“Discuss the situation? Ah!” There was a bottle of brandy on her bedside table. “Major Trelawny, shall I pour you a drink? I think that I would like one myself?—”
He caught her hand when she would have reached for the brandy bottle.
“Sabrina, you’ve just been rescued from vicious kidnappers who left you in a tomb and intended to kill you,” he said.
“All the more reason I should have a drink!” she whispered.
She tried to free her hand from his to reach for the brandy bottle.
“Sabrina.”
She bit into her lower lip, staring down at the white sheets. She slowly brought her eyes to his, feeling a rush of color flood her face. She looked to the door longingly again.
“Sabrina, you can’t run away. I would think you’d realize,” he said with a trace of humor, “since I am here, in a Scottish castle, that there is nowhere you can go where I cannot follow.”
She stared into his eyes. “I really would like a drink.”
“For courage?”
“I’ve plenty of courage.”
“Reckless courage. No drink. Sabrina, you’ve taken Edwina’s potion of herbs and such. You don’t need brandy now.”
She did—desperately. But she knew she wouldn’t be able to get her hands on the brandy bottle.
“Right. I need—sleep?” she said hopefully.
He smiled. She wondered how he could become so arresting with that smile when at times, he looked so very…
Savage.
“Sloan, I—” She broke off. So much for courage. She pulled her hand from his and leaped from the bed. A mistake. She had moved too quickly. She only made it as far as the foot of the bed before she began to feel terribly dizzy.
“Oh god!” she breathed.
But he was there.
And she was not able to withhold a gasp when, once more, he swept her up into his arms. “No!” she whispered fervently, but he wasn’t going to let her fall. He held her, and, as he stared down into her eyes, she could feel the warmth of his breath, the strength of his arms, and the inner fire of his determination.
“Why are you trying to run away from me?” he demanded.
“Why are you here?” she cried desperately in return.
“Well, I didn’t know that I’d arrive to discover that you’d been kidnapped, so I can hardly say that I rushed across a raging sea to rescue you,” he murmured. “I’m here because Hawk has been my friend all my life, and because James McGregor told me the extent of David’s problems here. And I’m here because—” He broke off.
“Why?” she whispered.
“It doesn’t matter right now. The child matters.”
Her lashes fell again. “Look, Sloan, what happened was an accident. Sloan, please…”
“Put you down? You need only ask.”
She found herself seated against the pillows on the bed once again.
“Go away?” she suggested softly.
“Not on your life.”