Phantom Embrace Read Free Page B

press against her skin from inside her belly, she had thought it a strange combination of funny and creepy.
    Her chest tightened.
    How nervous she had been. Nervous and excited and afraid all at once. She had barely been more than a child herself and had had no idea what caring for a babe would entail. Nor had she known what childbirth would bring. Women had spoken of it only in the most generic of terms back then. She’d known it would be painful. That it would be messy. And that she might not survive it.
    But she had loved the baby within her so much that she had thought it well worth the risk.
    Ami gave her big belly one last stroke, then dropped her hand to her lap.
    Ami carried a baby girl.
    All of Cat’s friends—her mother, too—had thought Cat had carried a boy.
    Her eyes burned. How many times had she wondered, with something akin to panic, what she would do with a boy? If raising a son would be harder than raising a girl in the male-dominated world in which she had resided? How great a role she would be able to play in his life? If he would love her as much as she already adored him?
    Immortals continued to move about the room, but Cat paid them no heed.
    Eyes burning, she reached a hand out and rested it on Ami’s belly.
    Ami didn’t react, just kept chatting with Sarah.
    On Ami’s other side, Marcus frowned at Cat and looked—for a moment—as though he would shove her hand away from his wife and unborn babe.
    But he didn’t.
    It only made Cat want to weep more.
    She liked to think she would’ve been a good mother. That she would’ve raised a fine young man. As fine and honorable as the warriors in this room.
    How she regretted having been denied the chance to do so.
    How she hated her husband for murdering her before she could birth their child.
    Cat squeezed her eyes shut as memories of violence and death attempted to intrude. A tear slipped down her cheek. She couldn’t think of that tonight. Couldn’t bear it.
    Lifting her lashes, she withdrew her hand from Ami’s tummy, glanced away, and looked directly into Yuri’s warm brown eyes.
    Her breath caught. When had he seated himself across from her?
    Her heart did an odd trip-hammer thing in her chest as he continued to meet her gaze.
    Or appeared to meet her gaze. Did he see her?
    He couldn’t possibly. Only Marcus could see her because the gift with which he had been born enabled him to see spirits and ghosts.
    Frowning, she glanced over her shoulder.
    Tracy and Nichole, two of the Seconds or human assistants who aided immortals, sat behind her, laughing and talking as they explored something on one of those electronic tablets.
    Ah. He must be looking at one of them.
    Cat turned back around, cursing herself for feeling so disappointed. For a moment . . .
    Again Yuri seemed to meet her gaze.
    No, it wasn’t just his looks that drew her, she thought. It was the uncanny way he had of appearing to look right at her.
    It happened with others from time to time. She would find herself standing between two people and one would seem to look her right in the eye. But it happened often enough with Yuri to make her wish it weren’t coincidence.
    She sighed.
    And now even more sadness afflicted her.
    Well, she didn’t want to stay here and watch Yuri admire whichever woman behind her had caught his attention.
    Rising, Cat strolled across the room and, passing through a few walls, looked in on the kittens snoozing in David’s study.

Chapter Two
    Yuri had never been much of a talker.
    He wasn’t antisocial, like Roland. He just would rather listen and observe and toss in a word here or there than do the constant back-and-forth thing.
    Lounging on the sofa, he let the conversations of his brethren flow around him and tried to forget the tear that had slipped down the cheek of the beauty beside Ami.
    Who was the mysterious woman who haunted both David’s home and Yuri’s thoughts? Why