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himself murdered this morning.” She blew her nose into a tissue. “That sort of thing isn’t good for the professional image, you know. Tends to make people think in terms of gangland feuds and mob boss rivalries.”
    He said nothing. He had no more arguments to give her.
    She sniffled again, blotted up the last of her tears, and wadded up the tissue. “You’re supposed to be a business consultant now, Emmett.”
    “I am a business consultant. As far as I’m concerned this job with the Guild is just that, a short-term consulting position.”
    “If you go back into the Guild, you may not get out a second time.”
    Very deliberately he took his hands off her shoulders. “And if I return to the Guild, you’ll end our relationship? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”
    “ No .” She whirled around, eyes glittering with sudden fury and outrage. “I’m trying to tell you that the idea of you running the Cadence Guild, even for a few weeks, scares me more than all the illusion traps and energy ghosts in the Dead City, that’s what I’m trying to tell you.”
    He felt his own temper start to slip. “Does the thought of sleeping with a Guild boss offend your delicate sensibilities so much? I figured that you and I had something more going on than just a casual fling.”
    “Don’t act dense.”
    “Sorry, but it’s not an act. I feel dense at the moment. I’m also real tired of playing guessing games. Why don’t you tell me exactly why you’re crying? Keep it simple. Short sentences and no more than two syllables, okay? After all, I’m a hunter, remember? I don’t do big words.”
    “Fine.” She threw up her hands. “You want to know why I’m crying? I’m crying because I’m terrified that if you take Mercer Wyatt’s position, whoever tried to murder him last night will try to get rid of you, too. I’m scared to death that if you take over the Cadence Guild, you’ll be putting yourself in grave danger.” Tears welled up in her eyes once more. “And I can’t bear to think about what I would do if you got hurt or worse.”
    He stared, dumbfounded, at the fresh tears running down her face. “That’s why you’re so upset? You think whoever went after Wyatt will come after me?”
    She swiped her eyes with her sleeve and nodded mutely.
    “Ah, honey.”
    He stopped, not sure how to proceed. He had been braced to hear her tell him that she would break off their relationship if he took over the Guild. He had been so intently focused on arguments designed to convince her to tolerate the situation for a short period of time that he could not wrap his brain around this other thing. She had dissolved into a puddle because she feared for his safety?
    He could not recall the last time anyone had been overly concerned about his health and well-being. Back in Resonance it was understood that he could take care of himself.
    Admittedly, over the years he had managed to reduce a couple of previous lovers to tears but the aggrieved parties had always made it clear that the reason was the usual masculine sin of failing to understand and respond properly to a woman’s needs. None of those old lovers had ever cried because she was concerned that he might get hurt or killed.
    Relief and a strange sense of satisfaction surged through him. Lydia was worried about him.
    “It’s okay,” he said. “There’s no reason to be concerned about me. What happened to Wyatt looks like something personal, not Guild politics.”
    “Is that right?” She turned away to grab another handful of tissues. “How do you know that?”
    “I’ll explain later. Right now I’ve got something more important to do.”
    She dabbed a few more tears and glowered at him over her shoulder. “Such as?”
    He smiled slowly and reached out to pull her back into his arms.
    “Such as this,” he said.
    He caught her face in both hands and raised her mouth to his. She stiffened. And then, with a soft, muffled cry, she practically leaped on