It wasn’t a firm no. If anything, she wanted to do just as he asked. He liked her personality. He liked the way she was compassionate and intrepid and willing to face her fears. And she was afraid. He could feel it. He had to resist the urge to tone it down for her. That wouldn’t be fair to her, but he knew if her fear grew much more, he would have no choice. He found there were some things a man like him couldn’t take. His woman being uncomfortable was one of them.
“I know what to do, Teagan. Give me a chance, that is all I am asking.” For now. He couldn’t say those words, but they hung in the air between them.
Her teeth bit down harder on her lower lip, and he suppressed a groan. He leaned toward her. “I am making an effort to go slow here, sivamet, but if you keep doing that, I will no doubt kiss you again and then things will heat up. You will be even more frightened. That will not be good.”
“What? What am I doing?”
“Biting your lower lip. Giving me ideas, and I have enough of my own.”
She blinked. Quit biting. Sent him a shy smile. “I like the idea of getting to know you better, Andre. I’m here for a month. I really do need to find a particular stone in order to facilitate healing my grandmother’s insanity. I also need to tell the authorities about Armend and where his body is so his family can have some closure. Hopefully the authorities can find some of the bodies of the women he killed and give their families closure as well. If you’re going to be up here . . .”
“I will be wherever it is you are,” he said firmly.
“Do you know these mountains?”
He nodded.
“Well, clearly I need a guide. We can spend time together while I’m hunting for the right stone.”
He leaned back, automatically adjusting the rock behind him to the contours of his body. For the first time since he’d found his lifemate, he fully relaxed. She’d agreed to stay with him. To get to know him. He planned on making very good use of that time.
“You haven’t told me anything about your family, Andre,” Teagan said.
“My immediate family is long gone,” he said. “But I have extended family. Quite a bit, actually. The three closest, those I would consider brothers, have left for the States. I grew up with them. Triplets. Matais, Lojos and Tomas. I was to join them, but I had one last hunt.”
“I thought you’d quit.”
“I had. It did not work out that way. I ran across the trail of a very dangerous killer. He is still up here somewhere.”
Her breath caught in her throat. He heard the soft gasp. “That’s why you were wounded. You caught up with him. Andre. Were you planning on . . .” She hesitated.
He opened his eyes. He felt her then, in his mind. He couldn’t throw her out after inviting her in, but he could lessen the impact of what she saw.
“You were hoping he took you with him when you killed him,” she said, in a soft voice that left his heart stuttering.
He shrugged. “Hunting and killing men is not an easy task, avio päläfertiilam. I have grown tired. And out of the blue, I find you. My greatest reward. The one thing I never expected to ever find. My savior.”
Her eyes searched his. He let her see it was true, both in his mind and his eyes. She lowered her long lashes, but he knew she was grateful he was alive.
“It is a strange thing to give up on life. To think one welcomes death only to find that had they allowed their life to slip away, their greatest happiness would never have been experienced. I want to have the opportunity to go to the States, find my brothers and tell them this. It is important they know. It is important they realize we cannot give up. Not ever. Our lives can change in an instant at the least expected moment.”
“I’m really that for you?” Teagan asked.
“You are really that for me. My miracle. My savior. And I want you to stay with me. Please stay with me and get to know me before you make a decision.”
She nodded her head. “I want this to work out, Andre, as strange as it all seems, I really do.”
7
Teagan groaned and tried to roll over. She couldn’t move because something heavy draped over her waist and something even heavier hooked over her thigh prevented movement. She gave up the fight and snuggled deeper into the warmth.
She was comfortable. Definitely not in her sleeping bag. She was very warm, and she knew for a fact she wasn’t in her jeans. Still, she didn’t—or couldn’t—open her eyes. She felt hungover, but she hadn’t been drinking at all. For a long time, she lay there, drifting somewhere in the twilight between waking and sleeping.
Andre. Gorgeous Andre. He was so lost and alone. His life didn’t seem to be a happy one. She didn’t understand that. She’d grown up in the happiest of homes. They might not have had all the money in the world, but they were certainly the richest of families when it came to love.
She could call any one of her three sisters, tell them she needed them, and they would be on a plane trying to get to her. She had that. She’d always had that. And Grandma Trixie had shown her what unconditional love was. Teagan had always been a little different from her sisters. She was driven to learn. She sought knowledge all the time. She even snuck out of the house as a child and they’d find her in the library reading everything she could get her hands on. She was never punished. Not really. Not for anything she did. But truthfully, she loved her grandmother so much she didn’t want to disappoint or hurt her, so she’d toed the line as best she could.
But Andre. Her heart broke for Andre. He looked at her as if she were his world. He’d just met her, but she was his lifeline. The healer in her had been inside his mind, trying to figure out how best to aid him. She’d found overwhelming sadness. His emotions were strong, almost as if they were so new to him he had trouble toning them down. He didn’t go out during the day. An allergy to the sun, perhaps? He hadn’t told her, and she didn’t know if she could heal that.