Gideon by Jacquelyn Frank

fact, was the one they had just argued over. Why now, all of a sudden, was she letting him be aware of her wounded pride from that night that had passed between them? Oh, he had known his thoughtless behavior was very likely to evoke adverse emotions in her, but Legna would never have let them show.
    He moved around to her back and stepped closer.
    He was aware of her closing her eyes and trying to settle her breathing, regulating her flighty pulse with a chosen meditation technique. The change that slid through her physiology was swift and remarkable. She had an impressive control over both her voluntary and involuntary systems, another indication of her skills having risen closer to Elder ability rather than adult.
    Gideon reached out to gather her heavy hair in his hands, dropping the silky sheet of it over her shoulder.
    He then placed his hand on the back of her neck, encircling the warm, slender column as he stepped closer still. He closed his eyes, not a necessary action, but one that helped him focus. Immediately he began to extend his sensory abilities into her, beginning by slipping down the length of her spine and spreading throughout her nervous system.
    He felt the electrical feedback sparking through him and he took its measure, finding her to be a little over-stressed and hyperaware of her surroundings at that moment, but that was understandable considering her anxiety over the exam itself. He reached deeper into her nerves and synapses, measuring the chemicals within that regulated pain, reflex, and conduction.
    Unthinkingly, he touched his forehead to the back of her head, his deep, even breaths slipping over her neck and shoulders. He felt her shiver, but from the inside out, and the resulting feedback washed back through him and into his own body, forcing him to mimic the reaction.
    Startled, Gideon opened his eyes. That sort of response had not happened to him since his adult years. He had long ago learned to prevent himself from being affected by the nervous impulses of a patient he was examining.
    His brows lowered with puzzlement, but he returned to his task, once more embedding himself deeply into her nervous system, this time reaching cellular levels. He scanned one bundle of nerve structures at a time, picking through them from dendrite to DNA. At the same time, his hands moved over her shoulders, cupping them, curving around her arms.
    He splayed his fingers as he came around to her collarbone, embedding himself into the structures and functions of her lungs and heart. He felt the beat of her heart flutter almost uncertainly, but then it began to trip a rapid cadence that was nowhere near what it had been moments ago. Again, Gideon felt a flashback of sensory input, his own heart suddenly speeding up to match hers in perfect syncopation. The medic inhaled sharply, resisting the urge to pull away, to shut himself off from these abnormalities. It was nothing too dramatic, really.
    Nothing that could be thought of as dangerous. It was simply a peculiar aberration. But the aberration continued to affect him in other ways. Her breath quickened once more, and his did as well. Her body heat blossomed above normal, sending swirls of heat spreading through his tissues.
    Gideon pulled away from her suddenly, all of the reactions distracting him so much that he was forced to take a moment to regain his focus and concentration. He glanced down at his hands, shocked to realize they were shaking.
    “Is something wrong?”
    His eyes darted up. She had turned around to face him. Her skin was flushed, a beautiful coral pink that could have been part of the dawn breaking just outside her window. She was a remarkable work of feminine beauty. He had always thought so, but in that moment, there was more, a depth that he had not been previously aware of. It was a sort of magnetic allure, one that seemed to sing into him, feeling like a hum that vibrated over his nerves, heightening his already sharp awareness of