“Don’t forget, Joey” Collier’s voice was gruff with strain. “If you need me—for anything—or if you have questions, I’ll be here, or in Lovell.” Joey felt Luke’s hand pause in his caresses, she watched as he turned slowly to confront the doctor. For a taut, almost painful moment they regarded each other, and Joey knew there was threat in Luke’s very posture—saw the older man try to conceal an unwilling flinch. It was Collier who looked away, to Joey, the sadness back in his eyes.
“Remember, Joey.” He moved slowly away from the bed, pausing at last in the doorway “Let her sleep, Luke.” There was no surrender in his voice. This time it was Luke who dropped his eyes.
Collier was gone before Joey could answer. The bed groaned as Luke sat on the edge, the heat of his body radiating in almost palpable waves. She made room for him, sliding sideways so that the narrow bed could accommodate them both, he hesitated only a moment, and as he stretched out beside her she pressed against him, settling her head on his shoulder. His arm came up around her, careful of her ribs, and Joey forgot every concern that her conversation with Collier had raised in the blissful contentment that followed.
She knew she had dozed, lulled by Luke’s fingers stroking her hair and by the steady beat of his heart under her cheek, when his hand stilled to cup the back of her neck. The oddly intimate touch made her shiver to sudden wakefulness.
“What did he tell you, Joey?” Luke’s voice was very soft, but there was no mistaking the intensity in his question. Joey opened her eyes and splayed her fingers across his chest, feeling the undeniable quickening of his heartbeat.
“That’s exactly what he asked me,” Joey murmured.
Luke stiffened under her and relaxed almost in the same moment. His fingers slid into the hair along the nape of her neck. He held her in place with that slight pressure when she would have pulled away to look at his face.
“He explained more to me—about what you are. About Val Cache.” She hesitated, biting her lip. “And about your mother. That she was like you.” She felt his heart lurch and settle again into a rapid, even rhythm. “And about the children—” Reaching across his chest, Joey felt for his hand, remembering all that Collier had told her “I’m sorry, Luke” She closed her fingers around his, as far as she could stretch them, as if somehow she could protect him from the pain he had suffered as a boy.
His hand turned to capture hers “Then you understand, Joey.” It was a statement of belief. “You understand how it is with us.” For the first time he withdrew his hand at her neck so that she could shift to look at his face. “How it is with me.” His eyes were bright and alien as they met hers. Not inhuman, Joey thought dazedly. Something more than human.
Her ribs were aching as she sat up and braced herself against him, but she ignored that minor discomfort when she saw the tension in his expression, the—fear, she thought with a start—of something beyond his control.
“I think I do understand—as much as any ‘Outsider’ could,” she said, resting her palm along the side of his face, fitting it in the hollow under his cheekbone. He shuddered and leaned into her caress, his eyes flickered shut and opened again. “A lot of things that never made sense to me before have become clear. But there are still so many things I don’t know, Luke—things I want to know. About what you are, and why you exist.” She grinned wryly “I never was able to just accept things. I guess you know that by now.”
“I know.” The two words were heavy with meaning, but there was a faint smile relaxing the grim line of his mouth. He slid his arm around her and pulled her against him gently, and she settled her face into the hard curve of his neck where it met the arch of shoulder muscle. There was silence for a span of time, Luke’s heartbeat had slowed again, but she sensed—she knew in the way she had learned to know Luke’s body—that he was far from relaxed. There was something that remained undone between them.