THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

me a sit rep from the cameras? I want a play-by-play when he hits the roof.”
    “Roger that, Dr. Bowen. Stand by.”
    Ainsley reached for his free hand and squeezed it. He squeezed back hard enough to hurt her hand, but she refused to flinch.
    Devon will be okay. You’ll see. Ainsley mustered all the calm assurance she could and directed it toward Delano, wanting to return the favor he’d done for her so many times in the past. When he didn’t respond, she squeezed his hand again. Really, Del. She’ll be okay, and so will Eli.
    Again, he didn’t respond, and it sank in. He wasn’t hearing her. Omigod, what did that mean?
    And holy shit, she hadn’t heard more than a handful of words from him in the last hours. She’d been far too stressed to have noticed the omission. Or if she’d registered it on any level —
    “Grayson is on the roof, sir.”
    Delano squeezed her fingers again.
    “He’s picking up the child. She appears to be conscious. Yes, she’s definitely conscious. She’s hanging on to him pretty hard. No activity from the helo. He’s on his way back. Closer, closer … he’s inside!”
    “Tsk, tsk, Delano. You disappoint me.” Janecek’s voice came over the speaker again. Lucy’s sobs had stopped, but the low, raw keening coming over the phone made the hair stand up on Ainsley’s arms.
    “I expected you to come storming out to try to stop me. Not only did you not try to intervene, you sent a mere man to pick up my leavings. Are you learning some sense at last?”
    Delano’s hands fisted. “That was my inclination, naturally, but I was persuaded that you might use the occasion to shred me with your guns.”
    “I’m wounded.”
    “You are beyond wounded, Radak.” Delano said. “Now give us twenty minute’s peace while we see to the child.”
    “Granted,” he said pleasantly. “I would hate to seem ungracious.”
    Swearing, Delano stabbed the off button, and the room went silent. Somehow, not being able to hear Lucy’s heart-rending keening was worse. Then the door opened and Eli shouldered his way into the room bearing the child.
    Ainsley flew to him, taking Devon into her own arms. The little girl wrapped herself around Ainsley, clinging with the desperation of a mind stretched to the breaking point by terror.
    “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
    “I want Mama!”
    “We’re working on that, baby. We’re working on it. But right now, you’ve got your Aunt Ainsley.” She glanced at Delano, who gestured to the hall leading to the bedrooms. Good idea. They could shut the door so she wouldn’t have to hear her mother’s grief. Ainsley carried her through, bypassing Eli’s bedroom where the pilot was stashed, and continuing to her own room. But when she tried to lay the child on the bed, she clung tighter, practically cutting off Ainsley’s oxygen supply.
    “It’s okay, baby. We just want to look you over and make sure you’re all right. You know I’m a nurse, right?”
    She felt the girl’s nod against her neck.
    “And this man is a doctor. Dr. Bowen and I just want to check you over, okay honey?”
    “Noooooo!”
    Ainsley looked at Delano hopelessly. Short of forcibly prying Devon away, they weren’t going to get her off. She clung with the tenacity of a limpet.
    “Just sit down on the bed with her.”
    Ainsley sat, and Delano perched on the edge of the bed beside her, on the left so he could see Devon’s face. Devon immediately shifted to bury her face into the other side of Ainsley’s neck.
    “That’s okay, little one, you don’t have to look at me.” Delano’s voice was pitched low and soothing, warm and smooth as velvet. “Just listen.”
    He then proceeded to weave a spell with his voice. Under its soothing, hypnotic influence, Devon loosened her death grip on Ainsley’s neck. On and on he talked. Within five minutes, Ainsley felt the change in the child she held. Incredibly, Devon was asleep!
    She turned questioning eyes on Delano.
    “Lie her down. She’ll sleep now.”
    “What about blood loss? Do we need to worry about replacing volume?”
    Delano shook his head. “Given that he planned to turn her, he would not have taken enough blood to weaken her substantially, and he infused her with some of his own blood to compensate for the loss. Check for yourself. Her capillary refill looks very good.”
    “Let me lie her down.”
    Ainsley stood with her burden and Delano swept the blankets back. Ainsley lay Devon down, and the