The Lasaran (Aldebarian Alliance #1) - Dianne Duvall Page 0,43
their soldiers if it weren’t for you.”
He shook his head and stroked her soft skin again. “You fascinate me.”
She quieted.
“And in case you didn’t notice when you were kissing me,” he said, giving her a cocky smile, “I’m very attracted to you.”
She laughed, her face flushing in a way he found adorable. “I noticed.”
“Should I apologize for my body’s reaction to you?”
“No. Since you read my thoughts, you know how mine reacted to you.”
The memory of it made him hard again.
She winced and touched her stomach.
Worry returned. “More pain?” So soon after the other?
“No, this time the baby is just moving around in there and kicked me in the ribs.”
He palmed her stomach. Only a second passed before he felt a thump. He grinned, his heart swelling. “She’s strong.”
“Or he.”
He shook his head. “It’s a girl.”
Lisa tilted her head and studied him curiously. “Is that wishful thinking, or do you actually know?”
“I know.” He moved his hand across her stomach and stilled. Another thump nudged his palm. He laughed. “When I was speaking to you telepathically at the base, I felt the presence of another female. I thought it was another woman they had captured to experiment upon. But I believe it was our daughter.”
She stared down at her belly and cupped it with her hands.
Taelon covered her hands with his.
“Our daughter,” she whispered, then looked up at him helplessly. “This is so weird. I mean, we barely know each other and haven’t even…”
“Copulated?”
She winced. And this time he knew it was because of his word choice as opposed to the baby’s movement inside her. “I was going to say made love, but… yes.”
It was weird. “Well, we’re already beginning to get to know each other.” He winked. “Perhaps we can remedy the latter after our daughter is born.”
She laughed. “I suspect you’re charming enough to talk me into it.”
He sure as srul hoped so.
“But what do we do in the meantime? Do we just stay here and wait for the drug to wear off so you can contact your ship?”
He glanced around the motel room. It was aged and worn and bore a faintly musty odor that indicated mold or mildew hidden from view. This was not a healthy place for the mother of his child to rest.
And those soldiers could return.
He tried again to summon Ari’k and failed. “I don’t understand why the drug hasn’t left my system yet.”
“Maybe it just takes time. How often did they dose you?”
“Twice a day.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “You’re right. It should’ve worn off by now then. You’re sure it’s still inhibiting you?”
“Yes. My wounds aren’t healing.” He glanced at his bare chest. The most severe one, the incision that ran down his middle, bled a little from the pressure Lisa had applied to it when she had straddled him earlier.
Her gaze dropped to his chest. “Oh crap! You’re bleeding.” Rolling out of bed, she headed into the cleansing room she called a bathroom. Grimacing, she wrapped one arm around her belly.
“More pain?” he asked, alarmed. How frequently did it assault her?
“No. I’m just not used to having this much weight attached to the front of my body. It’s awkward as hell.” She ducked into the bathroom.
Worry resurfaced. The tunic she had donned left her arms bare. Both were overly thin. And when she had been naked from the waist up, her collarbones and the bones in her shoulders had been distressingly prominent. He thought back to the pictures his schoolbooks had offered of breeding women. The Lasaran women they depicted had bloomed with good health, their faces rounder and their limbs plumper. The same was true of the holovids his father had made while Taelon’s mother had carried each of their children. Clearly Lisa was undernourished.
When she returned, she carried a towel.
Taelon reached out and took her hand, steadying her as she climbed back onto the bed and knelt before him.
Carefully, she dabbed at his wound and wiped away the blood. “You need a doctor.”
He shook his head. “I heal quickly. This should already be scabbing over. I don’t understand what’s hindering my regenerative capabilities.”
“Is your ability to heal quickly something you were born with or is it from some kind of nanotechnology? Sometimes in sci-fi movies they have little microscopic robots they inject into sick people to heal them. Maybe the doctors at the base removed yours.”
He smiled. “There are no robots in my bloodstream. I was born with greater regenerative abilities. Lasarans are very healthy and long-lived.”