He closed the distance in two quick strides, hooked her around the waist and swung her up in his arms then stalked to the bed and threw her on it. Mallory lumbered to his feet at this unprecedented flurry of action at such a late hour and Bran flew off the bed.
“Colin, don’t manhandle me!” she snapped.
He stood by the bed and scowled at her, the muscles in his body visibly taut, she could see the ones in his upper arms bunching reflexively as he clenched his fists.
“Sibyl, I’ve been shot by a f**king tranquilliser dart, watched, powerless, while someone held you at knifepoint, you disappeared for what seemed an endless period of time at the hospital and I didn’t know where the hell you were. I’m bloody tired, I don’t know what the f**k is going on and, right now, can’t do anything about it. Talking is not going to help. It’s late, I need sleep, you need sleep, so for Christ’s sake, be quiet and stop arguing with me.”
She realised then he was just as frightened as she was but too damned much of a man to admit it and her heart, as was Sibyl’s wont, went out to him. She got up on her knees, walking on them across the top of the bed until she reached him, wrapped her arms around him, pressed in close and rested her cheek on his chest.
Then she said softly into his chest, “Okay.”
And at her soft word, Sibyl felt his anger drift out of him and his arms wrap around her tight.
“You’re the most annoying woman alive,” he mumbled this familiar refrain into the hair at the top of her head but there was affection in his tone that obliterated any sting to his words.
“Come to bed,” she beckoned.
He did and they did nothing but sleep, nestled together, her back to his front. The warmth of his body and protective arm he wrapped around her comforted her and she surprisingly found herself giving into her exhaustion and drifting to sleep almost the moment they settled.
* * * * *
Sibyl woke too early, feeling like she hadn’t slept. She was lethargic, headachy and most definitely cranky. And that was before she opened her eyes and saw she was alone in Colin’s gigantic bed.
Colin never left her in bed without an embrace, a kiss, a caress or some loving gesture.
Never.
Fear coursed through her and she catapulted from the bed and ran to the bathroom looking for him. He wasn’t there and she noticed both Mallory and Bran were gone as well.
Panic seized her and she flew from the room, down the hall. Visions of blood and knives and broken canes stampeded through her brain.
She still had not had her tour of Lacybourne, she and Colin always too busy with other things, but she was becoming familiar with it all the same. She ran down the stairs to the Great Hall, her glance sliding past Beatrice and Royce on her way down.
He wasn’t in the Great Hall either.
Watery light was coming through the windows and the day was grey with drizzle. She searched the library, frantically paused in the dining room and then heard a deep man’s voice in the study.
She threw open the door and burst in.
Colin was standing behind the desk talking on the phone wearing faded jeans and a maroon, long-sleeved t-shirt that hugged the muscles of his chest and stomach tightly. His dark hair was still damp from a shower and he looked refreshed and nonchalant and, she vaguely noted, unbearably sexy.
Mallory was lying flat out in front of his desk and Bran was picking a trail delicately across the scattered papers on the top.
Colin’s head shot up at her entry.
Mallory’s body jerked, he glanced over his doggie shoulder at her, gave her a soft welcoming “woof” and then settled contentedly back into to his usual morning-after-a-night’s-sleep nap.
Bran rested his bottom on a bunch of papers and blinked at her with a twitch of his tail.
“You scared me half to death!” Her voice was sharp and frenzied and she glowered at Colin.
“I’ll call you back,” he muttered into the phone and pressed a button to disconnect without saying good-bye.
“You scared me half to death,” she repeated when he’d tossed the cordless on his desk.
“I –” he began.
She quickly interrupted him by slamming the door behind her and whirling back around. “I woke up and you were gone, Mallory was gone, Bran was gone, everyone was gone!” she shouted.