Lightning Game (GhostWalkers #17) -Christine Feehan Page 0,52

we take a trail, it will be longer.” He gave her the option.

“I’m good with cutting through brush. I’ve got my good hiking boots and clothing on, so I’m prepared, and I’m really hungry. Kissing works up the appetite.” There was laughter in her voice.

He liked to hear those notes of amusement after she’d been so upset. He knew he hadn’t completely helped her close that door on her memories, but he’d definitely distanced her from them. Knowing she found the way he telepathically argued good-naturedly with his brother amusing made him even happier.

She’s good with cutting through the brush so we can get there in half an hour.

“I told him we’d be there as soon as we could.” He glanced up at the sky. “In a couple of hours, we’re going to have a hell of a storm. I want to practice targeting the lightning. That might be fun.”

She laughed softly. “I’m beginning to think there are quite a few things that I never considered could be fun that might be if done with you.”

“Thanks, Lightning Bug,” he replied gruffly. He thought it was a huge compliment and knew Jonquille didn’t give those out, not that there was anyone for her to give them out to.

They hurried back to the cabin. Twice in the distance, thunder rolled ominously, but the storm was clearly a good distance away. Rubin could visibly see the pull on Jonquille’s body and the way, even though the storm was so far away, the tension in her was so ingrained that she began to try to distance herself from him.

Rubin had a long reach, and he snagged her wrist easily and pulled her closer to him. “Sweetheart, the last thing you ever want to do when a storm comes is move away from me. You want to be close to me,” he said. “I know that’s a behavior that will have to be learned, but you should start now, when no one else is around.”

She sent him a look from under those silvery lashes that told him she wasn’t so certain. “Just because you think so doesn’t mean you’re right, Rubin. I’m not so willing to take chances with your life.”

“We kissed and you didn’t fry me.”

A faint smile curved her lips and she looked away, shaking her head. “I don’t know how you got so unlucky to have been paired with me, but that’s probably the only reason you didn’t get fried. That doesn’t mean if a lightning bolt suddenly comes out of the sky and strikes somewhere in our vicinity, you aren’t going to die.”

“We’re going to form a partnership, Jonquille.” He poured confidence into his voice. “I’ve been working on ideas for a long time. If you came to the conferences, you had to have heard some of them.”

“Theories aren’t the same as practical knowledge, Rubin, you know that. One mistake and you’re dead. Just one. Lightning kills. Electrical charges kill. The amount of volts is beyond anything anyone really imagines. You talk about directing lightning. Do you know how fast it is?”

“Why, yes, I do, Miss Jonquille, now that you ask,” Rubin said. “I happen to be well versed in my facts on lightning. Each bolt of lightning can contain as many as one billion volts of electricity.” He flashed her a boyish grin. “The lead stroke from air to ground is much slower and can come in steps, a microsecond at a time. It’s the return charge that’s fast, traveling at speeds of 320,000,000 feet per second. We also know how hot you can get.”

“Don’t be cute. This isn’t funny, Rubin. Were you really going to experiment?”

“That is exactly what I came up here to do, and I intend to do it. And it isn’t my first time. Now that you’re here with me, it will be fun. Don’t get all grim and foreboding on me like Diego. He’s all gloom and doom, sure we’re both going to go up in smoke.”

“You probably are.” This time when she said it, she sounded a little more amused.

He sent her another quick smile. “We know you’re hot as hell. How fast are you when you’re not cheating?”

One silvery eyebrow shot up. “I don’t cheat.”

“Drawing energy from others and using it against them isn’t cheating? If we’re racing, you can’t take my energy for yourself.”

“I think you do that,” she pointed out, giving him a little haughty chin lift.

He did do that, specifically with her. He could drain off quite a bit of