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.She didn't reach for the capsules for a moment, and when she did, sheused her left hand.Her fingers trembled slightly when she picked themoff his outstretched palm, but he was relieved to see her use the arm atall."Could I have some water, please?" she asked softly.He nodded and headed to the bathroom.He remembered swallowing thepills dry, as large as they were.Reaching for them in the middle ofthe night, hand trembling as hers had done, when the pain had gotten toobad to endure.By the time he got back with the water, she had managed to sit up,shoulders propped against the pillows she'd stacked together against theheadboard.However, her head was back and her eyes were again closed.In the low light from the bedside lamp, Hawk could see the tracery ofblue veins in the thin, nearly transparent skin of her eyelids, and eventhe small network of lines around them.He had never noticed thosebefore, and they, too, made her seem vulnerable.More.real, somehow.No longer like the images he'd seen on the computer screen, but just awoman, like any other woman he'd ever known."Tyler," he said, offering the glass.Her eyes opened immediately.She had been holding the capsules in herright hand, and she put them into her mouth before she reached for thewater.She drank all of it, drank it as if she had been really thirsty. ABC Amber Text Converter Trial version, http://www.processtext.com/abctxt.htmlFever? Hawk wondered again, resisting the urge to put his fingersagainst her forehead to find out.That was another temptation it wouldbe better to avoid."Thank you," she said, finally looking up at him."I brought your suitcase up," he said, without acknowledging her thanks.Belatedly, he was wondering if he should have given her two of thecapsules.That was the prescribed dosage for him, for his weight.Not for her thin fragility.These pills had been pretty potent, he remembered.He had spent a lotof time sleeping during the weeks he'd been forced to take them.Ofcourse, that sleep might simply have been another form of escape, andnot so much the result of the medication."Thanks," she said again, her eyes were still on his face.She seemed to be waiting for whatever else he intended to say.Only,Hawk couldn't think of anything else.All he could think of was howfragile she seemed.How damned vulnerable."I should probably look at your arm," he suggested.Her eyes widened slightly, again searching his.That had surprised her.And it made him examine his own motives.He had a vested interest inher health, he reminded himself.And since there was no one else aroundto take care of her."You need some help getting your clothes off?" heasked.She was still watching his face.Slowly her lips tilted, and thesurprise that had been in her eyes was replaced by amusement."I think I'd be worried if that offer had come from anyone else," shesaid."Other than you," she added softly."Thanks, but I can still manage my own clothes." She had cleared theamusement from her voice, but it lingered in her eyes."But before you go, you could put my suitcase on the bed for me?"Hawk hadn't thought about how his offer might be interpreted.He hadbeen surprised by the quiet humor that had infused her response.Or byits implication.For a second, he had been at a loss about how torespond.But her request for the case seemed to make a responseunnecessary.And it gave him an excuse to move.Away from her.Awayfrom the charged atmosphere.Or maybe that was only in his head, he thought, as he walked to the footof the bed and picked up the bag.Maybe there had been no otherconnotation in her words, and when he repeated them mentally, hecouldn't really find anything sexual.But he had felt it.It had beenin her eyes.Still thinking about exactly what he had seen there, he set the suitcasedown on the bed beside her.He unzipped it before he looked up.Hereyes were impassive now.Calm and ordinary. ABC Amber Text Converter Trial version, http://www.processtext.com/abctxt.html"Thank you," she said again, smiling at him.There was no provocationin this smile.When he didn't return it, after a moment her eyes felland, one-handed, she began going through the clothing in the bag.Shedidn't look up at him again.Hawk watched a few seconds longer, and then, realizing that he was doingit again, he turned and left the bedroom, closing the door behind him togive her some privacy.Chapter Seven.When Hawk knocked on that same door almost thirty minutes later, he hadmanaged a hot shower and had finally changed out of the clothes he'dbeen wearing for the last two days.Despite the cumulative effects ofthe lack of sleep, he felt better, more like himself.And more incontrol.Tyler gave him permission to enter, and when he did, he was relieved tofind she was sitting up in the bed.The pillows were still stackedbehind her, but this time she had folded the comforter down across thefoot of the bed.The sheet had been pulled up to her waist
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