Page 14 of Bound By Love
Saber folded his arms across his chest. “Stubborn woman.”
Caro gave a humorless laugh. “Hello, pot. Have you met kettle?”
“I’m not stubborn.”
“Noooo, you’re not stubborn at all. You’re as easygoing as the Care Bears, a rainbow of delight, and so open to everyone that I worry strangers could kidnap you with only the promise of candy.”
“I don’t eat candy.”
“No shit.”
“I would accept help if it was necessary and someone offered it to me.”
“No, you wouldn’t. Besides, I don’t need help.”
“You’re working yourself into a state of exhaustion every night.”
“I love what I do.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to do it until you’re too tired to stand.”
She set the sword down to look at him. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m fine.”
“You’re my mate. I have to make sure you’re okay and safe.”
A twinge of distress tugged at her heart. Was it because he felt it was his duty, or was hemaybestarting to care for her a little too?
She squelched the hope trying to rise at that possibility; too much hope would leave her a devastated mess, and she was still grieving the loss of her parents. She couldn’t take another blow to her battered heart.
“I’ve done this work my whole life; I’m used to it, and I’m good. As for my safety, I’m here with members of the Alliance and protected by the very elaborate security system my father installed. I’m perfectly fine.”
“You may be safe, but you’re not fine. You’re working too much.”
“It has to be done, and fast, if we’re going to stop this world from burning. Besides, before we discovered we’re mates, you would have been up my ass asking me if I was done yet.”
He scowled at her. “I’m not that much of a tyrant.”
When she quirked an eyebrow at him, his scowl deepened. The stubborn, fool woman was working herself to the brink of exhaustion… and she was right; if she was anyone else, he would be demanding more from her.
But he wouldn’t do that to her when shadows lined her eyes, she’d lost weight, and she barely made it up the stairs every night. Maybe he was going easier on her because she was his mate, but she wasn’t going easy onherself.
And he didn’t like it.
CHAPTERELEVEN
“You’re not a tyrant,”Caro relented. “But you are stubborn. I mean….”
Her words trailed off as she inwardly kicked herself. She’d decided to stay out of his and Brie’s relationship, yet she was about to say something about it.
“You mean what?” Saber asked.
He didn’t like how her eyes returned to the sword or her uneasiness. She shouldn’t feel that way around him. Caro lifted the sword and skimmed her finger along the edge, but she didn’t fool him; she had something else to say.
“What were you going to say?” he demanded.
Caro set the sword down again. She stared at the wall while she tried to decide what to say. Should she lie and make something else up? But the idea of lying to her mate, even a small one, didn’t sit well with her. Besides, she didn’t think he would buy it.
“Brie wants a relationship with you,” Caro stated as she returned to working on the sword. “She comes here every day in the hopes of starting one, and you know it, but youstubbornlyresist having one with her.”
