Page 26 of A Fearless Heart
Lord, he really was concerned that she might drop dead on him. Cady smiled weakly. “I’m an expert. I have a high degree of confidence that I won’t die tonight.”
“Do you do this often?”
“Experiment with new plants? As often as I can, yes.”
“Jesus,” he muttered.
“Look, I can’t test new solutions and remedies on anyone else, can I? That’s unethical. I try them on myself. And then I can assess the results, and make notes as well.”
“Would have been tricky to take notes on tonight’s little experiment if you never woke up, wouldn’t it? What the hell were you testing anyway?”
“This time? Iranian salvia. It’s been reported that the sap may have a therapeutic effect for those with insomnia and general nervousness. Of which I am one.”
He stared at her. “Your pupils are dilated. Is that normal?”
“No, but it’s interesting. Can you make a note of it, please?” With a trembling finger, she indicated the notebook that had fallen to the floor when she lost consciousness.
Grumbling, Gabe grabbed the notebook and a nearby pencil and scrawled the observation down.
“Now what?” he said then. “I can’t leave you here.”
“I’ll be perfectly all right. I just need a little while to recover.”
“You need more than that.” Gabe slid one arm under her knees and the other against her back. Standing, he lifted her up, cradling her against him. “I’ll take you to your room.”
Cady wanted to object. Surely it was not proper to have a man simply scoop a woman up and carry her to a bed. It was…barbaric.
But also impressive.
“You can’t possibly carry me all that way,” she objected without much force.
“Watch me,” he ordered, his voice low in her ear.
With no other reasonable course of action, Cady allowed him to carry her out of the laboratory and through the winding, shadowed halls of Calderwood. He carried her as if she were no more of a burden than a sack of rose petals, and she took a few easier breaths, realizing that she could not have walked all this way on her own.
Only when he nudged the bedroom door open with his foot did Cady realize that she never gave him directions. “How did you know this is my room?”
“I had to deliver your lunch one day,” he returned, not even sounding winded. “Don’t know why you can’t eat in one of your seven dining rooms. You take being reclusive to an art form.”
“I can’t eat out among others,” she said, slightly annoyed that he brought it up.
“Why not?”
“It scares me.”
“Scares you?” By then he’d reached the bed, and he laid her down on it, with a gentleness she wouldn’t have guessed he’d have. “What’s scary about eating?”
“It’s difficult to explain.”
“What about an unknown man in your bedroom late at night? Shouldn’t that scare you?”
“Yes.” She thought about it, then shook her head. “Though at the moment, I believe I’m too tired to be scared. And anyway, you’re leaving.”
“No, I’m not.”
Her eyes widened as she regarded him, standing there with all the confidence of a man who knew she couldn’t do a thing to force him out. “Excuse me?”
“I’m staying here to watch over you,” he said bluntly. “At least till I can be sure you won’t stop breathing.”
