Smoldering Hunger by Donna Grant

to break contact in order to catch her bearings.
    “Right,” Sophie said. “Business. I knew the moment I met you and Thorn that you were not the typical men in the city. Do you work for the government?”
    “Something like that.” It was as good of a cover as any, and it would allow him to keep most of what he did a secret.
    But for how long? A day? Two? If he continued to hang around Sophie he’d have to tell her everything because she’d eventually see something.
    That in itself frightened him. A part of him worried that she wouldn’t be able to handle the truth of who he was. Then there was the matter of his past.
    He was going to have to face that sooner rather than later. Darius would rather do it much later, but memories were assaulting him constantly.
    She tucked her hair behind an ear and turned her head to him. “You look like that type to work for the government.”
    Now that intrigued him. He rolled toward her and propped himself up on an elbow. Darius made sure not to touch her as he did. “Type? There’s a type?”
    “Of course.”
    “And what exactly is that?”
    She cut him a look, her olive eyes holding warmth and teasing. “The type that keeps to the shadows. The type who needs doctors to come to him instead of going to the hospital. The type who disappears without a word, only to suddenly reappear seemingly out of nowhere. The type who has an air of mystery and a large dose of ‘don’t fuck with me’ attitude.”
    Darius grinned, he couldn’t help it. Did she really see him that way?
    Her face softened as if in wonder. “He does smile.”
    “I smile.” Didn’t he?
    “Not like that.” She reached out and touched his bottom lip. “It transformed your face. You should smile more.”
    “I could say the same of you.”
    Her hand dropped while her eyes lowered even as she turned to face him. “I don’t have to ask to know that something bad happened in your past.”
    “Because I doona smile?”
    Her smile was sad when her gaze met his. “It’s your eyes. Your view of the world is colored.”
    “As is yours.”
    There was a long pause before she nodded. “Yes.”
    Darius was suddenly curious, but he stopped himself from asking. If he wasn’t willing to share his secrets, why would she? It wasn’t fair of him to ask about her past or what had turned her so hard.
    “You’re not going to ask?”
    He shook his head. “You doona wish to talk about your past any more than I want to talk of mine. Tell me why you became a doctor.”
    “Um … let’s see,” she said with a grin. “Even as a little girl I’d play doctor with my dolls. I mended their broken bones, stitched them when needed, and even operated.”
    “I gather your dolls were gladiators or the like.”
    She laughed. The sound was magical. It utterly captivated him. All he wanted was to hear more of it.
    “Not gladiators, though they did fight often. It’s amazing how rough a doll can get with another,” she said, still laughing.
    “I can only imagine.”
    “From there I carried a box of Band-Aids, gauze, and antiseptic at all times. On the playground, if one of the kids got hurt, I tended them. My bag of medicines began to grow the older I became. As I walked the streets of London, I often stopped and tended anyone who needed it.”
    “And they let you?”
    She shrugged her shoulder. “Surprisingly, they did. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but looking back now they must have thought I’d gone daft.”
    “You’re a natural healer.”
    “I think each of us is born with a special gift. For some like me, we realize it fairly early and grasp it. Others find it later. I feel sorry for the ones who’ve either rejected their gift or not found it yet.”
    Darius lifted a lock of her hair from the bed and rubbed it between his fingers. “You’re verra lucky.”
    “I know. I love healing others, and it kills me when they don’t take my advice. What about you? Have you always known you’d do