It took minutes to dispose of the bodies the same way he had the other two. He incinerated them with a lightning bolt before burying them deep and strewing vegetation over the site so that it seemed undisturbed. The guns were buried deep in the earth with the ashes. Then Dayan returned to Corinne, dropping silently out of the fog beside the car.
Chapter 7
I am here with you, honey.
Dayan made the calm announcement before he touched the door handle of the car, afraid of startling her. He was a shadow in her mind, knew she was already afraid, and worried about his safety. The fog was oppressive to her. He could feel how uncomfortable she was, sensed that the baby was kicking strongly, but her heart and lungs were laboring. He sent the warmth of his love into her mind, strong and intense, his reassurance that he was in good health.
Corinne reached for the door even as he opened it. At once she flung herself into his arms, uncaring what he might think. “I was so worried about you.”
He held her tight, savoring the feel of her fragile body against his. “Breathe, honey. You scare me to death when your heart tries to work so hard. I was never in any danger. Never. I told you that. You need to listen to me when I say important things.” He buried his mouth against her soft neck, inhaling her fragrance, breathing evenly, willing her lungs to follow the steady pattern of his.
Corinne rubbed her face against his broad chest. “I never know what is actually important and what is sheer nonsense,” she admitted teasingly, trying desperately to lighten the mood when she really wanted to cry in relief.
Dayan laughed softly, obliging her. “You are so good for my ego. Everyone else obeys me; I think you should too.”
She pulled reluctantly out of his arms and looked around in astonishment at the rapidly disintegrating fog bank. It was melting away as if it had never been. “I’m the one everyone listens to, Dayan,” she pointed out, her mind puzzling over the peculiar phenomenon.
Dayan intertwined his fingers with hers to bring her back to him. He kept her locked firmly beneath his shoulder as they walked toward the house. “And I am certain we all obey.” She fit perfectly, her smaller frame moving against his, soft and feminine, reminding him continually of their wonderful differences.
Corinne glanced up at him, studying his features, then ducked her head to hide her expression. His eyes held warmth when they looked at her, but they took on a merciless stare when he looked away. He seemed more animal than human. Even his movements, fluid and powerful, seemed inhuman. She struggled to understand exactly what it was about him that she found intimidating.
Her heart, instead of matching the rhythm of his, was pounding very hard and fast. Her mouth was dry. “Dayan.”
“Why are you frightened of me when I treat you so gently?” His voice was soothing and tranquil. He never sounded annoyed or irritated by her thoughts. Dayan took the keys to the front door out of her hand and unlocked it.
Corinne thought a long time before she answered.
Just how afraid was she of Dayan? She looked up at him, at the rugged angles and planes of his face. At his strong jaw. At his sculpted mouth. “I don’t think I am, really,” she mused aloud. “There’s something different about you, Dayan — something dangerous. But not to me. I don’t think the threat is directed at me.” Her chin went up. “You know, I’ve always detested the way everyone wanted to tell me what to do with my life because of my health. I have a good brain and I can figure things out for myself. If you choose to spend your time with me and you want to care for me, knowing full well the repercussions of what can and probably will happen to me, then so be it. It’s your choice, Dayan.” She reached up and framed his face with her hands. “Just know that if you care too much, death can be very painful to the one left behind.”
“Would it stop you, Corinne?” he asked quietly, his dark gaze drifting broodingly over her face. “If I were the one with the bad heart, would you walk away from me?”
A slow smile curved her mouth, lit her face and dispelled the worry hidden in her eyes. “I love life, Dayan. I believe in living it. I would never pass up love or laughter or knowing you because I was afraid of pain. It would be a small price to pay for your company. But then, I’ve known pain and experienced things others haven’t. I’ve learned the value of love and laughter.”
Dayan turned his head slightly even as his gaze remained fixed on her face, devouring her. He kissed her hand, drew her finger into the heat of his mouth.
At once her body clenched and a thousand butterflies brushed at the walls of her stomach. He made her feel beautiful, and sexy and very wanted. “What do you think you’re doing?” She faced him with her heart in her eyes and her breasts rising and falling in anticipation.
His tongue did a slow, silky caress along her finger, then reluctantly released her. “Seducing you,” Dayan admitted without remorse. He bent his head to find her mouth with his, kissing her leisurely, a long, slow kiss meant to tell her what he couldn’t seem to convey with mere words. Poet or not, there were no words to say how much she meant to him. No words to say he would follow her anywhere. That she was life to him.
“You say it just fine.” She whispered the words into his mouth, into his soul.
Dayan tensed, his arms imprisoning her, holding her tightly to him. There had been no blood exchange. Yet she was reading his mind. Slipping in like a shadow, with skill and ease, going where only those of Carpathian blood should go. Had she learned
too
much? Her heart wasn’t laboring any more than normal. Carefully he touched her mind. Corinne hadn’t even noticed what she had done.
She pulled away first, in a small, delicate retreat that made him smile even as he opened his arms to allow her escape. “What attracts you so much to music?” Dayan asked, surveying the neat stacks of music magazines on the coffee table.
“Music takes me to all the places my body will never let me go,” Corinne told him, glancing up at him almost shyly. Her soft smile made his knees weak. “I’m able to feel the sensation of jumping out of an airplane or swimming beneath the ocean by just selecting the right piece. No matter where I am, or how difficult it is to breathe, if I can hear music, I know it will be all right.” Her grin was self-conscious. “That probably sounds silly to you, but you’re strong and free. I’m a prisoner trapped in this body. What my heart and soul and brain want are things I’ll never experience, so I use music to soar.”
Dayan said nothing. He couldn’t speak; the lump in his throat was blocking his ability to breathe. It was the way she lived her life. Corinne accepted what had been given to her and lived wholly despite her limitations. She embraced life. Tasted it. Experienced it. He could imagine her flying as a bird in the sky, swooping through the treetops. He would always have to stay close to her, watch over her, or Corinne would go for the stars.
“Don’t feel sorry for me, Dayan,” she said softly. “You see, I’ve been incredibly lucky. I treasure each day I have.” She turned to look around her home. “I’ve had so much in my life, so many unexpected things. Come with me, look at this. Lisa is an absolute cretin when it comes to musical instruments so she didn’t appreciate this at all, but you will.” She caught his hand and tugged. “I know you will.”
He went with her because he had no other choice. He would have followed her to the ends of the earth. She took him through the hall to the open room with the piano, quickly exposing the ivory keys. Her fingers were tight around his as she pulled him to the bench, nearly pushing him onto it.
“Listen to this. Listen to the sound.” Her hands skimmed across the keys, fluttered and settled to play a sonata he immediately recognized.
The sound was beautiful, the notes true. Dayan watched her fingers glide over the keys. She played effortlessly, with a certain abandon, losing herself completely in the music. She played the way she lived life. The way she would love him. Passionately, with everything in her. Giving freely, generously. A complete merging of her body and soul and heart.
> She was so beautiful to him. Her head bent over the keys, her eyes closed, her hair tousled and tumbling around her face, her expression one of concentration and rapt enthrallment. Dayan reached around her, planted both hands on the piano so his arms created an effective wall. He bent to taste the temptation of the nape of her neck. Her natural fragrance drew him, assailed his senses so that he could think only of Corinne. Of her soft skin and inviting body. Of the passion in her, the magic.
Corinne’s fingers stilled on the piano and she turned into his embrace, half rising to meet the heat of his mouth. She found fire and flames. A burst of sunlight and a shattering need more compelling than life itself. They fed off each other, devoured each other, unable to get close enough. His mouth was hot and commanding. Hers was silken and insistent. She lost herself in his mouth, in his masculine taste. He couldn’t get enough, feeding on her, taking the sweetness she offered like a starving man.
Her hands slid beneath his shirt, his hands were tugging at her blouse. The fire was explosive, the heat an inferno. There was no rational thought, only the feel of skin, hers satin soft, his firm and defined with hard muscle. He shifted her, his knee thrusting between her legs so she was riding on the hard column of his thigh.
Dayan made a soft sound, an edgy note of ravenous hunger welling up from his soul. The tone pierced her heart, invaded her mind so that she wrapped her arms around his head to cradle him to her, giving him everything, anything. Wanting to be whatever he needed. He pushed her shirt up out of his way, all the while his mouth and hers performed a tango of seduction.
His tongue stroked and teased, danced with hers. His teeth nibbled at her lower lip, the corner of her mouth, settled over her dimple. His lips drifted over her skin, down her neck and throat, leaving flames in their wake. He lifted his head then. Inhaled. Drank her scent in, deep within his lungs. His half-closed eyes slid over her.
Rested on her breasts. Soft. Creamy. Firm and tantalizing.
Her bra was a lacy dusky rose, lovingly cupping her full breasts. Corinne heard the hitch in his breath as he slowly bent his head to her. His long hair slid over her skin, brushed at her like silken caresses. His hands were incredibly gently as he cupped the soft weight of her, lifting one breast free of the bra. His tongue swirled over her nipple. Waves of sensation rocked her, shook her. His mouth, hot and moist, closed around her aching flesh. Corinne’s legs almost went out from under her. She leaned back into the piano, the keys playing a jangling note. Streaks of lightning sizzled in her bloodstream, raced to the very core of her.
Her body clenched, dampened. She closed her eyes and gave herself up to the pure ecstasy of feeling he was evoking with his mouth. With his hands.
A small, discordant note invaded his consciousness. A whisper of trouble. Her breath was labored, her heart struggling. At once Dayan lifted his head, buried his face in the hollow of her shoulder. Her hands were exploring his back, driving him to the very brink of insanity, so he caught her wrists and held her still.
When he could breathe again, when it was safe again, he lifted his head to look at her. She was so beautiful with her thoroughly kissed mouth and her wide, dazed eyes, he was nearly undone. “Your heart and the baby,” he reminded her. “Another couple of minutes and we were not going to be able to stop. I do not want you going unexpectedly into labor. Your safety and that of the baby come first. I was being selfish, and I ask your forgiveness. In truth, I was not thinking clearly.”
His voice was a blend of haunting notes, so beautiful it brought tears to her eyes. It wrapped her in a cocoon of safety, a dark melody of love and sensual hunger. “There’s nothing to forgive, Dayan. It was both of us. I wanted you as much as you wanted me. Thank you for being strong enough for both of us.” Her hands crept protectively over her baby. She smiled up at him. “In truth, I wasn’t thinking clearly either, and if you really knew me, you’d know how rare that is.”
His eyes drifted over her face, intense, hungry, melting with warmth. “You are my heart and soul, Corinne. You do not know me, because you cannot merge your mind with mine, but I can read your thoughts, your memories. I know you as no other ever could. I do not need days, weeks, months to get to know you. I have only to touch your mind to know what you are like. I know how intelligent you are. I know how very much this baby means to you. We will be much more careful.”
Very gently he drew her shirt down over her swollen, aching breasts. She circled his neck with her arms and leaned into his larger frame, allowing him to take her weight. “I’m sorry, Dayan, I didn’t mean for things to get out of hand. I know better.” Her hand slipped down his chest, rested on the front of his jeans. “I don’t want to leave you this way.” She could feel the bulge of his erection, so heavy with desire.
His body shuddered with excitement, anticipation, hardening more, his blood thickening. Dayan took a deep, steadying breath. “You mean the same way I have left you? Aching and unfulfilled? I think we will be partners, Corinne. When I am able to take care of your needs, you will take care of mine.” He brushed a kiss along her temple. “We are in this together.”
She pulled back to look into his eyes. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
Dayan nodded. “I am no saint, Corinne. You are looking at me with stars in your eyes. I want to devour you right now. I think the safest thing for us to do is pack up your things and Lisa’s and go back where we will no longer be alone.”
Corinne leaned closer, pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “I hate to tell you this, but my things are in the bedroom.” She laughed softly, teasingly, and stepped away from him, knowing she was perfectly safe with him. Her legs weren’t completely steady but. she managed to walk without falling. He followed her into her bedroom, watching her with dark, intense eyes. She felt the weight of his gaze on her as she moved about the room, and it did nothing to calm her own storm of desire. Resolutely she gathered her things without looking at him. He robbed her of good sense, and for both their sakes, she needed to be responsible. Corinne continued into Lisa’s room, pausing for a moment to place her hand over the baby. Dayan had protected both of them.
“Is she kicking?” Dayan asked softly, managing to make the question sinfully intimate.
Corinne nodded, afraid to look at him, afraid she would lose herself in his terrible hunger. In his poet’s soul. Dayan moved up behind her, as silent as any jungle cat, and wrapped his arms around her, his palm over the small mound of her belly. He bent his head so his mouth was dangerously close to her frantically pounding pulse. “She is very strong. Such a miracle. All around the world people are finding out they are having babies, yet they do not appreciate what a miracle it is. Perhaps if they had no women, no babies, they would understand what is supposed to be treasured. As I treasure you, so do I treasure this child.”
Corinne closed her eyes and allowed his words to seep through the pores of her skin. How could he say such beautiful things? How could his words always be so perfect? Why had she found him now, when she had so little time left? For a moment she leaned against his hard strength, inhaled his wild, untamed scent, was grateful for his enormous strength and poet’s words and the way he made her feel that her child was a part of him too. Totally accepted. Without reservation.
“I want you to feel that way,” he said softly, his breath warm, inviting, “because it is the simple truth.”
“You are temptation personified,” Corinne scolded, but her voice gave away her pleasure, and she covered his hand with her own. “You could have any woman, Dayan. Why in the world are you with me?” Her heart ached for him. She didn’t want him to be hurt.
“There is only you. I can see no other, nor will I,” he answered, completely certain. “You are everything.”
Corinne pulled away from him gently, regretfully. “And what if I don’t feel the same way? What would you do then?” There was a wealth of interest as well as humor in her voice.
He reached around her to pick up both suitcases. “You forget I read minds. If
you truly did not want me, then of course I would have to accept such a thing, but you are my lifemate. There is no mistake. I see in color. I feel emotion. I look at you and there is meaning to my existence. You look back at me.”
Corinne smiled then — she couldn’t help herself. “I definitely look at you, I can’t very well deny that. And I want to be with you. I knew John practically my entire life. I loved him, yet I couldn’t give him passion, I couldn’t give him my soul. I look at you and everything in me wants you, wants to be everything you’ve ever needed.”
Dayan shook his head. Corinne was confused by the intensity of her emotions, the sheer chemistry between them. He didn’t want her to feel guilt for not having shared her passion with her husband. “I am your lifemate, you were meant for me. We know each other, recognize one another because we’re meant to be together. You loved John as a dear friend, but you belong with me. Lifemates do not lie to one another. I am telling you the truth.”
She reached out to touch his strong jaw, her fingers gently caressing. “Thank you, Dayan.” She took another look around the house. “I think we have everything.”
He took possession of the suitcases and made certain the house was securely locked before following her down the brick pathway and across the large expanse of immaculate lawn. Corinne stopped suddenly, looking up at the abundance of stars overhead. Stars that couldn’t be seen earlier. “Aren’t they beautiful?”
Dayan nodded and continued to walk to the car. Corinne was very pale, and he could hear her struggling to breathe. She acted as if she were normal, as if she were strong, but he was beginning to be alarmed again. He wanted to swoop her up and fly across the night sky with her, taking her to the nearest healer to demand she be put right. “You need to get in the car, honey,” he advised softly.
She nodded, hating the weakness that prevented her from enjoying so simple a pleasure. Headlights caught her in a bright spotlight as a car whipped around the corner and raced straight toward her.
Dark Melody (Dark Series - book 12) Page 13
