Awaken to Pleasure - By Nalini Singh Page 0,61

hesitated to stick her neck out forTaylor. AndTaylorwasJackson's life.

Disturbed by her report of his wife's fragile voice on the phone, he immediately called home. No one answered. Worried, he postponed the meeting and got in the car. When he arrived at the house, she didn't respond to his calls. He ran up the stairs to their bedroom, concernlaying like a rock on his heart. If anything had happened to hisTaylor, he wouldn't be able to bear it. The bed was a jumbled mess. His eyes told him that something was wrong with the dark blue sheets, but hearing movement in theensuite bathroom, he headed that way.

Taylorwas standing propped up in the corner, a white towel tucked haphazardly around her body. Wet hair lay limp and damp around her shoulders. Alarm for her health jack-knifed in his gut.

She looked up. "The baby's gone." Her eyes were sunken, her face leached of color.

"Gone?" He couldn't help but remember Bonnie. Anguish at this second loss of a child shot through him like lightning. He was furious withTaylorfor a second, incredibly, unjustifiably angry, when he knew that she would've never made such a callous decision.

Her face went even paler and he knew she'd seen the anger. "I'm sorry." Her voice was so forlorn and shivery that it scared him, reaching past the pain and fury to find the tenderness that he felt only for her.

Walking over, he put his hands on her shoulders. "What happened?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered again, eyes unfocussed.

He'd seen that expression before, on the faces of shock victims profiled in a recent war documentary.

He hissed through his teeth when he touched her bare arms. She was as stiff as wood, cold as ice.

Shoving aside his raging need to know what had happened, he took her into his arms. Nothing and no one else mattered. No one. OnlyTaylor.

It was at that moment thatJacksonrealized that if he lost his wife, he would simply give up on life. It was a shocking truth but he accepted it. TrueSantorini men, uncorrupted by the world, never loved with anything less than all their heart and soul. His grandfather Josef had lived only a few days after his grandmotherGia's passing.

"Taylor." Gentleness had no effect. "Taylor!"

She looked up at his harsh tone, but didn't speak. It was almost as if she were waiting for a blow to fall.

Frustrated by his inability to reach her, he picked her up and stalked toward the bed, intending to sit on the edge.

"No!" Though weak, she began to struggle. Her tone was horrified and pleading at the same time.

Frowning, he bypassed the bed, and sat down on the window seat instead, holding her in his lap.

Because she loved to sit there in the sun and read, there was a soft angora blanket on the seat. He wrapped it around her, scared at her low body temperature. Then he began rubbing her arms under the blanket, clamping her cold feet between his thighs to warm them up.

After a long while, she asked, "Why are you being nice?" Her voice was barely a whisper.

"Is there a reason I shouldn't be?"

"I told you, the baby's gone."

His heart almost broke at the pain in her voice. Even half mad with sorrow, not for a moment did he imagine that she'd deliberately hurt their baby. Not his piccola . Not this woman who'd taken every precaution to ensure that her brother grew up loved and protected. "Are you okay?"

She pushed up his chest and looked at him, all dark blue eyes. "What does it matter? The baby's gone!"

He shook her just a little. "It matters. You matter. To me and to Nick. What would we do without you?"

She was shaking her head and tears were starting to gather. "No, I didn't keep our baby safe. I couldn't!

I couldn't! I couldn't!"

He thought that she was heading toward hysteria but suddenly realized that it was nothing more than pure anger-fueled pain.Taylorwas far more like him than he'd ever before guessed. She hated being unable to control her baby's happiness. He let her beat his chest with her clenched fists, let her cry and talk, almost certain that he knew what had happened.

"I couldn't keep our baby safe! I couldn't!" she screamed. "There was just ... there was so much blood.

Our b-bambina got washed away." Wracking sobs infiltrated her body, turning her from a warrior to a grief-ravaged mother.

Fighting his own tears,Jacksonheld her to him despite her protests, and rocked her. His poorTaylor. So used to protecting those she considered