Somehow she couldn't believe that, but she decided not to challenge him. "Were you following me, Ronan? Is that how you knew where to find me?"

"No. An odd question considering I told you I found you by instinct."

Confusion warred with indignation. "You'rethe oddest man I know. You appear at the most interesting times, especially when I need you the most. You've kissed the hell out of me, and you have the strangest eyes I've ever seen. You can read minds and I can hear your voice in my head-as if that doesn't creep me out enough."

"There's a lot you don't know about me. A lot you don't want to know."

"Oh, I see. You're one of those men who gets off on being dark and dangerous. I hope you enjoyed sleeping with me in your mind."

His perplexed frown almost made her think he didn't understand until he said, "That sounds like an insult."

If she hadn't been tired, aching, and still longing for his touch, she wouldn't have pushed the issue. "It is. What are you, some kind of cop?"

He stepped forward until once again their personal space amounted to almost nothing.

Eyes glittering with insolence, he said, "No."

"Then what do you do?"

"Prowl graveyards trying to keep foolish women safe."

"Foolish-why you-"

When she cut herself off, he said, "Whenever you need me, if ever you need me, all you have to do is tell me with your mind. I'll come for you."

This gorgeous, intriguing man at her beck and call with one little thought. It sounded like a fantasy come true.

Although she'd seen clear demonstration of his ability to read her mind, part of her couldn't quite accept the idea. "Why would I need you?"

"For protection."

"Why would I need protection?"

He grunted. "You do. And you still want me."

His blatant statement increased her discomfort and her ire. She held up an index finger for emphasis. "I've run into enough self-assured-to-the-point-of-sickening men in my life. You're assuming a lot if you think I'll hop into bed with you because you saved my life once, possibly twice. And to top that all off, howdid you get down here?"

One of his dark brows winged upward, a sardonic expression covering his face. He looked up at the hole she'd fallen through. "I flew."

Before she could respond to his preposterous answer, a harsh, rushing wind blew cold into their faces. Unease made her shift closer to him, and he put his arm around her waist.

She didn't know what lurked in the strange darkness surrounding them, and she didn't think she wanted to understand.

The darkness is closer. We must leave.

She glanced up at him. "You're doing it again."

He smiled this time, and sensual nuance in his grin and his eyes turned her heart over.

"Touching you?"

"You know what I mean. Talking to me in my mind."

"You don't like it?"

"You're invading my privacy."

"Mmm. There's more I'd like to invade, sweet colleen, but we've got to leave here now.

We've lingered far too long." He put his fingers against her temple.

Reassuring and flowing, his voice filtered into her mind again.We're flying, Clarissa.

Flying.

Before she could protest or comprehend what would happen, a strange languor overcame her. Unable to keep her eyes open, she sagged in his grip. Seconds later, the remaining light in the cavern disappeared and with it her consciousness.

Again Clarissa awakened enveloped in a man's arms. At first she smiled, happy Ronan still held her close. She felt as if she lay on a solid surface, cold and unforgiving.

"Clarissa? Can you hear me?"

The male didn't belong to Ronan's husky Irish inflection. Disappointment and apprehension made her struggle against the arms holding her. Her eyes popped open as the man kept her in his grip.

The arms released her as she struggled upright. "Whoa. It's just me. Jim."

Leaning back on her palms, she blinked at Jim in mystification.

He held his hands out in a gesture of nonaggression as he sat on the crypt floor with her.

"I heard you scream and when I rushed in here and saw you down below in the hole, I tried to use my cell phone to call for help. I couldn't get a signal worth a damn, but when I rushed back with some rope to try and get down to you, I saw you lying on the floor next to the hole. How did you climb out?"

"Good question," she said, feeling dazed. "I don't remember."

"We've got to get you some medical assistance."

"No, I'm fine."

When she tried to stand, Jim sprang up and clasped her shoulders for support. "None of this makes sense. It didn't take me that long to go from the crypt to the car and back and in that time you found a way up here?"

She shook her head. Her senses had cleared and the ache in her head from the earlier fall hadn't returned. "Maybe this was all a dream." She reached out and touched Jim's chest.

"Maybe I'm dreaming you."

A puzzled, worried frown touched his lips. "Damn it, Clarissa, you need to see a doctor.

This isn't a dream, and I think you hit your head, because you're not making sense."

Maybe she did need to be looked at, because she couldn't be one hundred percent certain about what happened in the hole. If Ronan had rescued her, found a way out of the hole, why hadn't he stayed?

"Maybe I just dreamed the part where Ronan appeared."

"Who?"

His puzzled expression made her realize she'd made a hash of her explanation. "The man who saved me from the mugger. That Ronan."

"Ah." He nodded. "Right. He was down in the hole with you? Then where the hell is he?"