Tangled Web (26 page)

The bathroom door swished open, jerking him back to the present. He listened to her breath hiss out as she sat across from the bed.

Boone contemplated trying for another round. He could still taste her on his lips, and it was driving him crazy. They’d been together more times last night than he could count and still he craved the feel of her skin against him. But last night was a mistake, and not one he could afford to repeat. Maybe if he kept thinking that, he’d start to believe it. Besides, she’d hate him soon enough. All of Kristian’s floozies did. Just because she seemed different from the countless others didn’t indicate a different outcome.

As soon as she left the room, he rolled back over and stretched. He was tired and sore and felt fantastically used. The woman really was something.

His wrist unit beeped, and Boone sighed. Couldn’t Jenny give him a few minutes to enjoy the afterglow? He opened the call, leaving the screen blank. His little sister didn’t need to see where he was and start asking questions. “What?”

“Now, now, is that any way to speak to your favorite sister?”

“You’re my
only
sister.”

Jenny laughed. “Technicalities.” Even without the screen on, he knew her gray eyes, so similar to his own, were dancing with mischief. Which meant trouble for anyone in her sights.

Boone flopped back on the bed and propped his head on his free arm, the movement pulling at old wounds. He rolled his neck, fighting against the tide of memories threatening to drown him. Kristian coaxing him down to the dungeon to hide from the old man. The chains digging into his wrists. The knife, gods, that damned knife…

“You’re not even paying attention to me!”

He could have kissed his sister for pulling him free of the past, even as Boone hoped to the gods he wasn’t going to have to clean up another of her messes. “What do you want, Jenny?”

“What’s she like?” She was only snooping. Thank the gods for small favors.

Boone glared at his wrist unit, but it wouldn’t have intimidated her into silence, even if she could see him. Jenny wasn’t afraid of anything. “You are not calling to ask about Kristian’s new whore.” To call her that felt like a betrayal, but he slapped down the feeling. She may have been amazing last night, but if she became a member of the prince’s harem, she was an enemy, plain and simple.

“Bo-oo-ne.” Jenny stretched his name into three syllables. “Stop playing with my emotions and tell me what she’s like. Is she vapid? Lazy? A royal bitch like the last one? Come on, I’m dying here.”

“No.”

Jenny was silent for what felt like an eternity. A new record. “No? That’s interesting.”

“Yeah.” He pictured those violet eyes gone hazy with passion. “She’s not at all like we expected.”

“Can we use her?”

That was the question. Judging from last night alone, the Diviner wasn’t a woman someone used lightly. Hells, she’d probably fillet anyone who tried. “I don’t know.”

“You sound weird. What happened?”

Of course Jenny would pick up on his distraction. “Nothing. We’ll talk later.” He reached over and ended the call. Almost immediately, the unit rang again. Boone clicked it on. “Damn it, Jenny—”

“Hello, little brother.”

He froze, his gaze glued to the screen showing the man who had been his enemy for nearly ten years, ever since he’d chained Boone in the dungeon and tried to cut the skin from his back.

Dread curled in his gut. “Kristian.”

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