for you?”
“Yes.” He shook his head, golden eyes full of chagrin. “There you are, screaming that you hate me and I’m hard thinking how gorgeous you are when you’re pissed at me and how badly I want you.”
“I don’t hate you,” I whispered.
“I know.” He brushed his lips over mine, a smile curving them when I moaned as a finger slid inside me. “I am a broken man, and I do lose my perspective. I’m sorry for that. I promise I won’t make killing Anure a priority.”
I stilled, reaching for his wrist to move his hand away from my sizzling sex, so I could think while I searched his face for the truth. “That’s not a promise not to kill him.”
“No.” He shook his head slightly, hair spilling over his shoulders. “If I can find a way to kill him without risking my life, I will. But the priority will be getting the captives and everyone on the team, including myself, home to you. Is that good enough?”
“A compromise.” I considered it.
“I hear people make them,” he said, raising a dark brow, humor in his eyes.
“Imagine that.” I supposed I could try.
“I’m trying to be honest with you, Lia—and that’s the most I can promise,” he said more soberly.
“All right, I can accept that. But in that spirit, I should tell you something also.”
He stopped resisting my grip, stilling and watching me warily. “What is it?”
I hesitated, aware of the drag of the crown on my hair, his big body taut above me. This would change things between us. The one truth we can count on is that things will change. “It’s early days yet, but I’ve conceived a child.”
He didn’t process the news immediately, then a wondering smile spread across his face. “The other night—when I fed you?”
I nodded, surprised. “How did you know?”
“I felt … something then.” He pushed up my skirts fully, sitting back to splay his big hands over my still-too-concave belly.
“You won’t be able to see anything yet,” I laughed.
He glanced up at me, sheepish, but eyes sparkling gold with delight. “I’m going to look anyway. Every day. When I get back,” he amended, remembering and sobering. “Is that why you’re telling me now—so I’ll be careful?”
“It occurred to Me,” I confessed. “But I’m also terribly selfish, and I wanted you to want to live for Me, not just for the child.”
“Oh, Lia,” he murmured, lowering his head to kiss me thoroughly. Then he gazed at me steadily. “Everything is for you. You call me broken—but that’s a step up from what I was before you. I was dead inside. You are my life. Never send me away.”
“I wish I could ask you to never leave Me,” I breathed, shocked at myself for confessing that.
“Only for this. I wouldn’t go for any other reason.” His hand flattened over my belly, and he leaned his forehead against mine.
Not only for this, I thought, because he would have to leave me for Oriel, too. But I would face that day when it came. I was tired of grieving for a future that had not yet arrived. When it did, I’d wish I’d appreciated this time while I had it.
“Even if I can’t go with you, I can help you craft a logical strategy. Speaking of, we should get back down to the Sand Salon and resume planning. Real planning.”
“They were taking a break for lunch,” he replied, sliding his hand over my mound to stroke me, so I arched in helpless pleasure. “We have time.”
“Yes, but—” I convulsed when he plunged two fingers into me. “Oh, Con.”
“Yes, my love?” he asked innocently, brushing kisses over my collarbones, then the upper curves of my breasts. “Did you need something from me?”
“Yes.” I writhed as he tormented me. “You.”
“Tell me you love me.”
“I love you,” I agreed, quite willingly.
“Tell me again.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, then lost my focus as he pressed the spot inside me that sent me wild, his mouth closing over one nipple, hot and intense through the silk. I writhed, then found my voice. “I love you.”
“Sweet indeed,” he murmured hoarsely. “One more time.”
I laughed, full of surprisingly intense joy that had nothing to do with the sexual pleasure—or only a little to do with it. “I love you, Con.”
“I love you, too, Lia.” And he proceeded to demonstrate exactly how much.
18
“This is a charmingly new experience,” Lia muttered to me under her breath, sounding anything but charmed as she walked beside me, hand