came to, it had all frozen solid again, like a crypt. Just dumb luck it didn’t suffocate me.”
“It’s too dangerous, the steam.”
“No. It’s not, but I learned something. The ceiling has to be braced until it has a chance to freeze up again.”
“I don’t want you going down there anymore. You can come live with me in town.”
He frowned. Did she have so little faith in him? He’d learned a valuable lesson and knew the machine could be viable with just the addition of braces.
He shook his head. “I need to stay here and finish my testing.”
“Testing? You were nearly killed, Jack. It’s not worth your life, is it?”
He didn’t answer.
“I promised to help you, Jack. You can stay with me until you’re feeling better. No need to go back down in that tunnel.”
“But I will go back.”
Her eyes went wide and her expression fell. She started crying again and he wiped away the tears. It hurt like a son of a bitch to lift his arms, but he gritted his teeth and caressed her damp face.
“I was so frightened, Jack,” she admitted. “I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you.”
He rocked her gently back and forth, gritting his teeth against the ache in his ribs.
“Nothing happened. I’m all right now. When I got pinned down there, all I could think was that if I died your last memory would be of me hurting you again. Now, at least, I have a chance to ask your forgiveness.”
She recalled him asking her if she was with child without coming right out and saying so. Lily could not bear to revisit that topic, so she gathered up his empty coffee cup and threw the dregs out in the open front door. Nala rose to investigate this new addition to her yard and Lily returned to Jack, perching on the edge of his bed.
“We made a mistake, Jack. Both of us. You don’t have to worry about me. I understand the way things work and I’ll land on my feet. Besides, I’m here for an adventure. I just got more than I expected, is all. Plus, if I were with child and needed a man to help raise it, I wouldn’t have far to look, now would I? Dawson is crawling with candidates.”
Jack made an involuntary growling sound. Did the idea of her foisting his child off on some stranger fill him with fury or just catch him off guard? She’d never seen such a black expression on the man.
His breathing increased and he went pale again. He fell back to the pillow, his eyes still fixed on her.
Lily studied Jack from beneath her lowered lashes. His frown and glowering expression pleased her far more than it should have. If any of her pretty speech were true she’d be past caring what he thought or felt for her. So why did she keep coming back to the well, knowing it was dry?
Jack forced himself up on one elbow, exhaling sharply as the pain took the color from his cheeks. “I don’t want that.”
She nodded her acknowledgment.
“And I didn’t mean for it to happen.”
She gave a mirthless laugh. “That’s usually the way of it.”
“I’d take responsibility for a child, Lily.”
She pressed her lips together to keep from shouting that she didn’t want to be a responsibility to him. She didn’t want to be another obligation like his mother or his sister.
Instead she said, “I know, Jack.”
He wasn’t the sort to turn his back on her for he could have done that a hundred times along the journey.
His eyelids drooped.
She sighed. “Rest a bit.”
She pressed a hand against his shoulder and he eased back into the narrow bed.
He closed his eyes, taking shallow breaths. Lily could not resist brushing the soft locks of hair from his forehead. He lifted his hand and captured hers, lacing their fingers, before rubbing her knuckle over his soft, dry lips. He kissed her there and then lowered their hands to the bedding as if the intimacy was nothing more than a brief thank-you.
But the soft caress and brush of his mouth made her stiffen as the rippling excitement gripped her insides and set off a shiver of hopeless longing. She stared down at him in hungry anticipation to find his eyes closed and his expression at peace.
Damn the man!
She tried to tug her hand free, but he resisted, holding her fast.
“Stay a little.” He raised his lids as if bone-weary, looking up at her with his soulful whiskey-colored