Free Night Reigns by Dianne Duvall Page A

continued.
    Ami thought it an odd change of subject, but leapt at the chance to evade his other question. “Yes. That was him calling as you were leaving earlier.”
    “He didn’t call you just now?”
    “No, why?” She narrowed her eyes. “Did you ask him to assign you another Second?”
    “No!”
    She blinked at the near shout.
    “I mean, no,” he said in more even tones. “I am ... perfectly content with you acting as my Second.” He even added a smile. A rather nervous one.
    “You are?”
    “Yes.”
    Yeah, right. “Then why did you think Seth—?”
    “You never told me what you’re doing here,” he interrupted.
    She had hoped he’d forgotten that. “I ...” sensed you were in danger and followed the feeling straight to you. Not that she could say as much. He knew she was neither a gifted one nor an immortal, and she doubted he would settle for attributing it to female intuition. She glanced down at her hunting togs. “I was on my way to spar with Darnell.”
    She peeked up at him through her lashes to see if he bought it.
    He shook his head, smiling. “You really can’t lie worth a damn.”
    “Who told you that?” she demanded. She tried, damn it! It wasn’t her fault deception didn’t come naturally to her!
    Marcus laughed, brown eyes brightening, then grunted. Pain rippled across his features as he placed a careful hand against his chest off to one side. “It wasn’t an insult, Ami. Trust me.”
    She frowned. “What’s wrong? Are you injured?”
    “Yeah. I’m pretty sure some of my ribs are broken. Or were. They’re mending, but it still hurts like hell.”
    Closing the distance between them, Ami brushed his hand aside and replaced it with one of her own. Beneath his dark knit shirt, his flesh was warm and rippled with hard muscle. Her breath caught as a tingle zipped through her.
    Knowing how acute immortals’ hearing was, she glanced up to see if he had noticed and swallowed hard when she found him watching her intently.
    Just pretend he’s Seth, she ordered herself.
    But he wasn’t Seth. And Ami wasn’t accustomed to touching men. At all. Her people forbade such contact even when it was casual in nature. Once she had overcome her fear of Seth, David, and Darnell after they had rescued her, the most startling aspect of her new life had been the way the men had touched her so freely ... and expected her to touch them back. Nothing amorous, of course. None of them thought of her in that way. All three men were simply very affectionate, freely distributing hugs, putting their arms around her, kissing her forehead. (Seth and David were so tall that kissing her cheek would require too much bending.)
    Though it had taken her a while, Ami had eventually learned not to shy away from such familiarity and actually enjoyed returning the gestures now.
    But Marcus was different. Touching him in any way felt ... very intimate and left her heart racing. As it did now.
    Ami smoothed her hand over the left side of his thickly muscled chest and down toward his taut abdomen. He grunted, his head and chest jerking forward slightly whenever she hit a tender spot.
    “Here?”
    “Yes.”
    “And here?”
    “Mmph. Yes.”
    “These two feel broken, but I don’t think these are. Is it just this side?”
    “No.”
    Ami rested her other hand on the opposite side of his chest and continued her examination. Her exploration.
    He grunted, his head almost lowering enough to touch hers.
    Ami frowned. How had this happened? Had he hit the tree with the Busa?
    Raising her head to ask, she nearly choked on her breath. His eyes, glowing a warm, gentle amber, flickered from her face to her hands on his torso.
    Quiet enveloped them, tempered by the sounds of insects and other night creatures.
    “Are you all right?” she asked when he said nothing.
    “Yes.”
    “Your eyes are glowing,” she told him, voice hushed.
    His reaction surprised her. Lowering his lids to hide the luminescence, he turned his head away