The couple spent about half their time at the colony of telepaths they’d established at the plantation Gabriella Bordeaux had inherited from her mother. The rest of each week, they were in New Orleans, where Jake attended to his restaurant and antique business, while Rachel did tarot card reading in her shop in the French Quarter.
Rachel blinked up at her husband. “I’m all right,” she murmured.
“What happened? Did...did you sense another couple making it past the initial crisis?”
Rachel had extraordinary mental powers and seemed to sense when two more of Dr. Solomon’s children had forged a link to each other. This time, she looked perplexed.
“What?” Jake pressed.
“It’s not like with the others.”
He grimaced. “Are...are you saying that one of them made it through their first lovemaking—and the other didn’t?”
“No, that’s not it.” Rachel licked her dry lips. “It wasn’t the same as with us or any of the others. I think...I think...”
When she hesitated, he urged, “Just spit it out.”
“Okay, I know it sounds impossible, but I’m pretty sure one of them was already dead.”
His curse filled the small room, “You must be mistaken. How could...a living person bond with a deceased one?”
“I’m just telling you what I sensed, although I could be dead wrong.”
“Dead wrong. Yeah.” His laugh wasn’t quite steady. After several moments of hesitation, he asked, “Um, which one...um...do you think is a ghost?”
She could tell from his shaky voice that he wasn’t entirely committed to the concept.
“I’m not sure. They’re pretty far away.”
CHAPTERSIX
Olivia stayed pressed to Travis, her eyes closed, unable to face him and yet unable to move away. He must have sensed that, too. Without speaking, he helped her get under the covers and stayed beside her.
Her face heated when she thought of what she had let him do—what she had begged him to do. She had given herself completely to him in a way she had never even been able to imagine before.
She had read in books and seen TV shows where the characters had an awkward “morning after.” This must be the one that took the prize. Even though it was still dark, itwastechnically morning.
She knew he caught her thought when he answered, “I wanted that as much as you did. And like you, I didn’t understand how much I was asking for.”
“But I was the only one who...” She let the rest of the sentence trail off.
“Giving you so much pleasure was...mind-blowing.”
“But...”
“When you came, I felt what you did. It was as good for me as it was for you.” He reached for her hand and knitted his fingers with hers.
She heard a teasing smile in his voice. “Now I know what an orgasm is like for a woman. You feel it all over your body...not justthere.”
Even after the earthquake of a climax he had given her, or maybe because of it, the conversation was becoming much too intimate. He must have picked that up from her mind because he changed the subject. “It wasn’t just great sex. You gave me a gift. I know who I am now.”
She heard the wonder in his voice. “Being with you has changed me.”
“Changed both of us.” She felt her excitement growing. “Remember, I now know you have a boat,The Far Horizon. I even know where it is. I can go there and find...”
He didn’t let her finish the sentence.
“No.”
