DEACON
I framed her face with one hand. "I'm not going to leave you."
Her eyelids lowered, and her tongue slipped out to swipe over her lips. "Again."
"I'm staying here. With you. For you, Emma. I'm not going to run away again, babe."
She lifted her face. "Now tell me again . . . but don't use words this time."
I didn't have to be asked twice. Reaching down, I lifted Emma up to my lap, angling her head so that it rested in the crook of my elbow. With my fingers on her chin, I coaxed her to tip her mouth to me.
The last time I'd kissed Emma had been the night we'd celebrated the publication of her study about ventilators and acupuncture. We'd had champagne, and I'd been giddy enough to breach the walls she'd kept up since I'd returned from Slovenia. But that night, Noah had still
