Mikhail rose. He reached out, placing a hand gently on the top of her head for another moment. Gideon bristled, watching as becoming, healthy color flooded Maggie’s cheeks.
Slowly, Mikhail withdrew his hand, his own face pinched and much paler than before, the scars slashing down the side of his grim visage standing out in stark relief. He turned to face Gideon, arching an eyebrow. “I am the closest thing she has to a doctor. Get used to it. Green doesn’t look good on you.”
Maggie reached up and grasped Mikhail’s hand. The demon started, blinking down at her. Gideon couldn’t help the scowl, didn’t even try to hide it.
“Thank you for coming to check on me,” she said. “And thank you for making me feel better.”
And she did feel better, Gideon reflected sourly. She appeared the soul of tranquility now.
Mikhail inclined his head in acknowledgement. Gideon didn’t miss the brief tightening of Mikhail’s hand over hers before the demon released her.
“When you need me, I shall come again. Rest now.”
When, not if, Gideon observed. And then Mikhail shimmered away.
Gideon stood staring at the shifting air beside the bed for a moment, scowling. Had that been a threat aimed at him? Some illicit promise to her?
She shifted on the bed, swinging her legs over the side so she could sit up, snapping Gideon’s attention to her once more. Unsettled, Gideon worked to push the unwanted suspicion and jealousy away. He strode around the bed, perching beside her.
“Looks like we have a lot to talk about,” he said, reaching for her hand.
Seeming to anticipate his move, she clasped her hands tightly in her lap, smoothly avoiding his touch. Gideon stiffened at the rejection, grinding his teeth.
“Look, you might not have wanted a kid—”
“I never said I didn’t want kids,” she said, cutting him off. “I’d love to have kids. Someday. A couple of them.”
“Just not now, huh? Not mine.”
“You’re the one who had the meltdown,” she pointed out, painfully polite as she crossed her arms.
“Yeah, well, you passed out.”
He knew he was being petty, but couldn’t seem to stop himself. He could see her withdrawing and couldn’t figure out how to stop it. This was that careful distance, that solicitous politeness she hid behind. Must be pure hell, doing everything within your power to hide from emotional attachment, yet driven by your angelic blood to be the very milk of human kindness.
“It’s not every day a woman finds out she’s pregnant after a one night stand.”
Gideon went utterly still. Rage exploded inside him so swiftly he barely kept himself from morphing into Temptation.
A one night stand?
What part of never letting you go did you miss, darlin’?
Maggie drove him insane. She argued with him at every turn. She was, by turns, curious and courageous and intelligent. And she brought out these marrow-deep protective instincts he’d never experienced before. The woman set his blood on fire. She challenged him, making him—for the first time in his entire memory—actually and truly want to be a better person, not just go through the motions.
Not to mention, she was the only woman he’d been able to touch in an eternity. She thought what they’d just experienced had been nothing more than a one night stand?
She was in for a rude awakening.
“It’s a little late for second thoughts now, isn’t it, sweetheart?”
“I don’t know about that,” she snapped, giving him the evil eye. Seeming to have to work to calm herself, she added, “I just never pictured myself…” Her words trailed off with a slight frown.
“What? Pregnant with demon spawn?” God, he was being a bastard. He knew it. But he was too mad to give a damn.
“No,” she said sharply, scowling ferociously. “Not that. And my child is not demon spawn.”
A spark of relief kindled in his chest. It had been the first time she’d spoken possessively of the child they’d created. Maybe there was hope she might come to care for it after all.
A tiny part of him wondered if she could care for the child, could she also come to care for his father?
“So then it’s just the fact that it’s my kid that you find so distasteful,” he pressed.
“I can’t talk to you when you’re like this.” Standing up, she made to walk away. He shot a hand out, grabbing her wrist.
“Then what is it? Explain it to me.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she drawled, heavy on the sarcasm. “I guess maybe I imagined when I finally did start a family it’d be with a husband at my side. With a man that—”
“That’s just it, isn’t it? With a man. Not with a demon.”
“With a male,” she said loudly, speaking over him. “One that might actually love me. Hell, right now, I’d settle for one that just plain cared for me. Not somebody who was only interested because I was knocked up with some relic in a stupid prophecy.”
Gideon stared at her in stony silence.
Well, he’d be damned if he’d beg. He wasn’t a fool, and he wasn’t a glutton for punishment. At least, he never used to be. But damn it all, he still wanted her.