“Listen,” he said softly near her ear. “You need to bathe, eat, and rest. I’ll save my questions for later, fair enough?”
“Yes,” she whispered against his pulse.
“But then you’ll satisfy my curiosity?” he asked her.
“Yes.”
“Good. Are you injured? Were you…? Did they…? Do you need an apothecary?”
She lifted her head, sniffling from the water that had rushed up her nose when she’d been dunked. “No,” she said. “I only need you.”
He was so startled by the remark that his hand tensed against her bare back. It was as though everything that came out of her mouth was dragged from a dusty old place in his brain where he’d thrown away all the things he’d never expected to hear someone not of his people say to him. Questions surged through his mind, but he’d promised to save his grilling for later, and he’d adhere to that promise. However, how did one transition away from a remark like that?
“My Prime!”
Reule closed his eyes and sighed, remembering to be careful what he asked for in the future. He looked up at Pariedes with his best innocent smile. “Yes, Para?”
“Release that child this instant!” she commanded imperiously, pointing at the female as if he wouldn’t know which one she meant. The “child” reacted by tightening her hold on his neck to the point of throttling him.
“I would, Para, only she doesn’t seem intent on releasing me.” The “she” in question vigorously shook her head to confirm that fact. Knowing Para’s sense of propriety would have cast him as the villain, he could have kissed the outlander right on her bruised little cheek for it.
“Prime Reule, this is terribly improper,” Para fussed, twisting her hands together.
Before Reule could respond, he felt the woman in his lap react, jerking back and even releasing him slightly as she sought his eyes. He felt her fingers blending into his hair as her expression turned into pleasured wonder. She smiled and he swiftly realized he’d never seen a woman look so ethereal before. She hardly seemed real, with that expression on her face and the ever-present undercurrent of sadness still washing against him in a placid tide.
“Reule,” she said softly, her voice musical. Reule looked into those crystal eyes and felt his chest constricting in response. “Reule,” she said again, her hand coming to stroke his face from forehead, to cheek, to jaw, and then to the tip of his chin. Her touch was tender and almost…treasuring. Reule’s heartbeat doubled in cadence, hurting in the closed confines of a chest tightened with unnamed emotion.
She was like a bolt of lightning, searing him head to toe before he even knew what had hit him. Now he was left dazed, his mind blank to anything that didn’t involve the two of them, the hot soothing water, or the warmth of their clasped bodies. It wasn’t exactly sexual, as his earlier reactions to her had been, but it wasn’t exactly not, either. He realized then that she’d neglected to give him her name, just as he’d forgotten to give his.
“What’s your name?” he asked softly, reaching up to sweep back an errant strip of hair with his thumb.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
The diamonds gleamed with increasing brilliance as her eyes filled with tears.
Chapter 3
Strangely enough, that confession was the first thing that made sense about her. It explained why, when he’d been seeking for her, he’d felt nothing but sorrow and pain. It turned out that she knew nothing of who she was or how she’d come to be in that attic. In truth, the only thing they were both certain of was that she knew he was Sánge, and that she seemed to trust him with outrageous simplicity and totality even though she apparently knew little else of the world around her.
Reule supposed she didn’t have much of a choice. He also figured that might be why she felt no revulsion or trepidation concerning his breed. Yet he wasn’t certain. If he was confused, he could only imagine how she must feel.
“My Prime, I’m certain she is warm enough now. You ought to leave her to me and one of the girls to tend her bath and work through that hair of hers,” Pariedes said with a cluck of disapproval at his lingering behavior. “You can save these endless questions for after she has a full belly and a decent dress on!”
The remark reminded Reule of his own intentions, and he gave the naked woman in his arms a sheepish grin.
“I did promise that, didn’t I? I didn’t mean to break my word.” He hadn’t been able to help himself. Her confession that she did not know her name elicited a barrage of questions that he absolutely had to ask. Did she know where she was? What she was? How she’d gotten there? What had brought her to the point at which he’d found her? As he asked each question, she gave a decided no or shake of her head after she gave it a moment’s thought. Determined to do the right thing now, Reule tried to stand, gently explaining to her when she tightened her hold around his neck in refusal.
“These steps are shallow, as is all this side of the pool. You could stand and it would never go above your…chest.” He cleared his throat hastily as he skipped saying “breasts,” as if it would help him deny the feel of them against his chest. “Or you can just sit here and Para will help you to bathe. If—”
“No!” she cried, clinging to him as he gained his feet so that her legs were clamped like a vise around his waist and her arms were back to choking him about the neck. He didn’t have to hear Para’s gasp to be aware of her shocked sensibilities. The poor thing was so flustered, Reule could feel it buzzing all up and down his mind. However, her emotion was nothing compared to the terror coming from the woman wrapped around him. “No, don’t go! I don’t want you to. Reule, please. You can bathe me, can’t you? Why do you want to leave me?”
Reule ignored Para’s horrified squawk and looked into frightened, faceted irises. His hands curved around her waist, her silky skin wonderfully warm now.
“I’m not leaving you,” he said gently, keenly realizing the reasons why she might react in such a way. She was either so disturbed by the idea of being abandoned that she was willing to throw away all propriety, or she came from a culture in which women behaved vastly differently than in theirs. “I wouldn’t abandon you,” he tried to reassure her. “I’m only going across the hall for my own bath. Para will—”
“But you can stay and bathe with me. There’s plenty of room. I won’t bother you. Or I can help you bathe!” she tacked on, clearly delighted to have come up with the inspiration.
Lord and Lady. The images she provoked appeared too quickly and far too vividly before he could head them off. Those small hands…the slippery slide of soap…his body.
Reule sat back down quickly as tight, wet fabric stretched to accommodate his blazing erection and the rush left him light-headed. Reule sucked in a deep breath because he felt as though he wasn’t breathing. He watched her blink at him with innocent candor. She wasn’t bargaining her soul away to keep him there; she simply didn’t see any reason why he should leave. She didn’t understand why they couldn’t share this large bath and bathe one another with practicality, and because she didn’t understand, she wouldn’t believe he wasn’t trying to discard her.
“Okay,” he murmured as he raised a hand to stroke gently along her collarbone. He wasn’t agreeing to anything. Rather, he was merely preparing to be firm as he tried to find the logic that would help her to understand or trust. “Kébé,” he began carefully, “it’s considered improper for men and women in this society to bathe together.”
“But aren’t you bathing with me now?”
“I was only warming you from a bad chill.” That, he realized with an inner wince, was a bit of a lie. Whatever his reasoning, he had indeed been bathing her. “And, as you see, I’m clothed…mostly.”