“I’ll make sure I follow your orders, Rio, because I have the power to determine that, you know.” Rachael’s gaze followed the path of the knife as it moved close to her. “If you don’t let me help you now, I don’t think I’m going to be able to at all.” Her voice was funny, tinny and far away. “That awful leech is going to just stay there, getting high on your blood. Maybe it’s a girl leech and she’s going to have babies and they’ll all live on your back, sucking your blood. A little leech community. How perfectly lovely.”

He muttered something under his breath.

“And don’t swear at me or I’m going to cry. I’m doing my best here and you aren’t giving me anything to work with.”

His fingers were gentle in her hair even though he didn’t mean to touch her. “Don’t you dare cry.” The thought was more alarming than someone coming at him with a gun. Her tears might turn him inside out. “The morphine is wearing off, isn’t it? I didn’t give you very much because I was afraid you’d go into shock.”

A small humorless laugh escaped. She sounded on the verge of hysteria. “I am in shock. I think I lost my mind. I thought you turned into a leopard and tried to rip my throat out.”

He slipped the tip of the knife between his back and the leech, flicked it to the floor and hastily disposed of it. “Leopards don’t rip throats out. They bite the throat and suffocate their prey.” He dipped a cloth into a cool bowl of water and sponged her face. “They’re tidy killers.”

“Thanks for the information. I wouldn’t want to think my death would be a messy one.”

Rio was uncomfortably aware of her gaze studying his face. Her eyes were large, too old for the rest of her. There was something sad in the dark depths that tugged at his heart. Her lashes were incredibly long, spiky from her tears. He actually felt as if he were falling forward into the depths of them, a corny and totally ridiculous notion he was impatient with. His heart began to pound in his chest. Anticipating—what, he didn’t know. He deliberately wiped the cloth over her eyes, a gentle stroke to save himself from falling under her spell.

“Are you always this sarcastic, or should I put it down to you being in considerable pain?”

Rachael tried to laugh but it came out a gasping sob. “I swear it feels like my leg is on fire.”