Even with the bandage covering part of her forehead, he admired how naturally lovely she was. Her hair, blonde and soft looking, had been pulled back by one of the nurses and tied in a ponytail. Her face was definitely Slavic, cheekbones high and accentuated even more by the rainbow bruises on the side where the stitches had been taken. Her mouth was wide, her lips full, slightly parted now as she slept. Christ, how he hated to leave her. He held her hand, occasionally stroking it as he had been doing since he came in to sit with her. Tough! That’s what she was—tough to be able to hold up so well after what she had been through over the last fifteen hours. Her eyes fluttered open, looking first at him, lips opening slightly in a smile, then scanning the room. “Cobb…” “Right here. I’ve been here, right beside you, since they fixed you up.” “Where are we? Who…?” He hushed her with a finger to her lips. “Shh, it’s all right. We’re in Istanbul. You’re in a hospital.
