Footsteps crossed the outer room. A light flicked on, slanting across the threshold.
“Wel , wel .” A male voice, vaguely familiar, almost amused.
A man’s legs in the corner of his vision. “Somebody’s been having fun.”
Stunned, Iestyn raised his head.
And saw Dylan Hunter standing at the bathroom door.
*
*
* They made, Lara was forced to admit, quite an impression.
Lucy Hunter’s brother Dylan, lean and dark, with brooding black eyes and a pirate’s ponytail. And Morgan Bressay, the finfolk lord—she wasn’t quite sure what finfolk were, and no one bothered to explain—with Iestyn’s eyes in his brutal Viking face. The wardens of World’s End.
Under any other circumstances she would have been even more impressed.
At the moment she was mostly just exhausted.
She’d managed to stay alert and more or less on her feet during the introductions. But after Iestyn had dragged on his jeans and settled back against the headboard of their bed, she’d al owed herself to be coaxed against his side.
Now she drifted, safe and deliciously warm, his chest for her pil ow, his arms holding her close, the murmur of masculine voices rising and fal ing around her like the sound of the sea.
“—must have triggered the wards.”
“—could account for your burn.”
“—knew . . . a breach somewhere.”
Iestyn’s fingers feathered gently through her hair. She closed her eyes. Just for a moment, she promised herself.
They were silent awhile, or maybe she dozed.
F o r g o t t e n s e a 255
“—what to do with her,” someone was saying.
She stirred.
“—be here without Lara.” Iestyn’s voice was firm.
“The angel,” Dylan said dryly.
“Fal en angel,” Morgan said.
A knock at the door. Lara opened her eyes. And caught them staring at her, these strangers who knew Iestyn. She was suddenly conscious of the fact that she was lying practical y across his lap wearing nothing but his T- shirt.
She tugged the hem down over her thighs.
“That would be my wife,” Morgan said and went to open the door.
Elizabeth Bressay had sleek brown hair, intel igent brown eyes, and a reassuring manner. She cleaned and irrigated Lara’s hand, applied ointment and a butterfly closure.
“There doesn’t seem to be any sensory or vascular damage,” she said. “But we’l want to keep an eye on it for infection.”
“A real medical doctor?” Elizabeth smiled. “Yes.”
“She wants to know if you are one of us,” Morgan said over his wife’s shoulder.
Lara flushed.
“Oh. I see.” Elizabeth glanced from Lara to Iestyn and back again. But whatever she saw, she kept to herself. “No, I’m human. Quite ordinary.”
“Not ordinary at al ,” her husband murmured.
A look passed between them, intimate as a kiss, before Elizabeth turned back to Lara. “Date of last tetanus shot?”
she asked briskly.
“I’m not sure,” Lara confessed.
“Wel , stop by the clinic tomorrow and we’l take care 2 5 6
V i r g i n i a K a n t r a
of that. You, too,” she said to Iestyn. “Although Lucy can do more for you than I can.”
Iestyn’s face was suddenly raw and young. “Lucy.”
“Yes, didn’t they tel you? Men.” Elizabeth shook her head.
Smiled at Iestyn with maternal warmth. “Lucy and Conn are on their way here. To World’s End. We’re expecting them tomorrow.”
*
*
*
