He picked her up, moving to the couch to hold her in his lap. Stroking her back through the tremors, feeling her tears hot and damp on his neck. He forced his hands to be gentle, even as the rage and fear worked inside him. As she curled up against him, he closed his eyes and murmured the useless words that always seemed to comfort.

She cried hard, he realized. But she didn’t cry long. She trembled violently, but the trembling was soon controlled. She didn’t try to push away. If she had, he wouldn’t have allowed it. Perhaps he was comforting her. But holding her, knowing she was safe, and with him, brought him tremendous comfort.

“Damn it.” When the worst was over, she let her head lie weakly on his shoulder. “I told you to go away.”

“We had a deal, remember? You’re spending the day with me.” His hands tightened once, convulsively, before he managed to gentle them again. “You scared me, big-time.”

“Me, too.”

“And if I go away, I’m going to have to go back down there, find a way to get to that son of a bitch, and break him in half.”

It was odd how a threat delivered so matter-of-factly could seem twice as deadly as a shout. “Then I guess you’d better hang around until the impulse fades. I’m really all right,” she told him, but she left her head cuddled against his shoulder. “This was just reaction.”

There was still an ice floe of fury in his gut. That was his reaction, and he’d deal with it later. “It may be his blood, Rachel, but they’re your bruises.”

Frowning, she touched fingers gingerly to her cheek. “How bad does it look?”

Despite himself, he chuckled. “Lord, I didn’t know you were that vain.”

She bristled, pulling back far enough to scowl at him. “It has nothing to do with vanity. I have a meeting in the morning, and I don’t need all the questions.”

He cupped her chin, tilted her head to the side. “Take it from someone who’s had his share of bruises, sugar. You’re going to get the questions. Now forget about tomorrow.” He touched his lips, very gently, to the bruise, and made her heart stutter. “Have you got any tea bags? Any honey?”

“Probably. Why?”

“Since you won’t go to the hospital, you’ll have to put up with Muldoon first aid.” He shifted her from his lap and propped her against the pillows. Their vivid colors only made her appear paler. “Stay.”

Since the bout of weeping had tired her, she didn’t argue. When Zack came out of the kitchen five minutes later, tea steaming in the cup in his hands, she was out like a light.