"Your brow is furrowed. You're in pain or frightened." When she looked up into his eyes and didn't speak, he continued. "You didn't panic, Clarissa." His voice held a soothing quality laced into liquid seduction. "Sure, and with all that's down here, that's surprising."

"What's down here?"

His voice whispered in her head.Darkness.

His lips hadn't moved, and her fear renewed. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you."

Although she knew her brain should be operating at full throttle, she couldn't quite focus. Instead she sank into those fire-filled eyes and felt alarm return. "But how...how did you know I was here?"

His warm breath touched her forehead as he leaned in close. "Instinct."

God, his touch felt so good, his presence engendering security and wild fear. Her throat felt dry and hoarse. "What are you doing?"

His fingers gentled, warm and reassuring. He slipped his fingers over her cheek, then fingertips to jaw.

Close your eyes.

His lips hadn't moved again, and she wondered at her grip on reality. She placed her hands over his as his thumbs caressed her skin. "No."

Close your eyes.His voice echoed in her mind again.

Eyelids growing heavy, she fought to keep them open and couldn't. As her eyes shut, she struggled against his relentless influence.

He possessed her.

Took control.

Banished her will.

Ronan eased her against his body, gathering her tenderly against him.

He pressed her head against his shoulder as he whispered in that sensuous, stirring voice.

"You are safe. I won't allow you to be harmed. Trust me."

As his soft plea reached her ears, she relaxed. She'd never felt this safe in a man's embrace before. How he'd known she was down here didn't seem to matter. Only staying in his arms had any significance.

Slowly the ache in her head retreated, inch by inch. Seconds later he moved her back a bit so he could look into her eyes.

"Feel better now?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm better." She looked up at the hole in the crypt above. "How do we get out of here?"

The Irishman did something she didn't expected. He winked. "We fly."

His grin held megawatts of pure charm. His eyes sparkled and the effect set her heart racing.

You're insane. You're trapped in a subterranean hellhole with a dangerous man and you're getting all goo-goo eyed over him?

Grateful beyond belief that he stood nearby, she closed the small distance between them.

She placed one gloved hand on his chest. "Thank you."

An undeniable glow of orange fire punctuated his gaze. That uncanny glimmer that once frightened but now intrigued. "Thank you for what?"

"For calming me."

His fingers drifted over her forehead with a strange caress. His attentive gaze touched her lips. "If you don't stop looking at me like that..."

She felt free, dangerous, and willing to do almost anything to keep this strange exhilaration going in her blood. "What?"

He edged nearer until she brushed against him. Even through her coat and sweater she enjoyed the touch of his body against her breasts. She made a soft, sharp inhalation at the exquisite feeling.

"I know what you want." His voice filled with unrestrained passion. Darkly seductive, his tone promised endless delight. "Now is not the time to fulfill your needs, but later I will give you everything you want."

Puzzled, she frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"You've thought about our kiss. What it did to you." He brushed his hand over her cheek, cupping her face in warmth. "You want me inside of you more than you want to breathe."

She shivered against his warm touch as lightning arousal mixed with embarrassment.

Mortified that she'd given away her innermost thoughts and yet astonished he could read her, she muttered, "You're insane."

She backed away and the movement made her dizzy. She swayed and he took her arm again.

Yanking from his grip she said, "Don't touch me. I don't-"

Ronan's mouth captured hers, a low, almost purring growl coming from his throat. She shivered as the kiss went supernova. Without preliminaries he tugged her closer, his arms unbridled steel around her waist and back, his mouth twisting over hers relentlessly. His tongue took immediate charge, plunging deep and devouring. As his tongue rasped over hers again and again she moaned into his mouth and responded. Entering the dance, she forgot where she was and how she came to be there.

She was in the bowels of a crypt, but the man holding her would protect her against evil.

Clarissa knew he would guard her with his soul, his heart and mind. A restlessness grew inside her to put out this conflagration that heightened by the second. Ronan Kieran wanted her in all ways a man could want a woman, and she felt the hard press of his erection against her stomach.

He pulled back and stared into her eyes and she thought about moving away. Instead his voice whispered in her head.Stay with me.

With a deft movement he reached between their bodies and unzipped her coat. He slipped his arms under the coat and brought her into his warm embrace. Against his hard, hot body, safety and comfort enveloped her. Since his long coat lay open, she felt the hardness of his chest and the solidness of his thighs. Everything about this puzzling man spelled unbelievable strength and willingness to use power. His force, his essence was infused by a living inferno she didn't understand.

As he kissed her again, she succumbed to the overwhelming desire to remain close to him, to caress and cherish and thank him for finding her. She slipped her hands into his chocolate dark hair and caressed the thick strands, then touched his face.

His voice whispered deep in her mind.Touch me. Feel me. Know me.

He cupped her ass with a gentle but exploratory grip. She moaned in delight as he kneaded her flesh, testing and shaping. As his fingers brushed and cupped, she cherished the erotic need building deep in her belly, urging her to let go. Let go and discover what sensual delights this dangerous man offered.

He released her mouth, and his lips traveled over her ear. Clarissa kept her eyes closed, wanting to remain in this desire-filled world. Without restraint she caressed his hard arms and broad shoulders, needing to experience more than what she could through his leather jacket.

His breathing, heavy and rasping with a desperate desire, fueled her senses the way nothing else could have. "Sweet colleen, you have no idea what you do to me. You're the fire in my body I cannot erase. If this was the right time and place, I would show you how much I want you." He groaned softly against her neck, his frame racked by a fine shivering. "I'd take you to my lair." His hands traveled from her back to her butt again and he cupped her ass cheeks, kneading softly. "We'd drink champagne and taste each other."

"Taste each other?" she said, her voice shaky.

"Mmm." He licked her ear. "Caress." Warm and hot, his tongue darted into her ear, then out. "Taste." Ronan palmed her ass with long, soothing caresses. His mouth traveled to her forehead where he planted a warm kiss. "We'd connect. I'd do anything and everything you wanted to bring you to ecstasy. I'd feast on your luscious body until lust overwhelmed us. Then I'd take you."

A delicious shudder rippled over her. Deep between her thighs the ache built, hot and moist and desiring what he could give her. "Take me? As in make love?"