“And instead, they’re the best of friends.”

“Shared misery and anguish,” Jassy told him. “They drank together all night after Lainie’s funeral.”

“It’s interesting now to catch either of them when they’re watching Madison.”

“Because she’s the living image of Lainie.”

“Yes.”

“Strange, Kaila looks just like Lainie, too, but there’s something different. I think it’s because Madison has Lainie’s presence. It’s in her walk…the way she moves.” She glanced at Jimmy and added quickly, “Except, of course,” she added hastily, “that Madison is very different, too.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that Madison isn’t a bitch at all. She cares too much about everyone around her. Isn’t that odd? She’s like Lainie in so many ways, and not like her at all. Lainie was beautiful, spoiled and incredibly selfish. Madison, on the other hand, will go out of her way to be understanding. Actually, lately, Kaila has been the one acting more like Lainie.”

“Well, no one ever has to defend Madison to me. I think she’s great. The best.”

Jassy punched him lightly in the shoulder. “You don’t have to sound that enthusiastic!”

Jimmy smiled. “Behave. I care very much about your sister, and you know it. But in an entirely different way. She doesn’t know how to talk medical blood and guts at all.”

Jassy laughed softly, running her fingers through his hair. “Thank God for my hidden talents.”

Jimmy smiled, but his smile faded. “She’s a good kid, a great kid. But she is a copy of Lainie, and this has just got me thinking…. I don’t know, these women, these victims, do resemble Lainie Adair.”

“Lainie has been dead a long time now.”

“I know, I know. I guess there can’t be a connection. But still…”

“Still, what?”

He rose, reaching for his pants. “Jassy, there’s something I’ve got to check on. Lock yourself in. You’ve got a gun, right?”

“You betcha—and I know how to use it.”

“Good girl. You can talk bullets to me later,” he said, winking, and left her.

Baffled, Jassy lay awake long after he had gone.

Madison…

She wasn’t an image, a mirage. A dream.

A wet dream.

She was really there.

In silk.

“Madison…” Kyle murmured after a moment. “You should have knocked. I could have shot you.”

Her eyes focused on him in the shadows. He saw them widen. He’d been sleeping naked. He almost made an instinctive grab for the covers, but he didn’t. He remained exactly as he was, seated, setting his gun on the nightstand. Her eyes moved over him, then met his.

“No. You wouldn’t have shot me. Not you. You’re far too good at your job,” she assured him.

He didn’t reply. He thought her cheeks were exceptionally flushed. She didn’t say anything for a long moment. Her lashes fluttered over her cheeks. Probably because she’d noticed his growing erection.

He stood, heedless of his state of arousal. After all, she’d walked into his bedroom.

“Well? What are you doing here?” he asked her, wishing his voice didn’t sound so harsh. But his heart was thundering, his breathing was already labored, and his muscles, and more, were twitching with tension.

“I…” she began, then tossed back her hair, swallowed and started anew. “I couldn’t sleep. And I felt…maybe you were still awake and wanted to talk.”

“To talk?”

She was silent for a moment, staring at him. Then she shrugged.

“All right, never mind. I suppose I didn’t really think that you wanted to talk. But really, I couldn’t sleep. Oh, hell, Kyle! Let’s…let’s do this, get it over with, get on with our lives.”

He started, staring at her, frowning deeply. “What?” he demanded with husky anger.

“I said—”

“Have you been in my mind, Madison?”

“What?” she queried crossly.

“I said—”

“No, I haven’t been in your mind! I’m not a mind reader, damn it. There you go, treating me as if I’m an alien being or strange—”

“You have something, Madison. An ability, ESP, something. And people do like their thoughts to be private!”

“This was a mistake. Oh, God, what a mistake.”

She was trembling, shaking. It had taken her a lot to come here, no matter what her bravado, he realized.

She started to turn around, hair swirling in a wave of deep fire. She had come, fulfilling his fantasies, and he was about to lose her. Because the words she used had been the very words his own imagination had come up with so often.

He moved quickly, determined to stop her. Because if he let her go, she would never come back.

“Madison!” He caught her arm, drawing her back. She stared at him again, flushing deeply. Her eyes met his.

“We both want this,” he said to her. “Let’s get on with it…. Hell, yes, let’s get on with it.”

He pulled the single tie on the emerald silk robe. He’d known she wasn’t wearing anything beneath it. He lifted it from her shoulders, then watched, fascinated, as the silk drifted down her form and fell to her feet.

He met her eyes for one minute, arching a brow. “We are talking about the same ‘it,’ right?”

Her color deepened.

He smiled. And feasted.

He’d seen her before. Seen her in casual clothing, elegant clothing, bathing suits. But he’d never seen anything like Madison naked. Her breasts were high and full, her nipples large, dark and provocative. The hair between her thighs was as fiery a red as that on her head, while everything between was curved and smooth and so damned tempting he was afraid he would climax just looking at her.

Great beginning…

But he couldn’t stand there staring for another minute. He would start twitching and spontaneously explode. A strangled grunt left his throat, a sound far more primal and animalistic than was politically correct, but at that moment, he couldn’t quite give a damn. He all but wrenched her into his arms, lifting her against him. Her naked flesh rubbed erotically against his. He could feel the pounding of her heart, the rise and fall of her breasts as she gasped for air, her vibrance, her warmth…. He could breathe in the scent of her….

“Wait, Kyle!” she murmured suddenly.

“Wait?”

He paused, holding her tight against him, staring down into her eyes. They were wide, a liquid blue, staring back at him. “Kyle, you haven’t…”

“I haven’t?”

“You aren’t…?”

He swore, ready to die.

“You’re not—sleeping with my sister, are you?”

“Your sister? Which sister?”

“Jassy.” Her eyes widened farther. “Either of them!”

He smiled, shaking his head. “No. I’m not sleeping with either of your sisters. What the hell ever made you think that?”

“Jassy’s seeing someone.”

“Not me. Can we get on with it?”

She nodded, still staring at him. Then her eyes closed as his lips molded over hers and he kissed her with a ravaging hunger, plunging his tongue into her mouth, invading, consuming with a sure promise of raw energy, passion and need. He continued to seek her mouth, her tongue, as he held her in his arms, sweeping her off the floor with him as he blindly sought the bed.

He fell with her upon it, his mouth still glued to hers, seeking, tasting, caressing, sharing hot, wet, sloppy kisses. He needed her, all of her. His lips moved from hers to her throat. His hands closed over her breasts, his fingers molding her nipples. His mouth followed, bathing her breasts, suckling the hardening peaks, drawing startled little sobbing sounds from her, his name, from her lips….

Madison…

God, he wanted her. It was painful; it was anguish. He couldn’t touch or taste his fill. He had always known that her hair was silk, that her naked flesh would be like satin, stroking him. But she was vibrant, as well, twisting, arching, biting lightly into his shoulders, as he touched her with an ever-greater intimacy, rubbing her belly lower and lower with the brush of his knuckles, sliding his fingers into her….