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A stricken look crossed his face. Impossibly, I’d wounded him. He stood and paced over to the glass dome, staring out into the night. I kicked myself mentally a few times and tried to think of what to say to make it up.
“Why did you come after me?” He asked it in a quiet voice. Carefully neutral again.
“What?”
“You heard me. Why did you risk your life, the lives of your precious companions and all of this independence you hold so close to your heart to accomplish the nearly impossible—wresting me from Titania’s grip? Particularly when I told you not to.”
Oh.
Why had I?
Rogue had literally disappeared in the middle of the night. No one but me believed him to be in jeopardy. With only dreams to go by—filled with his cautions and Titania’s taunts that he belonged to her again—I’d insisted on chasing after Rogue. I’d risked everyone’s lives to do it, to free him from the total mental enslavement she’d trapped him in.
It just hadn’t been a question at the time. I’d had to do it.
“That was your out, cruel Gwynn. If you didn’t want me, you could have walked away then and gone on with your life. Itoldyou, over and over, not to look for me.”
The pain in his voice cut through me. I struggled off the bed and went to him, the stone floor warm against my bare feet. He didn’t turn, the elegant line of his profile remote and cold.
“Hey.”
He didn’t acknowledge me, so I had to snag his sleeve with a claw—which sliced the fabric. Oops. He glanced down at the tear and raised that eyebrow at me, haughty and removed as ever. Waiting for my answer.
“I couldn’tnotlook for you, okay? These are two different things. I can care about you without wanting to be married to you.”
“And do you?” he asked, watching my face. “Do you care for me, heartless Gwynn?”
The heart he claimed I lacked thudded hard in my chest, feeling bruised and swollen.
He unfolded his arms at last, and stroked my cheek. “Tell me.”
I had to tilt my chin back to look up at him and considered wishing up some heels, so we could be closer to the same height. The words and feelings wound together inside me, fighting each other. “I know you can sense how I feel.”
“I want to hear you say it.”
“Just to torment me?” I had wanted it to be a joke, but my tone came out a little ragged.
“No.” He passed his thumb over my lower lip, sending a thrill through me. “Because you like to hide behind your wit. You’re careful of what you admit to out loud—as you should be, you’ve learned well—but this is important. No ducking behind omissions or clever wording. It’s only you and me here. I’ll hear you say it.”
“You’re one to talk,” I retorted, but it lacked any sting.
His lips twitched on the left side, sliding into a smile. “You have always been an excellent pupil.”
“Is this a way of trapping me into agreeing to marriage?”
That midnight gaze darkened, his thumb tugging my lower lip down while his fingers feathered over my jaw, as if he wanted to pull the words out of me.
“We will revisit that topic tomorrow, agreed?”
“Tomorrow being after dawn, yes,” he specified.
At least I’d have a better shot of discussing the ramifications of such a step without the seductive influence of the candlelight, the nearby bed and…what was I thinking? Rogue would be present, which meant I’d be seduced regardless. Time to get it out there.
“Yes,” I admitted, feeling as if I were standing with my toes hanging off the edge of the high dive. “I care about you.”
The hand on my cheek slid around to the back of my neck and he wound his other arm around my waist, pulling me up against him, his lips a whisper from mine. “And do you love me?”
“Does it matter to you?” I answered, rattled enough to give the same response he gave me when I asked that question.
