A Summer Smile

“This must mean a hell of a lot to you,” Clancy said slowly. “But are you sure it’s worth the possibility of having to go up against Alex?”

“It’s worth it.” Daniel’s smile was bittersweet. “I feel as if I’ve found something I’ve been searching for all my life. I should have known it wouldn’t come without a barb or two attached.” He opened the door. “But, hell yes, it’s worth it.”

When Zilah opened her eyes, she saw Daniel. It was obviously night, for it was dark in the room, but there was a lamp burning on the bedside table and Daniel was sitting in a wing chair drawn close to the side of the bed. There was a frown on his face as he gazed abstractedly into the distance.

“Daniel?” she murmured drowsily to bring him back to her. She shifted in the bed, turning to face him. She was naked beneath the satin sheet that covered her, she noticed absently.

He straightened and leaned forward. “I’m here. Go back to sleep, babe. You’re safe now.”

“I know.” She was always safe with Daniel. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine and you will be too. Dr. Madchen said that you’d be weak and lethargic for a few days, but after that you’ll be on the mend.”

“Dr. Madchen?”

He went still. “You don’t remember the doctor?”

She shook her head. “It’s all pretty much of a blur. I remember you carrying me into a foyer that looked like something out of an Arabian Nights palace. After that, it was all downhill.” She frowned. “No, I remember something else.”

There was a flicker of wariness in Daniel’s eyes. “Really?”

“A man with strange-colored eyes. Almost turquoise. Was that the doctor?”

Daniel chuckled. “No, that was your host, Philip El Kabbar. He’ll be flattered to know that he made such an impression even while you were in the throes of fever. It will give his ego an enormous boost. Not that he needs it.”

“It’s very kind of him to let us impose on him like this. I’d like to thank him.”

“You’ll get plenty of opportunity to do that.” Daniel reached out and took her hand in his. “The doctor doesn’t want you traveling on to Zalandan for a week or so. He wants to be sure you don’t develop complications.”

Her eyes widened. “Why should he think I’d have complications?”

He looked down at her hand and idly began to stroke the pulse point at her wrist with his thumb. “Complications have a habit of popping up when you least expect them,” he said evasively. “We’re going to be very careful of you, Zilah.” He glanced up, his eyes twinkling. “After all the trouble I took to get you away from Hassan, I refuse to lose you to a scorpion.”

His gentle massaging thumb was sending sparks of heat up her arm, and Zilah felt a tiny sensuous stirring in the pit of her stomach. “I wouldn’t think of having all your efforts in my behalf come to nothing,” she said lightly. “It would be most ungrateful of me.” She couldn’t seem to pull her gaze away from its entanglement with Daniel’s. “I’ll be dutiful in making a complete recovery. Has anyone notified my mother and David that I’m safe?”

“We phoned Zalandan as soon as the doctor said you were out of danger. Clancy Donahue flew back there tonight and will give them a more personal report. You’ll be able to phone your mother tomorrow yourself if you like.”

“Of course.” Her forehead wrinkled in a frown. “Clancy Donahue was here too? The fever must have really caused me to draw a blank. What else did I miss?”

“Nothing of importance.” He gave her hand an affectionate squeeze before releasing it. “Do you think you can go back to sleep now that you’ve had some of your questions answered?”

“But I don’t have all my questions answered.” She was scanning his face with a troubled expression. There were lines of strain around Daniel’s eyes and the flesh was drawn taut over his cheekbones. “Haven’t you slept at all?”

He chuckled. “I don’t need much sleep. I was fine after I showered and had something to eat.”

“I don’t think you slept last night either. And I don’t see how you possibly could have slept the night before, planting all those bombs and whatevers.”

He grinned. “Yes, planting whatevers can be very exhausting.”

“Don’t joke. You know perfectly well what I mean. Go to bed, Daniel.”

“Now, if you’d said come instead of go, I might be more amiable about the suggestion,” Daniel drawled.

She felt the heat in her stomach flutter and then begin to spread. “Then, come,” she said breathlessly.

The smile was abruptly gone from his face. He had a sudden heated memory of her nails digging into his hips while she murmured the word that had broken his restraint into a million pieces. “You mean it?”

“We’ve slept together before.” She moistened her lips nervously. “You need the rest.”

The flame that had leaped fitfully in his eyes disappeared suddenly. “I appreciate your concern, but the situation is a little different now.”

Zilah glanced around the luxurious room, with its gleaming mosaic-tiled floors covered with richly patterned area rugs. “Externally, perhaps.” Her eyes met his uncertainly. “But we’re the same people we were last night in that cave, aren’t we?”

He stood up. “We’re still the same people.” He smiled gently. “Clancy said that danger had a way of bringing two people close in a hurry. I think he’s right. I couldn’t feel closer to you, old friend.”

Old friend. Last night when he had murmured that phrase in her ear it had brought her only warm contentment. Now, for some reason, it made her feel a little uneasy. She was probably just being stupidly imaginative to think there was an odd tension in Daniel’s attitude. “I feel very close to you too, Daniel,” she said softly. “And very grateful.”

His eyes, which had been carefully guarded, suddenly flared to life. “I thought we’d already discussed how I regard gratitude. You can save that for Bradford. I’ll have none of it.” Then, when he saw the startled confusion in her expression, he took a deep breath and tried to smile reassuringly. “Sorry. You should know by now what a rough bastard I am. Maybe you’re right about my being tired. Forget it. Okay?”

“Okay,” she said, still puzzled.

“That’s my girl.” He tousled her hair affectionately. “You go back to sleep. I promise I’ll work at being halfway civilized the next time I see you.”

“Don’t work too hard. I like you pretty well just the way you are.” Her eyes were wide and uncertain, looking up at him. “You will be here when I wake up, won’t you?” She smiled shakily. “I mean, you don’t have any other terrorists to catch or planes to blow up or anything?”

“I’ll be here.” He kept his tone deliberately offhand. “I thought I’d stick around until you were well and then escort you to Zalandan myself. After all, you’re still technically my responsibility. I always like to tie up all the loose ends on any mission I undertake.”

She felt a little ripple of pain mixing with the joy that news brought her. Responsibility. She was sure he hadn’t meant to hurt her. He couldn’t know just how bone-weary she was of being a responsibility to everyone. She smiled with an effort. “That sounds like fun. It will be interesting to see what kind of pyrotechnics you can instigate on a more conventional journey.”

He bent forward and brushed a fairy-light kiss on her forehead. “I’ll try to see what I can do to keep you amused.” He straightened and reached for the switch on the lamp. He suddenly hesitated. “Would you rather I left the light on?”

“Why should I?” she asked curiously. “I’m not a child afraid of the dark.”

“No, of course you’re not. I guess I wasn’t thinking straight.” The light flicked off, plunging the room into darkness. “Good night, Zilah.”

“Good night, Daniel.” She felt bereft as she watched his massive shadow stride toward the door on the far side of the room.

“Daniel?”

He paused as he opened the door. The dim light from the hall haloed his auburn head with flame, but left the rest of him in silhouette. “Yes?”

“I have one more question. Who undressed me?”

There was a short silence before he answered. “I did. I undressed you and bathed you myself. Philip has no women servants. I thought you’d rather have me do it than a stranger.”