“Then you will promise to put the baby’s life before mine.” She spoke sternly, her eyes wide and steady on his.
His fingers tightened around hers. “You are my life, Corinne, my world. I intend for both of you to live. You and the baby.”
“So tell me what the healers did.” She was struggling slightly, having every intention of sitting up.
“What are you doing?” Dayan touched her mind gently, learning that she wanted to see if she could sit up on her own before attempting to walk to the bathroom.
“I’m sitting up,” she said, trying to sound casual when she was really breaking out in a sweat with the effort and feeling shaky with fear for the baby. “Don’t change the subject. What did the healers do? It’s important to me, Dayan, for a lot of reasons. I have to feel in control. I want to know what’s happening in my life so I can plan things out. I’m a planner. Very organized.”
His eyebrow shot up. “A planner? Organized? I did not realize that about you. That changes everything, of course.” He reached out and casually lifted her into a sitting position, holding her close to him while she clung to his broad shoulders. He grinned down at her, his wild scent enveloping her. “I take your breath away, admit it.”
Corinne tried to calm her beating heart. Strangely, when she consciously thought about it, it seemed as if her heart actually followed her directions. She became aware of everything then, the sound of their combined heartbeats, the ebb and flow of their blood in their bodies. The baby’s heartbeat. She was hearing the baby’s heartbeat! Wide-eyed, she stared up at him, accusation in her gaze. “You can’t count this time as legitimate breath robbing. Something strange is going on. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about it, would you?”
Dayan looked completely innocent. He bent his head to brush a kiss on the top of her silky head because he couldn’t resist. “What are you accusing me of now, honey?”
She gave him her haughtiest expression. “I’m getting up.” She made it an announcement.
He stared down at her, observing rather pointedly that she was securely trapped in his enormously strong arms. ‘Enormously strong. Enormously. Are you getting that?’
Corinne burst out laughing. “Of course I’m getting that. Lucky for you I don’t perceive it as a threat. Enormously strong. You sound like a teenage boy.” She tried to ignore the way he could turn her heart over with one melting look from his black eyes. “And why am I wanting to speak back to you in my mind? Am I becoming telepathic? Has that ability mysteriously rubbed off on me?”
“Everything about me is rubbing off on you. You are crazy about me.”
“You’re attempting to brainwash me,” she accused, trying not to laugh. He got away with far too much because she found him far too attractive. “I really am getting up, Dayan. You have to let go of me.”
“You do not have the strength to walk to the bathroom.” Dayan could read the determination in her mind. He rose with a fluid motion, taking her with him, and crossed the room to the bathroom.
Corinne wrapped her arm around his neck. “Where exactly am I?” She was looking around herself carefully. It was no cave. The bedroom was very spacious with high ceilings and beautiful walls. The furniture was expensive and ornate. She stared at the room in awe. “Where am I, Dayan?” she asked again.
“In my lair. I am a big bad wolf and I have captured you.” Very gently he set her feet on the tiles of the bathroom floor, his arms around her, holding her carefully. “You are shaking, honey. Is it because I am all male and you cannot help yourself, or because you are too weak to stand?”
“Good exit line,” she observed. She pointed to the door. “Out!”
Dayan hesitated. He had been teasing her, but he knew her body was weak. “You had better call me immediately if you need help. You do not have to call aloud to me – thinking is enough.”