Lightning Game (GhostWalkers #17) -Christine Feehan Page 0,24
close at the same table. I’m afraid Whitney did, the bastard, and I’m sorry about that. That’s one more burden for you to carry.”
That didn’t tell him anything about whether or not she felt the same way. She was careful to keep her emotions to herself. He didn’t want that. He wanted to know everything there was to know about her. At the same time, he couldn’t give her anything back, and there was no fairness in that. He was in the military, in a top secret program. He didn’t have the luxury of talking about what he was or what he did.
“You aren’t a burden to me, Jonquille, not unless you decide I’m not worth sticking around and taking a chance on.” He just put it out there. Tossed it out like he wasn’t saying the most ridiculous thing in the world. He hadn’t thought about it or discussed it with his brother. The offer just came flying out. He was pragmatic. He wasn’t a man who would go out on dates like Diego might. If this woman was paired with him, then why should he fight fate? Why shouldn’t they just accept what was in store for them and begin to build a relationship? He wanted that. He wanted the chance to get to know her. To have her get to know him. The only way for that to happen was if she stayed.
Her gaze went electric blue again. He loved the blue of her eyes, but now that he’d seen that silvery-blue sheen, he thought that was just as beautiful, if not more so.
“I could never be with a man like you, Rubin.” Her voice had gone soft and gentle. “I can’t ever be in public. You go to these big medical conferences and the ones on lightning for weapons as well as manipulating lighting for the purposes of keeping the strikes from hitting anything important. You need a match that can be an asset to you. That will never be me, as much as I wish it were.”
He heard the very real ring of sadness. “You can’t know that. You have no idea what two people can do together. We haven’t even begun to talk about our gifts and how they might complement one another. To just dismiss a pairing when every single other pairing has been dead-on would be a major mistake. That heaviness I feel weighing me down, I feel it in you. We’re both intelligent. We have no idea what we can think of or do together unless we at least give things a try.”
Jonquille glanced into the woods. The clouds had turned a darker shade of gray at the bottom, leaving their fluffier tops lighter so they appeared almost as if they had an ombré effect. As the clouds floated across the sky, driven by the slight breeze, they blocked the light of the stars and moon completely, turning the woods and stream into an ominous, dark, shadowy underworld. She didn’t flinch away from it or appear to be spooked by the sudden change.
Rubin studied her face as she contemplated how to answer him. She never seemed to feel she had to answer right away. She wasn’t pushed into anything. She turned things over in her mind before she decided what to trust him with.
Around them, the trees began to moan as the wind picked up. Branches rubbed together to make the mournful sound. The frogs and katydids changed their tunes, singing a chorus to match the desolate notes the trees produced.
Get her to go inside, where it’s warmer, Rubin.
She doesn’t feel as threatened out here, even knowing you’re holding a sniper’s rifle on her. I’m trying to get her to admit she’s been paired with me. She isn’t a threat. Go inside and stay warm. We’ll be in as soon as we can.
That’s not going to happen in this lifetime.
Rubin sighed. He’d known that was going to be Diego’s answer. Most of the time he didn’t bother to answer at all.
“There’s no doubt that he paired us, Rubin. I feel an almost overwhelming attraction to you, and that doesn’t come easily to me. I’m certain we have many of the same psychic traits. In any case, those I don’t have, you would complement, and vice versa. That seems to be how it works. I’ve never actually seen a couple in person, but I’ve seen them when they’ve been online and Whitney managed to get a recording when they were unaware.”