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God help him, how was he to let her go when this finished? And he knew, clear to his soul, in the warrior part of his subconscious, the end was coming. Risa would be safe. He’d have his vengeance, but when it was over, there would be nothing left to hold on to. Vengeance would be ashes in the wind, and his heart would always linger in the darkness, always following one woman, a shadow of her shadow.
“I could stay here, covering you like a blanket meant to protect, forever,” he whispered at her ear. “You are a light that will always guide me, a whisper I’ll always strain to hear.”
Her slender body shook on a sob as he felt her fingers digging into the mattress.
“Know that, Risa.” He kissed her neck, her shoulder. “Always remember, in my life I will never know a warmth as sweet, as giving, or as beautiful as you are.”
She shook her head as he eased from her, but she curled against him eagerly when he lay beside her.
“Talk to me.” Her voice was filled with tears. He felt the dampness of them against his chest and felt them in his soul.
“What should I talk to you about?” He let his fingers comb through the silken strands of her hair.
“What makes you happy? What memories are best to you? Just talk to me, Micah. Tell me about you.”
He breathed out heavily. She made him happy. The memories of being with her would always be the best to him.
“I remember the desert,” he whispered. “Israel is a place of many people and yet many beauties. The desert can bake a man in the day, freeze him when the moon rises high. It’s a place of brutal beauty and enduring strength. It nourishes a man, even as it challenges him.”
“It’s very violent,” she whispered. “I was there once, a long time ago with Jansen. I wasn’t allowed out of the protected house he’d been given use of.”
“You would love Israel if you had the chance to experience her,” he promised Risa. He would love to see her there beneath the blazing sun. To show her all the secrets Israel held, as well as the vast richness. “There can be violence; that part of Israel is splashed across television sets around the world. But you rarely see them show the ocean as it caresses a moonlit beach. Or the desert that shifts and changes on a daily basis. It’s secretive and resourceful. It respects strength and power, and gives it in turn.”
“What is the breeze like?” Her voice was honey and sweet pleasure. It was a light in the darkness, the promise of warmth in the winter.
“The breeze can be gentle with the heat of the desert filling it, sinking it into your pores as though it would sustain you with its earthy gift alone. Or it can be sharp and wicked; it can tear at the flesh and slash at the bone as though it were a woman displeased with her lover.”
He chuckled at the light pinch she gave his hard abs.
“See what I mean?” He caught her hand in his. “Wicked woman.”
Her soft laughter flowed over him like the desert’s gentlest caress.
“Do you have family that you left there?”
Micah stared at the ceiling before he shook his head. “I have only a cousin. A rabid little female as stubborn as the desert itself.”
“And you love her,” she said softly. “I can hear it in your voice.”
“Yes, I’m quite fond of her.” He would have smiled at the thought if he weren’t well aware of what he had left her to. The need to choose between Risa’s safety and Bailey’s comfort wasn’t a simple one. He consoled himself with the fact that both would survive in the end. They would have their lives ahead of them; whatever they desired could be theirs.
“When you leave, will you remember me, Micah?” Risa asked then, her voice in the darkness stroking over his senses.
“Even death could not steal your memory from me,” he promised her.
Silence filled the room. Dawn was coming and with it the knowledge that he would have to hurt her again. Her grandmother had told Noah that Risa had flatly refused to attend the medical banquet thrown each year. Medical professionals from around the world would be in attendance. The best and the brightest in the medical field would don their evening finest and mingle in an event created to allow each to make the contacts needed to access the myriad funds made available for medical research.
The ball would be held in a week, and until then, there were several parties thrown as individual scientists and doctors arrived in the city.
The first of those parties would begin later in the night. He would attend as Risa and Abigail’s guest, as would Ian and Kira Richards. Jordan and Tehya would be there as well, with the rest of the team providing backup and security.
And Micah knew Orion would make another move soon, most likely at one of those parties.
“I’m cold,” Risa’s soft voice dragged him from his thoughts.
Micah let his hand caress down her back before he dragged the comforter from their hips to her shoulders. The air was a little cool, he admitted.
She snuggled closer to his chest and was silent so long that he wondered if she had fallen asleep.
