Orchid by Jayne Castle

if he had, without warning, developed new, masochistic tendencies, he kept coming back for more.
    Physically, she was striking, not pretty. She was slender and small-boned but she was definitely not pale, delicate, or sweet. She moved with energy and grace. Her witchy green eyes held a dangerous mix of cool self-confidence and mischief. Her black, shoulder-length hair framed a face that was animated with intelligence. She handled herself with the assurance that often characterized a full-spectrum prism. Everyone knew they tended to be arrogant.
    The irony of it all was that, given her career as a novelist, she would probably prove to be the one woman in a million who actually liked his house. He had a nasty suspicion that it looked like the sort of place she imagined a psychic vampire would inhabit.
    This was definitely not the mate he had set out to find.
    So why in five hells did she feel so right?
    For the past month he had haunted every focus agency in town in search of a full-spectrum who would make a promising candidate for a bride. He had spent a small fortune hiring one prism after another, only to discover that he felt nothing at all, either in or outside of the focus link.
    Eventually he had worked his way through a variety of agencies until he reached tiny Psynergy, Inc. When Clementine Malone had introduced him to Orchid at the beginning of the week, he had felt every instinct he possessed, strat-talent and otherwise, go to full alert. Something in him had throbbed with anticipation before the ink was dry on the agency contract.
    That something was still throbbing. Which could prove embarrassing if he was not careful, he thought, thoroughly disgusted with his lack of self-control.
    Choosing the right wife was too important a decision to be left to his hormones, he reminded himself.
    He wished he knew if Orchid felt anything at all during the focus sessions. If she did, she managed to conceal it extremely well.
    “What’s going on?” Orchid asked sharply. “Are you making any progress?”
    On top of everything else, she had a tendency to nag.
    He used the ultrasensitive pads of his fingertips to search out the hidden lever in the floor. “Got it.”
    “Thank heavens. I don’t think I could take another five minutes in this place.”
    “I’m not exactly having a great time, either.”
    Rafe decided it would not be smart to tell her that if he had to spend another five minutes in the dark alone with her he would probably start howling at the twin moons, Yakima and Chelan, even though he could not see them.
    Definitely an uncool move. So very primitive. Bound to scare off a potential wife.
    Damn. He was already starting to think of her as a mate. Things were moving too fast here. They were out of control. He had to step back from the brink and think about this before he took it any farther.
    “You don’t seem to be having any difficulty finding your way around in this tomb,” Orchid observed thoughtfully.
    “No.”
    “You know, there’s enough contact through the link for me to realize that you have a clear sense of where we are in this gallery, but it doesn’t feel visual. At least, not to me. Can you actually see in the dark?”
    “I have excellent night vision.” He found the tiny switch that freed the mechanism. “One of my biggest assets.” Although Hobart Batt did not seem to think it was a big selling point to a potential spouse, he thought.
    “But can you really distinguish objects in this kind of total darkness?” Orchid sounded surprisingly curious all of a sudden.
    “No, of course not. At least, not the way you mean. No one can see where there’s a total absence of light.” He hesitated. “I use… other senses.”
    “You mean like hearing? Touch? Smell?”
    “Sort of—” He wondered where all this was going. “It’s hard to explain. There’s something else involved.”
    “Hmm. I’m not sure I’d like to have a better sense of smell.” There was a delicate pause.