FORBIDDEN PLACE 13

IT’S NOT EXACTLY fear I'm experiencing, Karen thought as she allowed Sinclair to guide her through a little door hidden in the shadow of the stairs. Slight apprehension perhaps. No one can hurt me, Kan made sure of that. I'd react automatically. Even an assailant brandishing a knife would be floored in a couple of swift moves, with a broken arm.

The blood was singing in her veins, alert for further sensations. The buzz was tremendous — lust, wounded pride, even the stirrings of an emotion as yet unnamed regarding Mallory. No, it wasn’t he who led her along so subtly, hand touching her shoulder, fingers skimming across her bare arm, then alighting at the small of her back. But it was a man who resembled him yet possessed a magnetism of his own.

Karen’s every nerve directed itself towards him. She could smell his expensive aftershave and tingled to the brief caressing of his fingers. She loosened, moistened. Something exciting loomed ahead. Whatever it was, she would never be quite th