Nightbound by Lynn Viehl

clubbed him over the head while he slept? Why would she then crawl in bed with him?
    “No.” As if she’d heard his thinking, Alys sat straight up in the bed, staring at him with wide eyes. “What are you doing?”
    “Presently?” He leaned back. “I’m sitting and watching you sleep.”
    “Oh. Right. We’re sleeping together. I mean, we’re sharing a room.” She fell back against the pillow, and then brought her hands up to touch her sleeves. “Why are my thermals damp?”
    “I cannot tell you.” Beau regarded her, noting that her confusion seemed genuine. “Did something happen while I slept?”
    “How would I know? I was asleep, too. Ouch.” She touched the side of her head. “That hurts. Did I fall out of bed?”
    Beau rose and went to her, pushing aside her hand to examine the spot on her scalp. “Perhaps you did. You have a bump here.”
    “Wouldn’t I remember that?” Before he could reply, she shook her head. “Never mind. I had an awful nightmare last night. I was thrown across the room, and then I was in bed with you.”
    She didn’t have to say it as if it were the same as beingsubmerged neck-deep in muck, Beau thought. “Then you do remember something.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “When I awoke”—he nodded across the room—“you
were
in bed with me.”
    Alys’s shoulders stiffened. “That’s not funny.”
    “I am not jest—joking. I woke up and found you on top of me.” He knelt down before her. “Let me see your eyes.” When she glared at him, he could see that her pupils appeared normal in size. “Do you feel dizzy, or sick?”
    “No, I’m fine. Really.” Alys glanced over his shoulder. “That part about me being thrown across the room—you couldn’t have done that. It’s too far. I probably…” Her voice trailed off as she went still and closed her eyes. “Oh, God, no. Not now.”
    “Alys?” He touched her hand. “What is it? Do you recall something?”
    “No, but I’m pretty sure I know how I got in your bed.” She looked at him. “I must have been sleepwalking. I had a terrible problem with it when I was a child, and I still have episodes once or twice a year. I am so sorry.”
    He sat back on his haunches. “Why do you apologize to me? You were not awake. You could not know what you were doing.”
    She cringed a little. “Thanks, but that doesn’t make crawling into bed with you any less embarrassing.”
    Now she thought being in bed with him was humiliating. “When I woke, you seemed quite content to be using my chest as your pillow. I certainly did not mind it.”
    “You didn’t.” She gave him a wary glance. “Why not?”
    “It seemed to me harmless.”
Think of her as a child.
“Something a younger sister might do.”
    Alys frowned. “Your sister slept in your bed?”
    “No; I have no sisters.” He was making a hash of this. “I only mean that you should not feel embarrassed. I knew from the moment I woke that it was an innocent thing.”
    “Yeah, well, it was.” She swung her legs over the side of the bed. “And it was probably the nightmare that set it off.”
    “Unpleasant, was it?”
    “I don’t know.” She thought for a moment. “I was walking through the old church. I saw the missionaries kneeling and praying at the altar. It was so cold, it began to snow.” Absently she rubbed her hands over her arms. “That’s all I can remember.”
    Her scent remained clear and sweet; she spoke the truth. Which meant their injuries were the result of Alys’s sleepwalking…or someone else had come into the chamber while they slept. Beau healed instantly, so whatever had been done to him didn’t matter. The thought of someone assaulting Alys, however, made a slow, burning fury ignite inside him. “Do you feel hurt anywhere else?”
    “I don’t think so.” She stood, cautiously stretching out her arms and legs. “I’m a bit stiff, but I think that’s from setting up last night.” She picked up her watch from the lamp table and