Sorcerer: A Loveswept Contemporary Classic Romance

Read Sorcerer: A Loveswept Contemporary Classic Romance for Free Online

Book: Read Sorcerer: A Loveswept Contemporary Classic Romance for Free Online
Authors: Ruth Owen
situated right on top of one of the lines of the power grid. And Ms. Polanski’s shapely ankle was far too close to it for comfort. Sinclair’s headache began to throb in earnest. “Well,” he said as he raised his hand to the jeweled sword, “it appears I’m going to get a chance to see if virtual armor holds up like the real thing.”
    This time it was Ms. Polanski’s hand that closed around his wrist. “Doctor, it’s just a projection, right? It can’t really hurt you.”
    Sinclair looked into her earnest eyes. Gently, helifted her hand from his arm, exhibiting the same care he’d used to untangle her dress from the prickers. “I designed the simulator to emulate physical stimuli,” he told her calmly, as if he were commenting on the weather. “
All
physical stimuli.”
    Yards off, the plodding monster roared, as if acknowledging his statement.
Damn
, Sinclair thought as he glanced at the creature,
the thing looks like a Sherman tank on legs.
    “I won’t let you do this!”
    He swung his gaze back to his fellow cybernaut. Bedraggled, with her gold circlet askew and her elaborate dress ripped and ruined by a hundred grasping prickers, she stood with her head high, her brown eyes flashing with absurd but somehow effective pride.
    “Forgive me, Ms. Polanski, but you’re hardly in a position to dictate to anyone.”
    “I’m not dictating. I’m using my head,” she stated, crossing her arms resolutely in front of her. “You can leave. I can’t. You’re the brains behind this operation, not me.” She raised her chin, meeting his gaze without a trace of fear. “You’re not expendable, Doctor. I am. Leave me your sword, and get out while you can.”
    Sinclair looked at her, amazed and impressed by the courage and the clarity of her logic. Earlier something had passed between them, something she could have traded on if she’d wanted to. But not her. Backed to a wall, he imagined she’d go down fightingrather than beg for even an ounce of mercy. Some people ran from adversity, others met it head-on.
    Sinclair suspected that Jillian Polanski was one of those rare individuals who could have had adversity for lunch.
    “That’s … excellent reasoning.”
    “Then you’ll go?”
    “No, but it’s a fine argument. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment with a walking bulldozer.”
    “Doctor, I …”
    Her sentence dwindled away, leaving behind a silence that said more than words ever could. Bright tears shimmered in her eyes, tears of fright, but not for herself. Deep inside him, something cracked open.
    He remembered the moment they’d shared not ten minutes before, the tenderness he’d denied, labeling it as a glitch in the simulator program. Complicated feelings were often corrupted by the black and white logic of the simulator matrix. But that didn’t stop him from being drawn to the emotions he saw in her eyes. Nor did it stop him from remembering the touch of her hand against his cheek—soft as silk, and gentle in a way he’d almost forgotten how to want.
Lord, who am I kidding? I wanted to dance with her at Griffith’s party. I practically sprinted across the room when that slow song began.

    Jillian licked her lips—a simple process that had anuclear effect on Sinclair’s abdomen—and spoke again. “Doctor, I don’t even know your first name.”
    “It’s Ian,” he said as he turned around to face the advancing monster. “And just for the record, Ms. Polanski, you’re not exactly what I expected either.”

THREE
    Sinclair had braved danger in the name of science before. When he was eleven he’d blown up his grandfather’s prize rose garden in an experiment that successfully illustrated the combustible qualities of fertilizer. During his first year of graduate school an accident with an overzealous cyclotron had landed him in the hospital for a month. Dying was a calculated risk in his line of work, and Sinclair had prepared for the possibility with the same

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