What she couldn’t tolerate anymore was the awkward silence. “I was worried about you. I’m glad you’re better.” That odd tingling returned to her palm and Kate fisted her fingers without thinking about it. The movement pulled at the wound on her arm. She winced.
Standing firm and still on the far side of the door, he said, “Your concern…” He shook his head. “Thank you.” His gaze dropped to the movement of her hand. “I am better, but it appears you are worse for our meeting.”
Heat bloomed on Kate’s cheeks. She wrapped her arm behind her back. “Oh, well…” A dozen responses vied for airtime, but that’s all she could manage. The deep reverence of his words and his raw masculine beauty, all rough edges and hard angles, stole her breath. And she was so conflicted about the feeding she could hardly think straight. How could she both cherish and regret the memory of it? She ducked her head.
He released a breath and recaptured her attention. “I have to ask you, Katherine, how did you come to find me?” His voice was low and deep, his intense gaze studying her.
Maybe she imagined it, but he seemed fixated on the bloodied parts of her clothing. She shifted feet, self-consciousness making her want to squirm. She tucked her hair behind her ear. “It was a complete coincidence. I was walking to the metro—”
“In the middle of the night?”
She frowned. Was this some kind of interrogation? The thought squeezed her heart. After everything she’d done, he didn’t trust her? And why was it she cared? “I couldn’t sleep. I thought a walk would help.”
“The university is twenty kilometers away from the city.”
“Which is why I was taking the metro.” She sighed. So tired. “Why all these questions?”
“We need to understand what happened tonight.”
His distance and dispassionate tone left her feeling empty and bereft. And so stupid. As if anything unique had happened between them. As if he would think she deserved any special consideration. “Well, here’s what you need to know: I found you unconscious and bleeding, tried to help you, got bit for my trouble—” she pulled her arm from behind her back and thrust it toward him “—and then got tackled, kidnapped and dumped in a dungeon. Does that help?”
The volume of her accusations hurt her own head. On top of the pain and the blood loss and the adrenaline let-down, it was more than she could take. She swayed, hating that she was showing weakness in front of him, but unable to hold herself together any longer.
*
Nikolai was completely enthralled by the woman standing before him. Beautiful in her assertiveness. Bravery proven over and again. Wearing so much of his blood he went hard between his legs. She appealed to his body, intrigued his mind. His right hand tingled and twitched. He fisted against the foreign sensation.
Katherine went unsteady on her feet even as her angry words still echoed against the stone walls. Her uncharacteristic display of weakness put him into motion.
He unlocked and opened the door as she turned for the cot, and wrapped a steadying arm around her shoulders before her knees buckled. Nikolai sucked in a breath at the warm feel of her in his arms, at the soft brush of her hair against his hand, at the feminine scent of her skin, infused as it was with the remnants of his blood. Her voice, her touch, her scent—all these he remembered. Now having seen her beautiful face—the long chocolate waves and ice-blue eyes were a killer combination—his memories of the night became clearer and crisper in his mind. He was mesmerized, fascinated. And she was…she was shaking.
“Sit,” he said, guiding her down and resisting the urge to press her back against the bed, to feel her under him. Instead, he crouched at her knees.
“I’m fine. Just have a headache.”
Nikolai frowned and shouted for Leo, knowing he was manning the security booth and would hear him on the camera’s audio feed. Katherine jumped and cringed at the sound of his voice. “Damn, I’m sorry.”
She shrugged and licked her lips, those pale blue eyes not quite meeting his. “Just a bump on the head. I’m fine.”
There was something she wasn’t saying. He sucked in a breath and was about to ask, when he heard a voice from behind .
“My lord,” Leo said.
Katherine’s eyebrows flew up at the appellation. She narrowed her gaze as if questioning him. “She needs pain medicine. Yes?” He tilted his head and scanned her face. High cheekbones, full mouth, creamy pale skin. Too pale.
“Yes, please.”