There was absolute resolution in her voice. Gator felt something hard grab his heart and squeeze until he thought his chest might implode. “That’s not an option.” He forced the words out when his lungs burned for air.

“It’s the only option. I’m not ever going back where he can get his hands on me. He’s evil. I don’t care how much he spouts that his work is invaluable to science and will save thousands, maybe millions of lives. He’s evil.”

“Flame…”

“Don’t.” She cut him off, her features set. “I weighed my options before I ever escaped. I knew he wanted something from me and if I left, maybe I’d be giving it to him. He didn’t think I’d be smart enough to figure it all out. He placed a microchip in my body to track me. It was here.” She pushed the low-riding jeans his grand mother had bought for her down farther so he could see the arc of flames along her hipbone. The tattoo covered an ugly scar.

He heard a hoarse shout of protest echoing through his mind and for a moment was afraid he’d yelled out loud. He made himself breathe. “You cut the chip out of your body yourself.”

“Damn right I did.”

He wanted to hit something. Smash it. Drive his fists into something solid until he felt the physical pain. Maybe that would take away the churning rage and the terror of losing her.

“Raoul.” She leaned close to him, laid her hand gently, almost tenderly on his chest, right over his heart. Her voice was soft, so low he barely caught the words. “The cabin is shaking. You have to calm down.”

He let his breath out, his hand coming up to cover hers, pressing her palm closer to him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was losing control. You were just going to walk away, walk down that road and head out of town, weren’t you? Knowing you could die from an infection or from cancer. You were going to let it happen.”

“I was protecting you. Both of us, really, but you’re in an impossible position. You’re so…” She searched for the right word. “Gallant. I can’t let you lose everything you have in the world when there’s no saving me. It’s not logical.”

“Sometimes I want to shake you until your teeth rattle.”

“Well try to control the impulse.” Flame moved around him to pace the length of the cabin restlessly. She knew the painkillers were making her anxious, but she couldn’t help it. “There are so many things I need to do. Burrell’s killers. Keep away from Whitney. Find Joy or at least find out what happened to her.”

“We’ve been looking for Joy, but we haven’t turned up any information that will help us yet.” He jammed his hands into his pockets as if to keep from grabbing ahold of her. “We’re not finished talking about this.”

“Well talk all you want. I’m finished. I’m really, really angry that you let that woman into my room when I was…” She broke off.

“Vulnerable? You were vulnerable. Say it. It happens to all of us at one time or another. I’m not going to let you die because you’re too damned stubborn to see the truth when it’s staring you in the eye.” He had to work to keep his breathing slow and even. She could make him angrier than any other person on the face of the earth.

“What truth? Yours? You didn’t even know Whitney was alive. You’re too trusting, Raoul, and it’s going to get you killed.”

“Maybe, cher, but lack of trust will definitely get you killed.”

“I’m going to get ready for bed after all. It’s warm in here.” It was warm just being in the same room with him. And for some reason, when he was angry, she found herself getting damp with need. Even her br**sts ached. Maybe she was the pervert.

Gator snatched up a bottle of beer and uncapped it, using the edge of the table. He sank into the one good armchair and took a long swig of the cold liquid, hoping it would cool his temper. She damn well wasn’t going to die on him. And he couldn’t get the vision of her scar beneath the tattoo out of his mind. He wanted to kiss it better. He just plain wanted. He pressed the beer bottle to his brow. It was going to be a long night.

“Don’t you want to know why I bashed James Parsons in the head with his little crystal tumbler? The bastard.”

He turned his head and wished he hadn’t. She had her back turned to him and was in a man’s plaid shirt. He was certain this time it was his shirt. His grandmother’s version of nightwear? She was awkwardly shimmying out of her jeans, shoving them down with one hand and kicking at them to get the material away from her.

“Are you just going to sit there or are you going to help me?” She glared at him.

“Oh, cher. I’m goin’ to sit here. I’m not getting near you when you’re in such a mean mood.” He leaned back in the chair and stretched his legs out in front of him. “I rather like the show.”

“You would.” She gave a final kick to her jeans and they went flying off.

“So tell me about Parsons. I didn’t believe his story, but I didn’t have time to beat the truth out of him.”

She shook her head. “You aren’t the type of man to beat the truth out of anyone. You’re too nice.”

He took another pull of the beer and looked at her over the bottle. “Don’ you go thinkin’ I’m all that nice, cher. If that man did what I think he did, he is accidentally goin’ to die. He ripped your shirt, didn’t he?”

“Yes.”

Something deep inside him he kept hidden from the rest of the world began to unravel. He felt rage. Cold. Absolute cold rage. He set the beer bottle down carefully on the floor and looked at his hands.

“Raoul.”

He heard her say his name softly, from a great distance. He curled his fingers into two tight fists. The man had been so close and on some level, Gator had known. Flame would never have sat in a car with her br**sts bared to the world no matter how much blood she’d lost. If some other man had ripped her shirt in the swamp, she would have covered up before getting into the car. She had presence of mind to bash Parsons, she sure as hell would have covered up. He was going to kill the man with his bare hands.

“Raoul.” This time her voice was sharp. “You’re doing again. The cabin is old. Do you want it to come crashing down? He’s a skanky little punk.”

“He’s a dead man walking.”

She sighed softly. “There’s more. I saw scratch marks the leather and there was an earring. The earring was very distinctive. Joy’s mother sent away for the pair when she saw them in a magazine. They had silver footprints over gold. The footprints represented a poem Joy loved about Christ carrying her in times of need.” She frowned, trying to remember more details. “It was strange. I felt dizzy and everything seemed so dreamlike.”

She wiped at her face. “I still can’t remember very much.”

“You’ve lost a lot of blood and they have you on heavy painkillers.” His voice had a hard edge to it. He swallowed his anger and picked up the beer bottle, trying to distract himself from the memory of her covered in blood, in mud, bruised, battered, and her rescuer ripping her shirt open. He couldn’t drink enough to erase that.

“I’m all right now. You got there in time. My arm’s fine.”

Gator took another swallow then pointed toward the table because he couldn’t think about it now. He had to change the direction of the conversation and his thoughts or he would be in jail by morning. “Take a look at those pictures. Kadan pulled those out and said to have you take a look at them. He thought you might see something the rest of us don’t.”

“Pictures?”

“On the table by my gloves.”

Flame leaned over the small makeshift table to study the pictures strewn over the tablecloth where they’d fallen out of a manila envelope. The shirttails rode up to reveal the underside of her bottom, her cheeks firm and smooth and curving deliciously. Gator repositioned his legs in an attempt to ease the growing ache in his groin. He wasn’t about to call her attention to the fact that she was showing bare skin and giving him one hell of a hard-on.

“Joy’s mother said she was a wonderful photographer and she’s right. These must be the pictures Joy took of the bayou and wildlife. Have you looked at them? They’re quite good. Joy took these photographs right before she disappeared.”

“Yes, Grand-mere told me her family developed them and took them to the police in the hopes that they’d see a clue to her disappearance. The other photos were taken of the other missing girl’s bedroom. Lily had duplicates made for us.” His voice had gone husky and he could feel his body beginning to pulse with awareness.

“There’s something here I’m not getting, Raoul. I can feel it.” She didn’t look back at him but bent closer to the photographs. “Maybe we should enlarge these. There’s a small ripped piece of paper on the corner of this nightstand.”

He couldn’t tear his gaze away from her. She was far more exposed now. He caught glimpses of the inviting entrance between her legs barely covered with a scrap of black lace. She brought up her foot and absently rubbed her calf with it before putting it down, her stance a little wider. The hem of the shirt was halfway up her bottom, exposing the globes of her ass to him. His air ran out and s lungs burned.

“You know what I think this is? Remember when Parsons’s driver handed him his business card to give me? I think this is part of his card. He only had a number on it and I can make out part of a number on this ripped piece. That means that other missing girl had contact with Parsons, his son, or the driver at some point.”

“That makes sense, especially if that snake had the balls o rip your shirt. Good aim, by the way.” His voice was husky. “You tore up his face.”

“With the drink. I thought he was trying to drug me.” She leaned her elbows on the table to study the various photographs. “I can’t believe how foggy my mind is. I keep trying to remember the details about what happened and to be honest, I just can’t quite remember everything. It’s so freakin’ frustrating I want to scream. I should stop taking the painkillers. They’re fogging my rain.”

“Give yourself time, cher, it will come back.” He set the bottle aside and got to his feet, drawn by the smooth temptation of her skin. His breath came in ragged gasps and his voice was hoarse. He stood directly behind her until he could feel the heat of her body. He pressed one hand on her lower spine and the other slid over the bare silky skin of her bottom. The feel of her took what little breath he had left. “I have to see this black thong.”

She didn’t protest. He heard the hitch of her breath and she went very still beneath his exploring caresses. He pushed the shirt up farther until he could see the three rows of black rolled string with the tiny bows down the middle disappearing between the firm globes of her bottom. “Mon Dieu! Is this your idea of nightwear?” He couldn’t keep his hands off of her, rubbing and massaging almost compulsively. He had no idea he was virtually holding her down with his other hand.

“Not exactly. Remember, all of my clothes were burned.”

“Grand-mere didn’t buy these.” He made it a statement as he tugged at the thin lacy strip covering everything he wanted.

“Like hell she didn’t.” Flame closed her eyes, suddenly frightened of the things he could do to her body when he wasn’t even trying. She couldn’t move, didn’t want him to stop, yet paradoxically, was terrified of where it would lead.

“She buys these sexy panties but gives you a man’s shirt to sleep in?”

There was a small telling silence. “I can’t possibly wear what she sent.”

“She sent you a nightgown?” The hand at her spine began to make small circles to match the stroking on her bottom.