Page 55 of Her Captivated Hero

“You scratched yourself raw? You broke the skin?” Gray clearly didn’t believe her. “Tell me what really happened, Honey.” His voice alarmed her, but his touch was exquisitely tender as he traced her damaged flesh. With her free hand, she pulled the sheet up higher up her chest, Gray saw her movement.

“Don’t hide yourself from me. Are there other marks? How did I miss them earlier?”

“Calm down. That’s the worst of it.”

“The worst?” His voice rose with the question. He tugged at the sheet, and his gaze swept over her body. “Where, where else?”

She drew the sheet down farther, so he could see the tops of her knees. “Here. I don’t know why it flared on my joints.” She then pointed to her ankle. “I’m such an idiot.”

“What are you talking about? These really do look like you might have scratched here. These look like the size of your nails.” He traced the welts on her left knee that showed clearly in the afternoon sun.

“I told you I did it, why would I lie?” Riya pulled up the sheet again. Before she could put her arms under the cloth, he took her arm.

“This looks bad. Was it an allergic reaction? Did you see a doctor?” He closely examined the worst scratches where she had drawn blood. He looked pale. “You really hurt yourself, Riya.”

“You don’t see a doctor for a psychosomatic problem. It was all in my mind, and I’m not even itchy anymore.”

His eyes shot to hers. “Explain.”

How embarrassing.

“It’s not a big deal, and it’s stopped.” She leaned sideways to grab the bottle of moisturizer off the nightstand. “I just needed this.” She bent her head and mumbled. “And you home.”

“What did you say?”

She didn’t answer.

“What do you mean psychosomatic? Talk to me.”

“Can we have this talk after I’ve put on my clothes?”

She pulled at the sheet, and he caught her. “Stop just a minute, will you? I need to understand what’s going on.”

His voice sounded funny so she looked up at him. He looked really confused, like he couldn’t comprehend what she was saying. Her shoulders sagged. She didn’t want to have to be more specific, because then he would have to admit what a fool she’d been.

“Gray, seriously, it’s nothing,” she choked out.

His expression grew dark and he shoved back the covers. “Fine.” He stalked to the bathroom and came back moments later with her first aid kit.

“You’re making too big of a deal about this.”

He sat down beside her and tugged on her arm, and examined her elbow. “No I’m not, this could get infected. Especially when you’re cleaning the cat box. You need to have this covered up.”

The atmosphere was tense while he took his time smoothing antibiotic cream on her wounds. She hated it.

“Now, will you tell me why you were scratching.” He asked evenly. She looked at his face and tried to read his expression, but he was avoiding her. Gray didn’t do that. He was always careful to meet her eyes, it was like he understood she needed to see his expression clearly to understand where he was coming from.

“Will you please look at me?” He continued to minister to her. His concentration intensely focused on her arm. When she hissed in a breath, his gaze shot up and met hers. He looked anguished.

“My God, Gray. What’s wrong?” How could he be so upset? It made no sense. It was only a scratch.

He didn’t respond, he just stared at her, and she saw such hell roiling around in his eyes.

“Gray, talk to me.”

“I just hate seeing you in pain, it tears me up inside.” Riya had to strain to hear him.

Her mind started going through all of the moments she had been with him like a fast rolodex, until she stopped on that moment in front of the church when she’d slipped. Yeah, he’d been concerned, but it wasn’t this level of distress. This was over the top, and it had to be in reaction to something that had happened recently. Was it because they’d just made love? Was he regretting it? That didn’t make sense in the slightest. He was obsessed that she was injured? Why all of a sudden? It was totally out of proportion to the situation? What had…?