Children of the Sea 02 - Sea Fever

building.”
     
    “You . . .” Comprehension, relief, gratitude, all rushed in on her.
    “Wow. That’s . . . wonderful.”
     
    “I didn’t think I could,” he confessed.
     
    Her heart tightened at the aching uncertainty in his voice. She touched him lightly, unable to keep her fingers from lingering on the tender skin beside his eye, below his jaw. “Well, you did.
    Congratulations.”
     
    He caught her hand and pressed it to his cheek. The stubble of his beard rasped her palm. “You don’t have to do this.”
     
    184
    She swallowed and tugged her hand away to feather ointment on his broken lip, struggling to keep her tone light. “Yeah, I do. You took care of me, seems I should take care of you.”
     
    He touched his thumb to the side of her mouth, to her own cracked and throbbing lip. His mouth was so close to hers, and his eyes were close and dark and full of heat. “Now we match,” he whispered, and his words and his look stopped her breath. Caught her heart.
     
    She smiled crookedly. “I guess we do.”
     
    But she knew better than to believe it.
     
    She wiped her fingers on a napkin and reached for the top to the ointment. However tempting she found this strange, addictive new mood of his, it would pass. Sooner or later, Dylan would remember that he was selkie and she was only the human incubator of a child who might one day be useful to his people.
     
    And then he would break her heart.
     
    She dropped the ointment back in the box. “So, are you still going down to the beach this afternoon?”
     
    “I must.” Dylan hesitated. “The prince will expect a report.”
     
    “Sure. No problem.”
     
    Not his problem anyway. She’d made it clear her family was her priority. Dylan had been equally up front about having other priorities.
    Other allegiances. Now that he’d delivered on his promise to protect her, she wasn’t looking at him to hold her hand or change her life. She didn’t need him hanging around, getting underfoot, in her way, in her hair, in her heart . . .
     
    “Regina.” Dylan’s voice shivered through her, shaking her resolve.
    “What is it?”
     
    “Nothing.” She snapped the first aid kit shut and stepped from between his thighs. “I’m fine. I don’t want to bother you.”
     
    “Woman.” His low growl vibrated in her ear. “You have badgered, pestered, distracted, and annoyed me since I met you. Why stop now?”
     
    185
     
    A reluctant smile tugged at her lips. She stole a look at him and saw an answering smile lurking in his eyes.
     
    Sighing, she relaxed against his restraining arm. “Well, since you put it so nicely . . .”
     
    He laughed, attracting Antonia’s glance through the kitchen pass.
     
    Regina lowered her voice. “If you’re going through town, could you stop at Wiley’s? I need vitamins.”
     
    “Pills?” Concern leaped into his black eyes. “Are you sick?”
     
    “No, I’m pregnant. I need prenatal vitamins.”
     
    “But you’re all right,” he pressed.
     
    “Fine.” She was almost embarrassed now to have brought it up.
    Since when did she need a guy to run her errands? “Well, I’ve had a little cramping, but—”
     
    “Have you called the doctor?”
     
    She blinked, confused by his urgency. And more touched than she could say. Although, of course, he had Selkie Baby to consider. “I gave her a call while you were outside. She said a little cramping and nausea were perfectly normal and to keep taking my vitamins. So—”
     
    “What if I buy the wrong kind?”
     
    She sighed. “Listen, never mind. I can—”
     
    “No, I’ll do it. You need vitamins, I’ll buy vitamins. Prenatal ones.”
    His tone was grim, his gaze almost panicked.
     
    Regina couldn’t decide which was more adorable, his masculine discomfort with his errand or his obvious determination to do the right thing. Good thing she wasn’t sending him out for tampons. To tease him, to test him, she whispered wickedly, “Or you could stay here and explain to my mother why I need them.”
     
    186
    His face paled beneath his golden tan. “Better your mother,” he muttered, “than those squawking gulls in town.”
     
    “At least you can charm the gulls.”
     
    He raised one eyebrow. “I can charm your mother.”
     
    He probably could, Regina thought, contemplating that dark, handsome face. He could charm anyone. He’d certainly charmed the pants off her.
     
    “Not after she learns you knocked me up.”
     
    He leaned