Swallowing hard, she nodded. Had he and Seth and Lisette all heard her thoughts? Her silent accusations?
She forced herself to look at Seth, saw the self-condemnation in his dark eyes, and blinked back tears. “I’m sorry. I’m just . . . afraid for him.”
“As am I,” he admitted, then nodded to David. “That should be enough.”
As David withdrew his arm, Ethan’s fangs receded.
Heather had hoped that whatever blood did for immortals and vampires would make Ethan rouse swiftly. But it didn’t.
Lisette cleared her throat. “Why don’t we make him more comfortable? He can rest in one of the bedrooms downstairs.”
While they waited to see how much damage had been wrought.
Ethan bit back a groan as darkness fell away and light brightened the backs of his closed lids. His head hurt like a bitch. What the hell?
He started to raise his right hand to grip his forehead and try to force back the ache, but couldn’t. A weight rested upon it.
Cracking open heavy lids, he squinted down.
Heather. They lay in bed together, Ethan beneath the covers and Heather above them. Almost as they had in the infirmary. Only this wasn’t the infirmary.
He squinted at the room around them. Lit by the glow of a solitary candle, it seemed vaguely familiar. Was this . . . Richart’s room at Lisette’s house? Or Étienne’s room?
Why did the candle seem so damned bright? Looking at it increased the pounding in his head, so he returned his attention to Heather.
“She hasn’t left your side,” a voice ventured softly.
Ethan glanced over and found Lisette standing in the open doorway, garbed in hunting clothes. “What happened?”
Her pale, slender throat moved in a swallow. “Do you know me?”
“Know you how?” he asked, confusion mingling with the pain in his head.
“Do you recognize me?” she asked, taking a step into the room.
“Of course, Lisette. What the hell is going on? What happened?”
“Do you know your name?” she pressed. “Do you know her name?”
“Yes. I’m Ethan and she’s Heather. Why are you behaving so oddly? And why do you look like you’re about to cry? Did something happen to Zach?”
A tear spilled over her lashes. Swiping a hand across her cheek, she shook her head.
Alarm shook him. “Lisette . . .”
She held up a hand, then pulled a cell phone from her back pocket and dialed.
“Yes?” he heard Seth answer.
“He’s awake.”
Seth appeared beside Lisette. Zach crowded into the doorway behind her.
Seth approached the bed. “How do you feel?”
“Alarmed. What the hell happened?”
“You don’t remember?”
Heather roused as his voice rose. When she lifted her head and saw Ethan staring back at her, she stilled. “Ethan?”
“Yeah?”
Lunging upward, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. “I was so afraid,” she whispered, her lips brushing his ear. “I thought he’d killed you.”
And it all came rushing back.
“Oh shit.” Ethan looked to Seth. “You read my mind.” And he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what the elder had found up there.
“You remember?” Seth asked. “You remember everything leading up to my reading your mind?”
“Yes. Heather nearly died when we fought vampires at her home. You healed her and took us to the infirmary. We both slept. Then you brought us here and . . .” He looked from Seth to Zach and back. “What did you find?”
“You remember all of it?” Seth pressed.
“Yes. Zach held me still and tried to ease the pain. You touched my face. Then it felt like someone fucking Tasered my head.” He glanced around. “I’m not sure how I got down here, though. I must have blacked out.”
Relief swept Seth’s features. “You did. And everything is good. I found nothing in your mind that would indicate that Gershom has been manipulating you. No scar tissue that would indicate memories had been erased, although—since you’re immortal—erasing memories may not cause scarring. But there were no instructions or directions or impulses or even dreams planted in your subconscious.”
Ethan sighed, the tension leaving his limbs. “That’s good.”
“Even better,” Seth said, smiling, “I tried to plant a command of my own in your subconscious to prevent you from remembering the pain I had caused you or that I had dabbled in your mind, and it clearly didn’t take. I assume your gift would not allow it. So I firmly believe it would be impossible for Gershom to use you in such a fashion, to plant any commands without your remembering him doing it as you did this. You are impervious to mind control.”
The relief that statement spawned was heady, leaving Ethan a little light-headed. Or maybe he was still recovering from Seth plowing through his brain.
Heather sat up beside him and helped him ease up to lean against the headboard. “So, that’s a good thing, right?”
“A very good thing,” Seth assured her. “Ethan can rest easy now that Gershom can’t use his hard head against us.”
Ethan laughed, then groaned and clutched his head as pain shot through it.
Seth moved closer, leaned down, and touched his fingers to Ethan’s forehead.
Instant relief.
“Thank you.”
Seth withdrew his touch. “I’m sorry, Ethan.”
Ethan shook his head. “You were just doing what I asked you to do.”
Lisette cleared her throat. “If Ethan can’t be used as a weapon against us, what interest could Gershom have in him?”
Zach curled an arm around her shoulders. “I think we can safely conclude now that Ethan isn’t the one who interests him. I think Heather is his target.”
Ethan took Heather’s hand.
His target for what?
Seth left. Zach and Lisette headed . . . Heather wasn’t sure where. Upstairs, she thought, since she couldn’t hear anything down here. No movement. No muted conversation.
Sliding off the bed, she crossed to the door and closed it.
“Are you okay?” Ethan asked with touching concern as she returned and climbed back onto the huge bed.
She nodded. “Are you?”
He smiled. “I’m good.”
Heather knelt beside him and sat back on her heels. “What about your head? Does it still hurt?”
“No. David’s blood helped me heal and Seth took away the pain.”
“Good.”
Silence fell. Then they both spoke at the same time.
“Ethan—”
“Heather—”
They laughed.
“Go ahead,” Ethan said. “You first.”
She nodded, a little nervous all of a sudden. “I like you, Ethan.”
His smiled softened. “I like you, too.”
“I mean I really like you. Every time I’m around you, I feel a connection to you that I’ve never felt before. I know the dreams make me feel as if we’ve known each other longer than we have, but it’s more than that. You make me laugh. And I always want to spend more time with you than we have together. I can’t wait to see you again when we’re apart . . .” Her heart began to pound. “I know I told you I was ridiculously old-fashioned when it comes to sex. And I am. Normally I would spend a lot more time getting to know you before I jumped into bed with you, but . . .”
His eyes turned watchful. “But?”
Heather shook her head. “I don’t know how much time we have. I almost died two nights ago. You almost died last night. This Other is screwing with my head for who knows what reason and . . .” Leaning forward, she clasped his face between her hands and lowered her lips to his.
His mouth parted, eager to join with hers. Her pulse leapt when his tongue began to tease and tempt hers. Sliding his arms around her, Ethan pulled her off balance so she toppled over onto his hard, muscled chest.
Heather ended the long, desperate kiss, already breathless. Raising her head a few inches, she stared down into Ethan’s glowing amber eyes. “I want to make love with you, Ethan. I don’t know what tonight will bring or tomorrow night and I don’t care at the moment. I just want to feel your body against mine and lose myself in you for the day.”
He brushed the fingers of one hand across her cheek and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Are you just doing this because you think your days are numbered and you don’t want to die without having sex one last time?”
“I’m doing this,” she corrected, “because I think Zach is right. I think I’m Gershom’s target. I don’t know why he keeps screwing with my head, but it’s probably going to get me killed. So, yes, I believe my days are numbered. And I don’t want to die without making love with you.” She stroked his handsome face. “I think, if we were given time, we could have something together, Ethan. Something that doesn’t even come along once in a lifetime for some people. Just talking and shooting the breeze with you has been more fun for me than sex with my ex-boyfriends ever was.”
“Your ex-boyfriends must have really sucked in bed.”
As she laughed, a line from one of her favorite movies came to her. “Have you ever seen that movie Romancing the Stone?”
He nodded. “That’s the one about Joan Wilder, the romance author, right?”