Micah stood behind her, noting the slump of her shoulders. Without conscious thought, he probed her mind. She was crying silent tears, her heart filled with sadness and despair.
Whispering her name, he slipped his arms around her waist, drawing her back against him. Holding her close, he bent his head and pressed his lips to her hair.
"Don't weep, Lainey," he murmured. "Please don't weep."
"I can't help it."
He took a deep breath. There was always a chance his people wouldn't make any more journeys to Earth. Three of the last five spacecraft that had been sent there hadn't returned. His ship would make four. Perhaps the rulers of Xanthia would realize it was no longer safe to venture into Earth's atmosphere. He'd been here many weeks now. Surely Pergith would have given up any hope of finding him alive and gone home...
He was making excuses, grabbing at any plausible reason that would absolve him of guilt, that would make it all right for him to stay. He knew it, but he couldn't seem to stop.
And he couldn't leave her. Maybe she was right. Maybe no one would find them here.
Micah let his breath out in a long sigh of defeat. Right or wrong, he couldn't leave Lainey, not now. He would stay as long as it seemed safe, as long as his being there didn't put her life in danger.
"Lainey?"
She sniffed. "What?"
"If I stay, will you stop weeping?"
"Stay?" She spun around in his arms, her luminous brown eyes searching his. "Do you mean it?"
Micah nodded. "I'll stay as long as it seems safe."
"Oh, Micah!" Standing on tiptoe, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. And kissed him. And kissed him again.
And at that moment, he knew he had made the right decision.
Part One Chapter Sixteen
"So," Lainey said, "what do you want to do today?"
Micah glanced up, his gaze meeting hers across the table. "Whatever you wish."
"We could pack a picnic lunch and go fishing at the lake. Have you ever been fishing?"
"No."
"Then we'll go. If you want to."
"Ah, Lainey, don't you know I'd go anywhere with you?"
"Oh, Micah." He'd done it again, she thought, caught her completely off guard with a few simple words that went straight to her heart.
She gazed into his eyes, those incredible silver-blue eyes, and knew there would never, ever be another man in her life. Even if Micah decided to go back home, she knew she would never love again, not like this.
No words were needed between them. She rose to her feet at the same time he did, snuggled against him as he swung her up into his arms and carried her back to the bed they had vacated only a short time before.
He quickly peeled off her robe and nightgown, shucked his jeans, and then they were in each other's arms, pledging their love, their fidelity, their devotion, with each shared kiss.
Lainey sat on the grassy bank beside Micah, wondering when she'd ever felt so happy, so content. It had taken only moments to show him how to bait a hook and cast his line into the water. She wasn't the least bit surprised when he caught the first fish, a beautiful fat rainbow trout.
He had looked at the wriggling fish with interest, removed the hook from its mouth, and tossed it back into the lake.
"Hey!" Lainey had exclaimed. "That was supposed to be dinner."
But Micah had only shrugged. "It was too pretty to eat," he'd said by way of explanation.
He had caught three fish since then, and had thrown every one back.
And because it seemed like too nice a day to kill anything, even something as tasty as a trout, Lainey had tossed back the fish she caught, too.
It was late afternoon when they returned to the cabin. Lainey stood in the kitchen, perusing the contents of the old refrigerator.
She glanced over her shoulder at Micah, who was lounging in the doorway, one ankle crossed over the other, his arms folded over his chest.
"Well," she said, one hand resting on her hip, "since we don't seem to have any fish for dinner, how would you feel about bacon and eggs?"
"Anything you want to fix is fine with me, you know that."
"Micah, you've got to stop acting like you're a guest in my house. If you'd rather have something else, say so."
"Lainey..."
She gazed up at him, feeling angry and confused without knowing why. He was so tall, so devastatingly handsome, and yet that wasn't what drew her to him.