Dayan shoved open the door and picked her up, his black eyes moving over her anxiously as he inspected her. “Do not panic simply because you have done something totally natural. I am your lifemate — of course you can talk to me. It is not the first time.”
Corinne was grateful for his hard strength, resting her head on his shoulder. “There was a difference, Dayan. You read my thoughts. I directed them to you in answer maybe, but you were reading what was in my mind. This time I
sent
you my thoughts, my words. That’s a very big difference.”
“Why should that alarm you?” he asked curiously, placing her carefully back in the bed. His hand rested on her small stomach as the baby moved inside her. He smiled. “See? She is happy and healthy. And she recognizes my voice now. She likes to hear me sing to her.” His impossibly long lashes came down to conceal his expression. “I wrote a lullaby for her.”
His words were a hesitant offering of love, rendering a seemingly invincible man vulnerable, and her heart melted again. She stretched both arms up to capture him, to bring his head down to hers so she could find his sculpted mouth with hers. Corinne couldn’t help herself, she just relaxed and allowed the world with all its troubles to whirl away from her until there was only Dayan. Dayan with his broad shoulders and strong arms and perfect mouth. There was no thinking when Dayan kissed her, only feeling. Pure feeling. He swept her into another world where there were no limits, where time and space meant nothing at all.
Her body flared to life, melting and shaping itself perfectly into his. She paid no attention to her crazy heart, the way it raced just because he was close to her. Nothing frightened her when he was kissing her. She felt strong, his other half. She felt as if she belonged. Corinne never wanted to stop. It was the baby, kicking strongly, thumping Dayan right through Corinne’s skin, that had them breaking apart, laughing softly in wonder.
“She is strong, isn’t she?” Corinne said softly, not hiding the expression in her eyes from him. She was tired of attempting to be practical. Dayan was the most wonderful man she’d ever met, and she wanted to be with him. Now more than ever. He made her feel beautiful even in the middle of her pregnancy. He made her feel as if she were the only woman in the world when her hair was tumbling out of control and she was wearing a man’s shirt to bed.
“You know how beautiful you are, Corinne,” he said, bringing her hand to his mouth. “You can touch my mind; you see what I feel for you.”
She tilted her head to look at him. “I know I can, but I’m not certain I want to actually do it. What am I going to find in there?”
His black eyes shimmered with hunger. Blatant. Stark. Raw. A terrible need. Corinne blushed and shook her head. “When I woke up, you weren’t singing the baby a lullaby. You wrote a song for me too, didn’t you?”
“Every song I write is for you.” He leaned close to her. “I must call Gregori and Darius to us. They wanted to know the minute you opened your eyes.” His grin was unrepentant. “We do not have to tell them everything.”
“What time is it?” Corinne was looking around the beautiful room. “And where am I? I should at least know that in case someone asks.”
He was a shadow in her mind, and he burst out laughing at her outrageous thoughts. “Of course you are still on planet Earth. I am not an alien.”
She shrugged. “Just checking — you never know these days. And you are a bit bizarre. Is your entire band here?” She tried to sound casual.
He tucked her hair behind her ear. She sounded apprehensive. “You are a bit of a chicken, Corinne. I did not realize that.”
“I am not,” she denied indignantly and then glared at him. “You’re doing it again. Every time I ask you a question, you deflect.”
His eyebrow shot up. “Deflect? I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Dayan” — her fingers tightened around his — “where am I?”
“This home belongs to Gregori and Savannah. They do not reside here year-round; in fact, it is vacant most of the time. They have offered it generously for your recovery.” He looked around the room. “I am on the road most of the time traveling. It is a unique experience for me to stay in a place like this.”
“Do you mean a home?”
He shook his head, watching her carefully. “Home is wherever you and I are. On the road, traveling, as long as you and I and the baby are together, it will be home.”
“So you have it all planned out.”
Dayan nodded, still watching closely for her reaction, monitoring her thoughts. “You will come to love the others and the life we have. It is a good life, and we see many interesting places.” It occurred to him he would see each place differently now. There would be color and laughter and beauty.
He
was different now. He would see the beauty as he traveled through each city, each country. She had given him that priceless gift. Never again would his world be one of shadows and darkness.
“It’s nice that you have such optimism, Dayan,” she replied cautiously. There was no point in arguing with him when he was so set on believing she could survive the birth of the baby. The last thing she wanted was to bring up the fact that she had no future. She wanted Dayan to promise her that his healers would save the baby if there was a choice to be made.
Dayan shook his head as he read her thoughts. She would live. He would move heaven and earth if he had to, but she would live. “I have summoned Darius and Gregori.” He wanted to prepare her for visitors, knowing she found it difficult to be with strangers. Corinne had led a solitary life in the midst of people. She was very private and reserved with those outside her family. “Darius is my family, Corinne — a man I know and would give my life for. I trust him and his judgment.”
Her small teeth bit down nervously at her lip. “I feel better than I have for some time, Dayan. I don’t think it’s really necessary to see them now, do you?”
“You know it is. They must monitor the baby and your heart carefully.”
“What did they do different from what a doctor would do?”
Desari came through the door first. She was a tall, beautiful woman radiating light and comfort. She had a soothing, tranquil demeanor and seemed to flow rather than walk. Corinne recognized her at once from her bizarre dream. “Do you remember anything at all?” Desari asked gently in answer to her question. Her voice was soft, warm honey, compelling like Dayan’s. There were no sharp edges to Desari; she was peace itself.
“I’m not certain what was real and what I dreamed,” Corinne found herself answering honestly. “I don’t understand why I feel so much better, when the doctors said I was dying and nothing could save me.”
“There are those among our people born with the ability to separate themselves from the physical body and use pure energy to find the problems inside the body of a sick or wounded person. We heal from the inside out. There are no cuts made on the outer body, no sutures. The healing is done with light and energy,” Desari answered matter-of-factly. “Darius has this gift, as does Gregori. We all do to a small extent, but they are very powerful.”
Corinne turned the information over and over in her mind. It sounded insane, something from a science fiction story, but the fact remained that the doctors had given up on her and she was supposed to be dead. Her fingers remained tangled with Dayan’s for support. “I feel much better.”
Desari’s smile was beautiful. Her raven-colored hair was in a thick braid hanging to her waist. She tossed it carelessly over her shoulder. She looked so poised, so beautiful and healthy, so alive that Corinne found herself close to tears. She herself would never look that good, not in a million years, and beside her was Dayan, the perfect male specimen.
There can be no other for me, honey.
His voice whispered intimately in her mind, a soft reprimand. He flooded her with his feelings, everything at once. She sensed aching love, so strong that nothing could ever come between them, not even death. Physical desire, a raging fire in his blood, a hunger and need to unite them for eternity.