Running Hot by Jayne Ann Krentz Page A

that from his aura. He wasn’t focused. I don’t think he was after anyone in particular. Maybe he was just out for an evening stroll and felt like running jacked. You know how it is. Sometimes you use your parasenses just because you can.”
    “He could have been checking out the terrain,” Luther said. “Doing a little recon work.”
    “That’s certainly a possibility. But for what purpose?”
    “Good question. Anything else I should know?”
    “One thing,” she said. “Whoever he was, he’s comfortable with violence.”
    “A killer?”
    She hesitated. “I think he has killed, yes, but he’s not a rogue or a freak. He wasn’t crazy or out of control. He wasn’t a sociopath, either. Those are easy to spot. What I saw indicated a cold, almost businesslike approach to violence.”
    “Think he might have been military or maybe a cop?”
    “Possible. Or maybe he’s a professional gangster. Whoever he is, he knows how to compartmentalize.”
    “What the hell does that mean?”
    She wrinkled her nose. “It means that regardless of what he does in his day job, he’s quite capable of having a loving wife and family.”
    “About that conversation we had earlier,” Luther said evenly. “The one in which we discussed Fallon Jones’s probability theory as it relates to this job.”
    She swallowed hard. “That would be the theory which, roughly paraphrased, was ‘What are the odds that there will be more than one high-grade talent at that resort?’ ”
    “Yeah, that theory,” Luther said. “I think it may be flawed.”
    “I agree. But I suppose it’s theoretically possible that guy we just passed was an innocent tourist who happens to be staying at one of the nearby resorts. There are a lot of hotels on this beach.”
    “Still.”
    “Right. Still. Hunters that powerful aren’t exactly common on the ground.”
    “No, they aren’t. Neither are high-level aura talents like us.” Luther came to a halt. “So the question becomes, what are the odds that three very strong sensitives would show up on this stretch of beach on the same night?”
    “You’re wondering if this little coincidence is connected to our mission, aren’t you?”
    “Looks like I’m going to have to call Fallon. Talk about a fast way to ruin the evening.”
    She knew the exact instant when he reached for his cell phone because he had to release his tight grip on her arm to do it.

NINE
    He couldn’t see her expression clearly in the moonlight but he didn’t need to in order to know that she was stunned. So was he, but not because he had just touched her.
    They both looked down at where, until a moment ago, his fingers had been firmly wrapped around her upper arm.
    “Damn,” he said. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Just wanted to steer you as far out of his path as possible. Are you okay?”
    “I’m okay,” she said. Wonderingly, she touched his bare arm with her fingertips. “There’s no pain. None. I’m all right. It’s been so long, more than a year. You can’t imagine what a relief it is to know that I’m more or less normal again.”
    “You’re sure you’re all right?”
    “Yes.” She sounded elated, almost euphoric. “Yes, I’m fine.” She paused, staring down at her hands. “At least with you.”
    He liked that, he realized; liked the idea that he was someone special, at least as far as she was concerned. She could not even begin to guess how she had just rocked his already slightly weird world. No one had ever detected his subtle aura manipulation, let alone actively resisted it.
    The hunter had passed blithely by, never even noticing that his jacked-up senses had been temporarily suppressed. Yet Grace had pushed back at the quick, light attempt to calm her panic as easily as she would have closed a door that had been blown open by a breeze. Now, why was that so damn intriguing?
    “Blame it on the magic of Hawaii,” he said. “Come on, let’s get somewhere private where I can call