His hand captured hers and he brought it to his mouth, kissing the center of her palm before he placed it over his heart. “You did more than worry me, honey. Do you remember what happened?”
“It’s vague, like a dream. I’m not certain what I remember, what you told me, or what I dreamed. Are Lisa and Cullen all right?”
“I believe they’re safe.” He hoped it was true. Syndil and Barack had not touched his mind with news, good or bad.
She stared into his eyes, trying to read his thoughts. “I need to know Lisa is alive and well and that Cullen wasn’t hurt too badly.”
“As soon as I know the details of his condition, I will pass the report on to you. Lisa is being guarded, and nothing will happen to her. I can promise you that.”
Corinne nodded her acceptance of his word. “My baby’s alive.” She said it softly, lovingly, her tone turning his heart over. “I can feel her moving.”
Dayan smiled at her, but the expression in his eyes was grave. “She is going to stay right where she belongs until she is strong enough to survive on her own.”
“Has anyone ever told you how good-looking you are?” she asked. “Because you are, you know. Incredibly good-looking. But more than that, you’re very sweet.”
Dayan groaned loudly. “Do not say that, Corinne. That is the worst thing you can say to a man. Sexy. Masculine. Brooding. Manly. I can think of a million adjectives I would like, but ‘sweet’ is not one of them.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being sweet, Dayan,” Corinne told him. Her voice sounded far away to her, yet other sounds seemed too loud. Crickets. Night insects. The wind outside rattling the tree branches. “Tell me what happened.”
“You deliberately ignored my order to sleep and went with my idiot friend Cullen to find Lisa.” He bit out each word between his white teeth, reminding her of a wolf.
“You don’t mean to call Cullen an idiot,” she chastised gently, not in the least intimidated by his ferocious expression.
“Cullen knew he was at the top of the society’s hit list and he went out unprotected, and took you with him. I do not consider that good judgment on his part. Hence the term ‘idiot’ might apply.” His tone was severe.
Corinne went back to rubbing the lines of strain on his handsome face. “Of course it was good judgment. What else could he do? Lisa had taken off, and if he hadn’t followed her, they would have killed her,” she pointed out reasonably.
“He took you with him.” It was a mistake that Dayan considered unforgivable. Under the circumstances, Dayan thought he was being extraordinarily understanding about it.
She opened her mouth to reply, but there was a nameless expression in his eyes, something wild and untamed, something primitive. “I’ll bet someone has told you that you’re very intimidating,” she teased him, trying to ease the tension. “Not that I’m intimidated by you, but I can see how other people might be.”
“It would be best for you if you found me intimidating.” He could not be severe with her no matter how hard he tried. She looked up at him, small and fragile, so incredibly beautiful, her sweet, compassionate nature shining out of her eyes, and he was instantly lost. It was enough to drive him to the edge of madness.
“Do you think?” She didn’t look intimidated, she looked amused. There were dark circles under her eyes and bruises on her forehead, yet her eyes were dancing with laughter. “I’m not at all sure that would be good for you. Don’t think I haven’t noticed the undue adulation all those fans give you.”
One black eyebrow shot up. “Undue adulation? I totally deserved adulation. Get used to it, woman. Night after night while I am up on the stage playing, you will have to sit there sharing me with my fans. There is no need to be jealous, Corinne. I will see only you while I am performing.”
“Such a comedian.” Corinne gave a passing thought to sitting up and dismissed the idea as too difficult. “I have no intention of sitting through your performances. Private ones will be enough for me. And I don’t have a jealous bone in my body. We don’t have to worry about childish things like that.”