him?

“So,” he continued, “I find myself thinking that you, with your rather interesting resistance to my innate charm, would be a valuable addition around here.”

I just looked at him.

He looked increasingly annoyed and was opening his mouth to speak when Melissa knocked, opening the door to admit two people with trays bearing lunch. They put it on the table and made themselves scarce. It was like getting room service, but they didn’t want tips. Just a smile from the Great One was thanks enough. Sheesh.

He gave an annoyed look at the food. “See? I keep telling them I don’t need all this ceremony, but I have to be so careful I don’t upset anyone that I can’t get them to stop spending ridiculous amounts of time on my lunch!”

I couldn’t help but smile.

Gabriel snarled, “What is so damned funny?”

My grin got wider. “Quite a lot, actually. Now I understand why you get so annoyed with me. I also understand why you taunt me into snarling back. You miss having a semi-equal around.”

“A semi-equal?”

“Well, I can’t imagine that with your power over people, there are many who would be your equal,” I said.

He shook his head. “Eat.”

“Yes, sir!” I said, chuckling.

He took his plate and sat on the couch, balancing the no doubt priceless china on his lap. “You can go over there and play princess if you want to. If you want, I can have some people come back in and do just about anything you ask them to do. No one refuses me.” He sounded irritated at that, but I suddenly thought of the pretty women in his waiting room and lost my sense of humor.

I took a plate and fork and sat back down, copying him. I didn’t say a word, afraid of how it might come out. He seemed to realize I’d shut down again, and looked at me with narrowed eyes. “Okay, out with it. What is bothering you?”

I tried to lie and sound like I meant it. “I’m fine. Just worried about Jacob.”

“I think you’re lying again, but I’ll be damned if I know what you’re hiding.” He rubbed his neck again, and I found myself wondering sympathetically how much sleep he’d gotten last night. I almost asked him, but then I wondered if when he’d been contacted about me, he’d been with Melissa or one of the others. Nobody refused him, as he’d said himself. I gritted my teeth. I shouldn’t care, I shouldn’t care, I shouldn’t care!

He took a bite of some pasta dish that had chicken in it. I wondered where they were getting chicken. We were eating out of cans, mostly. “Madde, just tell me why you’re acting like I boiled your rabbit.”

I nearly smiled at the movie reference. I should smile. But I couldn’t because I was firstly jealous, and secondly furious at myself for being jealous. “I don’t want to tell you, so let’s just let it go.”

“Is it about the job offer?”

I was surprised at that. I was so focused on being jealous that I’d forgotten about it already. “Um, no. I can’t do it, though. I live in Catfish, and I have responsibilities and relationships there.” As I heard myself say ‘relationships’ I wondered if I’d chosen that word to make him jealous. Oh, please, let me not be that petty.

“I see,” he said. “Hmm, maybe I didn’t explain myself very well. I really want you to do this, Madde.”

Yeah, right. I thought to myself. Add me to the stable, or harem, or whatever people called it these days. That would be the day. He’d have to topple me for sure before I allowed him to even touch me again. Unbidden, my mind conjured up the possibilities for him. What man could resist using a power like his? To have unlimited females willing to do anything to make him happy. I was fast losing my appetite. I put down my fork with more force than necessary. “I don’t want the job,” I said baldly, if a bit challengingly.

“Why?”

“I already told you. And unlike everyone else, I don’t come running when you snap your fingers, so I guess you’ll have to take ‘no’ for an answer.” I stood and put my plate of half-finished food on the tray. I took a glass of what looked like iced tea. I wasn’t really much of an iced tea drinker, but didn’t really care right now.

He stood and intercepted me before I could sit back down. “Madeline, tell me what has you so pissed off!”

I almost did. I barely snapped my mouth shut in time. “Don’t you roll me,” I warned.

“Why not?” he challenged. “I can’t get you to talk any other way. And as I’ve told you before, having everyone do what I want has made me a bit overbearing.”

“A bit?” I said sarcastically.

He smiled. “You’re going to tell me, and what’s more, I think you want me to force it out of you. If you didn’t you wouldn’t be challenging me like this.”

“You are an egomaniac,” I snarled. I studiously avoided his eyes. Maybe if I didn’t look at him, he wouldn’t be able to make me say, because as he said that about challenging him, I wondered if that was exactly what I was doing. I decided to backtrack. “Uh, could I borrow a car or get a ride to the hospital after lunch?”

He chuckled. “Now see, that would have worked if you’d have tried it earlier. But now I’m determined to find out what you are hiding. Are you going to avoid looking at me for a long time, or should I just wait patiently?”

His confidence in his ability to roll me was daunting. “Just let it go, Gabriel, please?”

He rubbed his hands up and down my upper arms. “I don’t think so. I really want to know.”

“You know, one of these times you roll me, I’ll go over completely, and you’ll have nothing but another mindless drone on your hands.”

He stopped rubbing my arms. “I don’t want to do that to you.”

My voice was bitter—I couldn’t help it. “But we both know you could.”

He let my arms go; instead he took my hand and led me back to the couch. He took the tea out of my hand and put it on a nearby table. He pulled me down and sat beside me. “Madde, you’re right I could, I think, if I tried. But I don’t want to, so don’t worry—”

“Right, but what if you do it without meaning to? That’s another excellent reason not to be around you any more than necessary.”

He shook his head. “I won’t.”

I snorted to show him what I thought of his reassurance. I forgot to avoid his eyes and so looked squarely at him. Big mistake.

“Tell me why you’re upset with me,” he said in that tone that made me mindless.

Without thought, I said, “I’m jealous.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I stood, horrified. “You are a pig, and our lunch is over. I’ll get to the hospital, and …”

He stood as well. “Stop it.”

I stopped. Somewhere inside me, I was mortified. There was also a part of me that would kill for him. Dear Lord.

“Do you think that I’m going to just let you stomp out of here? Sometimes I think I ought to just roll you and get it over with! So you’re embarrassed. Big deal. Get over it and act like an adult.”

I blinked at him, so furious I couldn’t even move. That part of me that would kill for him shivered and shrank smaller. I looked over at the door, forcing myself to at least act calm. When my voice came out, it was icy. “I apologize. What else did you need to discuss?” I sat down and crossed my legs, looking at him expectantly.

“You are the most infuriating person I’ve ever met,” he said sharply.

“Is that it, then? Anything else?”

We looked at each other for a long minute.

He sighed, “Look, I’m sorry I forced you. It gets to be that I take it all for granted—the ability I have. And then you come along and I can’t get a thing out of you unless I force it. And while it drives me absolutely crazy, I know that if you agreed with me all the time it would be even worse.”

I was still angry but no longer furious. “What if I did that to you?”

“You think you don’t? Last night, when I kissed you, you don’t think I lost myself?” Now he sounded mad.

“You kissed me. No one forced you,” I said.

“Right, and I just asked you to tell me. No one forced the words out,” he retorted.

I looked at him, annoyed and puzzled. “Are you saying that I made you kiss me? And you call me ridiculous.”

He shook his head. “You know I’m right. You saw it last night, I know you did.”

I had, of course. And I suppose I did know that somehow, passion between us acted on him like his eyes and voice worked on me. I was tired of arguing with him. “I guess you’re right.”

My admission seemed to let the anger out of the conflict. He softened his voice. “Come and work for me.”

“Gabriel, I can’t. And before you accuse me of making excuses, I’ll tell you that I’m sort of a leader there, and more than that, I have people who are like family there. I can’t just leave them.”

“Then don’t say no, say you’ll think about it.”

I sighed. “Fine, I’ll think about it.”

He nodded slowly. “Well, here I am begging someone to work with me. I guess I’ve had my ego adjusted for the day.”

“Yeah, well, my ego isn’t doing so well either.”

He grinned, and I felt such a shock of love for him I nearly cried. “I suppose we’re good for each other in that way, at least.”

I smiled back. “Yeah, keep each other humble.” I was so pleased that he hadn’t commented on the fact that I admitted I was jealous. I knew it would come up sometime, but was willing to wait just about forever before that happened. I reached out and touched his upper arm, letting my hand slide along the muscles there. I felt a bolt of lust and savored it. Frigid—ha!

Apparently I wasn’t the only one affected. Or maybe I was drawing him, as he had accused. He reached for me, and I met him halfway. He kissed me with sudden passion, and I melted against him. He gathered me so I was nearly in his lap, and I realized I had complete control now. And I had to be as careful not to roll him entirely as he’d had to be with me. Did that mean I had to be in control now and stop this?
Damn!

I gathered my will and pulled back. His arms didn’t loosen, and I nearly gave in and chanced it. Maybe it would be okay. No, I couldn’t do this to him. I pushed against him, and he pulled away, looked every bit as dazed and lost as I’d ever seen him. I moved away from him and flopped back on the couch, looking at the ceiling and trying to catch my breath and calm my racing heart.