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Her head dipped forward, and she mumbled. He strained to hear, but the words made no sense.

Her body went slack, sleep pulling her under.

He caught her before she toppled and moved her onto the bed.

For a moment, he just stood there, watching her.

The tension in his chest didn’t ease.

No way was he leaving her alone.

He stripped down to his boxers, slid in beside her, and pulled the covers up. Felicity curled into him automatically, and he gathered her closer.

She murmured something again — soft, slurred.

It meant nothing to him. And yet … it didn’t feel like nothing.

There was a softness to it. Something genuine that warmed him.

*

Felicity woke slowly. Warm. So warm. Then the weight around her waist registered. Ugh. One of the dogs must’ve climbed onto the bed last night. “Slezay,” she muttered, pushing at the weight.

“You did that a bit last night. Speaking … Russian?”

Her body stilled. The hell?

She turned, pushing up onto an elbow, dragging her hair from her face. “Ronan?”

“Morning.” He gave her that maddeningly endearing crooked grin, hooking his hands behind his head.

The head currently on her pillow.

In her bed.

And his chest … bare in the pale morning light filtering through the thin drapes, shadows catching along muscle and the scatter of hair.

She dropped back, staring at the ceiling as the events of last night rushed in.

Her sister was back. She hadn’t expected that.

Her world had tilted. Ronan had held it together. And—

“I spoke Russian?”

“Not an expert on Slavic languages, love, but yeah. Sounded like Russian to me.”

“What did I say?”

“Well … it was in … Russian…”

She caught the inflection. Could feel the question he wasn’t asking.

“Yeah. Russian.” That, at least, she could give him. “And … I asked you to stay?” She didn’t recall asking him.

“Not in so many words. Not in English or Russian.” He pushed onto his elbow, leaning closer. “But, Felicity, there was no way I was leaving you alone last night.” Concern edged out the curiosity.

She lifted her hand, resting it on his shoulder. “Thank you for staying,” she whispered, her fingers trailing down his arm, finding his hand.