Eric’s blue eyes narrowed. “Oh, think nothing of it,” he said coldly.

“I didn’t say that right.” I took a deep breath. “Listen, I love you. I . . . feel thrilled that you want us to live together.” He looked a little more relaxed. “But before I make up my mind whether to do that, we need to get some stuff straight.”

“Stuff?”

“You married me to protect me. You hired Terry Bellefleur to spy on me, and you applied pressure where he couldn’t take it, to get him to comply.”

Eric said, “That happened before I knew you, Sookie.”

“Yeah, I get that. But it’s the nature of the pressure you applied to a man whose mental state is so wobbly. It’s the way you got me to marry you, without knowing what I was doing.”

“You wouldn’t have done it otherwise,” Eric said. As always, practical and to the point.

“You’re right, I wouldn’t,” I said, trying to smile at him. But it wasn’t easy. “And Terry wouldn’t have told you things about me, if you’d offered him money. I know you see this as the smart way to do business, and I’m sure a lot of people would agree with you.”

Eric was trying to follow my thinking, but I could tell he wasn’t making any sense of it. I kept struggling upstream. “We’re both living with this bond. I’m sure sometimes you would rather I didn’t know what you’re feeling. Would you be wanting me to live with you if we didn’t have the bond? If you didn’t feel it every time I was in danger? Or angry? Or afraid?”

“What a strange thing to say, my lover.” Eric took a swallow of his drink, set it down on the old coffee table. “Are you saying that if I didn’t know you needed me, I wouldn’t need you?”

Was that what I was saying? “I don’t think so. What I’m trying to say is that I don’t think you’d want me to live with you unless you felt like people were out to get me.” Was that the same thing? Geez Louise, I hated conversations like this. Not that I’d ever had one before.

“What difference does that make?” he said, more than a trace of impatience in his voice. “If I want you with me, I want you. The circumstances don’t matter.”

“But they do matter. And we’re so different.”

“What?”

“Well, there are so many things you take for granted that I don’t.”

Eric rolled his eyes. A total guy. “Like what?”