Deadly Game by Christine Feehan Read Free Book Online

on her, and she shook her head.
    “You know Whitney,” he said.
    “So do you. Why don’t we know each other?” Her lashes lifted, and she silently prayed she was wrong, that he wasn’t going to have any effect on her. His eyes met hers, and her stomach did that stupid flip she was beginning to hate. The tingle of awareness spread, becoming a rush of heat that made her breasts tighten. She wanted to cry. It was wrong to manipulate anyone sexually—even soldiers raised on duty and discipline.
    “Whitney has several experiments going. We’re just beginning to understand how many. He adopted female babies from foreign countries and experimented on them. Regardless of his security clearance, no one was going to authorize that, so he kept the girls hidden using various means. Briony was adopted out to a family, but he kept tabs on her, insisting on mapping out her education and training as well as sending his private doctor to monitor her health. I met her a few weeks ago.”
    She tried not to react. It could be a trick—a setup. Another test. Whitney often tested them, and if they failed, the consequences were dire. She said nothing, just stared up at his face. The mask gave nothing away. She was good at reading people, but not him. Even touching him gave her no information, only a strange, soothing peace. And she shouldn’t feel peaceful; she should feel alert. Could it be a new kind of interrogation drug? She almost wished it were. She feared it was the beginning of an addiction to a man, and that was simply not acceptable.
    “You’re identical twins, obviously. She looks just like you.”
    Mari turned her face away from him, knowing she couldn’t hide her expression. She had longed for information on her sister for years. Now, here it was, if she could believe it. Dropped straight into her lap, and how big of a coincidence was that? She bit her lip to keep from a sarcastic reply. It had to be a setup. There was no way she could casually meet this man and have him know her long-lost sister. But even if he was lying, she was so starved for news of Briony she wanted him to keep talking, and that was just plain pathetic.
    “Are you listening?”
    Of course she was listening. “I like fairy tales.”
    “I can stop then. I wouldn’t want to bore you.” He stepped away from her, back toward the shadows, away from the light. It was the first restless move she’d seen him make, when he was so in control. The movement reminded her of a great caged tiger, pacing with impatience and frustration. He needed to be outside, in the mountains, away from civilization. He was too wild, too much of a predator to be caged in a house.
    “I was enjoying the story.” Had she revealed too much, or had she managed to sound as if that was all it was to her—a fairy tale? She wanted him back, wanted him closer. As soon as he retreated, pain engulfed her. “You’re an anchor,” she said.
    Without an anchor to draw psychic backlash, she was always wide open to assault. Much like someone born with autism, she no longer had the necessary filters to keep her brain from being under constant attack by all the stimulation around her. He was controlling that for her, she realized.
    “Yes. So is Jack.”
    Jack. The beautiful one. The one who had Ken’s face. How did it feel to stand beside his brother every day, to look into the face he should have had? It had to hurt. No matter how stoic he was, no matter how much he loved his brother, he had to look at that face and hurt.
    Mari studied him as he leaned one hip lazily against the far wall, there in the shadows. She was certain it was a place he was far more comfortable. Did he realize the scars weren’t as obvious as in the glare of light? That when darkness touched him, his face was nearly as handsome as Jack’s? She doubted it. He favored the shadows simply because he could disappear into them.
    “And Jack knows this Briony you claim is my sister?”
    He sighed. “We’re going to