FascinatingRhythm (11 page)

He chuckled, smiling, his throat working, then he reached
out and came back with a handful of tissues. Without self-consciousness, he
cleaned himself roughly and dabbed at something in front of him. “Just missed
the laptop. I would have trashed it rather than explain to the repair man what
happened.”

That made her laugh. Shaky but there, recovering fast. She
still sat with her legs splayed, keeping her balance now. He winked at her.
“Fun, eh? Maybe we’ll do it some more. But not tonight. Close the laptop and
climb between the sheets now. Sleep. I’ll call you in the morning.”

When she closed the laptop, he was still there, watching
her. She fell asleep thinking of him touching her, holding her. He was always
so tender in the aftermath of passion.

Hunter hurtled through the doors of the university hospital,
drawing the attention of everyone in the reception area. Fucking great. Nothing
like sneaking in. But it was done, so he crossed to the map on the wall and
found her ward. Then checked his watch. He was cutting it too close.

They’d probably stop him if he ran, but he lengthened his
stride, and since he was over six feet tall, he could walk as fast as some
people could run. Recalling the map, he turned right and, instead of waiting
for the elevator, took the stairs. Only two floors, then he was out and into
the hallway that led to her ward.

The nurse at the station glanced up at his approach, then
did a double take. He was used to that by now because of the band’s increasing
fame, but it still unnerved him sometimes. Like now. He gave Sabina’s name, she
checked the list. “Ah yes. You just caught her.”

Sabina was sitting on the bed in a private room fully
dressed, a dark-haired woman by her side. At his entrance, they both looked up
and he caught the glimmer of tears in her eyes.

“What is it?” In an instant, he stood by her other side.

“Nothing much, really,” she said. “Just they’ve canceled the
operation.”

The older woman growled. “They didn’t cancel it. You’re
Hunter Ostrander?” Her English was more heavily accented than Sabina’s, but
still fluent and clear.

“And you’re…” He paused.

Her eyes crinkled, although she didn’t actually smile. “I’m
Sabina’s mother. Call me Adela. When I went to school in France nobody could
pronounce my first name, so they used the second one.”

“I can,” he said. “Danheiður. But I’ll call you Adela if you
prefer.”

“I’m used to it.”

He recalled what she said. “What did you mean,
they
didn’t cancel it? In that case, who did?”

She met his eyes, her own steely. “Your mother. She called
yesterday.”

His mouth dropped open. “I knew nothing of this, I swear.”

“I know,” Adela said. “Sabina said you didn’t. If I thought
you did, you wouldn’t be here.”

“I’m sorry.” He turned his anguished gaze to Sabina. “Can I
do anything?”

She shook her head. “It’s a shame I couldn’t get hold of you
before you left. It’s a journey wasted.”

“No it’s not.” He slashed his hand in the air, furious with
his mother. “I’ll talk to her. What gave her the right?”

“Nothing.” Sabina shrugged. “She said she was my mother and
they didn’t check properly. My mother never keeps her phone charged up.” She
threw her mother an exasperated look that was so typically daughter to mother
that Hunter might have laughed in different circumstances. “I got here today on
time and they told me they’d offered the slot to somebody else. But they advised
me to wait, to see if they couldn’t straighten it out.” She sighed. “There’s a
waiting list a mile long for subjects. This operation is out of beta, into
controlled experimental. People want it. I wanted it.”

He sank down on his knees in front of her and took her spare
hand, the one not curled up in her mother’s. As always, the contact thrilled
and relaxed him, spoke to him at a deep level. “Can they do nothing?”

Sabina shook her head. “They said they would keep me on the
list, but I would be at the bottom. So my only chance is to wait here.”

“I want you to come with me.”

“To Moscow?”

He exchanged another glance with Adela, who was watching,
her gaze perceptive. “Yes,” he said. “Why not? It’ll be an adventure for both
of us. And it’s Beijing first. Come and watch your,” he coughed and Adela
laughed, probably at his embarrassment, “boyfriend perform. I’ll make sure
you’re treated as a VIP.”

“You always do,” she said softly, curling her nails into his
palm, gently scratching, more like a tickle than a sting, and immensely sexy.

“It is a good idea,” Adela said. “After all, you can hardly
go back to Stockholm, not after this. You know you are always welcome at home
too.”

“Yes, I know.”

“She has always been a stubbornly independent child. The
most stubborn of my children.” Adela smiled fondly. “She will not enjoy it at
home. She has wanderlust.”

That was the first he’d heard about it. “You want to
travel?”

“I have traveled,” she said. “I love it. But right now I’m
confused.” And upset, he knew, because he could read her only too well. So was
he, for that matter. He’d take care of her first, but he wanted a word with his
mother.

“How could Emmelie have done this?”

Sabina shook her head, her skein of black hair moving around
her face like a curtain. “I had the usual doubts that anyone has before a
procedure. She could have taken that as second thoughts. In my mind I was
certain, but she spent the last few days concentrating on me, trying to make me
change my mind.”

Hunter growled low in his throat, garnering him a shocked
stare from Adela. “I told her not to do that. I said that you’d made up your
mind and I’d support you whatever you decided.” He wanted to snap like a
cornered dog, angry, upset, even guilty because
his
mother had done this
awful thing. “When will the operation come out of experimental?”

“They say a year. Then it will be available to special
patients.” Sabina moved her hand.

“Then you shall have it if you want it. I will pay, to
compensate for my mother’s behavior.” He squeezed her hand lightly. “And
because I want you to have what you want.”

She’d dropped her gaze to their hands, but lifted her head
at his words, her own determined. “You can’t do that. I won’t let you.”

He released her hand, tucking one of his fingers under her
chin so she couldn’t look away. “Sabina, do you know how much I have in the
bank?”

She shook her head again. After breathing in her delectable
scent, he told her. Both Adela and Sabina gasped, their eyes round with
astonishment. Hunter felt almost embarrassed at the obscene amount. But he’d
told the truth. “I can afford it. I will pay if you wish for the operation.”
Another year, perhaps two, to give them time to schedule, but she would have
it. Anything, he’d buy her anything she wanted.

“I have to pay it back.”

“No you don’t. It won’t be a loan. Although I might ask you
to do something.”

“What?” Her determination shone through the single word.

He couldn’t say it now. Not here, in this sterile hospital
room. He wanted somewhere more romantic. “Never mind. Nothing you don’t want to
do.” The heat in her eyes, quickly banked, told him his words had started a
spark of arousal in her. That Skype call, the hottest of his life, flitted
across his mind and his cock stirred. “So will you come?”

She nodded.

Adela released her daughter’s hand and got to her feet. “Why
do I feel unneeded here? No, don’t get up,” she said as Hunter moved, ready to
get to his feet. “I’ll go and find coffee for all of us, and we’ll sit and talk
of other things until we have regained our senses. Then we will make
decisions.”

She left, and as soon as the door swung closed, Hunter took
Sabina in his arms and kissed her. “I missed you,” he said against her mouth,
loving the soft texture against his skin, then drew back so she could see him
talk. “I want you to come with me to Beijing. Please say yes.”

She chuckled weakly and gave him a sweet, brief kiss. “Yes.”

He sighed and took her mouth again. “Thank you,” he said
when they finally separated. He returned to take another kiss, unable to stop
tasting her.

“They’re running out of funding for the operation,” she
said. “They might not have enough.”

He grunted. “If this program is a success, they’ll get the
funding, believe me. A miracle operation to restore people’s hearing? Are you
kidding me?”

He’d made her laugh again. “When you put it like that. And
it’s not a miracle operation. They’ve worked for twenty years toward this, and
there’s a lot of aftercare involved.”

Stroking her hair, he murmured, “I know that. It’s what the
media will say though. And if you had this op, they’d come after you.”

“I never thought of that.”

“If they can find you.” A grin wreathed his face. “Our
manager is very good at manipulating the media. You might have noticed.”

“Yes.”

“Listen, sweetheart. I have to go back faster than we
thought. I grabbed this gap, but the Chinese media or the government, or both,
are insisting that we do press conferences beforehand. So if you want to come
with me, you need to be quick.”

Moving closer to him, she lifted her chin. “I have enough
clothes and things back at your mother’s house.”

“We’ll collect them and fly to Beijing tonight. Beverley
will make the arrangements.” He paused. “We might have to tell a few lies.”

“Like what?”

How to tell her? Just straight out. “Like we’re married.
Sorry.”

“What?”

“Just to get us past the authorities, that’s all.”

Was that disappointment he saw in her eyes? Dear Lord, he
hoped not. He hadn’t thought about anything of that nature, too busy working on
his career to consider any kind of personal life, but the shock he felt now was
because he didn’t feel any shock. Only warmth. “If I wanted to marry anyone, it
would be you.”

“What?” Now he’d definitely puzzled her.

“Never mind.” Trying to turn it into a joke, he pressed his
forehead against hers and growled, “Can you imagine? Domesticity? Us?”

Only a weak smile, but at least he’d raised one. “I still
want to come.”

“Good. They’re televising both concerts and we’re videoing
it. Chick had to jump through all kinds of hoops and we’ve signed agreements.
The authorities are still putting on a five-minute delay, so they can cut out
all the cursing, presumably. We have to keep to our running order, which isn’t
something we usually do.”

“What about Red Square?”

“Much more normal.” Unable to resist her sexy sweetness,
intrigued by the softness she was showing, so different from her usual spiky
independence, he drew her close and kissed her again.

Someone cleared her throat. Even without checking Hunter
felt sure it was Adela.

Adela had a tray with three cardboard cups of coffee on it.
It said a lot for the way he felt about Sabina that he didn’t lunge forward and
grab one of the steaming cups. The aroma drew him, reminding him just how weary
he was. Too tense to sleep on the plane, still recovering from jet lag and
worry, he needed that caffeine like an addict needed a hit.

A man in a white coat stood next to Adela, bushy brows
raised but he was smiling in a controlled, professional way, his eyes revealing
more anxiety than relaxed humor. He should know better than to try to put on a
fake expression with the deaf. The tips of his fingers, where they curled
around his blue clipboard, were white. “I have some good news,” he said, “for
you, at least. The person we scheduled to replace you in the operation has
called, declining the offer. We all feel that because of the confusion, we’d
like to offer you the place.”

Almost a relief to sink into his native language, and only
polite to answer Swedish for Swedish. “And because she is here and ready.” He
fixed a smile to his lips, thought of something good. That was the only way to
make fake expressions work. Make them real by thinking of something
appropriate, or in this case, inappropriate. The thought of pinning Sabina to
the bed and exposing her lovely body before making her scream did it for him.
Only when he’d done that did he turn back to face her. “No coffee for you
then.”

She gave a mock sigh. “And I was so looking forward to it.”
Excitement turned her eyes bright. “So they want me back in?”

“Who wouldn’t?” The moment he’d begun to grow excited himself,
someone had dashed his expectations. The doctor, to be precise.

Adela was looking like the cat who got the cream. “Such good
news, dear!” Her Swedish was worse than her English, but still passable. “We’ll
go home after the operation and then I can care for you.”

“No.” Sabina’s face fell. “I have to stay close, for the
aftercare.”

The doctor consulted his clipboard, although Hunter guessed
he knew all the details by heart. “Every day for the first week after the
operation. For six weeks, until the operation wound has healed and the implants
have embedded, we will want you examined every week. After that, we require you
to undergo a series of tests to help with our studies. You will also have a
course of therapy to help you hear again. You agreed to do all this when you
consented to the operation.”

“But she can’t fly,” Hunter blurted.

“Indeed not,” the doctor said, losing the cheer. “We would
prefer she did not fly for at least twelve months.”

A year. He had to be in New York in a few months, and the world
tour meant he must fly almost every week. He turned his attention back to
Sabina. “I’ll come back whenever I can.”

“There’s no need.” She forced a smile. “There is the phone,
and Skype.”

Everyone else in the room seemed to disappear, and the
memory of her in his bed rocketed through him, hardening his cock and sending
thrills of arousal through him. Talk about inappropriate. The very wrongness of
it made him smile, and this time he didn’t have to force it. “We’ll manage. I
promised not to leave you again and I will not.”

A shadow crossed her eyes. He wanted to dispel it, but he
didn’t know what had caused it. It must be the thought of their separation, or
was he a complete fucking idiot to think so? “You’ll remain my friend.”

It sounded so formal, especially considering what they’d
done together, but perhaps she needed the distance now. He had to take his cue
from her. “I’ll stay until the procedure is done. I’ll be here when you wake
up.”

“Thank you.”

He couldn’t promise more. Thinking rapidly, he realized he
had less than a day with her. Then he’d have to leave. How could he leave her,
even with her mother, who seemed a competent, pleasant woman?