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Mal gave his ht now It’s about as still as she is on the outside" And that bothered him almost as much as her physical stillness bothered Kohana The fact the big Indian had chosen to sit here, watching over her instead of hauling her like a sack of grain back into the compound’s secure perimeter, said volumes about how the little Irish flower had wormed her way into all their hearts

Mal realized he’d seen , how he always thought of it that way There were four seasons, but it was the summer that always rowth and change, and held the pros behind its warmth and stability Like her It was the sadness and happiness together, how she twisted thehtly inside herself, that ht and shadow

He could certainly probe her , but that curious blankness ht for when the infor

When she’d first come to the island, Kohana had told her the truth Mal didn’t use the marks to pry that often They were for communication But since he’d third-marked her, the ti to leave, a desire unexpected and unprecedented He was different from other vampires, and he’d wanted to keep it that way He’d told hi to hi tiile and s out here If there were any cats about, which there weren’t, he thought they ht be more likely to view her as a cub than a h, chin up, her resilience in danger of cracking her right down the middle, like a clay pot

He stopped behind her "You shouldn’t be out here by yourself"

She nodded, one quick jerk of her head When she spoke, her voice seemed hollow, as if she were deep in a cave "You knohen I was a little girl, about the only thing useful s all anted, but not to ever expect them to happen That life had its own plans for us, and we needed to accept and adjust to that, not spill our hearts away on nonsense that was never going to be Butit was such a siht it would be okay"

As his brow creased, she sed noisily "IaDev’s backup as station er He could have done it all his life I sawin Lady Danny’s house,over for Mrs Pritchett as head housekeeper when she decided to retire to her little house in Darith her daughter"

Her voice became louder, yet more unsteady "Willis and I would have a couple babies, a boy and a girl They’d grow up on the station, and Dev would teach theet schooled and go on to be soht be a schoolteacher, or a nurse in a hospital He could run a pub, be a businessht about that for Willis and s, where I handled the hotel and he handled the pub; then we’d pass it on to our son And we’d have thewhen she found a good man orked hard and could take care of her It seemed like such a small dream Why would God care if I had that for myself or not?"

Pushing away irrational jealousy, Malachi moved around her, settled on his heels where he could put a hand on her knee and see her face It was tear-streaked, of course He’d heard it in her voice, trying to hold strong and yet quavering like grass helpless to the wind’s desires Her blue eyes shifted to his face Instead of aze, she roved over his features, and then surprised hi her hand on his brow Her slie of his nose, tracing them

"You’re so handsome I don’t care what the world says about white people needing to stay pure There’s not much pure about any of us, whatever our color But I didn’t really understand the men who took up with black women They seemed like they came from such different places, you kno could it possibly make sense, beyond just a matter of lust? But they had children, and I knew they loved one another, some of them But you, since I’ve come here"

She dropped her hand to his shoulder, and those fingers curled into his shirt, held on fiercely as her eyes closed and her face hardened against an e her

"Elisa, tell me what’s the matter and we’ll fix it"

A half sob burst out of her, raw and painful She rose as if she was intending to dash away froainst hi her up in his ar her in his lap even as she thrashed

"Here, now, enough of that" He shook her a bit, just to get her toher hands into herself and her body into a ball in his eainst his touch "Elisa, if you don’t tell et very annoyed with you You’ve been feeling better lately What’s changed?"

Had she decided she didn’t want to stay? His gut wrenched at the thought Had she decided she needed to go back to Australia and nurse herto have so is wrong Which is why it’s so awful, how I feel I know you’re a vareed I’d be your full servant to help find the children a place And then I’d probably go hoed, and what you said the other dayI don’t knohat it means, but a part of ut loosened slightly, but not enough There was a very large "but" in her words, and the suspense was fraying his nerves

"A part of o home, so badly I o back, that life is gone Because I’ll walk in the barn and re pause, during which he heard the hitching shudder of her breath "You won’t be there," she whispered

He closed his eyes, relief filling hi about you, the way you run with your cats, and wrestle with thes you can make me feel, the way my body is shameless when it comes to you I didn’t understand it in Dev, the way he is with Danny, even when I saw hints of it They whispered about it on the station, a big strong s, but he’ll do anything for her Serve her any way she desires The sahtened in his ar away her tears with the back of her hand "I know I’m supposed to be adult and ht out, but there it is I’ve gone and fallen in love with a va for me You won’t let me fuss over you and , hard day and eat lasses slipping off your nose You won’t sit there and snore while I darn your socks and think about how I need to tri to the station social and you need to look nice for that Will you?"

She gave hilare, Malachi was at a loss how to respond Then she pushed off his lap and stood, putting her ar, none of what I want, because I’ain, she bolted away from him and ran

Fortunately, because of his vampire speed, he was able to be slack-jawed for about thirty seconds and still catch up with her The daft girl had run for the forest, rather than the house, and he was impressed to see he reached her al his crutch, the man had taken off after her as soon as he’d seen his e stock-still as if he’d been hit in the head by a large sledgeha down to rub his abused single leg It ht her about the waist It overca not only her, but also their child, under the grip of his forearm Great Spirit, he wasn’t sure any vaht its oorries, glorious and terrifying at once Easing his grasp, he turned her, putting that away for now But he didn’t put it away fast enough, because he was caught unprepared when she rammed her fist into his belly As hard as any third-, profusely, she looked shocked and dis as he would have expected, she crossed her ar a shell "I shouldn’t have said all that Stupid, stupid girl I’ll go back to the house and pull ether and then we can talk about it like reasonable people, when you’re ready I don’t rightly knohat to think of it myself yet, and maybe we need a couple days to decide how best to approach it You will let us approach it, right?" Her gaze darted up to hi her features She lowered her arms so they were coiled protectively over her abdomen "I know this is your baby, butI’m its et some say in that, won’t I? I won’t be like some nanny that"

"Elisa, hush" Now that he was certain his internal organs hadn’t been ruptured, he took a fir over all the implications of the past fewhe could address The little he’d heard of born va, was sadly siiven so responsibility, the child would be varew, amid the vampire attitudes toward humans, the human parent was usually viewed as more of a servant than a parent by the tile" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">