“You’re mistaken if you think that Jimmy forces me into helping him.”

“So he still calls on you for your hocus-pocus,” he said bitterly.

Madison stared at him, feeling the resentment building in her heart once again. “He doesn’t always call on me.”

“You call him?” he demanded incredulously.

“When I feel I need to, yes, I do! I didn’t ask for whatever it is that I have. I hate it. I really, truly hate it. It’s terrible to have to hurt for other people. But it’s worse to feel that you can do something and not do it. It’s worse to think that you could help ease someone’s suffering and ignore it.”

He winced. “Madison, listen, I just have a bad feeling on this one. My turn to have a bad feeling, a really bad feeling. You need to keep your distance.”

He hesitated for a minute. She was painfully aware of the heat emanating from his fingers as he clenched her shoulders. She liked Kyle’s hands. They were big. He had long fingers. He had his father’s hands. Artist’s hands. Capable of a light touch, and yet very powerful.

The warmth of his touch reminded her of the chill she had felt today.

Was he right on this? She’d never felt so unnerved as she had since last evening. Of course, she’d had that feeling, and then he’d arrived.

She had the dream, and then…

She looked down suddenly and remembered the unease she had felt when they were about to set out on the boat. Seeing again the flashes of a life she had seen in her dream, when she was diving toward the arm.

The hotel room. Being in someone’s else skin. The euphoria, and then…

Then the flash of the steel.

“Madison!”

He lifted her chin, putting her at a disadvantage again, studying her eyes while his remained hidden behind dark lenses. “Madison, I’m certain that the arm we found today belongs to a victim of this killer. He’s ranging from Miami to the Keys. Your territory, Madison. I don’t want you hurt. I don’t want you involved.”

She had to be involved. She had no choice. She opened her mouth, ready to tell him about her flash of insight.

But she didn’t want to tell him what she had been seeing. Jimmy was the one who had believed in her from the beginning, and she knew that she was only given a great deal of credence now by most of the homicide guys thanks to Jimmy.

Not Kyle. She couldn’t tell Kyle. He was still staring at her through his glasses, his touch, his tone, passionate and intense.

“Madison, what you see is dangerous, don’t you understand? You don’t dare be dangerous to this killer. I mean, I know how I felt when I thought you were invading the privacy of my life. Imagine a killer…”

She pulled away from him, staring at him furiously. “Invading your life?” she repeated softly.

“Madison, that’s what it felt like. Like I said before, I was in pain at the time, in agony, and I’m sorry about the way that I acted. But if this killer became aware that you could enter into his very thoughts…if he somehow came in contact with you, if he happened to be someone you met in a social situation…”

“I’ll be very careful regarding who I sleep with in the near future, Kyle,” Madison informed him blithely. “Thanks so much for your concern.”

Then she turned on her heels and forced herself to walk slowly back to the house.

5

By eight o’clock Jordan Adair’s party was in full swing. A trio was playing by the pool, and family and friends had arrived.

Kyle’s father had been among the first to arrive, and they had greeted one another with a long hug and a lot of emotion. Then Rafe had arrived, and they had greeted one another warmly, as well.

Jimmy Gates showed up, having become a close family friend. He’d cared deeply; they’d all known that.

Kyle and Jimmy greeted one another with a careful, professional assessment. They would be getting down to business come Monday.

Then Kaila had shown up with her three little ones—hassled, harassed and busy. Kyle, Rafe and their father had helped her deal with her brood while she explained that her husband, Dan, was running late. Kaila looked badly flustered. But Jassy, cute and sleek in a sleeveless, clinging black cocktail dress, came to take the baby. A minute later Madison—barely acknowledging Kyle, though she was friendly and warm with his father and brother—took the two older children. Older! The baby, Anthony, wasn’t quite two; Shelley, was three and half, and the oldest, Justin, was five. Kaila seemed deeply relieved to have the respite and was delighted when Rafe made her a piña colada and she had a few minutes to sit in peace.

Kaila, like Madison, had a wealth of long, deep red hair, huge blue eyes and finely chiseled features. Kyle thought she was very pretty and might have been mistaken for her sister, except that their personalities were so different, they moved differently. Kaila was always anxious; her movements were abrupt. Madison…Madison was subtle. Graceful. Agile. More…

Sensual, he thought dryly.

And furious with him once again.

Tonight she was wearing emerald green. Redheads weren’t supposed to be able to wear green, but she pulled it off spectacularly. She was wearing an emerald green halter-topped dress. Her hair was swept up, and her back was bare.

It was a sin to have a back so perfect, he thought. He was tempted, every time she was near him, to run a finger up and down its bare length.

So tempted, he thought dryly, just as any other man would be.

Once Madison had the kids settled and playing in Carrie Anne’s room, she moved among her father’s guests with incredible ease.

Kyle noticed that she didn’t come near him. Well, she was angry with him again. Naturally. He didn’t seem to be able to express himself very well with her. He was concerned, that was all. And she didn’t seem to understand that whatever else her strange power might be, it was also very dangerous. Watching her talk, listen and laugh, he felt a strange knifing within himself. He tried to forget the way she had looked that afternoon, the passion in her eyes when she tried to explain how she couldn’t see the suffering of others without helping if she could….

If only her damned power would go away. He’d hoped it might have done so. Apparently not.

It wasn’t easy seeing Madison again.

He thought of the women with whom he’d slept on a casual basis. No involvement, no great emotion.

Easy to sleep with a woman when he didn’t care.

This time, he did care, but even if her temper ever waned enough that she was willing, it couldn’t happen. He cared too much.

Now, though he tried to be covert, he couldn’t keep his eyes off her as she sipped champagne.

In moderation, he noticed. She kept the same glass with her all night.

Darryl Hart arrived among the later guests. Kyle was irritated to feel an instant hostility toward the man—especially since Darryl greeted him with a firm handshake and a sincere welcome, and seemed genuinely interested in his life.

Madison greeted her ex-husband with a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek. Studying her, Kyle wondered curiously what could have come between the two of them. They seemed to be good friends. Still close. They seemed like a perfect couple. Darryl was a good-looking man, big, built—hell, he’d been a football hero through high school and college. Madison was vibrantly stunning. They’d been Ken and Barbie, homecoming king and queen. She was still quick to smile at whatever Darryl said to her. They both took the greatest pleasure in their daughter. He had a feeling that Darryl was still in love with his ex-wife. What were Madison’s feelings?

What the hell had broken them up?

Though he maintained his distance from Madison, he milled close enough to her to hear some of the things being said to her.